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Notes on the railways of Great Britain / by Charles Rous Marten

Creator
Marten, Charles Rouen
Call Number
PETHpam 3007
Created/Published
[Wellington, N.Z.? : s.n.], 1887 printing
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20
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NOTES ON THE RAILWAYS OF GREAT BRITAIN.  

BY CHARLES ROUS MARTEN, F.R.G.S., F.R.MET.SOC., &C.  

PRICE ONE SHILLING.  

To the Honourable the Minister fob Public Works, New Zealand.  

Sir, —  

have the honour to transmit to you some notes on the Railways of Great Britain, extracted  

from my records of the inspection which, for certain scientific purposes, recently made of the British  

Railway system. These notes do not pretend to be in any sense complete or exhaustive report on  

the subject. They simply embody as briefly as possible some of the results of my investigations,  

selected largely with view to their interest in New Zealand, where many of the railway officers  

have not had an opportunity of personally studying the numerous improvements lately carried out,  

and the various experiments and schemes as to further developments.  

feel bound to acknowledge the courtesy received from the Agent-General and his Secretary,  

who did all in their power to facilitate my communications with the Home railway authorities.  

have also to express my most cordial acknowledgments of the courteous treatment .1 received from  

those authorities, who did everything that could possibly be done toward furthering my objects,  

inviting me to travel freely over their lines, and to inspect their works and stations, and instructing all  

their officers to afford me any assistance should need.  

The railways which received my most careful examination were: the Great Northern (G.N.);  

Midland; London and North Western (L.N.W.); Great Western (G.W.); Great Eastern (G.E.);  

London, Brighton and South Coast (L.8.5.C.); South Eastern (S.E.); London and South Western  

(L.S.W.); and Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire (M.S.L.): and the officers of all these lines  

extended to me the utmost attention and consideration. may specially mention Mr. Cockshott,  

Mr. Fitch, and Mr. Stirling (the Superintendent, Secretary, and Locomotive Engineer) of the Great  

Northern Mr. Noble (Manager), Mr. Barlow (Consulting Engineer), and Mr. Johnson (Locomotive  

Engineer), of the Midland Mr. Findlay and Mr. Webb (General Manager and Locomotive Engineer),  

of the North Western Mr. Birt and Mr. Worsdell (Manager and Locomotive Engineer), of the Great  

Eastern Mr. Saunders (Secretary) and Mr. Dean (Locomotive Engineer), of the Great Western;  

Mr. Scott (Manager) and Mr. Adams (Locomotive Engineer), of the London and South-Western; Mr.  

Sarle (Secretary) and Mr. Stroudiey (Locomotive Engineer), of the Brighton; Mr. Fenton of the  

South Eastern and Mr. Scotter (Assistant-Manager) and Mr. Sacre (Engineer), of the Manchester,  

Sheffield, and Lincolnshire lines. But also inspected pretty fully the London, Chatham, and Dover  

(L.C.D.), the Tilbury and Southend, the North London, the Metropolitan, the North-Eastern (N.E.),  

the North British (N. 8.), the Caledonian, and the Glasgow and South-Western (G.S.W.) railways,  

and devoted some, but less, attention to the Lancashire and Yorkshire, and the North Staffordshire  

lines.  

travelled frequently over the whole extent of the railways mentioned, which, in point of fact,  

comprise all of importance in the kingdom. My trips included several journeys to and fro between  

London and Edinburgh, and London and Glasgow, by each of the three routes —Bast Coast, Midland,  

and West Coast; also between London and Falmouth, in the west, by both the Great Western and  

South-Western routes: London to and from Brighton, Portsmouth, and Eastbourne, in the south: Dover  

and Folkestone, in the south-east; Yarmouth and Lincoln, in the east: Scarborough, in the north-  

east Wales, in the west: Liverpool, Manchester, and Holyhead, in the north-west: and the High-  

lands, in the north —extending in the whole to nearly 40,000 miles. examined the working of all the  

chief stations and termini, my visits embracing the whole of the great London stations and all the  

principal junctions in the kingdom, including Swindon, Bristol, Birmingham, Chester, Manchester,  

Liverpool, Carlisle, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Derby, York, Newcastle, Grantham, Peterborough,  

Rugby, Crewe, Preston, Normauton, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Cambridge, Stratford, Brighton,  

Ashford, Clapham, Willesden, &o. Further, visited most of the locomotive and chief carriage  

workshops, and, by invitation, thoroughly inspected the celebrated works at Crewe, Doncaster, Derby,  

Swindon, Stratford, and Brighton. was also present at numerous important engineering experiments  

with modern types of engines. From the above experiences, need hardly say have accumulated  

large quantity of useful and interesting information, record of which cannot be found in any existing  

publication, and which has never yet been collected as whole in any published work. The present  

notes, of course, form but fraction of this accumulation.  

should mention, at starting, that my notes do not deal in this instance with the financial or  

accounts branch of the system but with the engineering and practical working of the lines.  

For the sake of greater brevity, and to avoid wearisome repetition of names, use simply the  

initial letters of the titles of the respective railways.  

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http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52019982

APA citation

Marten, Charles Rouen. (1887). Notes on the railways of Great Britain Retrieved March 27, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52019982

MLA citation

Marten, Charles Rouen. Notes on the railways of Great Britain [Wellington, N.Z.?: , 1887. Web. 27 March 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52019982>

Harvard/Australian citation

Marten, Charles Rouen. 1887, Notes on the railways of Great Britain , [Wellington, N.Z.? viewed 27 March 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52019982

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=Marten, Charles Rouen.
  | title=Notes on the railways of Great Britain
  | year=1887
  | section=20 p. ; 33 cm.
  | location=[Wellington, N.Z.?
  | publisher=
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-52019982
  | id=nla.obj-52019982
  | access-date=27 March 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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