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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The Nestor of the Glasgow and South-Western Railway was Andrew Galloway,
the chief engineer. A Nestor he looked with his fine, strong, grave
features, abundant hair, and flowing beard. He was a very able engineer,
but had many old-fashioned ways, one of which was an objection to anyone
but himself opening his letters, and when absent from his office they
would at times lie for several days untouched. If remonstrated with he
was quite unmoved. He had a theory that most letters, if left long
enough unanswered, answered themselves. In me he always showed a
fatherly interest, and sometimes chided me for talking too freely and
writing too much. His last words when he bade me farewell, and gave me
his blessing were, to remember always to think twice before I spoke once.
On the very day I was assured of my appointment as general manager for
the County Down Railway I discarded the tall silk hat and the black
morning coat, which for some time had been my usual business garb, as it
was of many serious-minded aspiring young business men in Glasgow. Mr.
Galloway asked me the reason of the change, which he was quick to
observe. "Well," said I, "I have secured my position, so it's all right
now." Never since, except in London, have I renounced the liberty I then
assumed; the bowler and the jacket suit became my regular business wear,
and the other habiliments of severe respectability were relegated to
churchgoing, weddings, christenings, and funerals and other formal
occasions.

CHAPTER XV.
FURTHER RAILWAY LEGISLATION

In Chapter IX., at the outset of my Glasgow and South-Western service, I
reviewed the public Acts of Parliament passed since the beginning of
railways down to the year 1875, and it may not be amiss to notice now the
further railway legislation enacted up to 1885.

The first measure of importance was the _Railway Returns (Continuous
Brakes) Act_, 1878. The travelling public had for some years been
sensitive regarding railway accidents which, though infrequent,
nevertheless occurred much oftener then than now, and were more serious
in their results. The matter of their reduction began to receive the
serious attention of railway engineers and inventors, and among many
appliances suggested was the system of continuous brakes. In June, 1875,
a great contest of brakes, extending over three days, in which trains of
the principal companies engaged, took place on the Midland railway
between Newark and Bleasby. A large number of brakes competed--the
Westinghouse, the Vacuum, Clarke's Hydraulic, Webb's Chain, and several
others. It is recorded that at the conclusion of the trial, each
patentee left the _refreshment tent_ satisfied that his own brake was the
best; but Time is the great arbiter, and _his_ decision has been in
favour of two--the Automatic Vacuum and the Westinghouse, and these are
the brakes the companies have adopted. The Act required all railway
companies to submit to the Board of Trade, twice in every year, returns
showing the amount of rolling stock fitted with continuous brakes, the
description of brake and whether self-acting and instantaneous in action.
So far there was no compulsion upon the railways to use continuous
brakes, though most of the companies were earnestly studying the subject,
but the rival claims of inventors and the uncertainty as to which
invention would best stand the test of time tended to retard their
adoption. Meanwhile, the publicity afforded by the Board of Trade
Returns, and public discussion, helped to hasten events and the climax
was reached in 1889, when a terrible accident, due primarily to
inefficient brake power, occurred in Ireland, and was attended with great
loss of life. The Board of Trade was in that year invested with
statutory power to _compel_ railway companies, within a given time, to
provide all passenger trains with automatic continuous brakes.

In 1878 there was also passed the _Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act_.
Foot and mouth disease had for some time been rife in Great Britain and
Ireland, and legislation became necessary. The Act applied not only to
railways but was also directed to the general control and supervision of
flocks and herds. It contained a number of clauses concerning transit by
rail, and invested the Privy Council with authority to make regulations,
the carrying out of which, as affecting the Glasgow and South-Western
Railway, devolved upon me, and for a year or two occupied much of my
time.

An Act to extend and regulate the liability of employers, and to provide
for compensation for personal injuries suffered by workmen in their
service, came into force in 1880. It was called the _Employers'
Liability Act_, and was the first step in that class of legislation,
which has since been greatly extended, and with which both employer and
employed, are now familiar.

