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The TimesJournal of the Australian Association of Time Table Collectors(ISSN 0813-6327)Print Publication No: 349069/00070

November, 1999 Issue No. 188 (Vol. 16 No.11)

By workers train

The worker's train at Warrnambool, January 1937. Photo: J.L.Buckland collection, courtesy ARHS Bulletin

From Warrnambool…………to Dennington

The milk factory at Dennington. Photo:Warrnambool Standard

Four decades of varied timetables of an unusualVictorian Railways “suburban” service

RRP $2.50

The Times November 1999 (AATTC) 2 No 188

The TimesTHE WARRNAMBOOL–DENNINGTON LOCAL TRAIN 1919-1957 3TRANSIT SOUTHWEST SERVICES IN WARRNAMBOOL 12THE BUS WAITING PARADOX 14GREAT BRITAIN BUS TIMETABLE 14LETTER TO THE EDITOR 15GRAPHIC INSIGHT 16

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The Warrnambool–Dennington Local Train 1919-1957In Victoria’s south-west, a guaranteed passenger train ran a 7-minute 3-mileservice from Warrnambool to Dennington for workers at the local milk factory.JACK MCLEAN analyses 38 years of history of this little six days a week "milk run".

very time table records somedetails of some part of a railwayat a certain time. If a continuous

series of time tables is available then itshould be possible to piece together asort of history of that part of the rail-way. Changes can then be seen andeventually the reasons for the changes.

Time tables for the Dennington localtrain are still readily available (at least Ithink so) and the local train and therailway in the area were easily de-scribed. My father (then a young rail-way clerk at Warrnambool station) per-haps never knew why in 1908 Denning-ton was chosen as the site for the newNestlé factory (on our front cover).However, it was in operation in 1911and workmen's numbers were sufficientin 1919 for the Company to arrange forthe running of trains to get them towork and home again.

The “Special Train Notice No S5200/19”illustrated here as Figure 1 shows thaton 1 September 1919, a regular passen-ger service commenced running be-tween Warrnambool and Dennington“for the accommodation of employeesof the Nestlé and Anglo Swiss Con-densed Milk Company.” On 29 August(when the Special Train Notice wasprinted in Melbourne) the date of com-mencing the service may have beenuncertain and so “1 September 1919”was hand written on the circular proba-bly after a telegram had been receivedfrom Spencer Street. Almost 38 yearslater, another circular WTT 69/57shown here as Figure 2 announcedthat the last local train was to run toand from Dennington on Friday 16August 1957.

The Synopsis of the time tables of localpassenger trains and light enginesshown as Table 1 enables a comparisonto be made between the train times atvarious dates. Each working daymorning for almost 38 years, the Nestléworkers travelled westward by train.

Sometimes the train had only one pas-senger carriage and it was often hauledby the Warrnambool shunting engine.Originally it was an E class 0-6-2 tank

engine (front cover) and later a D3 4-6-0or a J class 2-8-0 (and maybe engines ofother classes).

E

Figure 1 The Alpha– start of the service


The carriage “set” was left at Denning-ton during the day, while the engine ranback eastwards to Warrnambool, andcontinued with its shunting duties.Around mid-day on Saturdays andaround 4 pm on other week days, theengine set out westwards for Denning-ton and brought the carriage “set” (andthe workers) back eastwards toWarrnambool in time for lunch or din-ner.

The line between Warrnambool andKoroit in 1919 was single and workedby large electric staff on the sectionsWarrnambool–Illowa and Illowa–Ko-roit. In other words, on this part of theline, trains going in opposite directionscould pass each other only atWarrnambool, Illowa or Koroit. As theauthority for the local train to go as faras the intermediate station Dennington,

and for the engine to return toWarrnambool, the engine driver wasgiven a Warrnambool-Illowa electricstaff. When the passenger carriage wasshunted clear of the main line at Den-nington, where the staff was used tounlock and later secure the main linepoints, the engine returned toWarrnambool and the driver gave upthe staff to the signalman there.

