ArchiveWiki - User contributions [en]

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-25

2012-03-31T20:43:00Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at the reading room slightly later than usual because of a railway SNAFU--apparently a train had derailed late last night at Ealing Broadway, so there was no direct fast train from...

Arrived at the reading room slightly later than usual because of a railway SNAFU--apparently a train had derailed late last night at Ealing Broadway, so there was no direct fast train from Oxford to London Paddington and it was necessary to transfer from a fast train, headlined for Paddington but terminating at Reading, to another fast train between Reading and Paddington. Both trains WERE fast, but transferring at Reading added about 15 minutes to the journey.

Decided to take a break from the series 14 files, especially since they were not volunteered. Requested files 8/53, 8/54, and 8/55. It is not worthwhile to make a comprehensive contents listing. So only salient points are noted.

8/53

Much of this is correspondence connected with a trip RJ made to continental Europe in 1927, with his main destination being Germany but also involving a transit through France. The file contains an AA horsepower certificate which RJ had to take with him to France in order to get a temporary French road license for his Jewett motor-car. Apparently France had a horsepower tax as well, calculated on a notional (financial) rather than actual basis, and the AA certificate gives piston diameter AND stroke length--it's apparent the tax was calculated taking in more parameters than the RAC horsepower formula. Certificate and RJ's question-answer sheet re French road tax requirements are worth P.

8/54

This contains miscellaneous correspondence and reports from US visits between 1925 (?) and 1933. There are three reports by EW James, having to do with traffic engineering and planning; several make reference to the MUTCD, and one describes Chicago as having only five roads in and out--"like a walled city"--and stresses the benefits of a high-quality interregional highway system. EW James' articles are worth P. 29 pp. total.

8/55

This file contains correspondence regarding RJ's visit to America in ca. 1931 to attend the IRC in Washington, DC. It becomes apparent that RJ combined this visit with a trip all over the US to examine road conditions, and that his stops included California (where he met CH Purcell, SV Cortelyou, and RE Pierce--District X Engineer). Much of the correspondence contained within this file has to do with RJ's problems with prohibition. RJ tried to get an exception allowing him to bring in 24 bottles (2 cases) of brandy, claiming a weak heart and advice from his London physician. This was not accepted for purposes of granting an exemption and RJ was apparently forced to go to an US doctor, get an US prescription, and get the brandy from a pharmacist, following the US legal procedure for getting "medicinal" alcohol. RJ claimed the brandy thus obtained was grossly inferior to the French brandy he was used to. (He tried not to whine in his letters, but his appeal to the overarching concept of "hospitality" grates. And the introductory paragraphs of the Prohibition letters are also more obviously window-dressing for the requests for special favors than is the case for other letters RJ wrote.) SEveral govt departments became involved in RJ's request for medicinal brandy and he even wrote direct to the President's private secretary, Henry Stimson (then Sec'y of State?), Charles Upham (chairman of ARBA?), Thos H MacDonald, Customs, the American consul-general in London, the British ambassador in WAshington, etc.

Nothing P. in these files.

Must request the 1931 journals.

Details recalled from last visit to the archives:

* The committee requested details on vehicle taxation in NYC. The NYC city engineer wrote to RJ to tell him that vehicle tax had two components: one was loosely 'ad valorem', based on the recency and cost of the car, and the other was based on horsepower. It is not clear but this seems to be the manufacturer's rated horsepower (used for advertising purposes) rather than notional horsepower calculated from a selection of engine internal dimensions.

* Committee realized that the existing (wartime?--not clear from sequencing whether this applies to the horsepower tax introduced in 1920, or to a proposed revision of the taxation structure discussed in 1922 but never implemented) horsepower tax had had distortionary effects on car manufacturing by encouraging development of narrow-bore, long-stroke engines, but considered (incorrectly, as it turned out) that this distortionary tax had gone as far as it could in stimulating this technological development. Engine revving levels notionally increased through the 1920's and 1930's, presumably due in part to advances in metallurgy, and so the ratio between actual and taxable horsepower continued to increase through the 1930's, tho' possibly at the expense of rising peak horsepower RPMs. There is no evidence that the committee considered this effect except to say that, in spite of the rising bench power output of engines, the RAC horsepower formula still broadly corresponded to the horsepower ordinarily likely to be used by the vast majority of drivers on the public roads.

* Curiously, in its position papers on the horsepower tax, the SMMT was a very lukewarm advocate for use taxation. They paid only lip service to the concept, quickly abandoned it (possibly in response to Geddes' vocal opposition to a recommendation in favor of petrol taxation, though there is no "smoking gun" to establish a causal relationship here), and their representative RJ--though initially and in TKH a strong advocate for petrol taxation as the most effective method of taxing according to use--eventually led the capitulation to horsepower taxation. There may be several reasons for the motor manufacturers' apparently counterintuitive stance on vehicle taxation. (1) Motor vehicles were still a luxury good, so cars would remain affordable to their main consumers although this customer base was unlikely to expand (Morris not yet pushing the envelope with a near-Fordist strategy of producing for the common man); (2) they had (possibly?) already tooled up to produce horsepower-minimizing car engines in response to a predecessor of the horsepower tax introduced during the war (this was probably the case, since the RAC horsepower formula was developed in 1912, long before the classic £1-per-HP tax was introduced); and (3) spurious refutations of the idea that petrol taxed according to use were circulating, the classic example being a comparison between two men in the same motor car, one driving sedately and producing little road wear, and the other driving like a madman and producing massive and expensive road damage, and both consuming the same amount of petrol (if this was ever close to being true, it was only because of a combination of weak road structure and inherent engine inefficiency which obscured the more commanding role of AXLE WEIGHT in determining road wear rates) (these reasons started to erode/vanish when roads began to be designed and constructed according to design loads and knowledge of road wear/damage behavior derived from Bates, WASHO, and AASHO road tests, and RRL pavement research--RRL was not even founded to look at the wear and finance problems until 1930, 10 years after the horsepower tax introduced).

Went ahead and requested the additional files.

8/38

This is an utter fraud--contains not "books and reports" from RJ's 1930-31 trip to the US and NZ, but rather LISTS of books and reports. Nothing P!!! Perhaps the books can be accessed somewhere, at the LSE library or somesuch. Check via COPAC, LSE library catalogue, AIM25.

8/36

This is the travel journal for RJ's 1930-31 trip to Canada, the US, and NZ. Very thick and interesting, but as a whole not P. HOwever, following quote is of interest, and may be suitable for use somewhere.

Tuesday Oct. 28

Fords sent a car to bring me to their works. Received by J. Ruseell Grau, secretary to C.E. Sorenson who is Ford's factotum at Detroit. Met him for a few moments. Of Swedish descent (originally I was told a Patternmaker). Impossible to get close in a few moments--gave the superficial impression of capacity, hardness and concentration. Grau took me to the room where the heads of Departments lunch and afterwards showed me over the plant. (The public are shown over the plant daily by authorized guides.) What impressed me most was the huge plant which has been built for dealing with scrap. Originally designed for melting down the battleships which Ford had bought from the Government, it is now also used for melting down old cars. Ford will buy any old motor car for $20 (it must be able to be driven), then themagneto and a few special parts are taken off, and the rest, frame, wings, seats, everything are lifted on to trolleys which run back and forward to the mouthof the furnace. The furance doors are opened, the trolley pushes the worn-out car into the fiery furnace, the doors close, the trolley backs on its rails. The worn car reduced in the flames to molten metal and to dross, the molten metal runs out at one end--one can see it come out and shaped and beaten into steel bars, and the waste products are pushed out elsewhere to be turned into cement. Of all the things I have seen in America this impressed my imagination most (the Grand Canyon subsequently impressed me to the same high degree in another way). It seemed tome that Ford had carried out the great scheme of creation in the material sphere. Mankind will likewise be reduced in the fiery furnace, thehigher to be remodelled and the lower to be utilized in fresh combinations for constructive purposes.

Other observations.

RJ was born on 1 December--turned 59 on this trip.

Sunday Dec. 7

Mr. C.H. Wilson called for me and we drove to Ardmore to the formal opening as an all weather concrete highway of the Great North and South Road through the State. Both the new (W.H. Murray) and the retiring (W. Holloway) Governors were at this function and I was introduced to them at the Barbecue luncheon which preceded the opening. Murray referred to me in his speech, in the open air in the centre of the town. The stream of oratory went on for hours. I listened for about 3/4 hour and then escaped, went to the hotel for a cup of tea and left the town with Mr. Wilson before the speaking was finished. The oratory was preceded by a procession in which pioneers of the State took part, dressed in the costumes of pioneers on horseback and in the wagons in which the early settlers entered the State. I also met Mr. Wentz, Mr. Boswell and Mr. ----- the HIghway Commissioners and many others.

