RAILWAY MATTERS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21985, 8 January 1937, Page 13

RAILWAY MATTERS

‘ TO THE EDITOR OF THE PEEBS. Sir,—l should like to remark that the comment of the district traffic manager on my letter of Tuesday in reference to the labelling of railway carriages is not very satisfactory. It seems that the system is to label firstclass carriages X, Y, Z,. starting from the van or rear end. But supposing there are more than three carriages of this class, what then? Furthermore, I have always been under the impression that the custom was to place the flrst-fclass carriages somewhere about the middle of the train in the same way that the first-class part of a boat is always placed amidship. T am perfectly certain that I have frequently seen first-class carriages in other parts of a train besides the extreme rear. Then it seems that the second class ahp'/marked B, C,-D, E from the front or engine end. But what about A? What has poor A done that it should, no’., be included? “Letters. F, I, and N are not used in labelling cars,” says the traffic manager. But why should they not be? Is there any very weighty reason for their omission? Further, we are told that there is an indicator on the station platform to assist passengers in finding their cars. Well, with such a complicated system in operation something of the kind seems to be badly needed, and it would also ■seem to be necessary for passengers to arrive at the station a quarter of 'at. hour beforehand in order to study it out, '/ My own suggestion was that all carriages, whether first or second class, on all trains should be labelled, starting from the engine end, A, B, C, D, and as far on as necessary, using all the letters in their proper rotation and leaving none out. This would be so simple that any child could follow it and no “indicators” or anything of. thj kind would be needed. It would, in fact, be as simple as A, B, C. Is there any good reason why the suggestion. should not be adopted?— Yours, etC ’’ GEORGE INGRAM., January 6, 1937. [When this letter was referred, to the district traffic manager, Mr E. S. Brittenden, he said that the letter "A” is not used because all • cars used on expresses are classified “A” and each car bears this letter and the car number, i.e., A.IOOO. “In the circumstances, Mr Ingram will no doubt appreciate the complications that would arise were the letter ‘A’ shown on the reserved seat ticket,” he said. “All guards’ vans are similarly classified ‘F’ and apart from this, were ‘F’ used, it may on occasions be confused with E. Similarly, the letter T may be confused with the figure ‘one’ or the letter ‘J’; and ‘N’ may be confused with ‘M‘,’ particularly on the telephone. The present system of setting up trains and the labelling of cars has, after the experience of some years, been found to be the most suitable for all concerned. There are quite a number of reasons why Mr Ingram’s proposals are impracticable, and I am prepared to discuss these with him if he calls on me.”]