That great convenience the _Parcel Post_, which for the first time
secured to the public the advantage of having parcels sent to any part of
the United Kingdom at a fixed charge, and which seems now as necessary to
modern life as the telephone or the telegraph, and as, perhaps, a few
years hence, the airship will be, was brought into existence by the _Post
Office (Parcels) Act_, 1882. Under that Act it was ordained that the
railways of the United Kingdom should carry by all trains whatever
parcels should be handed to them for transit by the Post Office, the
railway remuneration to be fifty-five per cent. of the money paid by the
public. The scheme was a great success. During the first year of its
operation the parcels carried numbered over 20 millions, and in the year
1913-14 (the last published figures) reached 137 millions.

The _Cheap Trains Act_, 1883, was passed to amend and consolidate the law
relating to (_a_) railway passenger duty, and (_b_) the conveyance of the
Queen's Forces by railway. It did not apply to Ireland. Passenger duty
was never exacted in that happy land. In Great Britain the Act relieved
the railway companies from payment of the duty on all fares not exceeding
one penny per mile; provided for the running of workmen's trains; and
prescribed a scale of reduced fares for the conveyance of Her Majesty's
soldiers and sailors.

After this Act, and until the year 1888, no further general railway
legislation of importance took place.

CHAPTER XVI.
BELFAST AND THE COUNTY DOWN RAILWAY

After eighteen years of railway life, at the age of 34, I had attained
the coveted position of a general manager. Of a small railway it is
true, but the Belfast and County Down Railway, though unimposing as to
mileage, was a busy and by no means an uninteresting line. A railway
general manager in Ireland was in those days, strange to say, something
of a _rara avis_. There were then in the Green Isle no less than
eighteen separate and distinct working railways, varying from four to
nearly 500 miles in length, and amongst them all only four had a _general
manager_. The system that prevailed was curious. With the exception of
these four general managers (who were not on the larger lines) the
principal officer of an Irish railway was styled _Manager_ or _Traffic
Manager_. He was regarded as the senior official, but over the Traffic
Department only had he _absolute_ control, though other important duties
which affected more than his own department often devolved upon him. He
was, in a sense, maid of all work, and if a man of ability and character
managed, in spite of his somewhat anomalous position, to acquire many of
the attributes and much of the influence of a real general manager. But
the system was unsatisfactory, led to jealousies, weakened discipline,
and was not conducive to efficient working. Happily it no longer exists,
and for some years past each Irish Railway has had its responsible
_General Manager_. Something that happened, in the year 1889, gave the
old system the first blow. In that year a terrible accident to a Sunday
school excursion of children occurred on the Great Northern Railway near
Armagh, and was attended with great loss of life. This led the company
to appoint a General Manager, which they did in June, 1890, Thomas
Robertson, of the Highland Railway of Scotland, of whom I spoke earlier
in these pages, being the capable man they selected.

Curious certainly was the method which up to then prevailed on the Great
Northern system. Three different _Managers_ exercised jurisdiction over
separate sections of the line, and the _Secretary_ of the Company, an
able man, stationed in Dublin, performed much more than secretarial
duties, and encroached, so I often heard the managers complain, upon
their functions. This divided authority was a survival of the time
before 1877, when the Great Northern system belonged to several
independent companies; and, in the words of the Allport Commission of
1887, "its continued existence after ten years could hardly be defended."

Very pleasant and very interesting I found my new avocation on the County
Down, which for short the Belfast and County Down Railway was usually
called. My salary certainly was not magnificent, 500 pounds a year, but
it was about 100 pounds more than the whole of the income I earned in
Scotland, and now for the 500 pounds I had only my railway work to
perform. Now I could give up those newspaper lucubrations, which had
become almost a burden and daily enjoy some hours of leisure. The change
soon benefited my health. Instead of close confinement to the office
during the day, and drudgery indoors with pen and ink at night, my days
were varied with out-door as well as in-door work, and I had time for
reading, recreation and social enjoyment. My lean and lanky form filled
out, and I became familiar with the greeting of my friends: "Why, how
well you look!"

