Joseph Tatlow - Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland

J >> Joseph Tatlow >> Fifty Years of Railway Life in England, Scotland and Ireland

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These figures indicate what Irish railways had accomplished in the decade
ending with December, 1900, and betoken, I venture to affirm, a keen
spirit of enterprise. These ten years had witnessed the introduction of
breakfast and dining cars on the trains, of parlour cars, long bogie
corridor carriages, the lighting of carriages by electricity, the
building of railway hotels in tourist districts, the establishment of
numerous coach and steamboat tours, the quickening of tourist traffic
generally, the adoption of larger locomotives of greatly increased power,
the acceleration of the train service, the laying of heavier and smoother
permanent way, and a widespread extension of cheap fares--tourist,
excursion, week-end, etc. It was a period of great activity and progress
in the Irish railway world, with which I was proud and happy to be
intimately connected. But what a return for all this effort and
enterprise the Irish railway companies received--3 pounds 17s. 10d. per
cent. on the whole capital expended, plus a liberal amount of abuse from
the Press and politicians, neither of whom ever paused to consider what
Ireland owed to her railways, which, perhaps, all things considered, was
the best conducted business in the country. It, however, became the
vogue to decry Irish lines as inefficient and extortionate, and a fashion
once started, however ridiculous, never lacks supporters. The public,
like sheep, are easily led. In England the average return on capital
expended was 4 pounds 0s. 5d., and in Scotland 4 pounds 2s. 2d.

In the spring of 1901, Mr. W. H. Mills, the Engineer of the Great
Northern Railway of Ireland, and I were entrusted by the Board of Works
with an investigation into the circumstances of the Cork, Blackrock and
Passage Railway in regard to a proposed Government loan to enable the
Company to discharge its liabilities and complete an extension of its
railway to Crosshaven. It was an interesting inquiry, comprising a
broken contract, the cost of completing unfinished works, the financial
prospects of the line when such works were completed, and other cognate
matters. A Bill in Parliament promoted by the Railway Company in the
following year became necessary in connection with the loan, which after
our Report the Government granted, and I had to give evidence in regard
to it. In the same session I appeared also before two other
Parliamentary Committees, so again I had a busy time outside the ordinary
domestic duties pertaining to railway management.

On the first day of November, 1902, my good friend Walter Bailey and I
started on a visit to Egypt. It, like Constantinople and Spain and
Portugal, occupied more than the usual month's vacation, but as these
extra long excursions were taken only every two or three years, and as it
was never my habit to nibble at holidays by indulging in odd days or week-
ends, my conscience was clear, especially as my Chairman and Directors
cordially approved of my seeing a bit of the world, and readily granted
the necessary leave of absence. As for Bailey, he always declared this
Egyptian tour was the holiday of his life. To continue, we arrived in
Cairo, _via_ Trieste and Alexandria, on the 10th. There we were met by
Mr. Harrison, the general manager of Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, and
their principal dragoman, _Selim_, whom he placed during our stay in
Cairo at our disposal. _Selim_ was a Syrian and the prince of dragomans;
a handsome man, of Oriental dignity and gravity, arrayed in wonderful
robes, which by contrast with our Occidental attire made Bailey and me
feel drab and commonplace. At Cairo we stayed for eight days at
Shepheard's Hotel, and under _Selim's_ guidance made good use of our
time. On the ninth day we began a delightful journey up the Nile. Mr.
Frank Cook had insisted upon our being the guests of his firm on their
tourist steamer _Amasis_.

My relations with Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son go back for many years, and
with the Midland of England, my _Alma Mater_, the firm is, perhaps, more
closely associated than with any other railway. It was on the Midland
system that, in 1841, its business began. In that year the founder of
the firm, Mr. Thomas Cook, arranged with the Midland the first public
excursion train on record. It ran from Leicester to Loughborough and
back at a fare of one shilling, and carried 570 passengers. This was the
first small beginning of that great tourist business which now encircles
the habitable globe. Mr. Thomas Cook was a Derbyshire man and was born
in 1808. My father knew him well, often talked to me about him, and told
me stories of the excursion and tourist trade in its early days. But I
am digressing, and must return to Old Father Nile, who was in great
flood. We saw him at his best. His banks were teeming with happy dusky
figures and the smiling irrigated land was bright with fertility. Our
journey to Assouan occupied eleven days, a leisurely progress averaging
about two and a-half miles an hour. During the night we never steamed,
the _Amasis_ lying up while we enjoyed quiet rest in the quietest of
lands. Of course we visited all the famous temples and tombs, ruins and
monuments, of ancient Egypt; and had many camel and donkey rides on the
desert sands before reaching the first cataract. At Luxor, where we
stayed for five days, we were pleasantly surprised at seeing Mr. Harrison
and Mr. Warren Gillman come on board. The latter was Secretary of
Messrs. Cook and Son's Egyptian business, and has, I believe, since risen
higher in the service of the firm.

