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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2009
The debate about the comparative performance of the British and American economies around the turn of the century has involved most industrial sectors. In the case of the railways, the argument goes back at least to 1887, when a critical analysis of English railway operations compared to those of the United States was published. For British railway companies, the years after 1900 were a particularly difficult time especially in the capital market, and many new investment projects were abandoned, although not solely because of adverse conditions in the capital market. A substantial number of these projects were probably of a marginal nature but the eighteen-year period between 1890 and 1908 also saw the development of a new type of railway – the urban rapid transit system. This was in response to two very different factors – the continuing growth of cities and the application of electric power in a form suitable for railway use. The spread of these systems in Britain paralleled their expansion in the United States.
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4 An additional line in Glasgow was cable-operated and does not, therefore, fall within the remit of this study.
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13 This can be compared with the British lines where the initial impact of electrification led to a deterioration in the ratio, usually because train frequencies were increased to attract more passengers.
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17 One aspect worthy of further research would be analysis to determine whether there was any relationship between the operating ratio and the building cycle. The Mersey side case suggests that there was not, for while operating improvements may have boosted housing development indirectly, evidence of a direct relationship is lacking.
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32 Ibid.
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34 Barker and Robbins, A History of London Transport, op. cit., vol. 11, p. 315.
35 Board of Trade, Earnings & Hours Enquiry—VII—Railway Services (1907), xxvii.Google Scholar To put this overall figure in context, by 1913 the Boston Elevated alone was employing 40 per cent more workers than all British electric railways were in 1907.
36 C.W. Cheape, Moving the Masses, op. cit., 215.