(Ardmore is on US 77--so it would seem that US 77 was the great N/S road RJ talks about. And it seems that he followed the US 66 corridor through SW MO, OK, TX, and NM.)

And:

Thursday Dec. 18

Mr. M.H. Hasler, Bridge Engineer, Arizona; Mr. R.C. Perkins, Construction Engineer, who had arrived in Winslow the night before by direction of Mr. W.W. Lane, the State Engineer of Arizona, embarked us and our belongings on two cars. E. joined Mr. Hasler, a young keen engineer who had spent two years in France during the war. A married man, with two small children living and owning a farm outside Phoenix. His whole heart and soul in his job as a road engineer, particularly from the point of view of inventing machinery and using it in any way to decrease the use of manual labour in every possible way. He was able to tell interesting stories of early road making in the west throughprimeval forest (these men still wore riding breeches and garters as they did when they were worn as a protection against snakes in the undergrowth) and the heartbreak of surveying a road up an unexplored mountain to find there was no possible way of taking it down the other side.

Mr. Perkins was older and also interesting, owning a citrus farm near Phoenix which we visited later meeting his wife. I drove with him on his two-seater. We passed through Flagstaff, a picturesquely situated town at a high altitude through which the road has to be kept clear of snow during the winter. Lunched at the Harvey House, Williams, [RJ learned all about Fred Harvey and his hotel chain, operated in cooperation with the ATSF RR and providing access to national parks.] Williams is both the road and rail junction for the Grand Canyon. We drove to the National Park, a distance from Williams of 59 miles, making with the 97 miles from Winslow to Williams a total of 156 miles. The top of the Grand Canyon is 7075 ft. above sea level. A new road has been built by the Bureau of Public Roads for the National Parks from Williams to the Grand Canyon. Evidently it had been done cheaply for I was not impressed by its construction. The "borrow" had been taken too closely from the soil immediately adjoining the carriageway, spoiling the amenities and making the road unnecessarily dangerous.

At El Tovar we were joined by Mr. Tillotson, the Supt. of the National Park and taken over the beautiful roads in the Park to a recently opened tea house (Fountain House) at the edge of the Canyon at "Desert View." From there we saw a wonderful panorama with the Painted Desert stretching away to the right, the Vermilion Cliffs to our left, the deep drop of the Canyon below. No artist in colour or in words can depict the glory of such a scene. The Painted Desert alone is unique. It is on the northern side of the Canyon. Looking across from this height over the flat desert country, every colour shimmered in lines though the prevailing colour effect was orange and red, the colours of the desert and in the Canyon were changing momentarily. In its beauty and colour and greatness of outline, it justified the claim made for it of the greatest natural wonder of the world. The effect of the view of the desert is greatly increased if the head is bent and the desert looked at sideways. After a cup of tea we retraced our tracks but left the main road again to "Grandview" another point of vantage to see the Canyon where it is alleged the Indians established their Look-out or Sentry Point. The eye is not trained to grasp the fact that the Canyon varies in width from 10 to 20 miles (I believe the distance from rim to rim opposite El Tovar Hotel is about 12 or 13 miles) that it is between 6,000 to 8,000 ft deep and some hundreds of miles long that the points rising from the body of the Canyon upon which you gaze down are veritable mountains. What the eye does perhaps take in is the coloring. Clour here is God, or shall we say that God has expressed himself in colour.

The northern rim was closed for the season when we visited the Canyon. Stretching along its edge and forming part of the Park system is the Kaibab National Forest. During the season the journey is made from rim to rim by way of a steel suspension bridge near the foot of the Canyon across the Colorado River and up the Bright Angel Canyon to Grand Canyon Lodge on the Northern Rim. There is drinking water on the northern side but none on the Southern side and it is brought in by steam railway from Flagstaff daily some 85 miles distant. It is a long and difficult approach to the northern rim from the northern side, roads and railways being few and in the winter the roads are impassable.

In the evening the party was completed by the arrival of Mr. Tillotson's daughter from boarding school. She and her mother joined us for dinner at the hotel making an interesting party of 7. The hotel which belonged to the Harvey group was decorated with many fine heads of bison, deer and other animals. A picture gallery with paintings by artists who had tried to put on canvas some idea of the coloour and grandeur of the Canyon opposite the hotel is a Hopi Indian house, pueblo style. In the season the Indians give dances for the amusement of visitors. Later I went with the Tillotsons to their house, originally a log cabin this cabin is now the chief room of the house but it was added to by Mr. Crosby when he was in charge of the Park. Mrs. Tillotson asked me to sign her Visitors book and showed me the names of some who had already done so. These included Hoover and the late Ambassador of Gt. Britain who had insisted on descending per mule to the bottom of the Canyon.

[Dec. 21. Road between PHoenix and Tempe is just now being rebuilt, and the two are SEPARATE communities!]

[Dec. 26. Mr. Lane lets RJ know that he personally set out the Apache Trail road to Roosevelt Dam.]

[Dec. 28. US 80 doglegs between Buckeye and Gila Bend. Also, a difficult fruit inspection, and they wound up at El Centro after having passed within the old Plank Road corridor. Spade carried in Mr. Lane's car to dig out cars which had been forced off the road into the sand: it was very narrow concrete.]

[Dec. 29-30. RJ hears about the Coronado Bridge, then proposed (he's staying at the Coronado Hotel), from Col. Crosby, who was the consulting engineer on the bridge proposal.]

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-31T20:42:23Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-25]]
::[[RJ 8/53]]
::[[RJ 8/54]]
::[[RJ 8/55]]
::[[RJ 8/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-23]]
::[[RJ 25/24]]
::[[RJ 25/16]]
::[[RJ 25/18]]
::[[RJ 25/22]]
::[[RJ 25/26]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[Cambridge University Library 2012-03-02]]
::[[SB D.3.11]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-27]]
::[[T 161/169]]
::[[T 161/560]]
::[[T 161/577]]
::[[MT 117/109]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-29]]
::[[DSIR 12/318]]
::[[MT 6/3397]]
::[[MT 39/656]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2003-01-23

2012-03-31T20:05:57Z

J N Winkler: New page: Quiet day; main unusual feature was the episode of nearly uninterrupted sunshine over London and Oxford, lasting till about 3 PM in the afternoon. Train left on time but was late getting ...

Quiet day; main unusual feature was the episode of nearly uninterrupted sunshine over London and Oxford, lasting till about 3 PM in the afternoon. Train left on time but was late getting into London owing to frequent delays and having to stop for signals in the S/SN operating areas. I had not forgotten the yogurt for lunch, like I had done the last time, but I had forgotten the detachable keyboard; lack of it makes typing awkward. Decided not to make today a strenuous note-taking day, and ordered mostly journal files. Choices (mostly NZ, FR, IT travel diaries) initially seemed somewhat peripheral to my thesis, but there are tidbits of interesting information.

25/24

This is RJ's visit to New Zealand in 1931, continuing his trip to the USA (which was covered in a previous notetaking session). RJ sails from Honolulu, stops at Fiji, goes on to Auckland, spends most of his time in Auckland, Rotorua, and Wellington (in that general order), sails from Wellington to Panama, and then from Panama to London. Some interesting insights:

* NZ was engaged in a wasteful unemployment program at the time which paid the unemployed and the unemployable 14/- per day on makework jobs (RJ estimates actual economic value of their labor about 1/2 that). RJ sees gangs of the unemployed engaged on road projects. Country obviously gripped by depression--farmers leave the land to collect the unemployed stipend because they can't do better than 30/- per week farming, and agricultural labor is scarce. Low farm commodity prices mean that it costs more to shear sheep than the wool brings in, etc. Lots of wealthy farmers living on capital.

* RJ doesn't go to the South Island, I think. However, is advised that a higher proportion of roads on the North Island have sealed surfaces. South Island described by some as rich in mineral resources, while others say that there is no more gold in the SI than there is in the Thames. South Island has Alpine topography, but not necessarily Alpine weather. Descriptions of attractions in the North Island is a blend of typical tropical (ferns, flies, etc.) combined with typical Yellowstone (large lakes, boiling springs, mountains, hiking country etc.).

