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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




The North British Railway has had a chequered career, has suffered great
changes of fortune, and to Mr. Walker, more than to any other, is due the
stability it now enjoys. On the occasion of his death, the directors
officially recorded that, "He served the company with such ability and
unselfish devotion as is rarely witnessed; became first secretary and
subsequently general manager, and it was during the tenure of these
offices that the remarkable development of the company's system was
mainly effected."

His capacity for work was astounding. He never seemed to tire or to know
what fatigue meant. Ordinary men are disposed to pleasure as well as to
work, to recreation and social intercourse as well as to business, but
this was not the case with Mr. Walker. It must be confessed that he was
somewhat exacting with his staff, but his own example was a stimulus to
exertion in others and he was well served. One who knew him well, and
for many years was closely associated with him in railway work, tells me
that his most striking characteristics were reticence, combativeness,
concentration and tenacity of purpose, and that his memory and mastery of
detail were remarkable. Deficient perhaps in sentiment, though in such
silent men deep wells of feeling often unsuspectedly exist, he was, by
those who served under him, always recognised as fair and just, and no
one had ever to complain of the slightest discourtesy at his hands. Like
Lord Byron, he was lame from birth, and while this may have affected his
character and pursuits, it never, I am told, in business, which indeed
was practically his sole occupation, impeded his activity. On the
failure of the City of Glasgow Bank, in 1878, which involved in ruin
numbers of people, he lost a considerable fortune. He was a large
shareholder of the bank, and the liability of the shareholders was
unlimited. He faced his loss with stoical fortitude, as I believe he
would have confronted any disaster that life could bring.

On a certain day Mr. Walker came to Glasgow by appointment to discuss
with Mr. Wainwright some outstanding matters which they had failed to
settle by correspondence. In the afternoon Mr. Wainwright had an
important meeting of his directors to attend. The business with Mr.
Walker was concluded in time, all but one subject, and Mr. Wainwright
asked Mr. Walker if he would let me go into this with him. Without the
least hesitation he consented; and he treated me as Mr. John Burns had
done, and discussed the matter with me as if I were on an equal footing.
This was the interview that strengthened and confirmed that self-reliance
which Mr. Burns had awakened, and which never afterwards forsook me.
Great is my debt to Scotland and to Scotchmen.

Amongst the most prominent railway men I have met were Sir Edward Watkin,
Chairman of the South-Eastern Railway, and the following general
managers:--Mr. Allport, Midland, the exalted railway monarch of my early
railway days; Mr. (afterwards Sir) Henry Oakley, Great Northern; Mr.
Grierson, Great Western; Mr. Underdown, Manchester, Sheffield and
Lincolnshire; and Mr. (afterwards Sir Myles) Fenton, South Eastern. Of
Sir Edward Watkin a good story was told. When he was general manager of
the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (he was Mr. Watkin
then) many complaints had arisen from coal merchants on the line that
coal was being stolen from wagons in transit by engine drivers. Nothing
so disgraceful could possibly occur, always answered Mr. Watkin. Down
the line one day, with his officers at a country station, a driver was
seen in the very act of transferring from a coal wagon standing on an
outlying siding some good big lumps to his tender. This was pointed out
to Mr. Watkin, who only said--"The d---d fool, _in broad daylight_!" When
Mr. Allport learned that I came from Derby, and was the son of an old
Midland official, he treated me with marked kindness. Mr. Oakley came in
the year 1880 to Glasgow, where he sat for several days as arbitrator
between the Glasgow and South-Western and Caledonian Railway Companies,
on a matter concerning the management, working, and maintenance of
Kilmarnock Station, of which the companies were joint owners, and I
learned for the first time how an arbitration case should be conducted,
for Mr. Oakley was an expert at such work. This experience stood me in
good stead, when, not many years later, I was appointed arbitrator in a
railway dispute in the North of Ireland.

