Produced by Chris Curnow, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) TUBE, TRAIN, TRAM, AND CAR OR UP-TO-DATE LOCOMOTION [Illustration] TUBE, TRAIN, TRAM, AND CAR OR UP-TO-DATE LOCOMOTION BY ARTHUR H. BEAVAN AUTHOR OF âMARLBOROUGH HOUSE AND ITS OCCUPANTS,â âIMPERIAL LONDON,â âCROWNING THE KING,â ETC. WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS And an Introduction BY LLEWELLYN PREECE, M.I.E.E. [Illustration: colophon] LONDON GEO. ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO. 1903 [_All rights reserved._] âTHE CHARIOTS RUN LIKE THE LIGHTNINGâ PREFACE The object of this work is to present the subject of Electrical Locomotion to the public for the first time, the author believes, in a popular form, giving interesting information about Tube, Train, Tram, and Motor-car, but avoiding, as much as possible, technical and scientific detail. Electrical traction is of national importance, destined perhaps materially to abate the evil of overcrowding, by providing cheap and rapid means of access from centres of industry to country districts and _vice versa_. It was predicted by George Stephenson in 1825 that his system would supersede all other methods of conveyance in this country. Similarly can it now be prophesied that throughout the world electrical traction will ultimately supplant all other forms. An age of electricity is dawning, when âpowerâ may be obtained direct from fuel or from the vast store of energy existing in the heated interior of the earth, or even from the atmosphere that surrounds us; when every mountain stream and gleaming waterfall throughout Great Britain, and each tide as it rises and falls, will help to generate the subtle fluid, which, produced on a vast scale abroad, where giant cataracts and mighty rapids abound, may be imported to supplement our home supply, and be utilised in every manufacturing district; when all our main lines will be electric, and âlight railwaysâ ubiquitous; when coal-less ships and aerial machines, with perfected accumulators, may possibly traverse sea and ocean, and invade the domain of condor and eagle; when farms will be cultivated by electrical contrivances, and their produce expeditiously conveyed to market, and the sanitation of our streets be ensured by the universal use of horseless vehicles. An age that may witness âcurrentâ laid on for domestic purposes to every house in the land as a matter of course; and also as machine-power to village settlements, where artisans engaged in certain kinds of trade may work amidst the pleasant surroundings of home. And thus the abstract principle, âBack to the land,â may become an accomplished fact. To bring the body of this work precisely up to the date of its publication being obviously impossible, I take the opportunity of making passing reference to the railway disaster on the MÃ©tropolitain of Paris, when eighty-four passengers were killed, and which has caused the public mind to be much disturbed by the possibility of danger in the London Tubes. As regards trams, the London United Tramways Company established a record of traffic during the August Bank Holiday period, the total for the four days being 878,000, that on Monday alone being 330,000 travellers. A serious electric tram accident occurred at Ramsgate in August, when nineteen persons were injured by the colliding of one car with another at a point where the lines converged. Then, as to motor-cars. The great Gordon-Bennett race in Ireland this summer was won by a German. A tentative Act of Parliament for regulating the traffic, to come into force January 1st next, and to continue for three years, has received the Royal Assent, the speed limit being fixed at twenty miles per hour. A service of motor hansom cabs is shortly to be established in London. The Fischer âcombinationâ omnibus has successfully passed through repeated private trials, and will probably be adopted by one or both of the metropolitan chief companies. Motor bath-chairs, to hold two people, and propelled by electricity, will be accomplished facts at the Worldâs Fair, St. Louis, next year. I have now to acknowledge, with thanks, the assistance of Sir William H. Preece, who kindly read through the proof-sheets of this volume just before he fell seriously ill in August, and of his son, Mr. Llewellyn Preece, who has written the Introduction, and I now leave âTube, Train, Tram, and Carâ to receive the verdict of those who travel. ARTHUR H. BEAVAN _September, 1903._ INTRODUCTION BY LLEWELLYN PREECE, M.I.E.E. The object of this book is to give the public a general idea as to the progress now being made in the application of electricity for transport purposes, and it was intended that Sir William Preece should write the introduction and correct the author so far as any technical misstatements were concerned. Unhappily, Sir William Preece has fallen victim to a very severe illness, which entirely incapacitates him from any work, and will prevent him from doing anything for some months to come. Just before his illness, however, he had gone through the proofs and made certain corrections, all of which, the author tells me, have been accepted, but owing to the great delay in the publication of this book which has already been incurred, and to the impossibility of discussing these matters with my father, I have not been able to check the proofs since the alterations were made. The advances which, within the last few years, have been made in the application of electricity for the purpose of transportation are shown very clearly in this book, and if the author has made one or two flights on the wings of fancy regarding the future which may be somewhat startling to the reader, it must be remembered that if many things which are of everyday occurrence had been suggested to any of us fifty years ago, and if we had been told that it would be possible to travel at the rate of a hundred miles an hour, we should have been somewhat inclined to laugh. As the reader will learn, such travelling is to be very shortly a fact. At the same time I do not believe that it will be so much with the high-speed work as with the tramway and light railway work that electricity will be of the greatest service to the