At mid-day on Saturdays and duringthe afternoon on week days, the re-verse applied. While the engine or thetrain was between Warrnambool andDennington, it was carrying aWarrnambool–Illowa electric staff andso during that time, the single line be-tween Warrnambool and Illowa couldnot be used by any other train.

This daily forward and return servicewent on more or less whenever there

was work at the Factory, (but appar-ently never on Sundays). There werevariations to the time table for a numberof reasons. Some variations werecaused by the need for the local train orlight engine to avoid the times of exis t-ing trains, or to operate in accord withthe existing or changed railway safe-working arrangements. During WorldWar Two and for some time after,changes to the time table resulted fromalterations to working hours includingthe abandonment of Saturday work.There were several other reasons foralterations and even the inauguralS5200/19 had variations from the pro-posed simple service.

A dagger (or obelisk) is shown besidethe heading of the first column and therelevant footnote informs us that “OnFridays, passengers will travel by the7.30 am Hamilton train which willrequire to be strengthened with theDennington train cars, the latter beingcut off at Dennington to form returntrip in the evening”. These trains areshown in the time Table Synopsis withthe reference “a”

The reference to the Dennington carsbeing attached to the Hamilton mixeddoes not seem to have been repeated inlater circulars and so until a copy of theoriginal circular S5200/19 came to lightin 1998, readers of time tables wonderedwhy the 4.55pm light engine on Fridayswas not shown as an empty car train.

The above-mentioned 7.30am DownHamilton mixed was scheduled to crossNo 13 Up, “if run, at Illowa,” and so No13 (a 7.30am goods train from Koroitwhen required) had “to wait back atIllowa” while the workmen's train andthe returning light engine occupied theWarrnambool-Illowa electric staff sec-tion as mentioned above. The use ofodd numbers for Down trains and evennumbers for Up trains appeared for thefirst time in Victorian Working TimeTables on 10 December 1923 and so in1919, No 13 (from Koroit) had to bedescribed as “No 13 Up”.

The Special Train Notice S5200/19 alsoshows that the 5.20pm Light EngineWednesdays, had to “Fol 3H” (that isfollow No 3 Hamilton train), a previ-ously existing 5pm Warrnambool-Hamilton mixed train, which did notclear the Illowa electric staff sectionuntil 5.14. In consequence the laterrunning of the Dennington light engine

Figure 2 The Omega- end of the service


Figure 3: Did Pearl Harbour lead to Saturday afternoon work?

at 5.20pm on Wednesdays caused theup afternoon workmen's train onWednesdays to run 18 minutes laterthan on other days. (It might be askeddid the Nestlé employees work an extra18 minutes on Wednesdays or did theyjust wait another 18 minutes for thetrain?) In the Synopsis these Wednes-day times are shown against the refer-ence “b”.

According to S5200/19 the SMWarrnambool had "to arrange for 3 or4 second class cars, van and Guard,brake vehicle to be at each end toavoid reversing van”. This suggeststhat the inaugural train consisted of six-wheeled (or four-wheeled) stock. TheGuard of the train was often theWarrnambool Leading Shunter.

The SMs Warrnambool and Denning-ton had to keep an accurate return ofbookings in respect of these trains asthe service was guaranteed by theCompany. The “special Weekly Work-men's Tickets at 2/- each” for 6 returntrips of three miles each way, seem re-markably cheap travelling, until it isremembered that the year 1919 wassome years before inflation became adirty word. The train was guaranteed inthat if the revenue from the tickets solddid not equal or exceed the Railway'sexpenses, then the deficiency was metby the Nestlé Company.

To list the variations made in this ap-parently simple operation, I perused mycollection of at least 21 Western andSouth Western District working timetables, all of which showed the times ofthe local trains and engines. The trainwas also mentioned in several Post-WW2 Holiday Time Tables. I also re-ferred to Victorian Railways public timetables and Bradshaw's Guides to Victo-ria, not for the times of the Denningtontrains, but for the times of other trainswhich the Dennington trains had toavoid.