* NZ auto industry protectionist. RJ gets values of import duty (all ad valorem, apparently), does some computations, and concludes that British cars come in with 25% effective duty, Canadian 50%, American 75% (calculated on import invoice value plus 10%). British cars are doing phenomenally well in NZ because of this differential taxation, but RJ is told that the typical NZer regards British cars as underpowered and as soon as the depression is over and incomes rise, they will start demanding bigger and more powerful cars (ie American if they can get them).

* Too many taxis in major NZ cities because qualifications boards cap the number of people going into apprenticeships, so that taxi driving becomes one of the few occupations open to young NZers. Also, law allows employers to 'pro rate' salaries for the disabled/part-time workers only if unions agree and unions never do; so lots of people who would settle for half-time work are forced to go on the 14/- per day dole.

* In NZ, railways are state-controlled. RJ talks to several railway people and finds that they are not allowed to run their networks on an economic basis--line location and service settled by politicians. Hence, NZ has about £67m of capital invested in railway network, of which RJ calculates only £20-£30m would be realized if the railways were sold off or otherwise privatized. A couple of privatization bills going through the NZ Parliament at time RJ going through NZ, and he attempts to interfere, but doesn't get face time with the PM due to all-night sittings. At the end RJ sends a farewell message to NZ newspapers, several of which interviewed him and then published interviews while he was in NZ, saying that at least £30m invested in railways should be regarded as a dead loss, and written off.

* Not all principal highways in NZ at time RJ goes through are sealed-surface. Rotorua in particular said by RJ to be very dusty, afflicted with flies, with lackadaisical shopkeepers who show no interest in commercial enterprise. RJ encounters dust roads in some resort areas and going through several mountain passes. Also, RJ observes with concern that Wellington has only one road out of the harbor area, which means evacuation impossibility if an earthquake hits (Wellington built right on top of an EQ fault) and the one land escape route blocked.

* RJ talks with employees of the NZ Main Hwys Bd (MHB), including several district engineers and MHB members. Apparently roads in NZ are funded out of a hypothecated % of the petrol tax, which is then doled out by MHB to local authorities to build roads under administrative supervision of MHB personnel. Work appears to be chargeable to MHB at set percentages, with MHB engineers largely responsible for making sure that only the chargeable line items are in fact charged for. Hence conflict of priorities between MHB district employees and the LAs (mostly counties)--counties want minor roads to become SH's so they don't have to maintain them without reimbursement, MHB personnel want majority of resources to go to principal trunk routes, hence situation ripe for political logrolling. RJ doesn't go into details, but I suspect the system based on MHB review of PS&E.

25/16

Diary of Paris visit in Oct-Nov 1925. Haven't gone through it in detail, but suspect not much of interest. Concerns mostly RJ's art purchases.

Diary of Milan Congress visit, Aug-Sep 1926. Actually not all that much road-related material.

Diary of Continent visit in 1927, covering part of Germany. Includes a drive on the AVUS road on 10 July (very sketchy description). (There are apparently 2 copies of this in the folder.)

25/18

This holds miscellaneous personal papers--including RJ's passport from 1911, which is very old and traditional, consisting not of an annotated booklet like a modern passport, but rather a large sheet of paper (foolscap?) with the Foreign Office seals, Edward Grey's signature (as foreign secretary), and bearer's name, occupation, and age. It has a "6 pence" price stamp (this probably being the cost of issue of the passport), and RJ's signature is affixed on a tearaway strip which is glued to the paper and embossed with FO seals. It has 5-year validity and date of issue is 9/5/1911.

Other paperwork concerns purchase of a 16/24 Humber from Wolseley (23/8/1911). RJ paid £350. 16/24 is a reference to the engine capacity and HP, I think; cited in promotional lit as 16"/24. No, it's also described as a 16 HP car. Is this the RAC rating, and if so, does 24 mean actual HP somehow?

25/22

No time for thorough review, but the folder includes:

Diary of Italian visit of 1926. Reference to a meeting with Puricelli at which GP Blizard was present.

Diary of Paris visit in Oct 1931. Very little road-related; mostly art-concerned.

Diary of Paris visit in June 1932. 26/6 contains reference to Peripherique being built.

Diary of Paris visit in June-July 1936. Contains 'beaucoup' information on French motor roads, though not detailed technical specs. New construction includes portions of the Peripherique, and most importantly, a new Motor Road whose construction RJ inspects. It runs largely through Forest of Marly, with fork at Roquencourt--one spur connecting to RN 190 for Normandy coast towns and the other connecting to RN 10 for Chartres. 120m F, 40m spent at time of RJ's visit, remainder to be expended in following 2 years. Total 30 km of new construction. (Around 75F to the £1 at that time.) Pte Champerret to Le Bourget also sanctioned: 8 km, estimated cost 100m F. Pte d'Italie, 45 km new const., 250m F, sanctioned. Courbevoie for Rouen/Dieppe, Vincennes-Lagny, and total "outer circular route around Paris" 200 km in length--all proposed but not yet sanctioned. 600m F total for Courbevoie and the rest. This notice on 30/6. There is also more material on the Peripherique later on, but not much containing construction details. However, apparently in 1932 RJ was shown an actual grade separation structure being built in Paris.

25/26

No time for detailed review. However, holdings include 2 copies of Puricelli's paper on the Italian first-class road system, copies of and Puricelli's corrections to RJ's account of the first Autostrade, and misc correspondence. There is a gap between the autostrade material coming from Puricelli which says the autostrade (in 1926, first year of op) made Lit. 104k profit on about Lit. 90m investment, and RJ's own article, which cites Puricelli's estimate of Lit. 7m annual income to meet running costs and capital charges and says the income in first year was just Lit. 5.5m. Not sure if this gap indicates actual inconsistency in the computations.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-31T20:04:03Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-23]]
::[[RJ 25/24]]
::[[RJ 25/16]]
::[[RJ 25/18]]
::[[RJ 25/22]]
::[[RJ 25/26]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[Cambridge University Library 2012-03-02]]
::[[SB D.3.11]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-27]]
::[[T 161/169]]
::[[T 161/560]]
::[[T 161/577]]
::[[MT 117/109]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-29]]
::[[DSIR 12/318]]
::[[MT 6/3397]]
::[[MT 39/656]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

Cambridge University Library 2012-03-02

2012-03-31T19:42:37Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at Cambridge University Library promptly around 3.30. Obtained library card without difficulty--I was the only person being processed in the admissions office at the time. Got in...

Arrived at Cambridge University Library promptly around 3.30. Obtained library card without difficulty--I was the only person being processed in the admissions office at the time. Got into the manuscripts room without difficulty, although there are fairly stringent requirements relating to materials that can be brought in (no stationery, no objects even in clear plastic bags, etc.), so I had to park this stuff in a locker outside the reading room, and bring in just camera, this laptop, and power cord and power supply (power cord hung from neck; power supply in pocket; laptop and camera in hand). Four volumes of the Baldwin papers were pulled for me--it appears the Baldwin papers are kept in perfect-bound volumes--and I am to be given them one volume at a time, it seems. Each individual volume seems to span multiple file references. I am simply photographing interesting material as I go along, instead of preparing file write-ups, since time for consultation is short. The main exception is a file dealing with Waterloo Bridge and a plan to remove the Charing Cross railway bridge which I am not photographing because it is a scheme-level file with no relevance to motorway design policy.

D.3.11

This file concerns ministerial (including Prime Ministerial) involvement in the ongoing failure to agree and carry out necessary rehabilitations to Waterloo Bridge within the context of a plan for cross-Thames bridges involving removal of the Charing Cross railway bridge, widely considered unbearably ugly. The file includes two separate schemes for preservation and reconditioning of Waterloo Bridge, the first of which is in two parts (one part being essentially an engineering report and the second part being an appreciation of historical qualities, it seems to me). Both parts of the first are perfect-bound and professionally printed, while the second is typescript, but both are fairly extensively illustrated. This file also includes a letter to the editor ('Times') from Rees Jeffreys, urging that cross-Thames river crossings within London become the subject of a central government inquiry.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-31T19:41:54Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[Cambridge University Library 2012-03-02]]
::[[SB D.3.11]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-27]]
::[[T 161/169]]
::[[T 161/560]]
::[[T 161/577]]
::[[MT 117/109]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-29]]
::[[DSIR 12/318]]
::[[MT 6/3397]]
::[[MT 39/656]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-29

2012-03-31T19:38:06Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at 12.35 PM owing to delay catching a District Line train for the Richmond fork. Only files not being photographed will be discussed here. DSIR 12/318 This was ordered because i...

