The Magazine Adverts of British Railways after World War One

After World War One the railway companies of Britain were not in a good state. However, after four years of being overworked they were faced with an old problem returning. Between 1900 and 1914 the number of passengers and goods the railways conveyed had levelled off, after a period of massive growth between 1870 and 1900. Naturally, under the stresses and strains of the wartime environment the traffic on the railways had increased dramatically. However, as the after-effects of the conflict started to die down, they were faced with the traffic problems of the pre-war period returning. This fact was highlighted when I looked at issues of Railway Magazine from September and November 1919, and February 1921. In these magazines the railway companies advertised services that they hoped would contribute to alleviating the faltering growth in traffic.

The first thing of note is that the adverts can be divided into two categories. Firstly, there were those that advertise the passenger services that the companies provided, and, secondly, there were those in which they advertised space alongside the railways for businesses to set up.

Interestingly, adverts for the companies’ passenger services were limited in number in the 1919 editions, coming from the Underground and the The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR). The Underground advertised ‘The Services to the Countryside,’ referencing that they, and ‘allied services,’ could convey individuals to ‘the Northern Heights, the Southern Downs, the forests in the east, the wooded plains and river-side in the West are all served partly and daily but mostly at weekends.’[1]

The L&YR’s advert for ‘Summer Season’ traffic in 1919 wasn’t so much an advert, as it was a warning. In rather stern tones it stated that ‘All passengers to the Blackpool and Southport districts on Saturday, September 6th will be required to obtain their tickets in advance.’[2] Indeed, ‘Passengers from Blackpool and Stations to Lytham travelling to Preston and beyond on Saturdays and Mondays, up to and including September 15th, must obtain a special ticket authorising them to travel by a specific train.’ The reason for the these harsh rules is unclear, however, after the wartime conditions it is quite possible that the resources that the L&YR had at their disposal to marshal unexpected passengers was diminished and, therefore, the company wished to be able to plan their operations more carefully.

The small number of adverts advertising passenger services can possibly be put down to the fact that many men were still in uniform at this time and that they were unavailable to travel for leisure, and that wartime conditions for all were still in place. Furthermore, with passenger levels still buoyant given wartime conditions were mostly still in place, the railway companies perhaps did not feel the need to advertise their services in such a manner. However, by the February 1921 edition it is clear that the companies were now trying to capture passenger traffic that was being challenged by passengers moving to trams and the beginnings of motorcar ownership.

The Great Central Railway (GCR) was advertising their ‘Health and Holiday Resorts Guide.’ The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) were promoting their ferry services which, in their words provided ‘The shortest and most comfortable route to France, The Riviera, Switzerland, Italy, Pyrenees, Spain and All Parts of the Continent.’ The South, Eastern, Chatham and Dover Railway (SEC&DR) were doing the same, and were also claiming that they provided ‘the shortest sea routes to the continent.’[4] Indeed, the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was also following suit, although its only claim was that it had ‘the most luxurious steamers between England and the continent,’ presumably because in no way could they argue they had ‘the shortest routes.’[5] Lastly, the L&YR was advertising its ‘Exchange Station Hotel, Liverpool,’ and was in its estimation the ‘nearest First Class Hotel to the Landing Stage, exchanges, and Principal centres of Business.’[6] Lastly, the Metropolitan Railway and the GCR were advertising housing developments near their railways where individuals could live, which would assure the railway companies of their patronage.

Throughout this period the railway companies were also trying to capture the more goods traffic through indirect means. In the all editions of Railway Magazine they advertised the lands adjoining or near to their lines that could be purchased by businesses. Some of their land was the companies’ own, but mainly they compiled registers which individuals could consult of those wishing to sell land or properties. The London and South Western Railway’s (L&SWR) notice stated that ‘if you require premises or land for business development, write giving particulars and we may be able to put you in touch with just what is wanted.’[7] Thus, in the September 1919 edition, the GCR, Midland and South Western Junction Railway, Kent and East Sussex Railway, East Kent Railway, Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway, Weston, Clevedon and Portishead Railway, GER, Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway, SE&CR, London & North Westen Railway, L&SWR and the Great Western Railways were all advertising these services.[8]

These advertising campaigns were logical for the railway companies to engage in, as by putting potential purchasers of land in touch with sellers who were close to the railways, they would keep business near the railways and capture the trade emanating from them. In addition, it allowed the railways to be far more aware of what businesses were in their operational sphere and they could than manage their requirements better. Of course, in the period before the war businesses would have naturally set up near railway lines as the railway companies dominated to freight transportation market. However after the war the expansion of road haulage firms, using sold-off ex-army vans, began to challenging the railways’ dominance in transport services. Thus, the adverts and the property registers were a way of counter-acting this new threat to their businesses.

Thus, in the post-war period (and at other times) what the railways advertised and how they went about it was shaped by what the state of the business environment they were operating in.