For instance, by January 1925, the de-parture from Warrnambool of themorning down Hamilton mixed hadbeen altered from 7.30 am to 7.35 amand as the Dennington local was stillbeing attached to this train on Fridays,the departure time of the Denningtonlocal on other days seems to have beenaltered to 7.35 am to avoid confusion.

Six months later, on 1 July 1925, theWarrnambool-Hamilton mixed train was

replaced by an AEC (four-wheeled) railmotor which left Warrnambool at 8.15am on Mondays and Saturdays and9.05 am on Fridays. The local Denning-ton vehicles could then run as a sepa-rate train, at 7.35am.

In March 1927, Weekly Notice No 10/27announced that Illowa had been pro-vided with switching instruments bywhich the Illowa electric staff stationcould be “switched in or out” at certaintimes (with a train), and so the signal-man's hours at Illowa could be reducedto one shift. During the time it wasswitched out, the (long) electric staffsection was Warrnambool-Koroit. InMarch 1927, Illowa was switched inwhen the 6.10 am Up Port Fairy trainpassed Illowa at 7.09 am and switchedout when the 2.55pm Up Port Fairypassed Illowa at 3.45 pm.

In consequence, the morning Denning-ton passenger train/light engine andthe Saturday midday light en-gine/passenger train (both of which ranbefore 3.45pm) used a Warrnambool-Illowa short section electric staff; andthe afternoon Dennington light en-gine/passenger train (which ran after3.45pm) used a Warrnambool- Koroitlong section staff. Before March 1927,the Wednesday afternoon Warrnam-bool-Dennington light engine had de-parted at 5.20pm (after the 5.00 pm AECrail motor had cleared Illowa at 5.14pm)but after March 1927, the light enginecould not leave Warrnambool until5.25pm (after the AEC rail motor hadcleared Koroit at 5.24pm.) The lightengine is shown with reference “d”

On 16 January 1928, Special Train No-tice S70/28 announced that the oneAEC rail motor operating betweenWarrnambool and Hamilton was to bereplaced by two AEC rail motors run-ning between Coleraine and Warrnam-bool (via Hamilton and Koroit.) Thesetwo AECs crossed at Hawkesdale everyday and, on one day a week, a goodstrain was at Hawkesdale at the sametime. The 1928 Special Train Noticeshowed that there was still a 5pm railmotor departing from Warrnambool onWednesdays and so the Wednesdayafternoon light engine continued toleave at 5.25pm.

On 16 July 1931, one of the two rail mo-tors was transferred elsewhere and theremaining rail motor ran only betweenKoroit and Hamilton As a result, thedeparture of the Down Denningtonlight engine on Wednesdays revertedto 5.0pm and the Up local Passengertrain to 5.27pm. On Wednesdays fromthen on, the factory workers arrived inWarrnambool at the same time as onthe other days. The time table of 6 June1938 shows some more minor altera-tions. The afternoon light engine leftWarrnambool 13 minutes earlier proba-bly to allow more time for the attachingof loaded wagons from Dennington onto the passenger carriage(s). The fre-quent use of the afternoon Denningtonlight engine on the Down journey andthe Passenger train on the Up journeyto attach goods wagons perhapsstarted from this time although permis-sion to attach wagons to the light en-gine (under the heading of "running atrain without a brake van in the rear"


Figure 4. In the 1942 New Year, Saturday afternoon work wascancelled again

was listed in the General Appendix asfar back as 1928. The passenger train.certainly included a “brake van” and sowagons could have been included onthe “train” without a mention in theGeneral Appendix. Tonnages allowedbetween Warrnambool and Denningtonby otherwise light engines were listedfor the first time in the working timetable of 23 October 1933.