The great Dam at Assouan was just completed and we traversed its entire
length on a trolley propelled by natives. Assouan detained us for four
days; then, time being important, we travelled back to Cairo by railway.
Three more interesting days were passed in the Babylonian city, then
homewards we went by the quickest route attainable.

Whilst in Cairo and on our journey up the Nile, Bailey and I wrote,
jointly, a series of seven articles on "Egypt and its Railways." These
appeared in the _Railway News_ in seven successive weeks during December
and January.

Our last hours in the land of the Pharaohs were filled with regret at
having to leave it so soon. Said Bailey: "Cannot you, before we go,
write a verse of Farewell?" So I composed the following:--

Egypt, farewell, and farewell Father Nile,
Impenetrable Sphinx, eternal pile
Of broad-based pyramid, and spacious hypostyle!

Farewell Osiris, Anubis and Set,
Horus and Ra, and gentle Meskenhet,
Ye sacred gods of old, O must we leave you yet?

The mighty works of Ramesis the Great,
Memphis, Karnak and Thebes asseverate
The pomp and glory, Egypt, of your ancient state.

Bright cloudless land! Your skies of heavenly blue
Bend o'er your fellaheen the whole day through;
Night scarce diminishes their sweet celestial hue.

Realm of enchantment, break your mystic spell,
Land of the lotus, smiling land farewell!
For ever it may be, what oracle can tell?

CHAPTER XXVII.
KING EDWARD, A CHANGE OF CHAIRMEN, AND MORE RAILWAY LEGISLATION

The memorable visit to Ireland of His Majesty King Edward, in the summer
of 1903, which embraced all parts of the country, furnished I think no
incident so unique as his reception in Connemara. On the morning of the
30th July the Royal Yacht anchored off Leenane, in Killery Bay, and His
Majesty landed in Connaught. He was accompanied by Queen Alexandra and
Princess Victoria. This was the first time, I believe, that the people
west of the Shannon had seen their King, and whatever their politics, or
aspirations were, he was certainly received with every manifestation of
sincere good will. His genial personality and ingratiating _bonhomie_,
his humanity, and his sportsmanlike characteristics, appealed at once to
Irish instincts, and Connaught was as enthusiastic in its welcome as the
rest of Ireland. The Royal party motored from Leenane to Recess, where
they lunched at the Company's hotel, and where, of course, the Chairman,
directors and chief officers of the railway, as well as local magnates,
were assembled to assist in the welcome. On nearing Recess a surprise
awaited the King. He was met by the "Connemara Cavalry," which escorted
the Royal Party to the hotel and acted as bodyguard. Mr. John
O'Loughlin, of Cashel, had organised this new and unexpected addition to
His Majesty's Forces. It consisted of about 100 farmers, farmer's sons
and labourers, of all ages from 18 to 80, mounted (mostly bareback) on
hardy Connemara ponies. "Buffalo Bill" hats, decorated with the Royal
colours or with green ribbon streamers, distinguished them from others.
It was a striking scene, unexpected, novel, unique; but quite in harmony
with the surroundings and the wild and romantic scenery of Connemara and
the Killeries. The King plainly showed his hearty appreciation. After
lunch their Majesties visited the marble quarries, situated some three
miles distant, and reached by a rough and rocky precipitous mountain
road, for which motor cars were entirely unsuited. For this journey the
marble quarry people had ordered a carriage and horses from Dublin, but
which, by some unfortunate occurrence, had not turned up. Though the
only carriage available in the neighbourhood was ill-suited for royalty,
the King and Queen, good naturedly, made little of that. They were too
delighted with the unmistakable warmth of their welcome to mind such a
trifle. Again the "Cavalry" were in attendance and escorted the party to
the quarries and back.

