FAMILY @ WAR – TRANSPORTTransport had greatly improved in the Edwardian period. Commuting to work in London was now common-place with buses, trams, underground rail all beginning in the late 19th

Century. By 1914 the Victorian street-scene of horse and carriage were largely gone in the cities up and down the land.

Blackpool had been first for trams in 1885 and it quickly spread. They had arrived in London in 1901. In 1915 the first women appeared as tram-staff despite male resistance. There were a few drivers but most were conductors. By 1918 around 117,000 women were working in the transport industry.

Motorised omnibuses appeared in 1905 and were very popular. In 1907 1,205 of 3,762 licensed buses in London were motorised (32%). By 1914 2,908 of 3,284 were motor-powered (89%). In London alone tens of thousands travelled largely by bus or tram. But with this growth we must add the crashing gears and engine noise of the private motor car.

The Edwardian period was the hey-day of the early cars. The Motor Car Act of 1903 raised the speed limit from 14 mph to a staggering 20 mph!!! In addition all drivers were issued with licences with a minimum age of 17 imposed. Although there was no driving test the crime of reckless driving was introduced as a counter to poor roadmanship. Each car had to be registered with its number clearly displayed. A branch of the Volunteer Training Corps (similar to WW2 Home Guard) was called the National Motor Volunteers, made up of men with cars.

The popular Model T Ford found on both sides of the Atlantic from 1909 with a new assembly plant opened in Manchester in 1911 adding an automated production line in 1911 producing 6,000 cars a year at a cost of £135 each. With several other manufacturers added the streets of major cities were very soon clogged up with cars leading to increased demand in London for the underground railways.

The London underground had started in 1890 with the City and South London line. Central London Railway opened in 1900 with its cylindrical tunnels know as the ‘two-penny tube’ a name adopted by all lines later. In the end would be 8 operators in the capital using ‘underground’ from 1908 and the now familiar ‘roundel and bar’ logo from 1913 as the symbol for the whole system. It continued to develop and

grow even throughout the war. Lines were electrified and expanded towards the suburbs.

Stations became shelters against Zeppelin attacks in 1915 and Gotha bombers in 1917 with over 300,000 taking to the underground. Elsewhere railway tunnels, bridges, viaducts and caves would serve the same purpose.

National Railways passed into state control on 4 August 1914, the government enacting a power they had since 1871 to ensure the efficient transfer of men and material throughout the nation at a time of war. Its effect was ‘to coordinate the demands of the railways of the civil community with those necessary to meet the special requirements of the naval and military authorities’.

With 120 rail-operating companies this was vital. Rail freight and passengers were controlled by the War Railway Council staffed by military representatives and the Board of Trade. Special trains carried troops, the longest nicknamed ‘the misery’, carrying naval personnel from London to Thurso (to the Grand Fleet at Scarpa Flow) over 728 miles in 22 hours. Rail stations were the scenes of great activity and of heartbreak. Troop trains from the south coast into London were packed with soldiers returning on leave.

Uniforms muddy, weapons and equipment stowed in luggage racks. Severely wounded soldiers were en-route to hospitals with flurries of activity with nurses and medical staff.Departing trains bore men back to France, their loved ones suffering the agony of parting. In the midst of all this private passengers could still travel, but it was severely curtailed by the demands of the war, and by the fact that cheap tickets were withdrawn in the spring of 1915.

No surprise that the railways were pushed to breaking point. As a result the worst ever rail disaster in British history occurred on 22 May 1915 near Gretna Green in Scotland. Five trains collided at the busy junction with sidings at Quintinshill. A signalman had shunted a local train up the line to allow two express trains pass on the down line.

A troop train ran into the waiting local train and one of the express trains ran into the wreckage. The wooden-framed and panelled gas-lit carriages of the troop train caught fire. 226 of the 7th Battalion, Royal Scots died on the way to the Dardanelles. 246 others were injured. Only 57 of the 500 strong battalion were at roll-call that afternoon.