In the front rank of the railway service I do not remember many beaux.
General managers were men too busy to spend much time upon the study of
dress. But there were exceptions, as there are to every rule, and Sir
James Thompson, General Manager, and afterwards Chairman of the
Caledonian Railway, was a notable exception. Often, after attending
Clearing House meetings or Parliamentary Committees, have I met him in
Piccadilly, Bond Street, or the Burlington Arcade, faultlessly and
fashionably attired in the best taste, airing himself, admiring and
admired. We always stopped and talked; of the topics of the day, the
weather, what a pleasant place London was, how handsome the women, how
well dressed the men. At the Clearing House we usually sat next each
other. I liked him and I think he liked me. Do not think he was a beau
and nothing more. No, he was a hard-headed Scotchman, full of ability
and work, and as a railway manager stood at the top of the ladder. Next
to him Sir Frederick Harrison, General Manager of the London and North-
Western Railway, was, I think, the best dressed railway man. Both he and
Sir James were tall, handsome fellows, and I confess to having admired
them, perhaps as much for their good looks and their taste and style, as
for their intellectual qualities; and I have often thought that men in
high positions would not do amiss to pay some attention to old Polonius'
admonition to his son that, "the apparel oft proclaims the man."

In the friends I made I was fortunate too. They included two or three
budding lawyers, a young engineer, a banker, a doctor, two embryo hotel
managers, an auctioneer, and one or two journalists; and, as I have
mentioned before, my artist friend _Cynicus_. We were, most of us,
friends of each other, met often, and the variety of our pursuits gave
zest and interest to our intercourse. First amongst these friends ranked
G. G., one of the young lawyers, or _writers_, as they are called in
Scotland. He was my closest friend. We have not met for many years, but
the friendship remains unweakened; for there are things that Time the
destroyer is powerless to injure. Like myself, G. G. comes of the middle
class. His parents, like mine, were by no means affluent, but they were
Scotch and held education in veneration, and were ambitious, as Scottish
parents are, for their sons. They gave him a University education, and
afterwards apprenticed him to the law. He became, and is still, a
prosperous lawyer in Glasgow.

Then came J. B., a young lawyer too, who blossomed into the pleasant and
important position of Senior Deputy Town Clerk of the City of Glasgow.
He, too, had sprung from the great middle class. Well versed in
classical lore he was a delightful companion. He had travelled much and
benefited by his travels; was a sociable being, exceedingly good-natured,
and peered through spectacles as thick as pebbles, being very
short-sighted, and without his glasses would scarcely recognise you a
yard off. Yet he could see into the heart of things as well as most men,
for he was a shrewd Scotchman, and had a pawky humour. If he possessed a
fault it was a love for a game of cards. We played _nap_ in those days,
and when a game was on it was hard to get him to bed. He has gone over
to the majority now. His sudden death a year ago came as a great blow to
his family and a large circle of friends. Next to G. G., as intimate
friends, came H. H. and F. K. They were in the company's service though
not in the railway proper, but connected with the management of the hotel
department. Of foreign birth, sons of a nation with whom we are now,
alas! at war, they were youths of fine education, disposition and
refinement, and I became greatly attached to each. H. H. preceded and F.
K. followed me to Ireland, where he (F. K.) still resides, honoured and
respected, as he deserves to be. He and I, throughout the years, have
been and are the closest of friends. Once, not very long ago, in a grave
crisis of my life, when death seemed near, he stood by me with the
devotion of a brother. My auctioneer friend (G. F.) was, perhaps, the
most interesting man of our circle; certainly he possessed more humour
than the rest of us put together. Fond of literature, with a talent for
writing, he was a regular contributor to the Glasgow Punch, _The Bailie_.
But his greatest charms were, his dear innocence, his freshness of mind,
his simple inexpensive tastes, his enjoyment of life, and his infectious
laugh. In years he was our senior, but in worldly knowledge junior to us
all. He lives still and is, I believe, as jocund as ever. Another of
these Glasgow friends I must mention--a poet, and like Burns, a son of
the soil. His name was Alexander Anderson. When first I met him he was
in the railway service, a labourer on the permanent way, what is called a
surfaceman in Scotland, a platelayer in England and a milesman in
Ireland. Self taught, he became proficient in French, German and
Italian, and was able to enjoy in their own language the literature of
those countries. A Scottish nobleman, impressed by his wonderful
poetical talent, defrayed the expenses of a tour which he made in Italy
and an extended stay in Rome, to the enrichment of his mind and to his
great enjoyment. On his return to Scotland he published a book of poems.
In an introduction to this book the Revd. George Gilfillan wrote, "The
volume he now presents to the world is distinguished by great variety of
subject and modes of treatment. It has a number of sweet Scottish
verses, plaintive or pawky. It has some strains of a higher mood,
reminding us of Keats in their imagination. But the highest effort, if
not also the most decided success, is his series of sonnets, entitled,
'In Rome.' And certainly this is a remarkable series." A remarkable man
he was indeed; simple and earnest in manner, with a fine eye, a full dark
beard and sunburnt face. Tiring, however, of a labourer's life and of
the pick and shovel, he left the railway and became assistant librarian
of Edinburgh University, and three years afterwards Secretary to the
Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh. He afterwards became Chief
Librarian to the Edinburgh University. He died in the summer of 1909. He
stayed with me in Glasgow once for a week-end, and on the Sunday
afternoon we together visited a friend of his who lived near, a literary
man, who then was engaged in writing a series of lives of the Poets for
some publishing house. An interesting part of our conversation was about
Carlyle with whom this friend was intimate, had in fact just returned
from visiting him at Chelsea. He told us many interesting stories of the
sage. I remember one. He was staying with the Carlyles, when Mrs.
Carlyle was alive. One evening at tea, a copper kettle, with hot water,
stood on the hob. Mrs. Carlyle made a movement as if to rise, with her
eye directed to the kettle; the friend, divining her wish, rose and
handed her the kettle. She thanked him, and, with a pathetic and wistful
gaze at Carlyle, added, "Ay, Tam, ye never did the like o' that!"