The Royal visit to Ireland, on the whole, was an unqualified success, and
there were many who hoped and believed that the King's good will towards
the country and its people, and his remarkable gifts as a peacemaker,
would in some way help to a solution of the Irish question; but, alas!
that question is with us still, and when and how it will be solved no man
can tell. For myself, I am one of those who indulge in _hope_,
remembering that Time, in his healing course, has a way of adjusting
human misunderstandings and of bringing about the seemingly impossible.

It was in this year (1903) that I first met Charles Dent, the present
General Manager of the Great Northern Railway of England. He had been
appointed General Manager of the Great Southern and Western Railway in
succession to R. G. Colhoun. Dent and I often met. We found we could do
good work for our respective companies by reducing wasteful competition
and adopting methods of friendly working. In this we were very
successful. A man of few words, disdaining all unnecessary formalities,
but getting quickly at the heart and essence of things, it was always a
pleasure to do business with him.

In this year also I enjoyed some variety by way of an inquiry which I
made for the Board of Works, concerning certain proposed light railway
extensions, called the Ulster and Connaught, and which involved the
ticklish task of estimating probable traffic receipts and working
expenses--a task for which the gift of prophecy almost is needed. To
determine, in this uncertain world, the future of a railway in embryo
might puzzle the wisest; but, with the confidence of the expert, I faced
the problem and, I hope, arrived at conclusions which were at least
within a mile of the mark.

In 1904 that fine old railway veteran, Sir Ralph Cusack, resigned his
position of Chairman of the Midland and was succeeded by the Honourable
Richard Nugent, youngest son of the ninth Earl of Westmeath; Major H. C.
Cusack, Sir Ralph's nephew and son-in-law, becoming Deputy Chairman--the
first (excepting for a few brief months in 1903 when Mr. Nugent occupied
the position) the Midland ever had. With Sir Ralph's vacation of the
chair, autocratic rule on the Midland, which year by year, had steadily
been growing less, disappeared entirely and for ever. Well, Sir Ralph in
his long period of office had served the Midland faithfully, with a
single eye to its interests, and good wishes followed him in his
retirement. Mr. Nugent was a small man, that is physically, but
intellectually was well endowed. He had scholarly tastes and business
ability in pretty equal parts. Movement and activity he loved, and, as
he often told me, preferred a holiday in Manchester or Birmingham to the
Riviera or Italian Lakes. He liked to be occupied, was fond of details,
and possessed a lively curiosity. Sometimes he was thought, as a
chairman, to err in the direction of too rigid economy, but on a railway
such as the Midland, and in a country such as Ireland, economy was and is
an excellent thing, and if he erred, it was on the right side. Truth,
candour, courage and enthusiasm marked his character in a high degree.
Fearless in speech, the art of dissimulation he never learned. I shall
not readily forget a speech he once made at the Railway Companies'
Association in London. It was on an occasion of great importance, when
all the principal companies of the United Kingdom were present. It was
altogether unpremeditated, provoked by other speeches with which he
disagreed, and its directness and courage--for it was a bold and frank
expression of honest conviction, such as tells in any assembly--created
some stir and considerable comment. Of plain homely mother-wit he had an
uncommon share, and his mind was stored with quotations which came out in
his talk with wonderful ease and aptness. A shrewd observer, his
comments (always good-natured if critical) on his fellow men were worth
listening to.

Our almost daily intercourse was intimate and frank. Sometimes we
wandered into the pleasant fields of poetry and literature, but never to
the neglect of business. He had an advantage that I greatly envied; a
splendid memory; could repeat verse after verse, stanza upon stanza,
whole cantos almost, from his favourite poet, Byron. It was at the half-
yearly meetings of shareholders (they were held half-yearly in his day)
that he specially shone, not in his address to them (for that he _would_
persist in reading) but in the after proceedings when the heckling began.
This, during his chairmanship, was often severe enough, for owing to
unavoidably increased expenditure, dividends were diminishing and
shareholders, in consequence, were in anything but complacent mood.
Question time always put him on his mettle. Then his mother-wit came
out, his lively humour and practical common sense--all unstudied and
natural. The effect was striking. Rarely did he fail in disarming
criticism, producing harmony, and sending away dissentients in good
temper, though some of them, I know, sometimes afterwards wondered how it
came about that they had been so easily placated.