Arrived at 12.35 PM owing to delay catching a District Line train for the Richmond fork. Only files not being photographed will be discussed here.

DSIR 12/318

This was ordered because it has a paper dealing with "economic justification of road works," which is the PIARC title for a must-get paper by C.T. Brunner which was later published by the BRF as 'Road pence, road sense'. However, the main burden of this file, which is a collection of RRL research reports in typescript--as is usual for DSIR 12 pieces--is materials testing in colonial areas. This file is being returned. (Finding from a stop at the LSE Library later today: 'Road pence, road sense' is not in fact a republication of Brunner's paper--it is rather an "account" of it in "everyday English," i.e. with all of the interesting stuff stripped.)

MT 6/3397

This file deals with Lloyd George's unemployment proposals of 1935. A 'Times' article of 1935-02-23 addressing them is not being photographed.

MT 39/656

Some correspondence relating to a loosening of funding constraint in Merseyside (in midst of 1948 expenditure cuts) not photographed because it was highly local in a general policy file.

National Archives 2012-03-27

2012-03-31T19:36:08Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at 12.20 PM, only to discover that my attempt to reserve my seat for the next visit seems not to have taken, possibly because my documents (all of them?) had a 2012-03-26 return da...

Arrived at 12.20 PM, only to discover that my attempt to reserve my seat for the next visit seems not to have taken, possibly because my documents (all of them?) had a 2012-03-26 return date, or because I chose the wrong date in the Web form and of course failed to show up on that date. In any case, I have reserved 31H (which I hope will work well, though I suspect 26H was better lit) and will try to get stuff done here. In the meantime, while I am waiting for re-ordered documents to arrive, I will do some clerical work.

T 161/169

This is a boxed file with multiple items, the majority of which deal with the Road Fund Budgets for a number of financial years in the 1920's (1923-24 to 1928-29). Much of the business in these items is routine. The Ministry applies for Treasury approval for its budget for the coming financial year, enclosing statements of the amounts involved together with summaries of how they have increased or decreased from the previous year, and why. There are often supplemental requests from the Ministry for release of additional funding to cope with funding shortfalls, and to allow alterations in the rate of grant (e.g. from 33.3% to 50% for one stage of the road classification hierarchy). There are copies of Ministry of Transport circulars stating what items of work are payable by grant. I am photographing the budget file for 1927-28 as a sample since, in addition to the usual budget approval items, it also includes transcripts of deputations asking for revisions in grant percentages and Ministry takeover of through rural roads.

T 161/560

This deals with cost overruns associated with the 1921-22 arterial road programme. Contractors had had to be appointed before the roads were actually designed so that the unemployed could be put to work immediately, so the engineering uncertainties were not thoroughly shaken out, and the Treasury found itself asked to cover a 45% cost overrun on a clutch of roads in the London area with LCC part-funding and labor taken from labor exchanges in the London area.

T 161/577

This box contains five folders dealing with the Ministry's and the Treasury's attempts to expand road construction output to deal with unemployment in 1929-30. There is some overlap with Treasury files dealing with betterment and recoupment, and also with Ministry files dealing with the Lloyd George unemployment proposals. The covering dates appear to span 1929-1931. I have examined only the first file, which deals with a Treasury grant of permission (strictly on a temporary basis) to Ministry to grant money to local authority schemes without advance Treasury vetting. I have not yet examined any correspondence there may be in relation to the Lloyd George proposals or the 1931 cuts.

MT 117/109

This looks to be another dud steer from the Motorway Archive visualization and policy volume. It attributes current motorway terminology (terms like 'slip road' and so on) to material supplied by Hargreaves on this file. It is not evident in a cursory inspection: the main burden of the file is minutes and correspondence relating to a motorway scheme (now M6) from North of Birmingham to Preston Bypass. Possibly the plan showing terminology (reproduced in the Motorway Archive volume) is in the plans folder, which has 16 items. There is not enough time to unpack and repack it. I will return this file.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-31T19:33:11Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-27]]
::[[T 161/169]]
::[[T 161/560]]
::[[T 161/577]]
::[[MT 117/109]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-29]]
::[[DSIR 12/318]]
::[[MT 6/3397]]
::[[MT 39/656]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-31T19:26:09Z

J N Winkler: /* Personal collection */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reichs'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-22

2012-03-27T12:23:26Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around 1.30 PM, massively late--the District line was not running on the Richmond branch. I walked past the sign explaining the service suspension before I read it, and since it w...

Arrived around 1.30 PM, massively late--the District line was not running on the Richmond branch. I walked past the sign explaining the service suspension before I read it, and since it was right at the ticket barrier I could not double back and read it without wasting a fare, but I gathered it had to do with a signal failure. The online service advisory page suggests the District line is back to normal, but I don't altogether trust it, and will try to look for a page refresh date and time stamp. This day will be a mixture of document photography and examining documents.

MT 120/96

This file has Engineering Appreciations for the Trunk Road Master Plan. Photographed one (TR 8) as a sample: this starts as the A4 in London and runs out to the South West. One is also available for TR 12 (London-Carlisle-Glasgow), but I am not photographing this. TR 33 (London-Tilbury) also available; not photographed. A document, "Trunk Road Master Plan: Engineering Appreciation: Instructions for Preparation" is not being photographed because it is believed to have been photographed with MT 120/95; check that this is the case.

MT 39/299

This file deals with the Lloyd George proposals--it is actually several subfiles within one folder cover. I have photographed all except the last, which deals with roads and bridges. I shall finish this file on my next visit to the National Archives.

MT 110/3

This file deals with the "A" Ring, though the early part (in a separate folder) deals with general suggestions for reducing or relieving London congestion, including fairly radical ideas such as house-swapping (proposed by Aneurin Bevan, invariably spelled "swopping") or applying planning control to home-to-work commutes. In the main part of the file, of particular interest is a note describing a meeting (date not given, but probably 20 or 21 April 1950) in which Barnes (Minister of Transport) and Dalton (Minister of Town & Country Planning) agreed to kill the "A" Ring scheme, over the objections of E.B. Hugh-Jones and others. The file as a whole is probably not photographable but still of interest. Another memorandum gives the history of the scheme, and there is a memorandum from Barnes and Dalton asking the Lord President's Committee for a decision on it (it looks like said decision was kicked back to them). Actually, the file as a whole is worth photographing and should not take too long because the majority of it consists of drafts of the joint memorandum (which can be omitted) and also a copy of the "A" Ring technical report, which I already have through the Rees Jeffreys papers.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:22:06Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-22]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[MT 39/299]]
::[[MT 110/3]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-20

2012-03-27T12:17:52Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around noon. Would have come a little earlier except the train was delayed just before Reading. Main focus of this visit is mopping up old files and chasing down Motorways Archiv...

Arrived around noon. Would have come a little earlier except the train was delayed just before Reading. Main focus of this visit is mopping up old files and chasing down Motorways Archive references.

MT 95/294

The title for this file has the keywords "motorway" and "general." With the exception of some handwritten notes addressing issues of traffic flows, the bulk of the content of this file appears to be selection of schemes for the motorway programme, broken down by contract length and year, and the majority of papers are from the mid-1960's.

MT 74/2

This file is being returned since it deals with the broad issue of nationalization of transport providers and though it contains much of interest, including the civil servants' reply to the Road Haulage Industry's (which association?) memorandum on "The case against nationalisation," as well as correspondence on whether the nationalized transport authority should have the ability to raise capital on the open market, it is peripheral to the concerns of the thesis and cannot reasonably be considered a high priority. In any case the secondary sources should be examined first.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:17:26Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/294]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-15

2012-03-27T12:14:27Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around 11.10. Files simply being photographed are not noted. MT 112/159 (This file ordered by Chris Marshall.) An important concern is advisory speed signing for curves. Plans...

Arrived around 11.10. Files simply being photographed are not noted.

MT 112/159

(This file ordered by Chris Marshall.) An important concern is advisory speed signing for curves. Plans show experimental signing with curve advisory speeds (in MPH) and the file also includes a publication version of K.S. Rutley's paper, done for the RRL (with early versions in DSIR files), on star ratings for curves.

BT 59/24

This turned out to be a busted flush. I ordered it because it was one of the hits I got back on a search for "motor industry," but the only industry-related file--it is a box dealing with export trade in multiple types of article, each type getting its own file--had to do with motorcycles. I am returning it unphotographed.

