Page:The Working and Management of an English Railway.djvu/288

 travelling public to secure the exclusive use of compartments for a small number of passengers. The companies very generally offer this facility to any one who desires it, subject to the payment of fares as for a minimum number of passengers, viz., four first or second class, or six third class. Great numbers of people, however, seek to obtain the privilege on one plea or another without the payment of the minimum charge, and where the traffic is highly competitive there is a disposition on the part of the companies to make the concession somewhat freely, and often without adequate grounds.

Having thus briefly touched upon the principal causes which have operated during the past fifteen or sixteen years in the direction of reducing the profits derivable from the conveyance of passengers, and more especially of those of the higher classes, it will probably be of interest to refer to certain calculations which have recently been prepared showing (1) a comparison of the receipts from passenger traffic of the three classes carried by the London and North Western Company in the years 1871 and 1888 respectively; (2) the number of passenger miles run (i.e., taking the unit of one passenger conveyed one mile, which is arrived at very simply by dividing the gross receipts of each class by the assumed average fare per mile); (3) the cost at which each class has been worked in the two periods; and (4) the net profit derived from each class. It is found, then, that during the two years mentioned the gross receipts of the London and North Western Railway from passenger traffic (including season tickets) were as follows:—