BELFAST AND THE COUNTY DOWN RAILWAY
After eighteen years of railway life, at the age of 34, I had attained
the coveted position of a general manager. Of a small railway it is
true, but the Belfast and County Down Railway, though unimposing as to
mileage, was a busy and by no means an uninteresting line. A railway
general manager in Ireland was in those days, strange to say, something
of a _rara avis_. There were then in the Green Isle no less than
eighteen separate and distinct working railways, varying from four to
nearly 500 miles in length, and amongst them all only four had a _general
manager_. The system that prevailed was curious. With the exception of
these four general managers (who were not on the larger lines) the
principal officer of an Irish railway was styled _Manager_ or _Traffic
Manager_. He was regarded as the senior official, but over the Traffic
Department only had he _absolute_ control, though other important duties
which affected more than his own department often devolved upon him. He
was, in a sense, maid of all work, and if a man of ability and character
managed, in spite of his somewhat anomalous position, to acquire many of
the attributes and much of the influence of a real general manager. But
the system was unsatisfactory, led to jealousies, weakened discipline,
and was not conducive to efficient working. Happily it no longer exists,
and for some years past each Irish Railway has had its responsible
_General Manager_. Something that happened, in the year 1889, gave the
old system the first blow. In that year a terrible accident to a Sunday
school excursion of children occurred on the Great Northern Railway near
Armagh, and was attended with great loss of life. This led the company
to appoint a General Manager, which they did in June, 1890, Thomas
Robertson, of the Highland Railway of Scotland, of whom I spoke earlier
in these pages, being the capable man they selected.
Curious certainly was the method which up to then prevailed on the Great
Northern system. Three different _Managers_ exercised jurisdiction over
separate sections of the line, and the _Secretary_ of the Company, an
able man, stationed in Dublin, performed much more than secretarial
duties, and encroached, so I often heard the managers complain, upon
their functions. This divided authority was a survival of the time
before 1877, when the Great Northern system belonged to several
independent companies; and, in the words of the Allport Commission of
1887, "its continued existence after ten years could hardly be defended."
Very pleasant and very interesting I found my new avocation on the County
Down, which for short the Belfast and County Down Railway was usually
called. My salary certainly was not magnificent, 500 pounds a year, but
it was about 100 pounds more than the whole of the income I earned in
Scotland, and now for the 500 pounds I had only my railway work to
perform. Now I could give up those newspaper lucubrations, which had
become almost a burden and daily enjoy some hours of leisure. The change
soon benefited my health. Instead of close confinement to the office
during the day, and drudgery indoors with pen and ink at night, my days
were varied with out-door as well as in-door work, and I had time for
reading, recreation and social enjoyment. My lean and lanky form filled
out, and I became familiar with the greeting of my friends: "Why, how
well you look!"
The County Down railway was 68 miles long. Situated entirely in County
Down, it occupied a snug little corner to itself, bounded on the north by
Belfast Lough, on the south by the Mourne Mountains, and on the east by
Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea. To the west ran the Great Northern
railway but some distance away. The County Down line enjoyed three fine
sources of seaside traffic, Bangor, Donaghadee and Newcastle, and was
rich in pleasure resorts and in residential districts. It even possessed
the attractions of a golf course, the first in Ireland, the _Kinnegar at
Holywood_, but more of that anon. As I have said, it was a busy line,
and it was not unprosperous. The dividend in 1885 reached five and a-
half per cent., and in spite of considerable expenditure necessary for
bringing the line up to first-class condition, it never went back, but
steadily improved, and for many years has been a comfortable six and a-
half per cent. In 1885 the condition of the permanent way, the rolling
stock, and the stations was anything but good, and as the traffic showed
capacity for development, to stint expenditure would have been but folly.
I do not think, however, the outlay would have been so liberal as it was
but for Lord (then Mr.) Pirrie, who was an active and influential
director, though there were also on the Board several other business men
of energy and position. Indeed, it was a good Board, but the Chairman,
though a shrewd far-seeing man, had, like John Gilpin's spouse, "a frugal
mind," and Lord Pirrie's bold commercial spirit quite eclipsed his
cautious ways. One instance will suffice to exemplify this, and also to
illustrate the novelty of my new duties, which were delightful in their
diversity and activity to one whose life hitherto had been confined to
sedentary work.