From 1903 to 1906 several Acts of Parliament affecting railways generally
came into force, four of which were of sufficient importance to merit
attention. The first, the _Railways (Electric Power) Act_, 1903, was a
measure to facilitate the introduction and use of electrical power on
railways, and invested the Board of Trade with authority to make Orders
for that purpose, which were to have the same effect as if enacted by
Parliament.

The second, the _Railway Fires Act_, 1905, was an Act to give
compensation for damage by fires caused by sparks or cinders from railway
engines, and increased the liability of railway companies. It _inter
alia_, enacted that the fact that the offending engine was used under
statutory powers should not affect liability in any action for damage.

Next came the _Trades Disputes Act_, 1906, a short measure of five
clauses, but none the less of great importance; a democratic law with a
vengeance! It is one of the four Acts which A. A. Baumann, in his recent
book, describes as being "in themselves a revolution," and of this
particular Act he says it "placed the Trade Unions beyond the reach of
the laws of contract and of tort." It also legalised peaceful picketing,
that particular form of persuasion with which a democratic age has become
only too familiar.

Lastly, the _Workmen's Compensation Act_, of 1906, an Act to consolidate
and amend the law with respect to compensation to workmen for injuries
suffered in the course of their employment, is on the whole a beneficial
and useful measure, to which we have grown accustomed.

In these years I had other holiday trips abroad; some with my family to
France and Switzerland, and two with my friend, John Kilkelly. One of
these two was to Denmark and Germany; the other to Monte Carlo and the
Riviera. In Germany, at Altona, we saw the Kaiser "in shining armour,"
fresh from the autumnal review of his troops, though indeed I should
scarcely say _fresh_, for he looked tired and pale, altogether different
to the stern bronzed warrior depicted in his authorised photographic
presentments which confronted us at every turn. Kilkelly was a busy, but
never seemed an overworked man, due I suppose to some constitutional
quality he enjoyed. Added to a good professional business of his own, he
was Solicitor to the Midland, Crown Solicitor for County Armagh,
Solicitor to the Galway County Council, and, in _his leisure hours_,
farmed successfully some seven or eight hundred acres. He had a fine
portly presence, and though modesty itself, could not help looking as if
he were _somebody_, like the stranger in London, accosted by Theodore
Hook in the Strand, who was of such imposing appearance that the wit
stopped him and said: "I beg your pardon, sir, but, may I ask, are you
anybody in particular?"

At Monte Carlo we both lost money but revelled in abundant sunshine, and
contemplated phases of humanity that to us were new and strange. Soon we
grew tired of the gaming table and its glittering surroundings, bade it
adieu, and explored other parts of the Riviera, moving at our ease from
scene to scene and from place to place.

Kilkelly was an excellent travelling companion, readily pleased, and
taking things as they came with easy philosophy. But never more shall we
travel together, at home or abroad. A year ago, at the age of 82, he
passed from among us on the last long journey which we all must take.

_Requiescat in pace_!

CHAPTER XXVIII.
VICE-REGAL COMMISSION ON IRISH RAILWAYS, 1906-1910, AND THE FUTURE OF
RAILWAYS

In previous pages I have spoken of the manner in which the railways of
Ireland had long been abused. This abuse, as the years went on, instead
of diminishing grew in strength if not in grace. The Companies were
strangling the country, stifling industry, thwarting enterprise; were
extortionate, grasping, greedy, inefficient. These were the things that
were said of them, and this in face of what the railways were
accomplishing, of which I have previously spoken. Politics were largely
at the bottom of it all, I am sure, and certain newspapers joined in the
noisy chorus. At length the House of Commons, during the Session of
1905, rewarded the agitators by adopting the following resolution:--

"_That in the opinion of this House, excessive railway rates and
defective transit facilities, generally, constitute a serious bar to
the advancement of Ireland and should receive immediate attention from
the Government with a view to providing a remedy therefor_."

This Resolution bore fruit, for in the ensuing year (1906), in the month
of July, a Vice-Regal Commission was appointed to inquire into the
subject, and the Terms of Reference to the Commission included these
words:--

"_What causes have retarded the expansion of traffic upon the Irish
lines and their full utilization for the development of the
agricultural and industrial resources of the country; and, generally,
by what methods the economical, efficient, and harmonious working of
the Irish Railways can best be secured_."