The County Down railway was 68 miles long. Situated entirely in County
Down, it occupied a snug little corner to itself, bounded on the north by
Belfast Lough, on the south by the Mourne Mountains, and on the east by
Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea. To the west ran the Great Northern
railway but some distance away. The County Down line enjoyed three fine
sources of seaside traffic, Bangor, Donaghadee and Newcastle, and was
rich in pleasure resorts and in residential districts. It even possessed
the attractions of a golf course, the first in Ireland, the _Kinnegar at
Holywood_, but more of that anon. As I have said, it was a busy line,
and it was not unprosperous. The dividend in 1885 reached five and a-
half per cent., and in spite of considerable expenditure necessary for
bringing the line up to first-class condition, it never went back, but
steadily improved, and for many years has been a comfortable six and a-
half per cent. In 1885 the condition of the permanent way, the rolling
stock, and the stations was anything but good, and as the traffic showed
capacity for development, to stint expenditure would have been but folly.
I do not think, however, the outlay would have been so liberal as it was
but for Lord (then Mr.) Pirrie, who was an active and influential
director, though there were also on the Board several other business men
of energy and position. Indeed, it was a good Board, but the Chairman,
though a shrewd far-seeing man, had, like John Gilpin's spouse, "a frugal
mind," and Lord Pirrie's bold commercial spirit quite eclipsed his
cautious ways. One instance will suffice to exemplify this, and also to
illustrate the novelty of my new duties, which were delightful in their
diversity and activity to one whose life hitherto had been confined to
sedentary work.

It was the rolling stock that demanded the most urgent attention--engines,
carriages and wagons and especially carriages. Of carriages there were
not enough for the traffic of the line, and many were in a very sorry
condition, particularly those which had been taken over with the Holywood
and Bangor Railway, acquired by the company the previous year. One
weekend, soon after I joined the service, I had all passenger carriages
brought into Belfast, except those employed in running Sunday trains, and
early on the Sunday morning (it was in the summer) with the company's
locomotive and mechanical engineer I examined each carriage thoroughly
from top to bottom, inside and out, above and below, and with his
practical help and expert knowledge, noted carefully down the defects of
each. He worked with a will, delighted that someone as enthusiastic and
even younger than himself was now in charge. He little suspected, I am
sure, how ignorant I was of practical matters, as I kept my own counsel
which was my habit when prudence so dictated. I knew the names of things
and was well versed in the theory and statistics of repairs and renewals,
but that was all. A fine worker was and is R. G. Miller. Well over 70
now, healthy and energetic still, he occupies the position he did then.
Age has not withered nor custom staled his juvenility. I met him on
Kingstown promenade the other day walking with an elastic step and with
the brightness of youth in his eye. The ordinary age-retirement limit,
though a good rule generally, was not for him. Daylight failed and night
came on before our task was finished, several carriages remaining
unexamined. These and the Sunday running vehicles we subjected to
scrutiny during the following week. At the next meeting of the Board I
presented a report of what I had done, and urged that a number of new
carriages should be contracted for without delay, enlarging upon the
return we might confidently expect from a responsive traffic. The
Chairman and most of the Board were a little aghast at what appeared, to
a small company that had only recently emerged from straitened
circumstances, a very large order. But Lord Pirrie came to the rescue,
strongly supported my proposal and commended the thoroughness with which
I had tackled the subject. The day was won, the carriages secure, and
the order for their construction was placed with a firm in Birmingham.
This expenditure was the precursor of further large outlays, for it was
soon seen that the prospects of the company warranted a bold course.

I may, I am sure, be pardoned if I quote here some words from the report
of Sir James Allport's Commission on Irish Public Works. It is dated 4th
January, 1888. I had then been less than three years with the County
Down, and so could claim but a modicum of the praise it contains, and my
modesty, therefore, need not be alarmed. The words are: "_The history of
the Belfast and County Down Company is sufficient to show how greatly
both shareholders and the public may benefit from the infusion into the
management of business qualities. In that case a board of business men
have in ten years raised the dividend on the ordinary stock from nil to
5.5 per cent., while giving the public an improved service and reduced
rates_." My satisfaction was the greater as I had given evidence before
the Commission, and helped to tell them the cheerful story of the
progress and development of the County Down Company. It was my first
appearance as a railway witness and before Sir James Allport, who had
commanded my unbounded admiration from my first entrance at Derby into
railway life. Need I say that to me it was an event of importance.