It was the rolling stock that demanded the most urgent attention--engines,
carriages and wagons and especially carriages. Of carriages there were
not enough for the traffic of the line, and many were in a very sorry
condition, particularly those which had been taken over with the Holywood
and Bangor Railway, acquired by the company the previous year. One
weekend, soon after I joined the service, I had all passenger carriages
brought into Belfast, except those employed in running Sunday trains, and
early on the Sunday morning (it was in the summer) with the company's
locomotive and mechanical engineer I examined each carriage thoroughly
from top to bottom, inside and out, above and below, and with his
practical help and expert knowledge, noted carefully down the defects of
each. He worked with a will, delighted that someone as enthusiastic and
even younger than himself was now in charge. He little suspected, I am
sure, how ignorant I was of practical matters, as I kept my own counsel
which was my habit when prudence so dictated. I knew the names of things
and was well versed in the theory and statistics of repairs and renewals,
but that was all. A fine worker was and is R. G. Miller. Well over 70
now, healthy and energetic still, he occupies the position he did then.
Age has not withered nor custom staled his juvenility. I met him on
Kingstown promenade the other day walking with an elastic step and with
the brightness of youth in his eye. The ordinary age-retirement limit,
though a good rule generally, was not for him. Daylight failed and night
came on before our task was finished, several carriages remaining
unexamined. These and the Sunday running vehicles we subjected to
scrutiny during the following week. At the next meeting of the Board I
presented a report of what I had done, and urged that a number of new
carriages should be contracted for without delay, enlarging upon the
return we might confidently expect from a responsive traffic. The
Chairman and most of the Board were a little aghast at what appeared, to
a small company that had only recently emerged from straitened
circumstances, a very large order. But Lord Pirrie came to the rescue,
strongly supported my proposal and commended the thoroughness with which
I had tackled the subject. The day was won, the carriages secure, and
the order for their construction was placed with a firm in Birmingham.
This expenditure was the precursor of further large outlays, for it was
soon seen that the prospects of the company warranted a bold course.
I may, I am sure, be pardoned if I quote here some words from the report
of Sir James Allport's Commission on Irish Public Works. It is dated 4th
January, 1888. I had then been less than three years with the County
Down, and so could claim but a modicum of the praise it contains, and my
modesty, therefore, need not be alarmed. The words are: "_The history of
the Belfast and County Down Company is sufficient to show how greatly
both shareholders and the public may benefit from the infusion into the
management of business qualities. In that case a board of business men
have in ten years raised the dividend on the ordinary stock from nil to
5.5 per cent., while giving the public an improved service and reduced
rates_." My satisfaction was the greater as I had given evidence before
the Commission, and helped to tell them the cheerful story of the
progress and development of the County Down Company. It was my first
appearance as a railway witness and before Sir James Allport, who had
commanded my unbounded admiration from my first entrance at Derby into
railway life. Need I say that to me it was an event of importance.
In the year 1875 the Board of the County Down, after an investigation of
its affairs by a Committee of Shareholders, was reorganised, and it was
then that Mr. Richard Woods Kelly became Chairman, and Lord (then Mr.)
Pirrie a Director. The latter has more than once since told me that the
County Down shares were one of his best investments.
Mr. Kelly merits more than a passing word. Before I joined the County
Down I was told he was a "terror," and that I ran foolish risk in leaving
a service like the Glasgow and South-Western for a position in which I
might find it impossible to please. But fears like that never disturbed
me. To wrongdoers Mr. Kelly could certainly be "a terror," and
wrongdoers there were, I believe, in the service in the early days of his
chairmanship. He was a mild-mannered man, tall, rather pale, with
refined features and a low-toned pleasant voice. But beneath this smooth
and gentle exterior resided great firmness. He would smile and smile
with wonderful imperturbability and, in the quietest tones and the
blandest way, say severe and cutting things. Economy was his strong
point and he observed it in his public and private life with meritorious
consistency. Impervious to cold, as to most other human weaknesses, in
winter or summer he never wore an overcoat. His smooth face and tall
slight figure seemed as indifferent to the angry elements as bronze or
stone. By man or Nature I never saw him ruffled or in the least degree
disturbed. But he had his human side, as all men have, and in time I
discovered it and grew to like him. He was not at heart so cold as he
seemed. Though he could not write a page without mis-spelling some of
the words, his letters were always concise and very much to the point.
