APPENDIX VI

A TIME-TABLE OF GOODS TRAINS

(Compiled from the various Railway Companies' working TimeTables)

GIVING PARTICULARS OF 339 EFFECTIVE TRAINS ENTERING LONDON IN 24 HOURS, BUT EXCLUDING THE 700 TRAINS DAILY JOURNEYING BETWEEN LONDON'S EXISTING 74 GOODS STATIONS, AS THESE TRAINS WOULD BE RENDERED UNNECESSARY BY THE ADVENT OF THE CLEARING HOUSE.

MEMORANDUM

The object of this provisional time-table is to show the time of arrival at and departure from the Clearing House of the trains now running into and out of the various London Goods stations.

All trains which are included in the Railway Companies' Working Time-Tables are included in this time-table, and the present time of departure of up trains has been adhered to.

As regards the time of arrival in London of up trains, delays caused by shunting, etc., in the London area have been eliminated, and the trains have been brought straight through to the Clearing House as quickly as the exigencies of other traffic will permit. All stoppages at stations outside London have, however, been left as at present shown in the Working Time-Tables, and the speed of the trains has not been altered.

With regard to the time of departure from London of down trains, these have been despatched, as far as possible, at times which will enable them to reach their destination about the same time as at present, all unnecessary delays in London being eliminated. The speed of the trains has not been altered.

Particular care has been taken to ensure the scheduling of trains bearing important traffic, or boat trains, being exactly as at present.

As regards the allotment of the twenty-four berths in the Clearing House, six berths are given to the trains arriving by the Southern tubes, three being allotted to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway, two to the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway, and one to the London & South Western Railway. These are the six berths on the west side of the Clearing House.

The twelve centre berths are allotted to the trains arriving by the Northern tubes, three each to the Great Northern Railway, London & North Western Railway and Great Western Railway, and three shared between the Midland Railway, Great Central Railway and Metropolitan Railway.

The five eastern berths are allotted to the trains arriving by the Eastern tubes, three being given to the Great Eastern Railway, and two to the London, Tilbury & Southend Railway.1 Berth 19 is a spare berth for any emergency traffic or other special purposes.

The minimum time allowed in the tubes between two trains at the busiest hours is six minutes, but as a rule the interval is longer.

The times have been so arranged that in the event of its being possible or desirable, for any reason, only to use two tubes in each direction, the service could be maintained without any alteration except that the time between two trains in the tubes, at the busiest periods, would only be three minutes. However, the Clearing House scheme would undoubtedly lead to a complete re-arrangement of traffic and a great economy in the number of trains it would be necessary to bring into the Clearing House, the first of these economies being the employment of full length trains-i.e., 1,200 feet.

The minimum time allowed for clearing a train (i.e., receiving, unloading, reloading and despatching-from entrance to exit of the Clearing House) is half an hour.

It is probable that in a very large number of cases it will be found possible to bring in two trains together to the Clearing House, which can accommodate seventy wagons at a time in a berth, in which case the intervening periods between trains in the tubes would be considerably increased. In default of any information as to the length of trains, it is difficult to

1 The former name of this railway has been adhered to for purposes of convenience.

say to what extent and in what cases this could be done. The course has, however, been adopted in the case of several trains arriving by the Southern tubes, where it is known that the London traffic is very light.

Small suburban trains, which are not mentioned in this timetable, are similarly dealt with, being joined to trains from a distance at the convenient junction.

It will be noticed that in some cases (particularly in the case of trains arriving by the Northern tubes) trains leave their berth in the Clearing House empty and return later in the day to pick up their traffic. This course has been adopted as the only one by which the present timing of such trains could be sufficiently faithfully reproduced. It would not, however, be necessary for these trains to leave the Clearing House, there being ample room to keep them there for such time as they are detained.

Some of these trains would be employed in their spare time in carrying goods to and fro between the Clearing House and the storage warehouse.

This is not an attempt to produce an ideal time-table, but merely to show how existing traffic could be dealt with without disturbing existing arrangements.