Page:The Reshaping of British Railways (Beeching Report).pdf/39

 General Merchandise Million Tons Animal feeding stuffs 1.3 Beer 0.3 Fruit Butter, margarine, etc. Cement .. Chemicals, not in O.T.W. Confectionery. Esparto grass and wood pulp Grain and flour 0-2 1.6 t t 1-3 0.8 0.6 0.5 ++ 1.4 Iron and steel other products. 8.6 Machinery 0.4 Meat 0.2 Potatoes Sugar O.T.W.-chemicals O.T.W.-fuel and petrol O.T.W. other Paper and cardboard .. Soap and detergents 11 Textiles and drapery Timber-pit props Timber-other Wines and spirits Wool Other 1.0 I 1 4.8 0.4 0.6 0.5 4 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.5 0-9 0.3 0-1 7.5

B 34-4 (of which 6·5 m. tons, or 19 per cent. moved in full train loads)

It will be seen that 30 m. tons of the total of 89 m. tons in the group was carried in block trains, and virtually all of this moved from private siding to private siding, or between private siding and a dock. It is necessary to comment, however, that not all siding and dock traffic moves in train-load quantities.

One of the main objects of the freight traffic survey made over the test week, ending 23rd April, 1961, was to determine what proportions of traffic flowed between terminals of different kinds, how each of these groups was spread over different ranges of distance moved, how they varied in wagon loading, and how costs for the various groups compared with receipts. All this information is set out in Tables I to VI of Appendix 1.

The traffic surveyed in the test week amounted to 1,695,000 tons. This compared closely in volume with the weekly average for the whole year, although actual carryings, measured in terms of loaded wagons forwarded, were rather