My first trip abroad was in 1883, and my companion, G. G. We went to
Paris via Newhaven, Dieppe and Rouen, and at Rouen stayed a day and a
night, and spent about a fortnight in Paris. We were accompanied from
London by a friend I have not yet named, one who was well known in the
railway world, Tony Visinet, the British Engineering and Commercial Agent
of the Western Railway of France; a delightful companion always, full of
the charm and vivacity that belong to his country. He took us to see his
mother at Rouen, who lived in an old-fashioned house retired from the
road, in a pleasant court-yard; a charming old lady, with whom G. G. was
able to converse, but I was not. Tony Visinet's life was full of
movement and variety. He had lodgings in London, and a flat in Paris,
traversed the Channel continually, and I remember his proudly celebrating
his fifteen hundredth crossing.

From childhood I had longed to see something of the world, and this
excursion to Paris was the first gratification of that wish. Paris now
is as familiar to me almost as London, but then was strange and new.
Rouen and its cathedral we first saw by moonlight, a beautiful and
impressive sight, idealised to me by the thought that we were in sunny
France. Little I imagined then how much of the world in later years I
should see; but strong desires often accomplish their own fulfilment, and
so it came to pass.




CHAPTER XIV.
TERMINALS, RATES AND FARES, AND OTHER MATTERS


Of course it was right that Parliament, when conferring upon the railway
companies certain privileges, such as the compulsory acquisition of land
and property, should, in the public interest, impose restrictions on
their charging powers. No one could reasonably complain of this, and had
it been done from the beginning in a clear, logical way, and in language
free from doubt, all might have been well and much subsequent trouble
avoided. But this was not the case. Each company's charging powers were
contained in its own private Acts (which were usually very numerous) and
differed for different sections of the railway. It was often impossible
for the public to ascertain the rights of the companies, and well nigh
impossible for the companies themselves to know what they were. These
powers were in the form of tolls for the use of the railway; charges for
the use of carriages, wagons, and locomotive power, and total maximum
charges which were less than the sum of the several charges. In the Acts
no mention was made of terminals, though in some of them power to make a
charge for _services incidental to conveyance_ was authorised, and what
these words really meant was the subject of much legal argument and great
forensic expenditure.

In addition to the tolls and charges, the Acts usually contained a rough
classification of goods to which they applied. These were divided into
from three to five classes, and comprised some 50 to 60 articles. The
railway companies, however, had in existence, for practical everyday use,
a general classification called The Railway Clearing House
Classification, and this contained over 2,700 articles divided into seven
classes.

