Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1900-01-05
LONDON SUBURBAN TRAFFIC
over oo0,o0O,OO Passengers Carried
Annually-3OO,O0 Accommodated
Every Day at Single Station.

i
| 300 or 5000, 900, furnishes the Opportun-
.ty for the movement. of an immense
| passenger traffic; consequently it is not
| surprising that that great metropolis
| IAN boast of single omnibus line car
| rying 200,O00,000 people a year, at an
average rate of about three cents each.
What is more remarkable is the fact
| that each one of this multitude is in
variab bly, provided with a seat. To con-
vey them some 1900 buses and 10000
| horses are required. The company it
self is a remarkably prosperous one
and pays big dividends. While our own
steam roads enjoy Boston traffic of
less than 100000 passengers per year,
| it is safe to say that the London rail-
roads handle upward of 500, 000, 900 per
year. If we are to believe the London
| Engineer, one of the most conservative
| of weeklies, the Waterloo station of the
London and Southwestern railway sur
passes all other stations in magnitude
| of traffic.
| Were not the reputation Of the En-
gineer so trustworthy its estimates of
| this traffic would seem incredible. 1t
states that the Waterloo station has to
deal with 500 trains per day, and esti-
mates that each of these represents 400
passengers and so packages, which
gives 100000 passengers and $4,000
| packages to be moved in 20 hours, the
working day, an average of 10000 pas
sengers and 5000 packages. But as the
traffic is unequally distributed, from
8 to II there are 165 trans; from to
z p. m. 200 trains, or &c per hour.
| There are ten platforms and 16 tracks
at the Waterloo station to handle this
| immense business, consequently it is
not surprising that the Times and
| other London journals contain numer-
Gus complaints of serious delays in the
train movements. The average South
western train is given IL coaches, many
of them equal in length to two ordinary
| ones. This gives $500 coaches for an
ordinary days work, but when the spe-
| Gals are required there are as many as
| 1880 trains run, requiring 1850 coaches
| in and out of the station in 20 hours.
| Twenty thousand people make huge
crowd, yet it is claimed that 16 times as
many enter Waterloo each day. Add
to this the great piles of baggage and
| the station must be very active local
| ity.
| A notable feature of the London
| steam railroads is what are designat-
| ed as "workingmen's trains" These
| two-cent fare trains were decreed few
years ago by parliament to enable
workingmen to get away from the
| squalid quarters of the city. The Great
Eastern, for instance, was compelled
| to run a train out and in for 20 miles,
on which the fare for part or the
whole distance is a penny, or only two
cents, a cheap rate, but not the lowest
in the world. Although the railway
managers bitterly complained of and
| denounced this act of parliament, COM
| polling them to run two-cent-fare local
| trains, the result has been that instead
| of only the limited number that par
lament actually required of them they
| have themselves voluntarily added hun
| dreds to the number, ard the larger
roads are carrying from 100000 to s.
900 upon these trains each year. AS
| evidence of the proftableness of the
uniform two-cent fare the railways,
| though not compelled by the parlia-
mentary act to return the workingmen
until or after six o'clock. the actual fact
is that most of them allow return trip
any time after the noon hour.
Some of the London railroads sell a
season ticket for $25 year good for a
| distance out of four miles, which the
| holder can use as often as he pleases.
| One of the railroads, the Great Eastern,
| referred to above has recently expend-
| ed in charging and improving its Liv-
| erpool street station, which accommo-
dates a daily average of $4,000 passen-
gers, S1O,oeO,0 900 for the purpose of bet
| ter accommodating its suburban traf-
| ic. Other roads are eXpending millions
upon millions to increase their accom-
| modations to this class of business.
One corporation is promoting the con-
| struction of a trolley line largely upon
| its own locations for the purpose of re-
| lieying its main line of its suburban
| traffic, which is so rapidly increasing.
At the recent semiannual meeting of
| stockholders of the London railways
| more than one chairman in speaking of
| this suburban business claimed that it
| was very profitable character and
| warranted the large expenditures it re-
| quired.
All this is in marked contrast to the
| local railroad policy developed at re-
cent hearing before our own railroad
| commission, where in behalf of one of
our Boston railroads figures were sub
| mitted that apparently showed that the
suburban traffic within the Is mile lin
it of the hub cost upward of $4,000
last year more than was received for it,
with no allowance for the large capital
employed in its manipulation. And
while representatives of some Of the
other roads submitted no figures they
did not hesitate to claim that higher
rates upon suburban traffic should be
Standardization Transcript.
Il Three Hundred Years Old.
/ Salem n. j., is notable for being one
bf the oldest towns in that state. One