From The Kearney Files
Times of London
More Tubes Needed
Col, Moore Brabazon on Kearney System.
Col, Moore - Brabazon, M,P., Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, yesterday recieved a deputation, organized by the Kearney Society, and including representatives of several county council's and London authorities.
Lord Bradley, President of the Kearney Society, said that their object was to call the attention of the Government to the urgent need of additional means of transit between the central districts of London and the various areas represented on the deputation. Engineering Science had already provided alternative means of transit, and the invention known as the Kearney High Speed Railway was, they believed, the only solution to the problem.
They urged on the Government the necessity for providing, through the Trade Facilities Act or otherwise , the necessary facilities by the provision of a guarantee upon an adequate amount of capital and the granting of powers to enable the first section of the Kearney Tube Railway tone constructed immediately with a view to the widespread adoption of the system to meet the transit requirements of modern London. There were two suitable schemes :- (1) A tube railway between North and South Shields half a mile in length, with an estimated cost of £300,000 ; (2) a tube railway between Woolwich and North Woolwich, three - quarters of a mile in length, with an estimated cost of £400,00.
Mr E. W. Chalmers Kearney explained that the stations would be close to the street surface, where lifts and escalators would be unnecessary. The lines would descend to a depth of, 100 ft. by means of a gradient of 1 in 7, and then pass along the level and run, by a similar gradient, into the next station.
By this means the trains could be operated with half the power and run at double the speeds of the present tubes. Escalators and the up keep, and these expenses would be entirely obviated with this system. It would be possible to construct tubes on his system on many routes in London which could be made to pay where the ordinary tube could make nothing but losses.
Mr A. H. Webb. Secretary of the Beacontree Tenants Association, said that the L. C. C. had formed a large town at Beacontree, which was ultimately intended to accommodate 200,000 people, without any provision having been made to enable the residents to reach their places of business in the city. The present travelling facilities were almost intolerable, and we're getting worse every day. They had investigated the Kearney System, and believed firmly that this was their only hope.
Mr, E. Radford, of the Woolwich Chambers of Commerce, said that his Chamber had investigated the claims of the Kearney System, and they earnestly hoped that the proposed tube between Woolwich and North Woolwich would be the first to be installed, as improved means of communication under the river was urgently necessary.
Colonel Moore - Brabazon said that the Government was most anxious to solve the tube railway problem, and any assistance towards that object was welcomed. He recommended application for a light railway , and said the Trade Facilities Committee would probably arrange to guarantee the interest on necessary capital. When the experimental line was working a definite idea of its utility could be obtained.
No more money could be found for extensions of the present tube system, and therefore any method such as the Kearney system which offered a solution of the problem by reducing the costs would have the support of all concerned. He had been very much impressed with the extraordinary size of the deputation, representing as it did the whole of the Metropolis, which was a proof of the widespread and earnest desire for further tube railways. More Tubes were, in fact wanted in every direction. Secondly, he had been much impressed by the clear and unmistakable manner in which Mr. Kearney had stated the case for his tube railway system. The only possible objection that might be raised to it that might be raised was the impossibility of running through trains on the existing lines but this did not appeal to him as a serious matter as it was his experience that he had a great deal of the intercommunication between one line and another on his own feet. He welcomed the deputation and hoped that something definite would result from the proceedings.
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