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[1] The Railway Magazine, September 1919, p.vi
[2] The Railway Magazine, November 1919, p.v
[3] The Railway Magazine, February 1921, p.ii
[4] The Railway Magazine, February 1921, p.iv
[5] The Railway Magazine, February 1921, p.vii
[6] The Railway Magazine, February 1921, p.vi
[7] The Railway Magazine, September 1919, p.vi
[8] The Railway Magazine, September 1919

"Careful Now" - The Movement of Gunpowder and Explosives on the Victorian Railway

The railways of the Victorian period were, for legal purposes, common carriers. Vital to the country’s trade and industry, they were legally obliged to carry all the goods that individuals brought to stations and yards if they were willing to pay the rates and charges the companies quoted.[1] The only exemption from this rule, as stated in the Railways Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845, was that the companies were under no obligation to ‘carry upon the railway, any aquafortis, oil of vitrol, gunpowder, lucifer matches, or any other goods which in the judgment of the company may be of a dangerous nature.’ If the railway did agree to carry them the consignor had to label them clearly as such, and failure to do so would result in he or she paying a £20 fine to the company.[2]

Despite this, railway companies were initially reluctant to carry such traffics and the London and South Western Railway’s (L&SWR) 1853 rule book stated that ‘no package of gunpowder, Lucifer matches, aquafortis, or other goods of similar combustible material nature can be received under any pretence.,’[3]

However, companies came to realise that refusing this traffic was not good as they could charge more for its conveyance than for other traffics. As a result, the railway companies developed increasingly complex rules for governing the movement of explosives. Furthermore, companies that had military bases within their territories could not really refuse to carry explosives and arms, but at the same time convey the army and navy’s men, horses and equipment. In a way, and although I feature it frequently, the L&SWR is probably one of the best candidates to have its ‘explosives’ procedures examined. Within its territory were Salisbury Plain, Hounslow Barracks and Portsmouth Harbour. Thus, by serving a large number of military bases the company would need to be at the forefront of developing procedures for the conveyance of explosive materials.

From early on in railway history gunpowder was loaded onto a train in a special position. The L&SWR’s 1858 guide for Goods Agents stated that it ‘must not be loaded beside any other goods; but must be given specially in charge to the Guards, or loaded in the powder magazine.’ Furthermore, so railway managers were able to know when Gunpowder was travelling it was only to be conveyed on ‘Mondays and Thursdays’ and before 3 pm.[4] By 1865 these rules, for the general public, were still in place.[5]

However, by then it seems that the L&SWR had come to more formal arrangements with the War Office regarding the supply of explosive materials to the military bases within its region. With the railways becoming more important to the defence of the nation it made sense for the railway and the government to formalise their relationship. Thus, the 1865 ‘instruction to station masters’ showed the expanded range of potentially dangerous items that the L&SWR was conveying for the army. They included ‘tubes, fuzes, signal rockets, port fires, quickmatch, blue, percussion and long lights, powder, rockets, fire-filled shells, gun and small arm cartridges, with percussion caps.’ They were to be conveyed in ‘metallic cylinders’ or by special ‘gunpowder vans,’ which I can only consider were a new addition to the L&SWR rolling stock fleet.[6]

Yet, these rules were created in a period when all the companies specified their own rule books and gave orders to their own employees. But in 1871 all the rule books of Britain’s railway companies were standardised through the Railway Clearing House, and as a result the procedures for the conveyance of gunpowder and explosive materials was formalised nationwide.[7]

Subsequently, the 1884 rule book shows how procedures had proliferated regarding the conveyance of what were now termed ‘explosives.’ Firstly, any vehicle containing ‘explosive matter’ was to have a label with the word ‘explosives’ attached. Secondly, not more than five vehicles with explosives were to be attached to each train. Third, the head guard of the train must be notified of the contents. Fourthly, the vehicles must be placed as far away from the engine, and the guards were prohibited from lighting fires in the break-vans. Fifth, in unloading the explosives they were to be moved from hand-to-hand and not rolled unless cloths, hides or sheets had been laid down. Sixth, each individual engaged in loading was to take the ‘necessary precautions for the prevention of accident by fire or explosion.’ Seventh, at each station that the train stopped the guard in charge was to check on the load and also check the axel boxes to make sure that they were not overheating. Lastly, and most importantly, explosives were not to be conveyed by passenger train.[8] This last rule was particularly interesting as at no point previously was the conveyance of explosives by passenger trains prohibited.

Overall, given the very basic rules of 1858, most aspects of explosives’ movements, from loading, transit and unloading, were covered by rules at the end of the century. Yet, it should be recognised that the development of the rules and procedures for the conveyance of these traffics was indicative of the changing nature of railway procedure throughout the Victorian period. Initially, they had been governed by a limited number of rules that were perceived to protect the trains in which they were carried. Yet, as time passed the procedures became more complex, reflecting the increased concern over their safe movement. Thus, this gradual increasing of the number of rules over time, which was mirrored in changes in procedures governing other aspects of railway operation, was symptomatic of an industry increasingly concerned with safety in an ever-more complex industry.

[1] Simmons, Jack, ‘Dangerous Goods,’ The Oxford Companion to British Railway History, (Oxford, 1997), p.124
[2] 1845 c. 20 (Regnal. 8 and 9 Vict), Railways Clauses Consolidation Act 1845, 105
[3] London School of Economics Library [LSE], HE 3020.L L84, London and South Western Railway Rule Book, 1853, Rule 38, p.26
[4] The National Archives [TNA], RAIL 1135/269, Abstract of Instructions which have from time to time been issued to the Station Agents. etc. 1st May 1858, p.18
[5] TNA, RAIL 1135/270 Abstract of Instructions which have from time to time been issued to the Station Agents. etc. 1st June 1865, p.60
[6] TNA, RAIL 1135/270 Abstract of Instructions which have from time to time been issued to the Station Agents. etc. 1st June 1865, p.61
[7] Horne, M.A.C. British Railway Rule Books, (Unpublished Paper, 2008), p.26 http://www.metadyne.co.uk/pdf_files/RULE_MAIN_V4.pdf
[8] South Western Circle Collection [SWC], London and South Western Railway Rule Book 1884, rule 258a, p.147-151