The working time table of 6 January1941 shows that the afternoon lightengine ran 24 minutes earlier than pre-viously and so allowed still more timefor shunting, including attaching wag-ons and testing brakes. Passengersmight have appreciated an arrival atWarrnambool 20 minutes earlier thanpreviously, but of more importance, theextra time ensured that the wagons fromDennington made a connection with No

80 Fast Goods due out of Warrnamboolat 6.30pm.

Later in 1941, the news of the PearlHarbour incident on 7 December wasreceived in Australia on 8 December(local time) and resulted in the cancella-tion of most of Victoria's ChristmasHoliday extra passenger trains. Perhapsthe news also resulted in the Nestléfactory (for three weeks?), increasingits working days from 5½ to 6. The Sa t-urday down light engine and the uppassenger train were altered to run tothe same times as on the other fivedays. A copy of the Special Train No-tice for the commencement of this al-teration has survived (Figure 3) but thedate is missing. The alteration mayhave started on 13 December. SpecialTrain Notice WTT 1/42 (Figure 4)shows that Saturday work returned to anormal half day from 3 January 1942.

Many Easter Holiday time tables in-cluding the issue for 1944 showed thetimes of the Dennington trains. TheEaster 1944 timetable shows thatshunting time at Dennington had beenfurther increased to 43 minutes in themorning and to 39 minutes in the after-noon.

In my collection I have a Geelong toPort Fairy Train Controllers Graphwhich was actually used to record trainmovements on Thursday 10 May 1945.The end of the war in Europe (VE) wasannounced in UK on Tuesday 8 Maybut in Victoria it was already Wednes-day 9 May. In consequence, the trainswhich would normally have run on aWednesday were run a day later onThursday 10 May 1945 and included onthis graph are the details of the Den-nington Local.

The afternoon light engine leftWarrnambool at 4.10pm and arrived atDennington at 4.17, and the “passengertrain" (running as a mixed!) left Den-nington at 4.58 and arrived atWarrnambool at 5.07. The time at Den-nington was accounted for as 32 min-utes shunting and 5 minutes testingbrakes. Four goods wagons loadedwith 89 tons of milk products, 2 wagonswith 41 tons of milk products and 1empty wagon for 9 tons, were includedon the afternoon “mixed” and were laterattached to No 80 Fast Goods trainwhich left Warrnambool at 6.37pm. Theultimate destination of the 1945 milkproducts (milk powder?) may have been


Figure 5: The Warrnambool-Dennington track and its facilities

received in UK in time to put into mytea in some RAF staging camp where Iwas waiting for a troop ship to take mehome.

The need for close cooperation

The whole operation shows that therewas close cooperation between theFactory, the Stationmaster Warrnam-bool, the District Superintendent andthe Train Controller in Geelong and theGeneral Superintendent in Melbourne.

The cessation of local train service

In the 1950s the Chief Traffic Managerhad been showing concern at the de-cline in the number of passengers trav-elling on the Dennington local trains.Other problems had included delays tothrough trains while the local train oc-

cupied the main line while shuntinggoods vehicles. A suggestion wasmade that an intermediate electric staffinstrument placed at Dennington wouldenable the shunting to take place clearof the main line. The further questionwas raised–should the intermediateinstrument to be on the short electricstaff section (Warrnambool-Illowa) oron the long section (Warrnambool-Koroit)?

Maybe these discussions drew theattention of the railway and the Com-pany to the train's future and promptedthe cancellation which took place on 16August 1957.

When Illowa was eventually closed asan electric staff station on 17 August1965, the switching instrument and theprevious short section instrumentswere withdrawn. The long electric staffsection (Warrnambool-Koroit) remained

with an intermediate instrument at Den-nington. The Port Fairy line was closedbeyond Dennington on 2nd November1977.

