The number of trains run daily depends on the pleasure of the directors. There are ordinary, mail, and express trains; of this last kind, two usually go each way daily, the fares on which are sometimes higher than by the others. Ordinary fares are about 2id. per mile first class, ltd. second class, and ld. to 1id. third class; but on some lines the fares are considerably lower. According to one of the provisions of a general act, all companies.must run one train daily each way, stopping at all stations, and at a rate of speed not less than 12 m. per hour, at a fare of a penny a mile. Some of the express trains are run at very high speeds, and with wonderful punctuality. On June 1, 1872, London was brought, for the first time, within 9i. hours of Edinburgh, by a train run ning on the East coast route,' which, deducting stoppages, travels at an average speed of early 47 m. an hour. By an act, 5 and 6 Vict. cap. 79, there is payable to government a duty at and after the rate of £5 per £100 upon all sums received or charged for the hire, fare, or conveyance of all passengers." By 7 and 8 Vict. cap. 85, it is enacted that no tax shall be levied on the receipts for passengers conveyed at fares not exceeding one penny per mile; but by the 26 and 27 Vict. cap. 33, it is enacted that this exemption shall only extend to trains running six days in the week, or on market-days for the conveyance of passengers at one penny per mile. From this passenger-tax Ireland is exempted.
All trains are accompanied by a ", guard," who is responsible for their management while running. For the most part, guards are-intelligent and obliging, and do all in their power to render service to the passengers. or must we omit to say that the porters on duty are remarkable for the trouble they take to carry luggage, find cabs at Vie termini; and to answer civilly such inquiries as may be put to them by strangers. It raay be said with perfect justice, that in no department of affairs in Great Britain is there seen such readiness to oblige as in that connected with railways. the vast number of servants on some lines—the total on all lines is probably about 300,000— the general good conduct that is shown, and the few accidents that occur, constitute a social phenomenon.
According to English routine, passengers are allowed to find their way promiscuously to the proper carriages, the only check being a call by the guard to "show tickets" pre- . vious to starting. All passengers are expected to see their luggage labeled for the place ,of destination, and to point out what belongs to them on arrival. This is a loose prac tice, often remonstrated against, but it suits the temperament and self-relying habits of the people. Amidst the crush of traffic, and with little time to spare, the formalities of the continental system would be unendurable. Should labeled packages, resigned to the porters and guard, be lost, recourse lies against the company. Another peculiarity of rifilway traveling in Great Britain consists in the privacy secured to passengers while on their journey. Instead of being intruded on, as in the American and continental
railways, by the constant perambulation of the guard through the train, they are left unmolested to read, talk, or sleep, according as fancy may direct. This very seclusion. however, is thought to be attended with a disadvantage—namely, that passengers are unable to call for the assistance of the guard in cases of threatened outrage by one of their number. To all the numerous devices for summoning the guard, if need lie, stopping the train, there is unfortunately the grave objection, that if passengers were enabled to call the guard at pleasure, they would frequently do so for no sufficient reason, as whim or imaginary fear prompted; and also, that the unexpected stoppage of trains would seriously derange the keeping of time, and in many lines jeopardize the safety of the whole of the passengers. Seemingly, it would b3 difficult to fall upon any plan free of this species of objection, unless recourse be had to the American construc tion of carriages, and the free perambulation of the guard throurrh the trains—a remedy which involves a revolution in English railway transit, as well as inEnglish feelings and man tiers.
To enable companies to reckon easily with each other as regards intercommunica tion of traffic in passengers, goods, use of carriages, etc., an institution called the clearing-house has been established in London, to which tickets are transmitted for cross-reckoning and settlement. There is a similar establishment in Dublin. See CLEAR ING-HOUSE.
Cost of Working.—The cost of working railways, including general expenditure, in Great Britain amounts to from 48 to 50 per cent of the returns from traffic. The remainder forms the divisible profit to pay—lst, the interest on debentures; and 2d, the dividend to shareholders. Of these shareholders, some, as defined by statute, have a preference claim of 5 per cent per annum, what is left over being divisible ordinary or original shareholders. In the general expenditure of railway companies is included the outlay for passenger-tax, also police, poor, and parish rates. Besides sup porting the poor, the railways in Scotland are rated like heritors (q.v.) for building new parish churches.
According to a return made by railway companies to the board of trade for 1871, the cost of running trains was on an average of 30.33d. per mile, or say about £13 for 100 miles. Lowness of fares can only be secured by a large and well-sustained traffic: and the main reason why fares are much higher than they seemingly might be, is the fre quent insufficiency of the number of passengers compared with the accommodation pro vided for them. A striking exemplification of the possibility of conveying large num bers at very low fares is afforded in the case of "excursion trains," in which sometimes 1000 individuals are taken 50 or more miles and brought back the same day for one or two shillings each.