MT 117/35

This is a very thin file dealing with the Ministry's response to a suggestion by the Earl of Derby that a toll be charged on the motorway between Birmingham and Preston. It is being photographed as insurance.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:11:10Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-15]]
::[[MT 112/159]]
::[[BT 59/24]]
::[[MT 117/35]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-13

2012-03-27T12:09:30Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at National Archives at 12.20 PM. The first few hours have been preoccupied with document photography, but now it is necessary to resume active note-taking since files have been e...

Arrived at National Archives at 12.20 PM. The first few hours have been preoccupied with document photography, but now it is necessary to resume active note-taking since files have been encountered (ordered on a speculative basis) which have interesting material but are not satisfactory candidates for photography.

CAB 117/244

This is part of a series of files under CAB 117 dealing with information which the Cabinet reconstruction committee sought about similar efforts elsewhere to plan reconstruction. This file contains information about US planning, supplied through the British Embassy in Washington (Lord Halifax was then ambassador). There is a major memorandum in here (running to about 15 pages) dealing with the (US) National Resource Planning Board, a New Deal agency intended to have a coordinating function which was abolished by Congress in 1943 by means of an appropriation bill which specifically excluded the possibility of the President continuing the agency under war emergency powers. Various congressmen and senators, including Tydings, opposed the Board, claiming it was wasteful and had no outputs other than pamphlets. Hayden (of Arizona) supported it because of its role in identifying possibilities for exploiting natural resources and thus promoting development in the Western states. Another memorandum (apparently written on the strength of a planned leak by a State Department official) raises the possibility of trade war if the UK attempts to pursue an export-focused policy at the US' expense. (This I shall photograph.) There is a draft of what eventually became the GI Bill. There is a memorandum from the KC consulate--internationalism in Kansas!--which I am photographing. There is a National Resources Planning Board pamphlet (very short) with the Keynesian title "Post-war Agenda: Full employment, Security, Building America" (dated November 1942). Also, brief for a charter of what eventually became the UN World Food Programme; memoranda on agriculture (reconstruction) in Eastern Europe, and China; speech by Sumner Welles on the opening of a new Norwegian Legation in DC (Norway was then under occupation), hinting at US acquiescence in the need for a new multilateral international body with full US participation.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:08:06Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-13]]
::[[CAB 117/244]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-08

2012-03-27T12:06:17Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at National Archives at 12.35 PM. The delay (about 15 minutes later than usual time) was a result of not being able to top up my Oyster card with a credit card. Apparently the ca...

Arrived at National Archives at 12.35 PM. The delay (about 15 minutes later than usual time) was a result of not being able to top up my Oyster card with a credit card. Apparently the card address has to match the registered address, which is never going to happen because my credit card has an US address and the Oyster card accounting system will not allow registration of a non-UK address. In the end I had to use a cashpoint and pay the top-up charge (£20) with banknotes fed through a slurper. Still going through MT 95/132. 5.40 PM: Finally finished with MT 95/132.

CAB 117/183

Extracted the reference from the Motorway Archive volume on the South East. It is a very thin file dealing with Birmingham City Council and its attitudes to post-war reconstruction, which focused primarily on buildings and issues of betterment and an annual recoupment levy being considered as part of what eventually became the Town and Country Planning Act 1947. It includes much correspondence between the leader of the Birmingham City Council reconstruction committee and Jowitt, of a somewhat sycophantic character. I cannot imagine why this file was included in the Motorway Archive volume's listing of relevant National Archives files.

MT 74/1

This file has been boxed by the National Archives' conservation department, as of 1998. It was full of copy markers, which I removed. It deals with transport nationalization issues and has papers by Hurcomb covering the issues involved, with some background (together with references to Coates' report, in CAB 117/266, which I think needs to be photographed, and some alternative solutions such as the thirties "Square Deal" and the Mance arrangement). Apparently this file has been cited--how extensively, I cannot tell from a casual Google search--by an expert named Martin Lodge in a book, 'Different Tracks' (published 2002, but probably the publication of his LSE PhD thesis which was finished in 2000), dealing with the design of rail regulation in Britain and comparing and contrasting it with that of Germany (I ought to look it up). The reference was also obtained from the Motorway Archive volume and, like the previous one, has little material which concerns motorways.

MT 74/2

This file continues the theme of the previous one, but has papers dealing with the actual design of a nationalized body responsible for all long-distance transport undertakings and much local transport (called in most of the memoranda "NTC," presumably short for "National Transport Commission," but eventually created as the British Transport Commission). Nothing is said (as far as I can tell) about motorways, or for that matter the infrastructural element of transport service provision. As with MT 74/1, Lodge's book is the number-one Google hit, ahead of the National Archives catalogue entry. Decisions as to photographability of these two files pends a review of Lodge's book--it makes more sense to rely on secondary sources for issues which are already well covered in the secondary literature and are tangential to the motorways project.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:05:41Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-08]]
::[[CAB 117/183]]
::[[MT 74/1]]
::[[MT 74/2]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-03-06

2012-03-27T12:03:04Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at National Archives at 12.20 PM. There was an interesting incident at Paddington station. The train had stopped and had almost completely emptied when a man with a briefcase cau...

Arrived at National Archives at 12.20 PM. There was an interesting incident at Paddington station. The train had stopped and had almost completely emptied when a man with a briefcase caught my eye, set down his briefcase on the luggage rack, and announced, "I am going to the toilet." He was clearly expecting me to volunteer to watch his briefcase while he was in the toilet. I just stared at him, looked confused, and finally said "Okay" very hesitantly, so he decided he was better off taking his briefcase into the toilet with him.

Beginning with MT 39/152, and then looking at other files to request.

MT 45/17

Photographed this (extracts only--same basis as MT 45/22 and T 162/660). There are references to some other files which may or may not have been archived (old file codes only): E.1484, apparently a separate but related file dealing with the status and salaries of DREs; and E.1562, a file dealing with the resignation of R.G.H. Clements (later part of the German Road Delegation, but in the 1920's one of the DREs).

MT 95/132

Only just now looking at this file even though its request card gives 2012-02-14 (almost a month ago!) as the request date. It is a box with four or five files within and much of interest, including the transcript of a pow-wow Aldington held with the DREs to agree standards for various technical parameters (such as desirable minimum lane width for motorways, nominal capacities, etc.) which had been left unaddressed by interwar design guidance.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T12:02:25Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

:[[National Archives 2012-03-06]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 95/132]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2012-02-23

2012-03-27T11:59:21Z

J N Winkler:

Arrived at National Archives at 12.25 PM. They found T 162/660, which I had requested two weeks ago and which has only just now turned up.

T 162/660

This is a Treasury establishment file, consisting of a box with seven tagged files within. Aside from a misfiled Admiralty file, these all concern appointments at the Ministry of Transport and have covering dates from about 1920 to about 1943. Five of the six Ministry files concern the appointments of specific engineers (whose CVs are described in some detail in some of the correspondence) as well as the grades and levels of pay the Treasury would authorize. It appears that an engineer in upper middle-level management within the Roads Department of the Ministry of Transport could expect around £400 to £650 in salary plus allowances. These various files are photographable only to the extent that they contain CVs and career descriptions of engineers who figure prominently in MT files. This material will be photographed now so that this box can be sent back to the repositories--I suspect it was held back because there was no room for it in the cubbyhole with the RAIL 418 bound minutes and other bulky materials.

A significant proportion of the correspondence in the first Ministry file deals with H.E. Aldington, who was retained in 1924 on a temporary basis to carry out a survey of the roads in Inverness-shire. The Treasury resisted his appointment on the basis that such a survey should be the financial responsibility of Inverness council, but eventually caved. Aldington was paid £1000 (annualized) with no ability to claim subsistence, but later claimed for (and got) reimbursement for lodging for overnight trips to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other cities, on the basis of 25/- per night.

Question: what was a "Whitley committee"? Every department seems to have had one. (Checked--Wikipedia knows.)

There is more material on Aldington on E.9774 (Treasury file reference--interwar registry coding). It will be worth searching under this, though the files may possibly not have been preserved. Now searched; not found. It may not be in the catalogue at all if it is a letter number rather than a file code (but I don't think this is actually the case).

T 228/556

Omitted from photography--an early day motion on road modernization (proposed by G.A. Partiger, MP for Southall), 1953-11-27. "Commitments" charts in this file (consisting of listings down to program and scheme level, on very large sheets of paper) are being left generally unphotographed because detailed analysis is unlikely to be undertaken in the future. It is noted here, however, that they are there. Alan Lennox-Boyd's funding announcement of 1953-12-08 is also not photographed, as is another Hansard extract from 1953-12-18.