public in the future. I look forward to the time when there will be a network of light railways surrounding every town in the kingdom, enabling the population to spread itself out once again in the country. Central power stations distributing electric current over a radius of fifteen or twenty miles will enable these railways to work at very low cost, and therefore carry passengers considerable distances at low fares. The tendency at the present time being to reduce the hours of labour, whether mental or manual, the time at the disposal of a workman for travelling will increase, so that with an eight hours working day and cheap electric light railways, there will be no reason why the poorest labourer should not live in the country, and at least sleep in a pure atmosphere. The adaptability of electricity to motor-car work has hardly yet been sufficiently realised. People see the luxurious electric brougham, described in this book, running on the streets of London and other large cities, but few have any idea that not only the wealthy aristocrat, but everyone will, before long, be able to ride in such carriages, possibly not so luxuriousy fitted up, but equally comfortable and speedy. The usual cry at present is that electric cars are very nice, but the owners have great difficulties with the batteries. Undoubtedly batteries have given trouble in the past, and still do so to some extent. But if a man buys a horse and gives it in charge of the gardenerâs boy, he is likely to have trouble with his horse. In the same way, if a man buys an electric carriage and expects his coachman to look after it, he only naturally does have considerable trouble. There are several companies prepared to look after and maintain in continuous use, not only the batteries, but the complete carriages, and this is greatly improving the reliability of the electric car, and allaying the fears of those anxious to have such carriages. Besides this, the battery itself is making great strides forward: its capacity per cwt. has largely increased, its life is much longer, and its reliability under great variations of discharge has considerably improved. In fact, it may be safely said that even now the electric car is more reliable than either the petrol or the steam car. At present it will not do the same distance on one charge, nor will it do the great speed other cars will, but this is the great reason why it should appeal to the British public. The craze for high speeds does not affect the majority of people. I believe that it is only a question of a few years for the petrol and steam cars to be placed in museums and shown as monstrosities of the past, like the mammoth elephant, and that every cab, omnibus, and private carriage throughout the country will use electricity as the motive power. In fact I do not think it unwarrantable to assert that, so far as this country is concerned, many of us will see the day when the only form of energy used for transportation will be that known as electricity. LLEWELLYN PREECE CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE OLD AND THE NEW ORDER OF RAILWAY LOCOMOTION 1 CHAPTER II SOME PIONEER ELECTRIC RAILWAYS 11 CHAPTER III SOME PIONEER ELECTRIC RAILWAYS (_continued_) 19 CHAPTER IV REMARKABLE ELECTRIC RAILWAYS 31 CHAPTER V REJUVENATING THE METROPOLITAN INNER CIRCLE 47 CHAPTER VI THE CENTRAL LONDON ELECTRIC RAILWAY 63 CHAPTER VII THE TUBULAR SYSTEM 74 CHAPTER VIII TOURING IN THE TUBES 90 CHAPTER IX LONDONâS TANGLED TUBES 107 CHAPTER X LONDONâS LATEST AND LONGEST TUBE 117 CHAPTER XI ELECTRIC TRAMWAYS GENERALLY 128 CHAPTER XII LONDONâS TRAMWAYS 141 CHAPTER XIII PROVINCIAL TRAMWAYS 162 CHAPTER XIV THE SHALLOW UNDERGROUND SYSTEM 186 CHAPTER XV HORSELESS VEHICLES--ELECTRICAL AND OTHERWISE 200 CHAPTER XVI HORSELESS VEHICLES--ELECTRICAL AND OTHERWISE (_continued_) 214 CHAPTER XVII HORSELESS VEHICLES--ELECTRICAL AND OTHERWISE (_continued_) 224 CHAPTER XVIII ELECTRICITY APPLIED TO NAVIGATION (A FORECAST) 230 CHAPTER XIX SOME ELECTRIC LOCOMOTION DRAWBACKS 250 CHAPTER XX SOME ELECTRIC LOCOMOTION DRAWBACKS (_continued_) 258 CHAPTER XXI ELECTRIC LOCOMOTION AND OUR NATIONAL LIFE 269 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. PAGE ELECTRICITY. BY H. L. SHINDLER _Frontispiece_ 1. QUEEN VICTORIAâS TRAIN ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY 3 2. NINE WILLANS-SIEMENS DYNAMO SETS FOR ELECTRIC TRACTION, 700 H.P. EACH 7 3. THE GIANTâS CAUSEWAY 12 4. WATERLOO AND CITY RAILWAYâS NEW PATTERN CAR 25 5. THE LIVERPOOL OVERHEAD ELECTRIC RAILWAY 29 6. PLAN OF A BEHR MONO-RAILWAY CAR 35 7. INTERIOR OF A BEHR MONO-RAILWAY CAR 44 8. ELECTRICAL POWER HOUSE (THE LARGEST IN THE OLD WORLD), LOTâS ROAD, CHELSEA, TO SUPPLY THE METROPOLITAN DISTRICT AND OTHER RAILWAYS WITH CURRENT 53 9. A 2,000 H.P. WESTINGHOUSE STEAM TURBINE, RESEMBLING THE TURBO-GENERATORS (EACH OF 7,500 H.P.) IN THE CHELSEA POWER HOUSE 55 10. A NEW METROPOLITAN DISTRICT RAILWAY CAR 56 11. A TYPICAL ELECTRIC POWER GENERATOR--TWO DYNAMOS, EACH OF ABOUT 1,600 H.P. 69 12. A 3,000 H.P. TRIPLE EXPANSION CENTRAL VALVE ELECTRICAL ENGINE 76 13. SHIELD AT WORK IN A TUBE RUNNING TUNNEL 79 14. THE WESTERN APPROACH TO PICCADILLY 123 15. TRAM-CAR IN PARIS EQUIPPED FOR COMBINED OVERHEAD TROLLEY AND SURFACE CONTACT SYSTEM 133 16. CROSS LANE JUNCTION, SALFORD. THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPLICATED OVERHEAD TROLLEY CROSSING IN THE KINGDOM 135 17. BOILER ROOM, LONDON UNITED TRAMWAYS CO.âS POWER HOUSE AT CHISWICK, FITTED WITH VICARSâ AUTOMATIC STOKERS 157 18. A LONDON UNITED TRAMWAYS COMPANY TRAM-CAR 159 19. FAÃADE OF QUEENâS ROAD CAR-SHED, MANCHESTER CORPORATION TRAMWAYS 170 20. VIEW NEAR DUDLEY STATION, SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE, SHOWING A STEAM TRAM-CAR 175 21. VIEW AT CASTLE HILL, DUDLEY, SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE, SHOWING AN ELECTRIC TRAM-CAR 181 22. CAMPS BAY, CAPE TOWN, AND SEAPOINT TRAMWAYS 183 23. BOSTON SUBWAY, SHOWING ENTRANCE AT THE PUBLIC GARDENS 193 24. NEW YORK SUBWAY IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION. CAR TRAFFIC MAINTAINED 195 25. NEW YORK SUBWAY, SHOWING HOW IT WAS BUILT 197 26. ELECTRIC CARRIAGE ENTIRELY OF BRITISH CONSTRUCTION 201 27. A âCROWDUSâ ELECTRIC CARRIAGE 205 28. AN ELECTRIC VICTORIA WITH BRITISH STORAGE BATTERIES 207 29. A âFISCHERâ COMBINATION OMNIBUS 211 30. THE âHERCULESâ TRACTION ENGINE, AS USED DURING THE CRIMEAN WAR 217 31. A TEN-TON ELECTRIC TROLLEY 219 32. AN ELECTRIC TRADESMANâS-VAN 220 33. ANOTHER TYPE OF THE âFISCHERâ COMBINATION OMNIBUS 222 34. ELECTRIC STORAGE BATTERIES 237 35. ELECTRIC LAUNCH ON THE THAMES 248 36. WHERE THE POOR LIVE 280 TUBE, TRAIN, TRAM, AND CAR CHAPTER I _THE OLD AND THE NEW ORDER OF RAILWAY LOCOMOTION_ âThe thinking minds of all nations call for change.