VICTORIAN RAILWAYS


Table 1: Warrnambool–Dennington: Synopsis of Time Tables of Passenger Trains1919-1957

Dates of TimeTables

DownPassDaily

DownLE

Sats

DownLE

MTTF

DownLE

Weds

UpLE

Daily

UpPassSats

UpPass

MTTF

UpPassWeds

1-Sep-1919 to6-Jun-1922

WblDen

7.30a7.38a

11.45a11.55a

4.55a5.05a

5.20b5.30a

DenWbl

7.50a8.00a

12.10a12.18a

5.22a5.30a

5.40a5.48a

1-Dec-1924 to7-Dec-1925

WblDen

7.35a7.42a

11.50a11.59a

5.00a5.09a

5.20a5.29a

DenWbl

7.50a7.59a

12.15a12.22a

5.20a5.29a

5.40a5.48a

17-Oct-1927 to21-Oct-1929

WblDen

7.35c7.42a

11.50a11.59a

5.00a5.09a

5.25d5.34a

DenWbl

7.50a7.59a

12.15a12.22a

5.27d5.34a

5.40a5.48a

Daily SO SX Daily SO SX7-Nov-1932 to1-Oct-1934

WblDen

7.35e7.42a

11.50a11.59a

5.00a5.09a

DenWbl

7.50a7.59

12.15a12.22a

5.27f5.34a

23-Nov-1936 WblDen

7.35a7.42

11.50a11.59a

5.00a5.09a

DenWbl

7.50a7.59a

12.15a12.22a

5.30a5.37a

6-Jun-1938 WblDen

7.30a7.37a

11.50a11.57a

4.57a4.54a

DenWbl

7.50a7.59a

12.10a12.17a

5.33a5.40a

6-Jan-1941 to10-May-1945

WblDen

7.40a7.47g

11.50a11.57a

4.23a4.30a

DenWbl

8.30g8.39a

12.10a12.17a

4.50a5.00a

SX SXWTT 31/46(9-Apr-1946)

WblDen

7.30a7.37a

hj 4.58a5.05g

DenWbl

8.20a8.29a

hj 5.33g5.43a

Easter 1947 WblDen

7.10k7.17a

4.38k4.45a

DenWbl

8.00k8.09a

5.13k5.23a

Easter 48 toEnd-16/8/57

WblDen

7.40a7.47a

4.20a4.27a

DenWbl

8.30a8.39a

4.55a5.05a

Wbl represents Warrnambool and Den Dennington, Pass for Passenger train, LE Light Engine (i.e. an engine without aload), MTTF for Mondays Tuesdays Thursdays and Fridays, Weds & Sats for Wednesdays and Saturdays.a No 13 Up Goods, if run, was to wait at Illowa. On Fridays the local was to be attached to 7.30 am Hamilton.b On Wednesdays the local Light Engine was to follow 5pm Hamilton Mixed.c On 1 June 1925, the Hamilton Mixed train service was superseded by an AEC Rail Motor. The 7.35 am Hamilton

Mixed was replaced by an AEC leaving Warrnambool at 8.15am on Mondays and Saturdays & 9.05 on Fridays Thelocal continued to leave at 7.35 am.

d In March 1927, Illowa was provided with switching instruments by which it could be switched in and out as an elec-tric staff station. In the working time table of 17 October 1927, it was only open as a staff station between 7.09 amand 12.5 pm. In consequence, the Wednesday afternoon Light Engine could not leave Warrnambool until the 5pmHamilton AEC had cleared the long section to Koroit at 5.24, instead of as previously, the short section to Illowa at5.14pm.

e On 16 July 1931, the two Rail Motors operating between Warrnambool and Coleraine since 16 January 1928 werereplaced by one Rail Motor which ran only between Koroit and Hamilton.

f Also from 16 July 1931, the local Light Engine Wednesdays resumed the MTTF schedule.g The extra time at Dennington 43 minutes in the morning and 28 minutes in the afternoon may have been for shunt-

ing. The General Appendices show that “Trains on the running line without a brake van in the rear” had been per-mitted between Warrnambool and Dennington since 1928. The GA presumably referred to the Dennington light en-gine and Nestlé loading.

h From 6/3/1946, Illowa switched in and out without a train.j Local trains no longer ran on Saturdays after 9/4/1946.k Local trains ran 20 minutes later for a short period of time around 1947 for an unknown reason.


