430 History of Inland Transport 



not alone of railway workers but of the ever-widening circle 

 of those who are interested in railway work, is being served 

 by the Railway Club, which is established at 92, Victoria 

 Street, London, S.W., and has, also, various provincial centres, 

 with district representatives in Birmingham, Huddersfield, 

 Lancaster, Glasgow and Newhaven. Founded in 1899, the 

 club is designed to afford opportunities for bringing together 

 all who are concerned in railway questions in general ; though 

 some of the members specialise in locomotive problems, others 

 in traffic problems, and so on. At the London head-quarters 

 there is a club room well stocked with railway papers, and 

 here, also, the members can find a comprehensive library. 

 In the same building monthly meetings are held for the 

 reading and discussion of papers. Some of these are of a 

 technical character, appealing only to experts ; but subjects of 

 more general interest are also dealt with, the programme for 

 the 1910-11 session including papers by the Rev. W. J. Scott 

 (president) on " Railway History: 1860-80," and by Mr E. J. 

 Miller (hon. secretary) on " Belgian State Railways." Meetings 

 are also held in the provincial centres, and visits are paid both 

 there and in London to railway works, running sheds and other 

 places of interest. The utility of the Club is greatly enhanced 

 by the publication of its excellent little organ, " The Railway 

 Club Journal." 



From the details here given it will be seen, not only that the 

 movement for increasing the efficiency of the railway worker, 

 by furthering his training in railway and cognate subjects, 

 has undergone great and varied expansion, but that railway 

 operation and management are coming more and more to be 

 regarded as a science, and one that, with its many problems 

 and complexities, calls for prolonged study, effort and 

 experience on the part of those who would attain to perfection, 

 or even to exceptional knowledge and skill, therein. 



Nor should the said details fail to excite a more sympathetic 

 feeling on the part of the trading and travelling public towards 

 railway workers who find they can attain to greater pro- 

 ficiency, and acquit themselves better of their responsibilities 

 to the public, as well as to their company, by undergoing as 

 much of this training, or by securing as much of this advance- 

 ment in the technicalities of railway work, as their powers 

 may warrant or their opportunities allow. 