â--CARLYLE. STEAM--THE OLD ORDER An immutable law of nature has decreed that whatever attains to perfection is doomed to perish, for âThe world exists by change, and but for that All matter would to chaos back, To form a pillow for a sleeping god.â Thus it came to pass that in the period 1825 to 1835, when the main roads of Great Britain were at their best, when the then mode of travelling, though on a limited scale, had, as regards speed, punctuality, and organisation, reached the highest possible pitch of perfection, a little cloud like a manâs hand, presaging the new order of locomotion, arose at the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and overshadowed the old method. So effective was the competition of the âiron horse,â that in lieu of the fifty-four splendidly equipped vehicles which in 1835 carried His Majestyâs mails throughout England, not a single coach left the General Post Office, St. Martinâs-le-Grand, in the year 1844; while the kings highways had become almost deserted. Though this was barely sixty years ago, railways have evolved themselves out of their embryonic state into a condition approaching the fateful one of perfect development. In early days, first-class passengers were boxed up in replicas of old stage-coaches, the second-class in open carriages exposed to the weather, and the third-class huddled together in seatless cattle-trucks. Contrast this with our luxurious Pullmans, and our corridor and vestibule trains for all classes, warmed throughout, lighted by electricity, and provided with lavatories, dining-saloons, buffets, and sleeping-cars. âWith what further improvements can we allure the public?â ask anxious directors. One answer only is possible. âBy bringing the mode of locomotion up to date.â This means, in the case of old-established railway companies, a complete and costly transformation, or an independent mono-rail track for long distances; under any circumstances entailing much hardship upon the shareholders. For at the moment when railway-engineers--improving so vastly upon George Stephensonâs venerable engine,[1] built in 1822, and still at work for the Hutton Colliery, its weight only fifteen tons, its speed ten miles an hour--have constructed such magnificent locomotives as the âGreater Britainâ for the London and North [Illustration: FIG. 1. QUEEN VICTORIAâS TRAIN ON THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY] Western Railway, or the ten-wheeled giant[2] for the Great Northern Railway, fifty-seven feet over all, weighing 100 tons, and capable of reeling off its 65 miles an hour with ease, electricity steps into the field, displaces the stately engine--resplendent in red, blue, green, or chocolate paint, glossy as the coat of some highly trained racehorse, and gleaming with polished brass and steel, finished in all its parts with exquisite accuracy, the very embodiment of energy under perfect control--and from some unpretentious-looking building afar off, drives our trains with unseen but resistless force, at the rate, if desired, of a hundred miles an hour! The construction of an ordinary steam locomotive is an intricate operation, necessitating machine-shops, erecting-shops, foundries, forges, etc., covering acres of ground, as at Crewe, Doncaster, Derby, or Swindon. Not a hundred engines are exactly alike in pattern, and each one is supposed to be composed of over five thousand different parts, all of which have to be stowed away in a necessarily limited space. âHow is steam utilised by the locomotive?â is a question asked again and again (and not by children only) ever since Stephensonâs engine started on its triumphant progress from Stockton to Darlington and back, and which, I venture to affirm, only a small percentage of travellers, even in 1903, can answer âright away,â as our American cousins would express it. Briefly, then, as follows: Raised up on high is the mighty boiler. Remove its plates, and running through its entire length will be seen a cluster of some two or three hundred brass tubes, in diameter that of a penny-piece. At the rear of the boiler, on a lower level, is the fuel fire-box, with its grate and ash-pan, while in front is the smoke-box, surmounted by the familiar chimney or funnel, called in the United States the âsmoke-stack,â in British engines reduced to a minimum of height. Water from the tender surrounds the brass tubes, and when the fire is burning, flames, smoke, and heated gases rush through them, escaping _viÃ¢_ the chimney, but in their passage converting the boiling water into expanding steam, which, when the regulator is opened, is directed by valves into the hollow cylinders--sometimes placed below the boiler, but generally visible outside--forcing by its pressure the pistons backwards and forwards alternately, and, by means of intermediate machinery, transferring its energy to the driving-wheels. The exhausted steam, after accomplishing its work, joins the smoke in the smoke-box, escaping up the funnel by jerks, which creates a forced draught through the brass boiler-tubes, and hastens the generation of steam. ELECTRICITY--THE NEW ORDER Contrast this with electricity, the definition of whose exact nature is a task I must of necessity leave to others, but its adaptation to the purposes of traction can be thus broadly explained:-- Dynamos or generators are situated at some fixed station, more or less distant, generating electrical energy, whence the current is transmitted along a central steel rail, or, in the case of some tramways, _viÃ¢_ overhead wires, returning to its place of birth by another rail or cable, and completing its circuit. It is âpicked upâ by