Table 2 Time table alterations over 38 years andthe number of work hours involved each week

Local Train starts44 Hour

Week Starts

SaturdayWorkCeases

40 HourWeekStarts

Dates of Time Tables Sep 1919 9 Apr 1945 9 Apr 46 27 Sep 48SaturdayExcepted

SaturdayOnly

SaturdayExcepted

SaturdayOnly

SaturdayExcepted

SaturdayExcepted

1. Arrive Dennington am 7.38am 7.38am 7.47am 7.47am 7.37am 7.47am2. Leave Dennington pm 5.22pm 4.55pm 5.33pm 5.55pm

3. Leave Dennington Sats 12.10pm 12.10pm

4. Time on site 9h 44m 4h 32m 9h 08m 4h 23m 9h 56m 9h 08m

5. Walking daily 0h 18m 0h 18m 0h 18m 0h 18m 0h 18m 0h 18m

6. Lunch break Sats Exc 0h 45m nil 0h 45m nil 0h 45m 0h 45m

7. Work time 8h 41m nil 8h 05m 1 5 5

8. Number of days 5 1 5 1 5 1

9. Work time 43h 25m 4h 14m 40h 25m 4h 05m 44h 25m 40h 25m

10. Add extra time Weds 00h 15m nil nil nil

11. Add Saturday time 04h 14m 04h 05m nil nil

12. Work time for week 47h 54m 44h 30m 44h 25m 40h 25m

Line 4– Time on Site = Line 2 or 3 minus Line 1.Line 7– Work Time = Line 4 minus Lines 5 and 6 where applicable.Line 9– Work Time Week Days, to which add Wednesday and Saturday Time as applicable.Line 12– Total Work Time for Week. In each case close to the 48 / 44 / 40 Hours.

This table shows at four different times in the life of the local train, the close relation between the Denning-ton train's arrival and departure (as shown in various working time tables) and the hour of work at the fac-tory. It is interesting to note that changes to the Dennington trains before 1944 were made mainly with aview to:

1. avoiding the timings of other trains, or2. adjusting timings to new or altered safeworking arrangements, or,3. granting extra time for shunting by the light engine.

After 1944, the main changes were made as a result of:

1. the reduction of working hours from 48 to 44 (in 1944?),2. the cessation of Saturday work (in 1946?) and,3. the further reduction in hours from 44 to 40 (in 1948?).

There is also a curious alteration (in 1947), so far unexplained, when the timings of all local trains and lightengines were advanced by 20 minutes In other words, the departure time of the morning Dennington pas-senger train, which had been between 7.30 am and 7.40 am since 1919, was, for a short time, shown as 7.10am. It has been suggested that this somehow avoided peak electricity usage during electricity rationing aboutthat time.


Figure 6A. A page from WTT 180/43, the Working Time Table of 8th September 1943, showinghow the Dennington trains fitted into the overall service


Figure 6B. From WTT 180/43, showing the Up services,including the Dennington locals


Transit Southwest services in WarrnamboolStill in Warrnambool, we move forward, to see how the milk factory workers andother citizens of that town get about these days. STEVEN HABY is our timetableguide.

arrnambool, populationabout 26,000, located on thesouthwest coast of Victoria,

is served by West Coast Railway pas-senger trains from Melbourne, andconnecting V/Line coach services tovarious district points.

Urban buses, operated by South West-ern Roadways under contract to thePublic Transport Corporation, trade as'Transit Southwest’. This is typical ofVictorian regional bus services. Buseshave a distinctive blue, green and whitelivery.

