Railways a National Industry 407 



" the working of railways," as here shown, there is a very 

 considerable body of men employed by the railway companies 

 in the building of rolling stock, the making of rails, in the 

 provision of many other requirements, or in the doing of 

 much other work, necessary in the construction, equipment 

 and operation of their lines. The smaller companies are 

 content to buy their rolling stock, and they mostly have 

 repairing shops only ; but the larger companies have their 

 own locomotive, carriage and waggon works in which a very 

 considerable volume of employment is afforded to mechanics 

 and labourers who would hardly come under the ordinary 

 designation of " railwaymen " proper ; while in this respect 

 the companies concerned may be regarded as not only pro- 

 viders of transport but as, also, in effect, engineers and manu- 

 facturers. 



In order to give the reader some idea of the extent of the 

 employment afforded by these subsidiary branches of what 

 is still actual railway work, I give on the next page a 

 table for the data of which I am indebted to the companies 

 mentioned showing the actual or the approximate number 

 of men employed in the leading railway works of the type in 

 question ; though it should be added that the figures relate 

 only to the particular works mentioned, and do not include 

 men who may be engaged in engineering or productive work 

 elsewhere on the same company's system. 



Information as to the extent to which the railway com- 

 panies of the United Kingdom in general afford employment 

 in the directions here in question will be found in the " Census 

 of Production (1907) " [Cd. 5254], issued in 1910, included in 

 these returns being three tables which are given under the 

 heading " Railways (Construction, Repair and Maintenance 

 of Permanent Way, Plant, Rolling Stock, etc.)," and relate 

 to (i) output ; (2) cost of materials used ; and (3) number of 

 persons employed. 



It is shown that the total value of all goods manufactured 

 or of the work done by railway companies' employees in con- 

 struction, maintenance and repair of permanent way, works, 

 buildings, plant, rolling stock, etc. (such values being sums 

 representing only the actual cost of manufacture or work 

 done, and made up of wages, materials and a portion of the 

 establishment charges), amounted for the year 1907 to 