As the newspapers said, the Irish Railway Companies were put upon their
trial. As soon as the Commission was appointed the Companies (19 in
number) assembled at the Railway Clearing House in Dublin to discuss the
situation, and decide upon a course of action. Unanimously it was
resolved to act together and to make a common defence. A Committee,
consisting of the Chairman and General Managers of the seven principal
companies, was appointed and invested with full power to act in the
interest of all, as they should find desirable. The Right Honourable Sir
William (then Sir William) Goulding, Baronet, Chairman of the Great
Southern and Western Railway, was appointed Chairman of the Committee. I
was appointed its Secretary, and Mr. Croker Barrington its Solicitor. It
was further decided that one general case for the associated railways
should be prepared and presented to the Commission by one person, who
should also (under the direction of the Committee) have charge of all
proceedings connected with the Inquiry. I, to my delight, was
unanimously selected as that person, and to enable me to do the work
properly, I was allowed to select three assistants. My choice fell upon
G. E. Smyth, John Quirey, and Joseph Ingram, and I could not have chosen
better. We were allotted an office in the Railway Clearing House; my
assistants gave their whole time to the work, and I gravitated between
Broadstone and Kildare Street, for of course I had to look after the
Midland Great Western as well as the Commission business. That I could
not, like Sir Boyle Roche's bird, be in two places at once, was my
greatest disappointment. I may record here that each of my assistants
has since, to borrow an Americanism, "made good." Smyth is now Traffic
Manager of the Great Southern and Western Railway; Quirey is Chief
Accountant of the Midland Railway of England, and Ingram became Secretary
of the Irish Clearing House, from which be has been recently promoted to
an important position under the Ministry of Transport (Ireland).

The way in which the seven Companies worked together, and the success
they attained was, I think, something to be proud of. Sir William
Goulding was an excellent Chairman. There was just one little rift in
the lute. One of the seven Companies showed a disposition, at times, to
play off its own bat, but this was, after all, only a small matter, and
the general harmony, cohesion and unanimity that prevailed were
admirable, and unquestionably productive of good. We had as Counsel, to
guide and assist the Committee, and to represent the Companies before the
tribunal, Mr. Balfour Browne, K.C.; Mr. Jas. Campbell, K.C. (now the Rt.
Hon. Sir James Campbell, Baronet, Lord Chancellor of Ireland); Mr. T. M.
Healy, K.C.; Mr. Vesey Knox, K.C.; and Mr. G. Fitzgibbon. They served us
well, and were all required. During the proceedings, prolonged as they
were, each could not of course always appear, and it was important to
have Counsel invariably at hand.

Sir Charles Scotter was appointed Chairman of the Commission. He was
Chairman of the London and South Western Railway; had risen from the
ranks in the railway service; had been a general manager, and was
unquestionably a man of great ability; but he was handicapped by his age,
which even then exceeded the Psalmist's allotted span. His health
moreover was not good, and in less than six months after the completion
of the work of the Commission, he departed this life at the age of 75.

Mr. George Shanahan, Assistant Secretary of the Board of Works, was the
capable Secretary of the Commission. He had the advantage of being a
railwayman. From the service of the Great Northern Railway, Robertson
took him with him to the Board of Works in the year 1896.

Before the Commission began its public sittings it issued and freely
circulated a printed paper entitled "_Draft Heads of Evidence for
Traders, Industrial Associations, Commercial and Public Bodies, etc_."
This paper invited complaints under various set headings and concluded
with these words:--

"Whether there is any other question that might be usefully considered
in determining the _causes that have retarded the expansion of traffic
upon the Irish lines_, and their full utilization for the development
of the agricultural and industrial resources of the country."

The italics are mine. We, rightly or wrongly, looked upon this paragraph
as _assuming_ the case against the Companies to have some foundation in
fact and likely to bias neutral opinion against us, and when (after the
hearing was concluded) three of the seven Commissioners reported that the
evidence "led them to doubt whether expansion of traffic had been
retarded," we felt that our view was not without justification. But I am
anticipating the findings of the Commission, and perhaps, after all, the
peculiar Terms of the Reference largely dictated the course of procedure
which the Commission adopted.

The first public sitting was held in Dublin on the 12th of October, 1906,
and the last in the same city on the 29th of January, 1909. There were
95 public sittings in all; and 293 witnesses were examined, 29 of whom
appeared on behalf of the Railway Companies. The Reports of the
Commissioners (for there were two--a Majority and a Minority Report) did
not appear till the 4th of July, 1910, so from the time of its
appointment until the conclusion of its work the Commission covered a
period of four years, all but fourteen days.

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