The tolls and charges in the Companies' Acts were fixed originally in the
old belief (to which I have before alluded) that railway companies, like
canal companies, would be mere owners of the route; and when they became
carriers and provided stations, sidings, warehouses, cranes, and all the
paraphernalia appertaining to the business of a carrier, the old form was
not altered, the charging powers remained as originally expressed in
subsequent Acts, and the same old model was followed. For several years
prior to 1881 complaints by merchants, traders and public bodies against
railway rates and fares had become very common. The cry was taken up by
the public generally, and railway companies had a decidedly unpleasant
time of it, which they bore with that good temper and equanimity which I
(perhaps not altogether an unprejudiced witness) venture to affirm
generally characterised them. The complaints increased in number and
intensity and Members of Parliament and newspaper writers joined in the
jeremiad.

Parliament, as Parliaments do, yielded to clamour, and in 1881 a Select
Committee was appointed by the House of Commons to inquire into railway
charges, into the laws and conditions affecting such charges, and
specially into passenger fares. It was a big committee, consisted of 23
members, took 858 pages of evidence, and examined 80 witnesses. At the
end of the session they reported that, although they had sat
continuously, time had failed for consideration of the evidence, and
recommended that the committee be re-appointed in the next session. This
was done, and the committee, enlarged to 27 members, took further
evidence, and submitted a report to Parliament.

The gravest issue was the right of the companies to charge terminals, and
the committee found that the railways had made out their case, and
recommended that the right of the companies to station terminals should
be recognised by Parliament. Further, the committee, on the whole of the
evidence, acquitted the railway companies of any grave dereliction of
their duty to the public, and added: "It is remarkable that no witnesses
have appeared to complain of 'preferences' given to individuals by
railway companies as acts of private favour or partiality." As to
passenger fares, the committee reported that the complaints submitted to
them were rather local than general, and not of an important character,
but thought that it might be well for the Railway Commissioners to have
the same jurisdiction in respect to passengers as to goods traffic.

The railway companies thus emerged from this searching inquiry with
credit, as they have done in the many investigations to which they have
been subjected, and no high-minded and aspiring young railway novice need
ever blush for the traditions of the service.

Before the committee Mr. James Grierson, General Manager of the Great
Western, was the principal witness for the railway companies, and yeoman
service he rendered. He presented the railway case with great ability,
and his views were accepted on the important terminal question. In 1886
he published a book on _Railway Rates_, which was warmly welcomed by the
Press and, in the words of _Herepath's Journal_, was "an exhaustive,
able, and dispassionate _resume_ of all the conflicting statements,
claims, and interests verging round the much vexed question of railway
rates." Certainly he did much towards the ultimate settlement of the
matter. Mr. Grierson was, perhaps, the ablest witness before
Parliamentary Committees the railway service ever had, which is saying
much. A leading counsel, during the luncheon interval, once said to him,
"We feel small when we are cross-examining you. You know all about the
business, and we can only touch the fringe of it." The great secret of
Mr. Grierson's success was his mastery of, and scrupulous regard for,
facts and his straightforwardness. Of his book he himself said, "My
conclusions may be disputed, but no one shall dispute the facts on which
they are based."

The committee recommended that Parliament, when authorising new lines, or
extending the powers of existing companies, should have its attention
drawn by some public authority to the proposed, and in the case of
existing companies, to the existing rates and fares. They also
recommended that one uniform classification of merchandise be established
by law; that the Court of Railway Commissioners be made permanent; and
that the amalgamation of Irish Railways be promoted and facilitated. Thus
the great inquiry ended; but public agitation did not cease. One or two
attempts at legislation followed, but from one cause or another, fell
through; and it was not until 1888 that the subject was seriously tackled
by Parliament. In that year the _Railway and Canal Traffic Act_, of
which I shall later on have something to say, was passed.