National Archives 2012-02-23

2012-03-27T11:58:18Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived at National Archives at 12.25 PM. They found T 162/660, which I had requested two weeks ago and which has only just now turned up. T 162/660 This is a Treasury establishment fil...

Arrived at National Archives at 12.25 PM. They found T 162/660, which I had requested two weeks ago and which has only just now turned up.

T 162/660

This is a Treasury establishment file, consisting of a box with seven tagged files within. Aside from a misfiled Admiralty file, these all concern appointments at the Ministry of Transport and have covering dates from about 1920 to about 1943. Five of the six Ministry files concern the appointments of specific engineers (whose CVs are described in some detail in some of the correspondence) as well as the grades and levels of pay the Treasury would authorize. It appears that an engineer in upper middle-level management within the Roads Department of the Ministry of Transport could expect around £400 to £650 in salary plus allowances. These various files are photographable only to the extent that they contain CVs and career descriptions of engineers who figure prominently in MT files. This material will be photographed now so that this box can be sent back to the repositories--I suspect it was held back because there was no room for it in the cubbyhole with the RAIL 418 bound minutes and other bulky materials.

A significant proportion of the correspondence in the first Ministry file deals with H.E. Aldington, who was retained in 1924 on a temporary basis to carry out a survey of the roads in Inverness-shire. The Treasury resisted his appointment on the basis that such a survey should be the financial responsibility of Inverness council, but eventually caved. Aldington was paid £1000 (annualized) with no ability to claim subsistence, but later claimed for (and got) reimbursement for lodging for overnight trips to Glasgow, Edinburgh, and other cities, on the basis of 25/- per night.

Question: what was a "Whitley committee"? Every department seems to have had one. (Checked--Wikipedia knows.)

There is more material on Aldington on E.9774 (Treasury file reference--interwar registry coding). It will be worth searching under this, though the files may possibly not have been preserved. Now searched; not found. It may not be in the catalogue at all if it is a letter number rather than a file code (but I don't think this is actually the case).

T 228/556

Omitted from photography--an early day motion on road modernization (proposed by G.A. Partiger, MP for Southall), 1953-11-27.
"Commitments" charts in this file (consisting of listings down to program and scheme level, on very large sheets of paper) are being left generally unphotographed because detailed analysis is unlikely to be undertaken in the future. It is noted here, however, that they are there.
Alan Lennox-Boyd's funding announcement of 1953-12-08 is also not photographed, as is another Hansard extract from 1953-12-18.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-27T11:57:17Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-23]]
::[[T 162/660]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-21

2012-03-26T00:16:26Z

J N Winkler:

Arrived around noon, as usual on these trips, and requested a number of files under Series 14.

Files provided included 14/19 through 14/24 (14/19-14/23 in a single archive box). Those examined include the entire set except 14/19, which came bound up in a linen tape and so has not been examined yet. These papers are all connected with the Departmental Committee on Taxation and Regulation of Road Vehicles, of which Sir Henry Maybury was chairman and Rees Jeffreys was vice-chairman. In general the file contents are disaggregated into so many items that there is little value in making contents lists as an aid in developing future photocopying orders. Instead, type summaries will be made, and an attempt will be made to summarize the general issues involved, especially with regard to the controversy between use and unit taxation for private passenger cars. However, Maybury's departmental committee had a broader remit than to make recommendations with respect to the taxation of road vehicles. It was also meant to suggest legislation with respect to driver licensing, traffic signing, goods and passenger transport regulation, etc.

With regard to taxation, the main points of the controversy seem to have been this. As World War I ended, Britain had a vehicle excise duty which was calibrated to piston crown surface area (the RAC formula, also referred to as "Treasury rating") and which was significantly smaller than the £1 per horsepower formula which was adopted in 1920. There was also a petrol tax of around 4 1/2 d. per gallon which applied only to imported petrol (about 80% of the total petrol or fuel available, and the 20% that was "home-produced" was not likely to rise high enough to compete effectively with the imported petrol, which was monopolized by American and Dutch producers--early Texaco, probably still Standard Oil of Texas at that point, as well as Royal Dutch Shell working oil wells in Indonesia--who had control not only over extraction but also over freighting to the UK). [Note added 2012-03-25: Texaco was actually never part of the Standard Oil monolith; it was an independent company, Texas Oil Company.] The roads were also in appalling shape because maintenance and construction had been deferred during the war while heavy military vehicles had been trundling over the roads under Crown exemption, so there was a great hunger for revenue to make up for the war damage.

It was almost universally considered desirable to base road taxation on a flat rate according to usage. Even those who eventually came out in favor of systems which would not tax according to use, such as Sir Eric Geddes (the Minister of Transport) and eventually Rees Jeffreys himself, paid lip service (in RJ's case, much more than lip service) to the concept of taxing according to use. Even true-blue advocates, however, were frustrated by the fact that the Shell/Texaco monopoly made it politically difficult to insist on adding tax on top of an already-inflated petrol price. 'Ad valorem' taxation fell by the wayside for the same reason.

HOwever, the engine technologies at the time permitted fuels taxed at different rates to be used for road traction. For example, taxed petrol could be used to start charabanc engines, which could then be run on untaxed kerosene. It was not thought practical to devise an effective system of distinguishing between fuels meant for motor vehicle use, which would be taxed, and chemically similar or identical fuels meant for domestic or industrial use, which could not be taxed. In addition, under the taxation system existing before the 1920 reforms, people in essential-worker categories such as doctors, county road surveyors, etc. could obtain rebates on the petrol tax. The petrol tax cost £10,000 to collect but administering the rebates cost £65,000. Merely providing a system of rebates was to create additional avenues for tax evasion.

A version of terminal or off-the-rack taxation for petrol was proposed, which would have confined the system of rebates to heavy industrial use, but by this time the advocates of pure user taxation had lost political momentum. Eliminating VED altogether was a nonstarter because it was apparent that there were fixed costs involved in providing roads suitable for rubber-tired vehicles (not to mention vehicles with steel lugs, which were already fairly common though at one point proposed for a complete ban except for agricultural tractors), and there was by this point considerable distaste for a complex system of "composite" taxation. In the end Rees Jeffreys helped broker a compromise which resulted in the £1 horsepower tax and encouragement from the Committee for the government (1) to crack down on petrol profiteers (which probably never did happen?) and (2) to incentivize the production of two popular petrol substitutes, benzole (which was refined from coal gas) and "power alcohol" (probably methanol, since destructive distillation of wood seems to have been involved in its production).

With respect to (1) the Government concluded that it was unlikely that it would be able to break the Shell/Texaco monopoly on its own, these cos being multinational, and that it should get together with other European countries such as France, Italy, Holland, etc. to agree a controlled price. It is not clear what came of this.

With respect to (2) it was discovered that a combination of benzole and power alcohol would run in car engines designed for petrol, with minimum adaptation, although they would produce only 5/6 the horsepower of petrol. Advocates of home-produced petrol substitutes in fact tried to insert a clause into a Bill to do with the (nationally owned?) London metropolitan gasworks to force it to produce benzole out of coal gas--during the war benzole was produced in massive quantities because it was needed for TNT manufacture, but after the war benzole production tapered off. The advocates even presented a petition before the HOL committee hearing the bill, which failed, apparently because the "unscrubbed" coal gas (the "scrubbing" process being what produces the benzole) made it impossible to provide a gas through the mains which was suitable for lighting houses in low-income areas. This was apparently because "flat base burners" could not operate on scrubbed gas. It is not clear what the technical reasons involved were, but obviously the benzole idea did not go much further because it was felt to have deleterious equity implications.

Aside from this, there were problems of principle. In order to tax fairly according to use, it would be necessary to tax home-produced benzole as well as imported petrol, and the tax on the home product would create an additional disincentive to produce at home.

With respect to power alcohol as a separate motor fuel, the people connected with the committee noted just that its provision had been liberalized in Germany, the US, and a number of other countries, and argued that Britain should similarly liberalize. Did this ever happen?