In the year 1875 the Board of the County Down, after an investigation of
its affairs by a Committee of Shareholders, was reorganised, and it was
then that Mr. Richard Woods Kelly became Chairman, and Lord (then Mr.)
Pirrie a Director. The latter has more than once since told me that the
County Down shares were one of his best investments.

Mr. Kelly merits more than a passing word. Before I joined the County
Down I was told he was a "terror," and that I ran foolish risk in leaving
a service like the Glasgow and South-Western for a position in which I
might find it impossible to please. But fears like that never disturbed
me. To wrongdoers Mr. Kelly could certainly be "a terror," and
wrongdoers there were, I believe, in the service in the early days of his
chairmanship. He was a mild-mannered man, tall, rather pale, with
refined features and a low-toned pleasant voice. But beneath this smooth
and gentle exterior resided great firmness. He would smile and smile
with wonderful imperturbability and, in the quietest tones and the
blandest way, say severe and cutting things. Economy was his strong
point and he observed it in his public and private life with meritorious
consistency. Impervious to cold, as to most other human weaknesses, in
winter or summer he never wore an overcoat. His smooth face and tall
slight figure seemed as indifferent to the angry elements as bronze or
stone. By man or Nature I never saw him ruffled or in the least degree
disturbed. But he had his human side, as all men have, and in time I
discovered it and grew to like him. He was not at heart so cold as he
seemed. Though he could not write a page without mis-spelling some of
the words, his letters were always concise and very much to the point.
But it was only in spelling he was deficient. He spoke well, was a
shrewd judge of men, had a keen sense of humour, a clear perception of
facts, and was quick to detect and discard everything irrelevant.

Lord Pirrie and Mr. Kelly, in connection with the County Down, were hand
and glove, and it was no small part they played in its transformation
from dark and dismal poverty to smiling prosperity.

My assistant was James Pinion, afterwards my successor, and later on
Manager of the Cheshire Lines Committee at Liverpool. Being a capable
fellow and a hard worker, it was only natural that he felt disappointed
at not being made general manager of the County Down instead of imported
me; but any sign of soreness soon disappeared. The kindness, the
consideration and the confidence I had received at Mr. Wainwright's
hands, as his assistant, were not forgotten and I felt pleasure in
endeavouring to treat my assistant in the same way. It was not long
before its effect appeared. He told me one day that it was a new
experience for him to be so frankly trusted and so freely consulted, but
it made him happier and imparted a greater zest to his work. Certainly
he served me with enthusiastic zeal and fine loyalty. Throughout a long
period of railway management I have been most fortunate in securing the
goodwill and ready help of the staff, and in many instances their strong
personal attachment. There are men no doubt whose natures are proof
against kindness and consideration, but my experience is that they are
few and far between. I have found also that if one refrains from fault-
finding, gives praise where praise is due, and overlooks small or venial
faults, when reproof becomes necessary, if it be temperately
administered, it is always effective and productive of good. But even
such reproof may be carried too far as on one occasion I found to my
dismay. Pinion, one forenoon, came into my room to tell me he had
discovered that the man in charge of the cloak room was guilty of
peculation; had been tampering with the tickets, and appropriating small
sums. I sent for him, talked to him very severely, sent him home, and
told him he should hear what would be done. An hour later, I heard he
was _dead_: that on his way to his home he had purchased a bottle of
laudanum and swallowed the contents!

