Page:Fred Arthur McKenzie - British Railways and the War (1917).djvu/18

 greatest expedition, and at once sent back. Each train had a permanently displayed index number on it, by which it was known throughout its journeys; its exact time of arrival and departure at each place were scheduled, and the schedule had to be kept. What is still more noteworthy is that while this rapid concentration of troops was proceeding at Southampton the ordinary traffic of the railways was maintained with comparatively little alteration. Here and there a section of line was closed for a few hours, particularly sections of some of the junction lines across London; but the general public scarcely realised what was happening. Such precautions were taken that even the elaborate espionage system maintained at that time by Germany in England failed to convey to the enemy full details of what was going on. The British Army had landed in France and was marching into Flanders before the Germans realised where they had landed or what their numbers were.

"The railway companies," said Lord Kitchener, three weeks after the outbreak of war, "in the all-important matter of transport facilities have more than justified the complete confidence reposed in them by the War Office, all grades of railway service having laboured with untiring energy and patience."

The terms under which the railways were being taken over for the period of the war were published in September. The Government guaranteed to the proprietors of the railways that their net