14/23

This is perhaps the best file for getting a bird's-eye view of the Committee's work. It contains a rather long document with (1) a summary of C'ttee membership, (2) the C'ttee's terms of reference, and (3) an "Index to minutes" giving summaries of every minuted item discussed at all of the C'ttee's business meetings--404 in all, continuously numbered from first item at first meeting to last item at last meeting--held from 21/11/1919 to 10/2/1922. (These do not, however, cover the whole life of the C'ttee because there are minutes with items numbered higher than this, and item 404--the last item in the minutes summary--indicates that although it represented the last item at the last meeting, an additional meeting might be called by the Chairman prior to signature of the Final Report, and later minutes suggest that an additional meeting was in fact called and that discussion ranged over a fair number of items.) In addition, there is a (partial) set of minutes covering items 342-426 (perhaps not all-inclusive). It is sort of obvious that this committee met weekly for much of the time it was meeting.

The report was published in 1922 and is probably a departmental and non-parliamentary publication.

14/24

This contains documentation dealing with the petrol taxation issue. It is about evenly divided between the dept c'ttee materials dealing with the issue (mainly memoranda and drafts thereof, with no meeting minutes) and materials produced by a "Motor Legislation Committee" which was probably a body within the SMMT (whose interests RJ was representing in the departmental c'ttee) and which drafted position papers as part of the process of bargaining for a not-too-bad VED.

14/22

This is mainly, though not exclusively, MOT material dealing with the road safety and accident reporting/investigation aspects of the dept c'ttee's work.

14/21

This is more petrol taxation material. Much of it has been prepared by RJ or people he was in contact with, attempting to determine the tax impact of various pricing and usage scenarios.

14/20

This is exclusively hackney taxicab material. Nothing P in here.

It is obviously going to be necessary to return especially to mark up files 14/23, 14/24, and 14/21 for photocopying. But in the meantime I should do research and determine what petrol, benzole, and power alcohol are all chemically, what their performance characteristics were in typical engines of the period, how these were affected by engine design parameters, and what secondary sources have had to say about this issue. The fascinating thing, however, is that it is obvious various scenarios and the unintended consequences arising from them were at least examined--for instance, people considered what would happen if the RAC formula were abandoned in favor of actual horsepower, or nominal horsepower calculated on the basis of displacement plus compression. (Look in Tech & Culture, and also Journal of Transport History.)

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-21

2012-03-26T00:08:25Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around noon, as usual on these trips, and requested a number of files under Series 14. Files provided included 14/19 through 14/24 (14/19-14/23 in a single archive box). Those ex...

Arrived around noon, as usual on these trips, and requested a number of files under Series 14.

Files provided included 14/19 through 14/24 (14/19-14/23 in a single archive box). Those examined include the entire set except 14/19, which came bound up in a linen tape and so has not been examined yet. These papers are all connected with the Departmental Committee on Taxation and Regulation of Road Vehicles, of which Sir Henry Maybury was chairman and Rees Jeffreys was vice-chairman. In general the file contents are disaggregated into so many items that there is little value in making contents lists as an aid in developing future photocopying orders. Instead, type summaries will be made, and an attempt will be made to summarize the general issues involved, especially with regard to the controversy between use and unit taxation for private passenger cars. However, Maybury's departmental committee had a broader remit than to make recommendations with respect to the taxation of road vehicles. It was also meant to suggest legislation with respect to driver licensing, traffic signing, goods and passenger transport regulation, etc.

With regard to taxation, the main points of the controversy seem to have been this. As World War I ended, Britain had a vehicle excise duty which was calibrated to piston crown surface area (the RAC formula, also referred to as "Treasury rating") and which was significantly smaller than the £1 per horsepower formula which was adopted in 1920. There was also a petrol tax of around 4 1/2 d. per gallon which applied only to imported petrol (about 80% of the total petrol or fuel available, and the 20% that was "home-produced" was not likely to rise high enough to compete effectively with the imported petrol, which was monopolized by American and Dutch producers--early Texaco, probably still Standard Oil of Texas at that point, as well as Royal Dutch Shell working oil wells in Indonesia--who had control not only over extraction but also over freighting to the UK). The roads were also in appalling shape because maintenance and construction had been deferred during the war while heavy military vehicles had been trundling over the roads under Crown exemption, so there was a great hunger for revenue to make up for the war damage.

It was almost universally considered desirable to base road taxation on a flat rate according to usage. Even those who eventually came out in favor of systems which would not tax according to use, such as Sir Eric Geddes (the Minister of Transport) and eventually Rees Jeffreys himself, paid lip service (in RJ's case, much more than lip service) to the concept of taxing according to use. Even true-blue advocates, however, were frustrated by the fact that the Shell/Texaco monopoly made it politically difficult to insist on adding tax on top of an already-inflated petrol price. 'Ad valorem' taxation fell by the wayside for the same reason.

HOwever, the engine technologies at the time permitted fuels taxed at different rates to be used for road traction. For example, taxed petrol could be used to start charabanc engines, which could then be run on untaxed kerosene. It was not thought practical to devise an effective system of distinguishing between fuels meant for motor vehicle use, which would be taxed, and chemically similar or identical fuels meant for domestic or industrial use, which could not be taxed. In addition, under the taxation system existing before the 1920 reforms, people in essential-worker categories such as doctors, county road surveyors, etc. could obtain rebates on the petrol tax. The petrol tax cost £10,000 to collect but administering the rebates cost £65,000. Merely providing a system of rebates was to create additional avenues for tax evasion.

A version of terminal or off-the-rack taxation for petrol was proposed, which would have confined the system of rebates to heavy industrial use, but by this time the advocates of pure user taxation had lost political momentum. Eliminating VED altogether was a nonstarter because it was apparent that there were fixed costs involved in providing roads suitable for rubber-tired vehicles (not to mention vehicles with steel lugs, which were already fairly common though at one point proposed for a complete ban except for agricultural tractors), and there was by this point considerable distaste for a complex system of "composite" taxation. In the end Rees Jeffreys helped broker a compromise which resulted in the £1 horsepower tax and encouragement from the Committee for the government (1) to crack down on petrol profiteers (which probably never did happen?) and (2) to incentivize the production of two popular petrol substitutes, benzole (which was refined from coal gas) and "power alcohol" (probably methanol, since destructive distillation of wood seems to have been involved in its production).

With respect to (1) the Government concluded that it was unlikely that it would be able to break the Shell/Texaco monopoly on its own, these cos being multinational, and that it should get together with other European countries such as France, Italy, Holland, etc. to agree a controlled price. It is not clear what came of this.

With respect to (2) it was discovered that a combination of benzole and power alcohol would run in car engines designed for petrol, with minimum adaptation, although they would produce only 5/6 the horsepower of petrol. Advocates of home-produced petrol substitutes in fact tried to insert a clause into a Bill to do with the (nationally owned?) London metropolitan gasworks to force it to produce benzole out of coal gas--during the war benzole was produced in massive quantities because it was needed for TNT manufacture, but after the war benzole production tapered off. The advocates even presented a petition before the HOL committee hearing the bill, which failed, apparently because the "unscrubbed" coal gas (the "scrubbing" process being what produces the benzole) made it impossible to provide a gas through the mains which was suitable for lighting houses in low-income areas. This was apparently because "flat base burners" could not operate on scrubbed gas. It is not clear what the technical reasons involved were, but obviously the benzole idea did not go much further because it was felt to have deleterious equity implications.

Aside from this, there were problems of principle. In order to tax fairly according to use, it would be necessary to tax home-produced benzole as well as imported petrol, and the tax on the home product would create an additional disincentive to produce at home.

With respect to power alcohol as a separate motor fuel, the people connected with the committee noted just that its provision had been liberalized in Germany, the US, and a number of other countries, and argued that Britain should similarly liberalize. Did this ever happen?

14/23

This is perhaps the best file for getting a bird's-eye view of the Committee's work. It contains a rather long document with (1) a summary of C'ttee membership, (2) the C'ttee's terms of reference, and (3) an "Index to minutes" giving summaries of every minuted item discussed at all of the C'ttee's business meetings--404 in all, continuously numbered from first item at first meeting to last item at last meeting--held from 21/11/1919 to 10/2/1922. (These do not, however, cover the whole life of the C'ttee because there are minutes with items numbered higher than this, and item 404--the last item in the minutes summary--indicates that although it represented the last item at the last meeting, an additional meeting might be called by the Chairman prior to signature of the Final Report, and later minutes suggest that an additional meeting was in fact called and that discussion ranged over a fair number of items.) In addition, there is a (partial) set of minutes covering items 342-426 (perhaps not all-inclusive). It is sort of obvious that this committee met weekly for much of the time it was meeting.

The report was published in 1922 and is probably a departmental and non-parliamentary publication.