a small locomotive fitted with motors that work the driving-mechanism, and thus propels the coaches or cars behind it at varying speeds. The rotation of the dynamos is effected either by a torrent, waterfall, or swift-flowing river, absorbed by turbines, or by steam supplied from ordinary boilers. In other words, we convert our water and coal into steam, and, indirectly, the heat in the steam into electrical energy; and the heavy locomotive that used to carry its own fuel, and manufacture its steam as it tore along with the train behind it, now leaves tender and boiler at home, and has its driving power, in the form of electric current, forwarded to it per centre rail, to be drawn upon when wanted. The system is beautifully simple, and the machinery compact and uncomplicated. Smoke defilement is unknown, and the trains are comparatively noiseless. In short, electric traction is the refinement of mechanically applied power. Now let us visit an electrical power station--a small one--and I have in my mind that of the Waterloo and City Electric Railway. Hidden away behind a bewildering labyrinth of railway arches, in a _cul-de-sac_, approached from a back street, not a hundred miles from a great railway station, is a plain, very plain brick building, wherein, for aught one knows to the contrary, such prosaic articles as pots and pans, or cardboard boxes, may be in course of manufacture. Pass through a door, always on the swing, and an unpretending office is reached, furnished in the usual manner, and occupied by clerks engaged upon the ordinary duties of their vocation. Access to the engineer-in-chief being granted, he courteously conducts us to the power room, whence issues the energy that drives the trains. Imagination had pictured a great hall, filled with ponderous machinery whose component parts are cranks, steel rods, shafts, and toothed wheels, a wilderness of metal, moving with bewildering rapidity and thunderous power, in an atmosphere redolent of lubricating oil, a vision of whirling wheels, an Ezekiel vision of wheels in the midst of wheels, instinct with life, such as the prophet saw 600 years B.C., by the River Chebar, in the land of the Chaldean. [Illustration: FIG. 2. NINE WILLANS-SIEMENS DYNAMO SETS FOR ELECTRIC TRACTION, 700 H.P. EACH. _By permission of_ _Willans and Robinson, Ltd., Rugby_] Nothing of the kind! One portion of a moderate-sized apartment is devoted to the âfittingâ of the motor locomotives, and at the other end, enclosed within a low railing, resting upon a bed of great solidity, and occupying but little space, is the machinery in duplicate, as a safeguard against breakdowns. It consists of a vertical compound engine, supplied with steam from an adjoining boiler-house, whose cylinder is coupled direct to the fly-wheels of the revolving dynamos that are partly sunk into the flooring. These, with their electro-magnets, are so shut in, and so little can be seen of the working, that it all looks very mysterious and incomprehensible to the uninitiated. In large power-producing machinery an iron staircase leads up to a platform above the dynamos, giving access to the loftier parts of the apparatus, which then, in its general appearance and compactness, somewhat resembles a modern marine engine. On the walls are endless dials, recording the amount of current generated, localising the exact position of the trains on the line at any given moment, and checking the quantity of current picked up by each engine. There is absolutely no smell, no outward indication of resistless power, while almost Arcadian quiet reigns in the neighbourhood of the machines. That these small dynamos are capable of driving heavy cars filled with passengers at the rate of many miles an hour seems incredible; but faith, âthe evidence of things not seen,â must come into play. The craving for mere size, however, will be amply gratified when the great power house at Chelsea, built to supply the Metropolitan, District, and other railways, is completed (_vide_ Chapter V.). But what on earth is a kilowatt, or a volt, an ohm, or an ampÃ¨re?--expressions that are rapidly becoming as familiar as the word horse-power. Well, âhorse-powerâ was a term invented long ago by engineers, who blandly asked one to imagine that an ordinary horse was capable of lifting a weight of 33,000 lbs. (or some 14Â½ tons) one foot high per minute. Now, electricity is a very exact science. There is no mere theory about it; and a unit is a definite quantity of power, known in that science as a âkilowatt hour.â Thus, a kilowatt, or 1,000 watts, is the equivalent in measured work of 1â  horse-power, equal to the lifting of 44,000 lbs. per minute, or the doing of so many units of work, either electric lighting, heating, machinery driving, or traction. VARIOUS FORMS OF ELECTRIC LOCOMOTION Electricity as a locomotive force is being presented to the public in various forms. There is the ordinary railway, like the Underground, that, cleansing itself, amending its ways, and becoming converted to the new order of traction, has been granted a new lease of life. Then there are new lines laid down, intended from the first to be electrical, with specially designed cars, diving beneath the Thames, and connecting the north and south of London. These are our metropolitan pioneer electric railways. There is also the system of railways specifically and popularly known as Tubes, most important factors in the travelling world of modern Babylon. Another division is the system known as Overhead Electric Railways; that is to say, rails laid upon iron girders supported by columns above the roadway, a notable example of which is the Liverpool Overhead Electric Railway. Electric tramways are with us in Greater London for good and all, with their network of lines in every direction. Some are locally worked by the various Borough Councils; others on a comprehensive scale by the London County Council, who now strongly advocate also another system, the Shallow-Underground, by which the cars run in a kind of open trench just below the surface in the middle of the street. Next we have endless provincial and urban council electric tramways, including some very extensive systems for feeding the