Eight routes are operated:1 City - West;2 City - North and Brierly;3 City - Northeast and Dennington;4 City - Gateway Plaza;5 City - South and Merrivale;6 City -. East;

7 City - Sherwood Park and DeakinUniversity;8 an 'interurban’ service to Port Fairy.

The TT illustrated here is undated butcurrent. Unfortunately it does not con-tain a route map or service informationlike the previous edition, but route de-scriptions are provided.

Frequencies on most routes are typicalof regional town buses - hourly with alimited Saturday morning service. Thefirst bus on most routes seems to betailored rather more to shoppers thancommuters, although most of the lastoutbound buses leave after 1700. Theservice on Route 7 is rather poor, con-sidering the potential of the Universityfor generating traffic. Interestingly,Routes 1 and 5 are through routed,providing a convenient cross townservice.

The Port Fairy service is of particularinterest, with several runs shown asbeing operated by V/Line coaches,which connect with trains to/from Mel-bourne. There is potential for commutertraffic, with times suitable to the officeworker. The old 'picture bus' traditionlives on with a service ex-Port Fairy at1845 on Saturdays, departing fromWarrnambool at 0100!

W


The bus waiting paradoxCatch the Route 400 bus- if you can. By GEOFF LAMBERT

patronise a rather peculiar bus service, the 400 from Bondi Junction to Burwood, which I catch at theUniversity of New South Wales. The Transit Authority has decided that buses will run on the aver-age, every 10 minutes throughout the day, but it has failed to specify an exact timetable. So, the De-

spatcher spins a wheel on a dial to determine how soon the next bus will leave Bondi Jct. The dial is sograduated such that the intervals between bus departures are completely random, but the long-term aver-age interval is exactly a 10 minute one. If I walk out of the University at a time of my choosing to catch thebus, on the average, how long will have to wait for the next bus? Answer next month.

Great Britain Bus TimetableReview for "The Times" by DUNCAN MACAUSLAN

n Australia we have seen two pri-vate attempts at providing a com-prehensive all Australia public

transport timetable fail this year for lackof public support as well as the enor-mity of the task. However in the GreatBritain a bus company, Southern Ve c-tis, has embarked on a similar venturewith some success.

The Great Britain Bus Timetable(GBBTT) is now in its eighth editionand seems to be gaining acceptance asthe definitive reference bus timetablefor travel professionals and bus travel-lers. This review is of the seventh edi-tion however Southern Vectis’s website (see illustration) has announcedthe new features in edition eight.

Edition 7 is quite a sizeable volume withmore pages than I’m prepared to count,it’s unpaginated and many, many time-tables– again I’ve not counted themand there’s no absolute timetable num-bering system. But neither of thesematter because indexing is excellentusing table numbers only.

The title "Great Britain" is technicallyincorrect as the timetable includes is-lands off the coast of Great Britain–including the Isle of Wight, SouthernVectis’s homebase. It does not includeNorthern Ireland or Eire thus ruling outuse of United Kingdom and BritishIsles in the title.

The timetable has three indexes. Themain index contains in 77 pages over

9000 locations– no I didn’t count them,it’s only an estimate. For each locationthe relevant table numbers are shown.

The second index is for bus– rail links,previously published separately byBarry S Doe. This details 300 locationswhere there is a considerable distancebetween a railway station and the towncentre.

Finally, and of most benefit to tourists,is a list of National Trust locations.

As mentioned the timetable is unpagi-nated. The only reference to a timetableis its reference number based on a re-gional code and a table number withinthe region. Region ‘A’ is appropriatelythe Isle of Wight and progress north to‘T’ covering the Scottish Highlandsand the Western Isles. Gaps are left toenable additions.

Each edition comes with a fold out mapwhich is an excellent idea– but the printis very small and in densely servedareas impossible to read – in some ar-eas not all services are shown. This isapparently rectified in the eighth edi-tion where areas such as Birminghamand the Edinburgh–Glasgow corridorget separate blow-ups. The map showsthe region codes again assisting to finda service.

