from 207,500 in 1924 to 175,800 in 1937. For investment to retain freight traffic, new marshalling yards were built in Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, and Hull in Yorkshire to attempt to retain freight traffic. Sir Ralph Wedgwood introduced a Traffic Apprenticeship Scheme to attract graduates, train young managers and provide supervision by assistant general manager Robert Bell for career planning. The company adopted a regional managerial system, with general managers based in London, York and Edinburgh, and for a short time, Aberdeen. For passenger services, Sir Nigel Gresley, the Chief Mechanical Engineer built new powerful locomotives and new coaches. Later developments such as the streamlined Silver Jubilee train of 1935 were exploited by the LNER publicity department, and embedded the non-stop London to Edinburgh services such as the Flying Scotsman in the public imagination. The crowning glory of this time was the world record speed of achieved on a test run by LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard. In 1929, the LNER chose the typeface Gill Sans as the standard typeface for the company. Soon it appeared on every facet of the company's identity, from metal locomotive nameplates and hand-painted station signage to printed restaurant car menus, timetables and advertising posters. The LNER promoted their rebranding by offering Eric Gill a footplate ride on the Flying Scotsman express service; he also painted for it a signboard in the style of Gill Sans, which survives in the collection of the St Bride Library. Gill Sans was retained by the Railway Executive in 1948, although modified for signage, and Gill Sans was the official typeface until British Rail replaced it in the mid 1960s with Rail Alphabet for signs and Helvetica or Univers for printed matter. Continental shipping services were provided from Harwich Parkeston Quay. The company took up the offer in 1933 of government loans at low interest rates and electrified the lines from Manchester to Sheffield and Wath yard, and also commuter lines in the London suburban area. Ancillary activities The LNER inherited: 8 canals, including the Ashton, Chesterfield, Macclesfield, Nottingham & Grantham and Peak Forest Docks and harbours in 20 locations, including Grimsby, Hartlepool, Hull, Immingham, Middlesbrough, some eastern Scottish ports, Harwich, Lowestoft and London Other wharves, staithes, piers 2 electric tramways 23 hotels (20 of them were nationalised in 1948 as British Transport Hotels. Of the other three, Cruden Bay Hotel was requisitioned in 1940, Palace Hotel, Aberdeen caught fire