enormous traffic of cities and large towns in the Midlands and North of England. Electric Light Railways, originally intended to be worked on rails laid down upon the ordinary highway, form a special class by themselves to serve short-distance traffic in country districts; but to all intents and purposes they are rural electric trams. Lastly, we have motor-cars, carriages, omnibuses, cabs, vans, and cycles, that with electricity as their means of propulsion, will possibly ere long supersede every other form of traffic in our streets and along our roads and lanes. To individualise these various outcomes of electrical traction spread over the length and breadth of Great Britain is impossible. Their names and their statistics are enrolled in _Garckeâs Manual of Electrical Undertakings_, a work that, like _Kellyâs London Directory_, grows bigger and bigger every year. I propose, therefore, only to notice some of the principal ones; and, naturally, the pioneer railway lines should have the place of honour. CHAPTER II _SOME PIONEER ELECTRIC RAILWAYS_ âA worthy pioneer.â--SHAKESPEARE. THE GIANTâS CAUSEWAY RAILWAY In the month of March, 1883, by the opening of the Giantâs Causeway, Portrush, and Bush Valley Railway, the sister island achieved the honour and glory of showing the way to the âpredominant partnerâ in the matter of electrical traction enterprise; winning, however, only by a head, for in August of the same year the Brighton Beach Electric Railway was inaugurated. Who amongst us can say they know Ireland well? To the average tourist it still remains an unexplored country. The travelling American, however, as a rule, does it from end to end. Commencing with Dublin, âdoingâ Killarney, and working round the magnificent west coast, he returns _viÃ¢_ the North Channel, always taking _en route_ on the coast of Antrim the Giantâs Causeway, thundered upon by storms from the wild Atlantic. There, almost within hail of Britain, are those strange groups of basaltic columns so familiar to geological students, intensely interesting, invested with many an old and mystic Celtic legend, yet until recently difficult of access, as other striking regions in Ireland--an island abounding not only in awe-inspiring scenery, but in sequestered spots of sylvan beauty; a fair land of mountains and hills, lakes and waterfalls, crystal streams, and splendid harbours; truly called the Emerald Isle; where the grass is greenest, and rare coniferÃ¦ flourish; where the myrtle needs no shelter, and the arbutus blooms and fruits to perfection, and flowers are everywhere, for every little enclosure in due season glows with the brightest of flax and potato blossom; and lanes and open country are gay with star-like marigolds, shamrock, violets, honeysuckle, meadowsweet, catsear, scabious, large purple bugle, and such-like lowly but welcome plants. [Illustration: FIG. 3. THE GIANTâS CAUSEWAY. _By permission of_ _Thos. Cook and Son, Ludgate Circus_] From Portrush it is easy to reach the Causeway, though once there, one often has to wait for favourable weather before proceeding to explore its cavernous wonders by water. The present length of the railway is 8Â½ miles of single line, its gauge being 3 feet. It is worked partly by steam and partly by electricity on the overhead system, the current being derived from a generating station three-quarters of a mile away, where three hydraulic turbines, fed by an adjoining waterfall, operate the dynamo. Although the railway is out of the way and on a small scale, the attractions of the Causeway and the surrounding district result in a respectable passenger traffic of over a hundred thousand per annum. THE BRIGHTON BEACH RAILWAY Under the sanction of the Brighton Town Council, the Magnus Volk Co., Ltd., now work the Brighton Beach Electric Tram-railway, which at its opening was regarded as a great novelty and curiosity, constituting an additional attraction and amusement to âLondon by the sea,â and tens of thousands must have taken a ride in its little open cars since it came into existence twenty years ago. The gauge is but 2 feet 8Â½ inches, the âfeedersâ are underground, the propelling system is electric, with a third rail, and its speed is about 12 miles an hour. Starting from the west pier, opposite the Royal Aquarium, it sets out on its one mile and a half route of single line and dips beneath the level of the Marine Parade to a level a little above the beach, passing _en route_, though hidden from view, many landmarks of old Brighton, such as Park Place and Gardens, Royal Crescent, Marine Square, and Lewes Crescent, and terminating at a point near Black Rock. This was the eastern end of Old Brighton, noted for many an original character in the âtwentiesâ and âthirties,â not the least interesting of whom were old Martha Gunn, queen of the bathing-machines, and Sak Deen Mahomed, a native of the East, who introduced the art of shampooing into the town, and lived to become a centenarian, his fame being enshrined in verse by James Smith, one of the authors of _Rejected Addresses_, who humorously predicted his longevity as follows:-- âSprung doubtless from Abdullahâs son, Thy miracles thy sireâs outrun, Thy cures his deaths outnumber; His coffin soars âtwixt heavân and earth, But thou, within that narrow berth, Immortal, neâer shall slumber.