In Scotland a railway manager was rarely worried by outside interference
in the management of his men. Well intentioned people either credited
him with the possession of good sense and decent feeling, or, themselves
resentful of any inter-meddling in their own affairs, refrained from
meddling in his. But it was different I found in Ireland, even in
Belfast where Scottish traditions and Scottish ways were not unknown.
Exceeding good nature, I suppose, is largely accountable for the
readiness with which people in the sister isle espouse, often with little
consideration, the cause of any railway employee who has or fancies he
has a grievance. A rather ridiculous instance of this occurred soon
after my installation at the County Down. One of my first duties was to
examine the line and the employees at each station. At one small station
I found in charge a station master in poor health and well advanced in
years--in fact quite beyond his work. I learned that he possessed a
small property in land and was quite willing to retire if given a few
weeks in which to make his arrangements. This, of course, I gladly
granted as well as a little parting gratuity. He was well pleased, and
wrote me to that effect. But, to my astonishment, not many days passed
before a long and numerously signed Memorial to the Board arrived
beseeching the Directors to stay the hand of their General Manager in his
harsh and unfeeling treatment of a faithful old servant. He was indeed a
faithful old servant; but he was quite ignorant of any memorial on his
behalf having been sent to the Directors. Apparently the memorialists
did not consider it necessary to consult him.

To be now my own master, subject only to the control of a reasonable and
businesslike Board of Directors, a Chairman who resided in Dublin,
visiting Belfast once a fortnight only, to have the command of men and
the working of a railway, and to be free to move about the line as I
thought fit, was a pleasure indeed and made Ireland a pleasant place. I
lived near the city, but on its outskirts, with open country and sea
views around me, occupied a neat little detached house, with a bit of
garden wherein I could dig and cultivate a few roses, where the air was
pure and clear--a refreshing change from the confinement of a flat, four
stairs up, in the crowded environs of smoky Glasgow.

CHAPTER XVII.
BELFAST AND THE COUNTY DOWN--(continued)

During the first few years of my service on the County Down little
occurred to disturb the even tenor of my way. In a sense the duties of
my new position were simple. There were no such things as joint lines,
joint station working, running powers or joint committees, as in England
and Scotland, to distract attention or consume time which could more
usefully be devoted to the affairs of one's own railway. Gradually I
grew familiar with out-door matters, and duties that seemed strange at
first grew as easy as second nature. I learned a good deal about
signalling, became an adept in single line working, an expert in engine
running economies, and attained some success in the management of men.

One thing especially gave me pleasure--my monthly visit to the Managers'
Conference at the Irish Railway Clearing House in Dublin. There I met my
brother managers in the Irish railway world, and learned something of the
other lines. The leading men at the Conference were Ilbery, Great
Southern and Western; Cotton, Belfast and Northern Counties; Plews and
Shaw, Great Northern; Ward, Midland Great Western; and Skipworth, Manager
in Ireland of the London and North-Western. Of all the managers who
assembled there I was the youngest, and the greatest personality was
Edward John Cotton. By common consent, he had acted as Chairman of the
Conference from the year 1864. No one had ever dreamed of assuming the
position when he was present. This continued till 1890, when Tom
Robertson came on the scene. _He_ was all for change and innovation, and
managed to get the principle of formal election to the chairmanship
established. Many of us thought it was a pity to make the change in
Cotton's time, but Edward John seemed the least concerned of us all, for
nothing ever disturbed his good humour. Robertson was a veritable
Hotspur and upset for a time the serenity of our meetings. He was
overcharged with energy, and a bachelor.

It is my belief that had our genial Cotton chosen the stage for a
profession he would have found a place among the distinguished actors of
his time, if not in tragedy, certainly in comedy. His face, voice,
manner and style all proclaimed it. You had only to hear him read in
public, which he loved to do, see how natural his dramatic action was,
and feel the effect of a mere wave of his hand through his abundant hair,
to be convinced of this. In railway circles throughout England, Scotland
and Ireland he was widely known. He attended all railway conferences for
he loved movement and travel. Shrewd and well-informed, his knowledge
was acquired not from books or study but from close observation of
passing events and free and friendly intercourse with all whom he met.
His railway was very popular and he and it were held in high esteem.
Easily accessible to all, courteous and reasonable ever, he was in many
respects a model railway manager. His success lay not so much in the
work he performed himself as in obtaining the best results from those
around him, and the capacity to accomplish this is certainly one of the
most useful qualities a railway manager, or any man in a position of
authority, can possess. It is not too much to say that his staff loved
him; certainly they all admired him. He was the readiest man I ever met
to generously acknowledge the worth of those who served him, and whenever
possible he took occasion to do so in public.

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