RAILWAY PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 53, 26 November 1928, Page 16

RAILWAY PROBLEM

A LAYMAN’S OPINION. Mr. Henry Wright, of Penrith, in a letter to the “Yorkshire Post,” tackles the railway problem from an individual’s point of view. He writes: “As a suggestion from an outsider towards evolving a new and prosperous use of the railways, I ask, why not localise the lines, so that the short distance passengers, now lost by the hundred thousand to road buses and chars-a-bancs, might be recaptured? To focus, in homely fashion, the localising of the railways. I will imagine myself to have leased from a railway company 25 miles of their line between two mod-erately-sized market towns. The lease is made subject to right-of-way for expresses—say six expresses in the 24 hours. Also, there is to be right-of-. way for luggage trains, not to be run at a speed of more than 20 miles an hour except between midnight and 5 a.m. For the rest, I have my bit of line for what I can make of it out of local traffic. I begin by building light and attractive rail buses each to hold 36 persons. When put on the rail track they glide along like oil, and their great single glass windows, and springbottomed seats increase the joyous airiness of movement; no jolting and jumping over rough stones; no breathless pulling up hills with blood-curd-ling back-slips of the brakes added to all kinds of ‘near shaves,’ with the over-abounding road traffic. Near every habitation along my 25 miles I shall be prepared to pull up or set down, from my easily made little footpaths on the line side. Here and there I may. go to the expense of a shelter ‘halt,’ such as some of the companies have feebly attempted in their half-hearted efforts to compete with road traffic. “Now, what do I offer to make the public forsake the roads? A half-hour or hourly service, according to needs, only interrupted at set hours by ‘right-of-way trains.’ The slow luggage trains would fall into line with my buses just as do the road lorries, and I should, of course, run my own goods lorry buses at tempting tariff rates. Then I should advertise to the public what delightful, smooth-running, nerveresting carriages I supply them with as compared to bumping ‘roadsters,’ and follow that up with lower fare quotations, because wear and tear and fuel would all be less on my level roads. Altogether, such a ‘song’ could be made as would surely attract the public. This would leave the road buses at their natural vocation of bringing passengers from outlying villages to my crystal saloons, and, incidentally, the new side paths would be safer for pedestrians than the present roads. Having thus set this 25 miles in order I will hand it back to the railway company. with the further suggestion to amplify the sections for ‘localisation’ tip to 50 miles, or according to the population densities, and then to go on with the work of putting the now antiquated ‘railway trains’ in their proper place.”