New Britain herald., 1916-01-01
NATURALIZATION OF
 BRITISH RAILWAYS
Most Quietly and Successfully
 Accomplished Task Of War

Correspondence of The Associated Press.)
 London, Dec. 27.-One of the most quietly and successfully accomplished tasks of the war in England was the naturalization Of the railways of the kingdom. At last after more than year of application to detail, the chairman of the executive committee in charge of the roads reports that the scheme "is working as smoothly as if the lines no longer had their own individuality
 This executive committee, which sits continuously Somewhere in Lon don," is the general staff of the rail way branch of the British Govern ment. On behalf of the government, it has absolute control of railways, rolling stock, locomotives, and staffs, inclu ding every mile of steam road in Great Britain
 Strong Body of Experts.
 The committee is the strongest body of railway experts ever brought to- gether. It includes the managers of nearly all the great railroads, together with host of specialists and tech njcal experts specially drafted for the purpose, under the chairmanship of Sir H. A. Walker, head of the London and Southwestern lines.
 Our policy of control" writes m ember of the committee, "has been not to supersede the normal manage nent of the roads, but to coordinate the whole of the railways of the country through several groups into 9 single system available instantly for all emergencies. The general rights of the public are protected by various special acts of Parliament
 General Staff Divided.
 '"The general staff controlling this complex fabric of railways is so di- yided that it is in session twenty -four hours of every day of the week. In an instant, by a single order from this nerve center, we could turn every To- comotive and car in Great Britain out of private use to respond to emer- gency demands of the war office.
 AS I have said, the lines are grouped, mainly along sectional lines, and to correspond with the immediate requirements of army and navy trans port. Each section is in charge of officials selected from the staffs of the roads represented in the group, with suitable army representation
 Demands Fall Differently.
 The demands of the war office have fallen differently upon different lines. In some cases ordinary traffic has been largely demoralized for con- ci1 1,1o Ic have been scarcely affected. Tn a single month the Great Eastern, for example, ran 870 special military trains with 2O,OO0 cars. The Great Western in the same month ran 2,200 special trains on war business.
 The Southwestern system, however, has had to carry the greatest burden of traffic The experience of the south African war had taught much of value to the officials of this road, and they were foremost in organizing the other lines for the present war. The enormous number of troop and supply trains which this system has operated successfully has been a reve- iation even to the war office officials At times, the rails from London to the coast have been occupied by al- m est continuous lines of trains, run ming just as close together as safety would permit, ordinary train service teing sandwiched in wherever the de- mands of the military left the slight est opening.
 So excellently was the work of this line done during the early period of greatest pressure that the chairman of the railway general staff sent special message of reorganization to r. ffl,s- tion of the loyal and patriotic manner in which the employees have carried out their onerous duties.''