On the appearance of the Report in 1882, it was recognised in railway
circles that something _must_ happen regarding the eternal rates
question, and the companies began to prepare themselves as best they
could. It fell upon me to examine the many Acts of Parliament of the
Glasgow and South-Western Railway, to collate the provisions relating to
tolls, charges and maximum powers, to compare those powers with actual
rates, to work out cost of terminal service, and to draw up a revised
proposed scale of maximum conveyance rates and terminal charges. Deeply
interesting work it was, and led, not very many years afterwards, to
unexpected promotion, which I valued much, and about which I shall have
more to say.

In the year 1880 a Scotch branch of the Railway Benevolent Institution
was established. Mr. Wainwright was made its chairman, and I was
appointed secretary. He and I had for some time urged upon the Board in
London the desirability of a local committee of management in Scotland.
The Institution had a great membership in England, and was generously
helped there in the matter of funds by the public. The subscription
payable by members was small, and the benefits it bestowed were
substantial; but railway men in Scotland looked at it askance: "the Board
in London kenned little aboot Scotland and Scotch claims wouldna get vera
much conseederation." Well, all this was changed by what we did. Soon a
numerous membership succeeded to the few who on Scottish railways had
previously joined the Institution, and we had much satisfaction in
finding that we were able to dispense substantial aid to many old and
needy railwaymen and to their widows and orphans. Mr. Wainwright
remained Chairman of the Branch till his death, and I continued Secretary
until I left Scotland.

In 1883, after my return from Paris, I grew restless again, with a
longing for more responsibility and a larger and freer life; with,
perhaps, an admixture of something not so ennobling--the desire for a
bigger income. Never was I indifferent to the comforts that money can
bring, though never, I must confess, was I gifted with the capacity for
money making or money saving. The pleasures of life (the rational
pleasures I hope) had always an attraction for me. I could never forego
them, or forego the expense they involved, for the sake of future distant
advantages. What weighed with me, too, was the fact that I was
undoubtedly overworked and my health was suffering. It was not that my
railway duties proper were oppressive, but the duties as Secretary of the
Railway Benevolent Institution in Scotland added considerably to my
office hours, and at home I often worked far into the night writing for
the several papers to which I contributed. Too much work and too little
play was making Jack a very dull boy. I envied those officers, such as
John Mathieson, whose duties took them often out of doors, and gave them
the control and management of men.

My chief was as kind and considerate as ever, and I confided to him the
thoughts that disturbed me. Warm-heartedly he sympathised with my
feelings. He himself had gone, he said, through the same experience some
twenty years before. The prospect of promotion at St. Enoch, he agreed,
seemed remote; the principal officers, except the engineer, were young or
middle-aged; and he himself was in the prime of life. He did not want to
lose me, but I must look out, and he would look out too. At last the
opportunity came, and it came from Ireland. The Belfast and County Down
Railway Chairman, Mr. R. W. Kelly, and a director, Lord (then Mr.)
Pirrie, were deputed to see half a dozen or so likely young applicants in
England and Scotland. I was interviewed by these gentlemen in Glasgow,
was selected for the vacant post of general manager, and in May, 1885,
removed with my family to Belfast, and entered upon my duties there.

Lord Pirrie is a great shipbuilder of world-wide fame. I was not long at
the County Down before I discovered his wonderful energy, his marvellous
capacity for work, his thoroughness, and keen business ability. I always
thought that at our interview at Saint Enoch he was as much impressed
with the order and method which appeared in the office of which I had
charge as by anything else. I showed him everything very freely, and
remember his appreciation and also his criticism, of which latter, as I
afterwards found, he was at times by no means sparing, but if sometimes
severe, it was always just and salutary. How little one foresees events.
Not long had I left Glasgow before unexpected changes occurred. In 1886,
Mr. Wainwright took ill and died; soon after Mathieson went to
Queensland; and in less than eight short years three general managers had
succeeded Mr. Wainwright.

They were good to me when I left Glasgow. I was presented with a
valuable testimonial at a banquet at which Mr. Wainwright presided and at
which my good friend, G. G., made a fine speech. It would be idle for me
to say that the warm congratulations of my friends, the prospects of
change, and the sense of new responsibilities, did not delight and excite
me. But a strong measure of regret was mixed with the pleasurable
draught. I was greatly attached to my chief, and keenly felt the parting
from him. He felt it too. When it came to the last handshake words
failed us both.

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