between the Highland and North British, the L. & N.W. and North
British, and the Great Southern & Western and Great Northern in
Ireland. On April 4 1914 the well-known horse “Dandy,” which had
so long worked the Port Carlisle branch of the North British railway,
at last gave place to a steam train. On Dec. 19 1915 occurred the
disastrous landslide at “The Warren,” Folkestone, necessitating the
closing of the S.E. & C.R. main line between Folkestone and Dover
throughout the war period. It was not reopened until Aug. 11 1919.
British Railways under War Conditions
Railway Executive Committee.—As far back as 1865 an Engineer and Railway Staff Corps had been formed to provide an organization of railway managers, engineers and contractors who, in the event of war, would, under the direction of the military authorities, superintend the operation of railways and carry out such additional works as might be necessary. In 1896 the Army Railway Council was constituted, this body being known from 1903 as the War Railway Council. From these bodies was formed in Nov. 1912 the Railway Executive Committee, comprising the general managers of certain leading railways. The work of the Committee was mainly advisory, but included certain preparatory measures which bore good fruit when, on Aug. 4 1914, on the declaration of war, nearly all railways in England, Scotland and Wales were taken over by the Government under the Regulation of the Forces Act 1871, and directed on behalf of the State by the Railway Executive Committee. It may be explained that this Committee was never intended to supersede the actual management of railways, but to issue directions and to coördinate the working of all lines concerned as required by the various emergencies as they arose. Otherwise, and notwithstanding the many uncontemplated developments in the scope and operation of the Committee throughout the war period, the ruling principle was always that the officers of the respective railways should continue to operate their lines without State interference.
Railway Control and Guarantee.—The Act of 1871 provided that, to avoid the complexities of payment for services rendered and other difficulties which necessarily would have arisen, the Government guaranteed to make up any ascertained deficiency in the aggregate net receipts of all the railways taken over as compared with the aggregate for the corresponding period of 1913. Throughout the war period, therefore, all ordinary financial arrangements on the operating side ceased, and the work of the Railway Clearing House in regard to the division of receipts according to ownership of lines and various arrangements between companies was discontinued. The original agreement provided for adjustment according to the conditions during the first half of the year 1914 as compared with the corresponding period in 1913, but, when the question of war bonuses to railway workers to meet the higher cost of living arose early in 1915, it was agreed that this proviso should cease to operate in consideration of the first 25% of the war bonus conceded in Feb. 1915 being borne entirely by the companies, though all subsequent increases were undertaken by the State. In Aug. 1915 the Government accepted the principle of making allowances to the railway companies supplementary to the periodical compensation payments in respect of deferred maintenance and renewal. At a later stage agreements were made as to the payment of interest upon various capital works unproductive at the time of the outbreak of war, or completed and brought into use during the earlier war period, and in regard to many other complicating factors which arose. Some of these agreements occasioned severe strictures by Lord Colwyn's Committee on Railway Agreements, whose report was issued early in 1921, but during the period of hostilities, and notwithstanding the very wide and to some extent undefined scope of control which was eventually forced upon the Railway Executive Committee, the arrangements made by the Committee on behalf of the State with the railway companies are generally regarded to have been reasonable and equitable.
The Government Profit on Railways.—It may be pointed out that, according to a Government return issued under date of April 30 1919, if all Government traffic had been charged for at authorized pre-war rates the amounts would have been as follows for the periods stated:—
| Aug. 5 to Dec. 31 1914 | £ 3,500,000 |
| Year 1915 | 10,279,104 |
| Year 1916 | 20,649,126 |
| Year 1917 | 35,698,554 |
| Year 1918 | 41,917,024 |
| Total | £112,043,808 |
For the corresponding periods the amounts which the Government had to provide by way of compensation were:—
| Aug. 5 1914 to Dec. 31 1915 | £15,946,839 |
| Year 1916 | 14,039,674 |
| Year 1917 | 24,075,768 |
| Year 1918 | 41,251,326 |
| Total | £95,313,607 |
Beside the actual working of the railways, the use of railway steamers, docks, canals, etc., represented a value estimated at from £10,000,000 to £15,000,000, while munition and similar work done (to the value of about £17,000,000) in railway workshops at cost price and therefore without profit to the companies, also the provision of locomotives, rolling stock, permanent way, etc., for use overseas, indicate the complexities of the arrangements ultimately entailed and the tremendous scope the utilization of the home railways for war purposes eventually attained. The Irish railways were not concerned at first in the Government control and guarantee. They were, however, taken over under similar conditions from Jan. 1 1917. The appended table shows the manner in which the control of railways in association with the Government guarantee operated.
In other words, the aggregate of all the freight, munition, troop and passenger traffic carried on Government account, if charged for, would greatly have exceeded the sum payable by the Government to bring up the annual net receipts to the pre-war level. It has to be remembered, however, that arrears of maintenance and cost of replacement of stock, etc., apart from what was essential at the time, could not figure very prominently in the accounts until after the termination of hostilities. After the Armistice, however, heavy costs were entailed under these and other headings, while the reduction of Government traffic to the relatively very small figures of the post-war period converted the profit of the war years into a serious deficit. The fact remains, however, that while the war emergency continued the bargain made was a very good one for the State, and it was only in 1918 that the, by then, generous wage and war-bonus concessions to the railway staff tended to convert the profit to the State into a deficiency—even then a relatively small one.
Operation of Government Guarantee
| 1915 | 1916 | 1917 | 1918 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Revenue earned by railways over expenditure[1] | 45,171,403 | 49,420,063 | 53,885,849 | 44,068,105 |
| Amount of compensation paid by Government to railway | ||||
| companies on basis of published accounts for 1913 | 46,130,000 | 46,319,000 | 46,515,000 | 46,576,000 |
| Profit or Loss to Government | −958,597 | +3,101,063 | +7,370,849 | −2,507,895 |
War Bonuses and Concessions to Staff.—As showing the tremendous effect of these concessions it may be mentioned that for the financial year ended March 31 1920, as compared with 1913, the increased cost of working the railways was estimated at 57,000,000 on account of war wage and other concessions, and
- ↑ Includes estimated value of services rendered by railways to the Government free of charge, as shown in White Paper, Cmd. 402, apart from value of services rendered to the Government in respect of steamboats, canals, docks, hotels, etc., estimated at from £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 for the war period.