â Many have been the changes in Brighton since those days. Arundel Terrace, Kemp Town, Ultima Thule in the east; Adelaide Crescent with Palmyra Square, its western boundary. From the fields to the north of that square could be seen, a mile or so off, the village of Hove, the intervening space being dotted with farms. No one could have dreamt that a great railway-station would be built there, with minor ones at Kemp Town, West Brighton, and Hove. Old residents could not have pictured a Grand Aquarium, a Western and Eastern Pier, nor the destruction of their familiar Chain Pier. They would be amazed at the spread of Brighton in every direction, the springing up of palatial hotels like the âMÃ©tropoleâ and âGrand,â and the increase of the population to some hundred and fifty thousand; while the coaching world, headed by the popular Sir St. Vincent Cotton, prince of amateur whips, and all the confraternity of coachmen and hackney-coach drivers, would have thought anyone a lunatic who had dared to prophesy that one day a conveyance drawn without horses or steam power would carry passengers along the Brighton beach! THE CITY AND SOUTH LONDON RAILWAY For many years prior to 1890, in Gracechurch Street, at a point near its junction with Eastcheap, could be seen every day of the week numerous omnibuses arriving between nine and eleven a.m., and departing between five and eight p.m., for the suburbs over the water. These âbuses regularly plied between London and Kennington, Walworth, Camberwell, Stockwell, Clapham, and Brixton (a few journeying to Dulwich and Peckham), for the special accommodation of dwellers in those favourite localities engaged in business during the day. Wealthy âprincipalsâ of mercantile and brokersâ firms drove to and from their comfortable Surrey villas in well-equipped carriages, the junior members in smart traps or dog-carts; but the small merchants and smaller brokers, the head clerks and the rank and file who do all the hard work, had to make use of these omnibuses, and when exceptionally bad weather prevented the vehicles running, they had to get to and from their offices as best they could on foot. To the working man, living, say, at Brixton, and engaged upon a City job, the fares--4_d._ to 8_d._--were prohibitive. The time wasted in these conveyances was great, and at the best it was an unpleasant way of travelling; overcrowding was common, and the âfight for the tramsâ in 1903 is as nothing compared to the frantic rush for those omnibus seats; while on wet days the sight was piteous. It is true that City men could use the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway, to reach these suburbs, but this involved a walk to Blackfriars Station, and the facing of the crush on its dangerous platforms. There were also the alternatives of crossing Blackfriars Bridge and using the London Tramway Companyâs horse-cars, or of forcing oneâs way over London Bridge, tramping or âbussingâ it along the Borough High Street, and, emerging at the âElephant and Castle,â there tapping the trams. As a matter of fact, these ingenious alternative routes were seldom made use of. At the close of business, men of all ranks want to get home as fast as they can, and from some station not far from their counting-houses. Therefore, in the days I am describing, how could any of those gentlemen clad in irreproachable frock-coats and new glossy hats, who each day of the week issued from snug offices in Austin Friars, Drapersâ Gardens, or Copthall Court, whose business was transacted over the way at the âHouseâ; how could the brokers of Mark Lane and Mincing Lane, the underwriters at Lloydâs, the ship-brokers and ship-owners round about Fenchurch Street and Leadenhall Street, the flourishing bill-brokers of Broad Street, and the smaller mercantile fry; how could any of these, if resident on the Surrey side, be expected to go to and from business by way of Blackfriars? However, this unsatisfactory means of communication was hardly likely to escape the notice of such astute experts as Mr. J. C. Mott, doyen director of the Great Western Railway, and his far-seeing friends. They took counsel together, and, after the usual hard task of _persuading_ people, plans were matured, and in 1884 an enterprise was organised and incorporated as the City of London and Southwark Subway Company, to construct a line of railway from King William Street to the âElephant and Castle,â with an intermediate station at Marshalsea Road. This was the initial stage of the present well-known railway. At the outset, three points had to be considered. How was the subway to be constructed? What motive power should be employed? And how was the deep level to be reached by the passengers? A subway under the Thames was no novelty. The directors of the new line were not the âfirst that ever burst into that silent seaâ of mud and gravel at the bottom of the swift-flowing river. Brunel had been long before them with his costly Thames Tunnel, and Barlow had years ago laid upon its oozy bed the Tower Subway of iron. It was decided that a tube, or, rather, two independent tunnels of cast-iron rings, should be driven side by side beneath the bottom of the stream, a little to the west of London Bridge, and continued on the Surrey side. On this system the work was begun by the contractors, Siemens Brothers and Mather and Platt, and proceeded with quite out of public sight. It was accompanied with many disheartening delays and seemingly insurmountable difficulties; but they were all successfully overcome, and the tubes were brought to a temporary end at the âSwan,â Stockwell, to which charming retreat, by an Act of Parliament, 1887, an extension of the line had been sanctioned, making its length a little over three miles. The motive power eventually selected was electricity, steam being impracticable, and the funicular or cable system considered unreliable. Access to and from the trains was to be obtained at the stations by means of capacious twin-lifts capable of holding many people at a time. Then the problem of how best to utilise the ample âpower,â generated at the Stockwell Station, for hauling the cars, had to be seriously tackled. It was not a question of a toy line like that on the Brighton beach, but of the driving at fair speed, say 15 miles an hour, of comparatively heavy coaches laden with passengers, and at frequent intervals. Altogether it was a new departure in electric traction. How the motor locomotives were effectually to pick up the current was the puzzle which had to be solved, or the enterprise might at the last moment collapse and the subscribed capital be lost. After an infinite amount of anxious experimenting on the part of Mr. Mott and his scientific advisers--the narrative of which, as told me by that veteran, sounded like a romance--by a happy inspiration _the_ way was hit upon; and all other technical difficulties overcome, the line was pronounced to be in working order (1890), after a series of trial trips, at one of which the writer had the privilege of being present. CHAPTER III _SOME PIONEER ELECTRIC RAILWAYS_ (_continued_) A