Railway Clearing House Research Articles

‘the most perfect instrument’: Reassessing Sundials in Romantic Literature

Discussions of temporality in Romantic literature generally distinguish between objective forms of time-telling (clock time) and subjective varieties (psychological time). Although critics have tended to neglect the former, perceiving it to be ‘boringly numerical’ and the ‘lowest’ form of horology, the present article examines the complexities of practical time-telling from a broadly ecocritical perspective, arguing that, far from being a tedious embodiment of cold systematic regularity, the maddening untrustworthiness of clocks and watches ensured that time-telling was an unavoidably relativistic activity which caused frequent frustration, anxiety, and confusion throughout the period. By the late eighteenth century, apparent solar time (so-called ‘sundial time’) was gradually being superseded by mean solar time, and, even though the latter potentially offered greater regularity, the calculation of the mean itself varied depending upon the meridian used. Greenwich Mean Time, determined from the prime meridian in Greenwich, was adopted by the Railway Clearing House in 1847, eventually becoming the standard time zone for Great Britain in 1880, and a world standard in 1884. However, during the period 1780 to 1830, these distinct systems were all in common use simultaneously, and the periodicals’ letters pages regularly contained proposals for a unified system. In 1829, J. Utting prophesied that ‘the time is not far distant when mean solar time will be adopted, in nautical astronomy in particular, to the complete exclusion of apparent time’. Paul Glennie and Nigel Thrift have recently examined how these various systems were deployed, and they have boldly concluded that ‘[. . . ] there is no such thing as clock time. Rather clock time comprises a number of concepts, devices, and practices which have meant different things at different times and places, and even in any one place have not had a unitary meaning’. So far, sundials have not featured prominently in such reappraisals, yet, as time-telling devices, they fuse ecological and horological concerns in a distinctive manner. Since the early 1990s, ecocriticism has repeatedly sought to ‘collapse the artificial distinctions between nature and culture’, and Ashton Nichols has recently destabilised this dichotomy even further by focusing on ‘urbaniture’, a domain in which the natural and the urban are ‘linked in a complex web of interdependent interrelatedness’. Sundials do not impose upon or coerce nature; rather, they inertly display the diurnal regularities that are manifest as the earth spins on its axis while orbiting the sun. By contrast, mechanical timepieces tried to be consistent with the

The art of advertising railways: organisation and coordination in Britain's railway marketing, 1860–1910

This article examines early developments in Britain's railway companies' marketing. Railways have long been considered primarily manufacturers of transport and their selling efforts have attracted little attention from historians. Recent approaches to business history have revealed some important aspects of modern corporations' contributions to the cultural construction of social and economic behaviour. However, there is little research about public transport's role in encouraging people's movement. The article demonstrates the sophisticated promotional machinery developed by railway companies from the late nineteenth century, as well as shedding light on the hitherto neglected coordination of railway advertising at the Railway Clearing House.

‘Keeping unbroken ways’: the role of the Railway Clearing House Secretariat in British freight transportation, c.1923–c.1947

With the amalgamation of Britain's rail network in 1923, the role of the Railway Clearing House (RCH) in co-ordinating, operating and commercial decision making might have been expected to diminish. Instead the Clearing House secretariat extended its involvement in pricing and co-ordination between the ‘big four’ railway companies and even became the basis for the new nationalised industry in 1947. This paper explores the RCH as a venue for discussion and negotiation, where routines were articulated and codified, extending those within individual railway companies. In so doing, the RCH is revealed as an extension of the managerial hierarchy of each separate firm.

Gail Marshall, The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de SiècleThe Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle. Edited by GailMarshall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xvii+266.

<i>Gail Marshall,</i> The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle<i>The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle</i>. Edited by GailMarshall. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xvii+266.

Is management accounting just what management accountants do? Implicit cost analysis on Britain's railways c.1923-1939

This paper explores how railway companies performed the management accounting function during the first part of the twentieth century. It will be argued that only by understanding the relationship between management techniques and the business process can any judgement as to the quality of management decisions be reached. Through the medium of educational material, the development of train control and railway statistics is explored. It is argued that implicit marginal costing was obtained from non-financial information outside the realm of accounting. This was due to the specific conditions and complexity of operations faced by railway managers. This is then contrasted with the limited, and ultimately unsuccessful, attempts by accountants at the Railway Clearing House to cost services.

Review: The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy 1842–1922

Review: The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy 1842–1922

The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy, 1842–1922. By Philip S. Bagwell. London: George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1968. Pp. 320. 60s.

The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy, 1842–1922. By Philip S. Bagwell. London: George Allen &amp; Unwin, 1968. Pp. 320. 60<i>s</i>.

The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy, 1842-1942.

The Railway Clearing House in the British Economy, 1842-1942.

The Records of the Railway Clearing House

The Records of the Railway Clearing House

Notes

WE understand that on the receipt by the Science and Art Department from the Foreign Office of a despatch from Her Maj esty's Minister at Washington forwarding communications concerning the proposed change in the time for beginning the astronomical day, as recommended by the recent International Meridian Conference at Washington, the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education requested the following Committee to advise them as to what steps should be taken in the matter. Prof. J. C. Adams, F.R.S., the Astronomer-Royal, Capt. Sir F. Evans, K.C.B., R.N., the Hydrographer of the Navy, Gen. Strachey, R.E., C.S.I., F.R.S., Dr. Hind, F.R.S., and Col. Donnelly, R.E. In accordance with their recommendations copies of the Report of the Delegates to the International Prime Meridian Conference,at Washington, together with the resolutions adopted by that body, have been sent to various depart ments of the State, and to the following Societies, &c.: Society of Telegraphic Engineers, Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Society, Submarine Telegraph Company, Eastern Telegraph Company (Limited), Eastern and South African Telegraph Company (Limited), Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Company (Limited), Railway Clearing House. They lave been informed that these resolutions of the Prime Meridian Conference appear to my Lords of the Committee of Council to >e such as commend themselves for adoption. But before in-orming the American Government to that effect their Lordships would be glad to receive the opinion of the various societies on he subject.