What the Railways Have Done 393 



The rail level is the goods station proper. It has eleven sets 

 of rails and five loading or unloading platforms, or " banks," 

 while two shunting engines are constantly employed in taking 

 loaded or empty trucks in or out. In 1910 the business done 

 gave a daily average of 725 trucks inwards traffic, and 632 out- 

 wards traffic, a total daily average of 1,357 trucks. About eighty 

 goods trains leave or arrive at the station during the twenty- 

 four hours. These include two which are fitted with the 

 vacuum brake, and give the traders and inhabitants of Lincoln 

 and towns beyond all the advantages of an express goods ser- 

 vice at ordinary rates a service, that is, equivalent to what, 

 in Germany, traders would have to pay double or treble their 

 own ordinary rates for if they wished to ensure a corresponding 

 speed. 



Of potatoes from the fenland districts of the Eastern 

 Counties the total quantity received at Bishopsgate during 

 1910 was 100,000 tons. Of green peas from Essex as many as 

 1000 tons have been received in a single day. Fish from 

 Lowestoft and Yarmouth runs into an annual total of many 

 thousands of tons. 



Passengers' luggage in advance is also dealt with at Bishops- 

 gate. This system, saving the traveller much trouble, and 

 greatly facilitating the working of passenger traffic at the 

 stations, is evidently advancing in favour, the packages 

 handled at Bishopsgate having increased from 18,617 in 1900 

 to 87,129 in 1910. 



In the matter of general merchandise, the experiences of the 

 other railway depots already mentioned are confirmed by 

 those at Bishopsgate, the taking there of the number and 

 weight of all consignments of merchandise forwarded on a 

 particular day having shown the following results : 



Number of consignments . . 7.932 



Average weight per consignment . 3 cwt. 2 qrs. 25 Ibs. 

 Number weighing less than 3 cwts. 6,056 



The total " carriage paid " entries on outwards goods traffic 

 in 1910 numbered over 970,000. For the month of November 

 alone the total was 87,659. 



A large proportion of the commodious and well-lighted 

 warehouse level on the top storey is let off to individual 

 traders in what are known as "fixed spaces," the demand for 