But it was only in spelling he was deficient. He spoke well, was a
shrewd judge of men, had a keen sense of humour, a clear perception of
facts, and was quick to detect and discard everything irrelevant.
Lord Pirrie and Mr. Kelly, in connection with the County Down, were hand
and glove, and it was no small part they played in its transformation
from dark and dismal poverty to smiling prosperity.
My assistant was James Pinion, afterwards my successor, and later on
Manager of the Cheshire Lines Committee at Liverpool. Being a capable
fellow and a hard worker, it was only natural that he felt disappointed
at not being made general manager of the County Down instead of imported
me; but any sign of soreness soon disappeared. The kindness, the
consideration and the confidence I had received at Mr. Wainwright's
hands, as his assistant, were not forgotten and I felt pleasure in
endeavouring to treat my assistant in the same way. It was not long
before its effect appeared. He told me one day that it was a new
experience for him to be so frankly trusted and so freely consulted, but
it made him happier and imparted a greater zest to his work. Certainly
he served me with enthusiastic zeal and fine loyalty. Throughout a long
period of railway management I have been most fortunate in securing the
goodwill and ready help of the staff, and in many instances their strong
personal attachment. There are men no doubt whose natures are proof
against kindness and consideration, but my experience is that they are
few and far between. I have found also that if one refrains from fault-
finding, gives praise where praise is due, and overlooks small or venial
faults, when reproof becomes necessary, if it be temperately
administered, it is always effective and productive of good. But even
such reproof may be carried too far as on one occasion I found to my
dismay. Pinion, one forenoon, came into my room to tell me he had
discovered that the man in charge of the cloak room was guilty of
peculation; had been tampering with the tickets, and appropriating small
sums. I sent for him, talked to him very severely, sent him home, and
told him he should hear what would be done. An hour later, I heard he
was _dead_: that on his way to his home he had purchased a bottle of
laudanum and swallowed the contents!
In Scotland a railway manager was rarely worried by outside interference
in the management of his men. Well intentioned people either credited
him with the possession of good sense and decent feeling, or, themselves
resentful of any inter-meddling in their own affairs, refrained from
meddling in his. But it was different I found in Ireland, even in
Belfast where Scottish traditions and Scottish ways were not unknown.
Exceeding good nature, I suppose, is largely accountable for the
readiness with which people in the sister isle espouse, often with little
consideration, the cause of any railway employee who has or fancies he
has a grievance. A rather ridiculous instance of this occurred soon
after my installation at the County Down. One of my first duties was to
examine the line and the employees at each station. At one small station
I found in charge a station master in poor health and well advanced in
years--in fact quite beyond his work. I learned that he possessed a
small property in land and was quite willing to retire if given a few
weeks in which to make his arrangements. This, of course, I gladly
granted as well as a little parting gratuity. He was well pleased, and
wrote me to that effect. But, to my astonishment, not many days passed
before a long and numerously signed Memorial to the Board arrived
beseeching the Directors to stay the hand of their General Manager in his
harsh and unfeeling treatment of a faithful old servant. He was indeed a
faithful old servant; but he was quite ignorant of any memorial on his
behalf having been sent to the Directors. Apparently the memorialists
did not consider it necessary to consult him.
To be now my own master, subject only to the control of a reasonable and
businesslike Board of Directors, a Chairman who resided in Dublin,
visiting Belfast once a fortnight only, to have the command of men and
the working of a railway, and to be free to move about the line as I
thought fit, was a pleasure indeed and made Ireland a pleasant place. I
lived near the city, but on its outskirts, with open country and sea
views around me, occupied a neat little detached house, with a bit of
garden wherein I could dig and cultivate a few roses, where the air was
pure and clear--a refreshing change from the confinement of a flat, four
stairs up, in the crowded environs of smoky Glasgow.