TRIAL TRIP IN THE CITY AND SOUTH LONDON RAILWAY One oâclock saw a large party of us, chiefly City men, amongst whom were numerous civil engineers, waiting at King William Street booking-office to descend into the bowels of the earth by one of the semicircular lifts, a novelty in point of size. Our turn having come, we duly filed into the elevator. The telescopic doors clashed upon us, and we stood for a second or two silently expectant, feeling like a batch of condemned criminals on a gigantic scaffold waiting for the hangman to draw back the fatal lever that would launch them into the other world. Noiselessly the lift descended to an apparently fathomless depth, but in reality, I believe, some 90 or 100 feet. When released by the janitor, we found ourselves in a small, well-lighted, cool, and spotlessly clean, white-tiled station, whence was discernible a couple of small tunnels side by side, leading to unknown regions, seemingly all too narrow to accommodate even the miniature cars waiting for us at one of the narrow platforms. Inspecting the tunnels, the classical man of our party, a wag in his way, who had hitherto made no remark, was heard to mutter something in Latin, which, on being coerced, he admitted was out of Virgil, and was translated thus: âThis is the spot where the way divides in two branches.â In vain we pointed out that the quotation was inappropriate, as the ways were _parallel_. He was obdurate, so we left him to his own reflections. To most of us accustomed to roomy Pullmans and commodious railway carriages, the cars, though comfortable, seemed cramped, especially in height. The signal given, off we started, when we noticed that the cars fitted the tube with such nicety and economy of space that, could the windows have been let down, we could easily have touched the iron plates of the tunnel. We realised, too, that although there was no smoke or smell, the railway was by no means noiseless; neither, in the opinion of several of the experts present, was the running as steady as on the âUnderground.â A hint had been given us that at some point where the line dipped and rose again the cars might come to a temporary standstill. As we rather uneasily recalled this, the speed gradually slackened, and finally the train stopped altogether, and simultaneously the incandescent lights began to pale, and at last subsided into filaments of sickly red. The situation was not a pleasant one. There we were; many of us with important engagements awaiting us later in the day; most of us with wives and children who would expect us home as usual when evening arrived, and grow anxious at our absence. There we were sealed up in a tube, for all we knew, at a point beneath the Thames. Not a sound reached us from the locomotive, or, indeed, from anywhere. Were we thus to remain indefinitely? For walk out we could not, there being no room outside the carriages. Would some memorial tablet let into the side of London Bridge, months hence, recall the fact that near it a goodly company of highly respectable citizens had perished in a living tomb? I donât think we talked much. It was luncheon-time; we were hungry, and we felt like the occupants of the snowed-up cars in one of Mark Twainâs stories, who gloomily eyed one another as starvation threatened, calculating upon whom, by an ingenious and complicated system of voting previously agreed to, would next fall the lot of being sacrificed for the benefit of the rest, and I believe I found myself unconsciously speculating on the plumpness of a youthful stockbroker standing by my side. But after a very few moments of suspense the train rattled on again, the lights reappeared, and presently we drew up at the Borough, the first station on the Surrey side. Railway booking-offices are not usually things of beauty, least of all those on the Metropolitan, District, and suburban lines. Here, however, was a surprise, for we found quite a picturesque stone-and-brick building on the ground-floor, a cupola surmounting the prettily designed entrance, and a small dome with lantern by way of roof. And this was a sample of all the stations along the line. The Borough recalled the Marshalsea that once stood close by; and there opposite was St. Georgeâs, Southwark, where Little Dorrit, accidentally locked out of the prison, was allowed by âthe sexton, or the beadle, or the verger, or whatever he was,â to take refuge in the vestry, where, years afterwards, she signed the marriage register when wedded to Arthur Clennam. The next stoppage was at the Elephant and Castle--not the tavern of that name, where in the past on Derby Day the superabundant holiday traffic usually became hopelessly congested, but the City and South Londonâs new station, close to Spurgeonâs Tabernacle, Rabbitsâ great boot warehouse, and Tarnâs vast emporium, that seems to occupy most of Newington Causeway. Onwards to Kennington Common, once the place of public executions for Surrey, now a well-kept miniature park. Beyond it, Kennington Oval, associated with cricket all the world over; and finally we arrived at Stockwell, the then terminus of the line, since extended to Clapham, where Tom Hood used to go to school at a house âwith ugly windows ten in a row, its chimney in the rear,â a style of architecture of which many specimens still exist round and about the Common. At Stockwell we visited the generating station, recently much extended, and provided with entirely new plant, and, wondering at and admiring all we saw, learned from the chief engineer that the contretemps _en route_ was due to a slight defect in the new and untried power-machinery; and thus at the point where the dip in the line was greatest, the cars stopped. An excellent luncheon restored us all to eloquence and equanimity, extinguishing the cannibalistic feeling of half an hour ago, and, returning without any incident worth recording, we emerged once more in the City, to be greeted by the noise of the traffic that ever surges around King William the Fourthâs statue. Those were the âgreen saladâ days of Londonâs Pioneer Electric Railway Line. Now it runs without a hitch, and has been extended north as far as the historic âAngel,â thus giving a direct route