The tables themselves are in a consis-tent style throughout and to regularreaders of a British timetable will lookfamiliar because they follow the styleused by most larger organisations.

Services included must operate 6 daysa week and between two distinct locali-ties. This precludes most city operatorsservices as well as school and worksservices, however the index does givephone numbers for local services. Alltables show the operator, service num-bers, contact phones, timing points formajor places on the route and a list ofother places served. Given the prob-lems of getting detailed informationthere are usually footnotes regardingroute variations and operating days.

Admittedly I’m a regular timetable userso it’s no surprise that I found the time-table easy to use. I tried finding severalsmall villages I’ve been to and in allcases found the timetables for theservices easily. I did find some casesaround Edinburgh where only one op-erator is shown even though I’m awarethat there are two competing.

It’s a bit more difficult to find long dis-tance connections but then I’ve yet tosee a paper timetable that can success-fully achieve this (the British Railwaystimetable on the WWW does this admi-rably).

At £12.00 an issue, around $28.00 it isexpensive. The target market is not theaverage user, rather information pointssuch as Tourist Information Centres,Bus and Railway Stations around Brit-ain. Support is provided by other busgroups such as Stagecoach, FirstBus,Go-Ahead and Cowie. This is where theGBBTT differs from the Australian ef-

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forts, it is not for the bus traveller andthus not readily available in book-shops. Thus a low price and conven-ient pocket size are not important. Per-haps this should be the target if a third

Australian timetable is being contem-plated.

Overall a very good publication. For atimetable collector at least one copy

should be in your collection as a classictimetable.

Letter to the Editor

Ian Hammond

Editor, Transit Australia

Dear Graham,

You have done a great job with The Times and I am sorry you have had to give it up. The changes werestrikingly effective. But work must come first!

Further to John Evans letter re the acting superintendents on the SAR in 1976, it is possible that a furtherreason was that in 1976 the old SAR was being split up into AN and State Transport Authority. Werethey in a 'fort-holding ' situation while the new organisation structures were being established? The wholesystem was in a state of flux. That could also explain why all three were listed. Perhaps someone can con-firm that.

Ian Hammond


Graphic InsightBy CHRIS BROWNBILL

his month, Graphic Insight starts a series of articles which attempt to answer the question: "when ex-actly IS peak hour"? We use the technique of a 60-minute rolling total number of services passing aparticular point. This is calculated by summing up all the services in the 30 minutes prior and the 30

minutes after each minute. This technique gives a reliable and stable indicator of the exact time of the busi-est minute of the day.

The data used in the graph below is taken from the current Melbourne suburban "Hillside Trains" Belgraveand Lilydale lines train timetable dated 4th July 1999. The two graph lines illustrate respectively the 60-minute rolling total number of trains arriving at Flinders Street station from the Lilydale, Belgrave andAlamein lines, and the 60-minute rolling total number of trains departing Flinders Street for those lines onMondays to Fridays.

Not surprisingly, the graph highlights the peak hours quite markedly, with a morning and an evening peak ineach direction. Also, not surprisingly, the morning peak for Up trains is higher than the morning peak forDown trains, and the evening peak for Down trains is higher than the evening peak for Up trains.

The morning Up direction peak of 23 trains per hour, which is reached at 08:09, is marginally higher than theevening Down peak of 22 trains per hour, which occurs on a number of occasions between 17:00 and 17:17.

It is interesting to note the differing shapes of the morning and evening peaks. The morning peak has arelatively gradual down–slide, whereas the evening peak subsides very steeply. There is a similar pattern inevidence for the build up to the peaks–in the morning it is very rapid (at least in the Up direction), whereasin the afternoon it is relatively gradual.

Finally, it seems that in the evening, the increase in peak and counter-peak direction flows seem to occur atthe same times, however in the morning, the counter-peak flow (Down) trails off to the off-peak level muchsooner than it does in the Up direction.

Upcoming Graphic Insights will further analyse peak hour flows as measured by 60-minute rolling totals.

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