New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-12-09
By F. a. McKenzie$

BY F. A. McKenzie*
From a pamphlet issued By the
Meapes Printing and Engraving
Company, Ltd, London
DRITISH railways have played
a great and splendid part in
the war. Working with de-
pleted stats under war conditions,
they have enabled England TO move
millions Of men and millions Of tons
Of munitions with the utmost rapid
ity and with an entire absence of
confusion. They have met 10 the
full every demand. They have sent
their trained workers TO the colors
by the many score Of thousands.
They have torn up their lines and
given their locomotives and rolling
stock for the service Of the army IN
France. Sinking ancient rivalries,
they have come together, working as
one for the common good. The gov
eminent took control Of the lines
when hostilities began, but govern
mont control merely provided the
agency through which the railway
men themselves rallied to employ
their resources as an effective in
strument Of war.
Commercial VS..
War Railroads
The British and German railway
organizations before the war pre-
scented striking contrast. German
railways were almost wholly state
owned. Many Of them were built
primarily for purposes not of COM
merce, but of strategy. To the Ger
man Great General staff the railway
was one Of the foundations Of ma
tional war preparation. The rail-
way stats were selected from the
army and were virtually managed
as a branch Of the central military
organization. The very railway cars
were built to a size that could be
EMPLOYED for Transporting the maxi
mum number of men. Goods trucks
were planned so as 70 be suitable
when the moment came for the car
mage of guns and war material.
The British railways were pri-
yately owned and were built solely
for commercial purposes. The con-
troll of the principal lines was divided
among forty companies. These main
tanned only a minimum of co0pera-
ton among themselves, and wherever
they ran through the same territory
there was keen rivalry. British lines
were laid, the size of railway car
rjages and goods trucks decided and
the stats selected solely for the or
binary work of peace time. 1t was
the business of the railways TO pro-
vide for the needs of the communi-
ties they served and to obtain fair
return for their shareholders, and
rothing else. They were peace lines
laid down not where strategy die
tated, but where business was likely
to be best.
One thing, however, had been done,
/ a thing that was to prove Of vital i'm
i portance when war broke out. In
b 1871, following the Franco-Prussian
conflict, the British government took
power by act Of Parliament to &C
! quire by royal proclamation any or
all Of the railways of the United
Kingdom in time Of war. A commit
tee Of railway managers was already
in existence to deal with such a stu
alton. This body, known first as the
War Railway Council and afterward
as the Railway Executive Commit
tee. was to act as a central organi-
'zation, to give instructions and TO CO.
ordinate the activities of the differ
ent railways in war time. Working
in cooperation with it was the Engi-
neer and Railway staff COrps-a vol
unteer organization Of railway work
'ers whose purpose was 10 develop
schemes, methods and personnel for
the War Railway Service. 1t was
composed of general managers Of the
leading railways, leading contract
Urs, engineers and other railway
men
Month by month and year by year
he staff Corps worked out schemes
or the utilization Of our lines under
my contingency. 1t planned how to
AIRY out great movements Of troops
from one part 10 the other. Few, If
any, then contemplated more than
handling bodies Of men running into
total figure Of from four TO five
hundred thousand When, later, the
\ ,eeds Of the war raised the total 70
\ en- times the old maximum the
)lanS proved 70 have been so soundly
cid that the greater demands were
'asily met