between Clapham and Islington. It has powers to exchange traffic with the Great Northern and the City Railway _viÃ¢_ Old Street, and also to connect itself with the Baker Street and Waterloo Electric Railway at the Elephant and Castle Station; and in a new building at Finsbury Pavement it now has commodious head offices. At the last half-yearly general meeting the chairman, Mr. C. G. Mott, in the course of his speech, stated that the Board aspired to have a thoroughly first-class terminus in the City of London, and had deposited plans with this view. They proposed to construct this station between the present Bank Station and the King William Street statue. That the City and South London Railway is most useful and popular is shown by the number of passengers it has carried--some ninety millions since its opening--the returns for last year showing about eighteen millions, over a total route of about seven miles. For the convenience of travellers, it eventually will have subways, connecting its Lombard Street Station with the Bank Station of the Central London Railway, and it already has them from its new London Bridge Station to the London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway. Finally, it can boast of possessing a station below a church--a unique position, I believe. St. Mary Woolnothâs foundations were completely removed, the vaults cleared out, and the whole replaced by huge iron girders, whereon the sacred edifice now rests, with the booking-office below. THE WATERLOO AND CITY RAILWAY The month of August, 1898, was unusually warm, and the heat was felt as much in the City as anywhere. Straw hats were universal; the shady side of the street, if there happened to be one, was thronged; secluded alleys and courts were resorted to by the knowing ones who could afford the time to linger there; and even highly respectable merchants were to be found sitting in shirt-sleeves at their writing-tables and wishing, with Sydney Smith, that they could âsit in their bones.â At the junction of the Poultry with Victoria Street, shadowed by the Mansion House, from each side of the road a mysterious hoarding had just been removed, revealing an iron railing enclosing a small area with a mysterious staircase bearing the announcement that it led to the subway to the new electric railway, connecting the City with Waterloo Station. Descending a few steps, and emerging into a tunnelled incline, the perspiring pedestrian quickly found that here, if anywhere, was a refuge from the heat, the coolest place in London, and that it was well worth while, on the pretence of urgent business across the water, to pay twopence each way, merely to drink in the refreshing air wafted backwards and forwards along subway, platform, and tube. This was the Waterloo and City Railway, a short deep-level line on the tube principle, nearly 1Â¾ miles long, burrowing under the Thamesâ bed. At the terminus, by rather prolonged inclines and staircases, passengers could walk to the main or suburban platforms of Waterloo Station and catch the trains for Wimbledon, Hampton Court, Surbiton, etc. Like the City and South London, this railway meets a great want. Before its opening, City men living down the London and South Western line had no alternative but to catch a South Eastern train from Cannon Street or Charing Cross; to take an omnibus _viÃ¢_ the Strand across to Waterloo Bridge; or to cab it by devious routes _viÃ¢_ Blackfriars Bridge. Now they can reach Waterloo with ease, comfort, and economy. Under agreement, the line is worked by the London and South Western Railway Company. The electrical equipment is by the famous firm of Siemens Brothers, the generating station being up a blind alley adjoining [Illustration: FIG. 4. WATERLOO AND CITY RAILWAYâS NEW PATTERN CAR _By permission of the_ _âTramway and Railway Worldâ Publishing Co., London_] the dismal arched entrance to Waterloo from York Road. Each train seats 208 passengers; the average speed is 18 miles an hour, and its usefulness is proved by the fact that over two and a half million ordinary passengers were carried by it in one half-year, _i.e._ to December 31st, 1902 (not counting season-ticket holders), while the receipts for that period were Â£17,400. During the busy hours of morning and evening the large trains are used and always fill up rapidly, but in the slack times of midday single motor-cars, each carrying 50 passengers, are sufficient to cope with the traffic. The cars are rather stuffy, and, like the train cars, are narrow and low. At each end is a small partitioned-off âcab,â where sits a motor-man. No tickets are issued from the booking-office; but, as in an omnibus, the conductor comes round and collects the fares, giving a punched voucher in return, which is retained by the traveller. THE LIVERPOOL OVERHEAD ELECTRIC RAILWAY There are few overhead, or, rather, elevated, railways in the world. Somehow they do not seem to be popular, and the tendency, in England at least, is rather towards burrowing like the mole, than soaring above the street level. In Germany there is a wonderful instance of electrically driven overhead line between Elberfeld and Barmen, on the mono-rail principle, the trains hanging from tracks suspended high above rivers and public roads. At the great Beckton gas works there has been in use since 1894 an iron-built miniature railway elevated on pillars, and it is a curious sight to witness busy little engines incessantly hauling coal trucks from the pier to the retort houses. An ingenious example of the elevated principle is to be seen at the Victoria Station, Manchester, where a railway on a very reduced scale conveys passengersâ luggage from one platform to another, and idlers are never tired of watching it. The track, a double one, is suspended from the roof and runs between platforms five and six. The motive power is electricity, and the motor is placed between the wheels and the track, and it lifts and lowers a basket which holds about 15 cwt. of luggage. A wonderful instance of a _very_ elevated railway existed at Beachy Head while
{'title': 'Tube, Train, Tram, and Car; or, Up-to-date locomotion by Arthur H. Beavan', 'source': 'Project Gutenberg', 'lang': 'en'}