14/24

This contains documentation dealing with the petrol taxation issue. It is about evenly divided between the dept c'ttee materials dealing with the issue (mainly memoranda and drafts thereof, with no meeting minutes) and materials produced by a "Motor Legislation Committee" which was probably a body within the SMMT (whose interests RJ was representing in the departmental c'ttee) and which drafted position papers as part of the process of bargaining for a not-too-bad VED.

14/22

This is mainly, though not exclusively, MOT material dealing with the road safety and accident reporting/investigation aspects of the dept c'ttee's work.

14/21

This is more petrol taxation material. Much of it has been prepared by RJ or people he was in contact with, attempting to determine the tax impact of various pricing and usage scenarios.

14/20

This is exclusively hackney taxicab material. Nothing P in here.

It is obviously going to be necessary to return especially to mark up files 14/23, 14/24, and 14/21 for photocopying. But in the meantime I should do research and determine what petrol, benzole, and power alcohol are all chemically, what their performance characteristics were in typical engines of the period, how these were affected by engine design parameters, and what secondary sources have had to say about this issue. The fascinating thing, however, is that it is obvious various scenarios and the unintended consequences arising from them were at least examined--for instance, people considered what would happen if the RAC formula were abandoned in favor of actual horsepower, or nominal horsepower calculated on the basis of displacement plus compression. (Look in Tech & Culture, and also Journal of Transport History.)

LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20

2012-03-25T23:08:42Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived as usual (the 10.15 from Oxford was running about 6 minutes late; was originally supposed to leave on time but a bunch of other trains were much later and "bunched up" near Oxford,...

Arrived as usual (the 10.15 from Oxford was running about 6 minutes late; was originally supposed to leave on time but a bunch of other trains were much later and "bunched up" near Oxford, resulting in station congestion, the ascribed reason for the delay). Wore rain trousers en route to station, kept me dry but made me feel uncomfortably warm.

Requested the following files:

1/12, 1/15, 1/18, 1/20, 2/5. The 1-series files are from RJ's RIA affiliation and the 2-series file is from his Road Board years. These are just being screened very rapidly for relevance to conceptual evolution of motorways.

1/15

This contains postwar RIA material, including RJ's accounts of organizational involvement and press cuttings. One cutting of interest, dated 3/8/1946 and from 'Motor Transport', presents some interesting information WRT future plans. Extracted.

Making the roads fit the traffic

The celebration of the golden jubilee of the motor industry, marked, as it was, by a procession through the streets of London of specimens of the products of the last fifty years, must inevitably draw attention to the question of prospective road development in this country. At the present time, under Government direction, anything from 33 1/3 to 50 pc of total vehicle output of an industry which is experiencing gradual conversion from war to peace production is being exported. Figures in this connection for the five months ended May last, the latest available, are interesting. Of a total output of 62,900 cars and taxis 30,038 were exported, and of 55,918 commercial vehicles 18,392 were sent overseas. In spite of this--and petrol rationing notwithstanding--highways and streest are already uncomfortably full, and it is not difficult to imagine the situation when the motor industry is once again in full blast and all impediments to motoring have been removed. Add to this the possibility of lower prices for cars, increasing wage scales and holidays with pay, and the prospect becomes really alarming. No wonder Mr PJ Noel-Baker, the then Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of War Transport, speaking on September 3, 1943, felt justified in predicting that within twenty years after the war the number of motor vehicles on the roads would be four times as great as in 1939. Earlier in that year the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers had submitted to the Minister of Works and Planning a memorandum indicating the lines upon which the Government should plan future communications by a system of motorways.

How does the present Government propose to solve the problem? Certainly by plans more realistic and far-seeing than those of any of their predecessors for, although the proposals fall short of those adumbrated by the country surveyours, they do provide for an expenditure of £80,000,000 in a single year. The Minister's ten-year plan has been carefully devised. It was unfolded in our issue of May 11. Its main objects will be promotion of safety on the highways; improvements to assist development areas in particular and industrial development generally, including better access to ports and markets; improved through communications; rehabilitation and improvement of towns and countryside; the redevelopment of devastated areas; the improvement of access between the home and the workshop or office, and reduction of traffic congestion; and in the country, the promotion of the efficiency of agriculture. The pattern of this plan, said the Minister, must be determined now, as it would form the framework upon which the planning of town and country would largely be based. Major roadworks were necesssarily fairly long-term projects, and he had deemed it advisable to envisage a works programme spread over the next ten years. The first stage would cover the next two years; the second stage, years three to five; and the third stage, years six to ten.

In the first stage, attention is to be given to the overtaking of the large arrears of road maintenance accumulated during the war, and for the resumption of certain schemes which at the outbreak of war were either postponed or closed down--such as the Crofter Counties Scheme and the Dartford-Purfleet Tunnel; and for works of first priority in and in connection with the development areas, including the Severn Bridge and the Jarrow Tunnel, with their associated roads. The second stage should see the completion of arrears of maintenance and continued activity in the elimination of accident "black spots"; increased activity on major road works of new construction, among which high priority will continue to be given to road improvements, including a limited number of motor roads, for the development areas and other works begun before the war. In the last five years the programme envisages a comprehensive reconstruction of the principal national routes, and if Parliament sees fit to grant the necessary powers it is the Minister's intention to start on a further number of motor roads where that course is found to be preferable to the widening or by-passing of the existing roads.

All these contemplated activities are interesting, but as Mr Rees Jeffreys pointed out at the recent annual meeting of the Roads IMprovement Association, they do not go far to solve the problem of how to make the roads adequate and safe for the traffic of the next five years. Although it is apparent that money will no longer be an obstacle, the things that are lacking are labour, materials and transport. The Minister himself emphasised that the rate at which it would be possible to initiate and proceed with work would depend upon the priority which it was found possible to give the different schemes as part of the total investment activity of the country. In the past, said Mr Rees Jeffreys, we have had promises of road plans, but on one excuse and another they were only partially carried out. The drive and money behind them melted away. That may happen again unless road users combine and make themselves politically effective. The pressure upon the Government to implement their plans must not be relaxed, but rather intensified, and it is satisfactory to note that a deputation from the British Road Federation last week rwaited upon the Minister, who invited them to keep in close touch with his Department so as to be in a position to keep the Federation's members fully informed of progress made in carrying out the programme. We have no doubt that full advantage will be taken of this proffered opportunity.

Also: RAC pamphlet (1946) on 'Roadside Rests'. Enphasizes their ability to attract attention to lovely views. Suggests different types of approach signage, appropriate to woody, rocky, and flat-clay country. Actually quite interesting but not P.

RJ's speech on the traffic crisis, given before the RIA meeting. (6/61946, given at R.A.C.) 3 pp. P.

"Highway Policy": anonymously authored article appeared in 'Commercial Vehicle Users' Journal', June 1946. 4 pp. P.

1/12

Includes much interesting material, all P, but none thesis-relevant.

Report of the Departmental Committee [LGB] on Highways. 1903. Cmnd. 1793.

Same. Minutes of Evidence. 1903. Cmnd. 1794.

RIA. The movement for wider and better roads. Papers and correspondence relating to the appt. of a departmental committee of the local govt board to enquire into the existing system of hwy admin; together with the views of MPs and the press on the need for enquiry and reform, and a memorandum on hwy admin in E&W at the beginning of the C20. by RJ.

Report by RJ (typewritten) on Selby Royal Comm on road accidents. Main points: abolish the 20 mph limit, hypothecate motoring taxes.

RJ: The Motor Problem: A Road Problem. Reprint of paper read by RJ at AA, Piaccadilly, 12/3/1903.

Page from 1905 Royal Comm on London Traffic showing RJ's London main road proposals.

Reprints from 'The Car', 15/4/1903--article by RJ on impediments to motor traffic. Trams, omnibuses, standards in the street, general low speed of other traffic.

Interesting observation: the 1903 committee recommended central funding of roads (out of motor taxation) AND said that this should be used to finance new-location bypasses around congested areas rather than grants-in-aid of ordinary maintenance and repair.

1/18

Again, interesting material, some P, very little thesis-relevant. Only material which is P is cited:

'Glasgow Herald' article from RJ, suggesting geographical dispersal of metropolitan population into smaller, planned communities along the general lines of the New Towns. He suggested that this had been made possible by the wireless and the motor vehicle.

Various newspaper articles pertaining to a speech made by RJ (at RIA? April 1927?) where he advocated "speedways": high-speed motor roads with stopping restrictions (ie no stationary vehicles on which 14-15s per yard of road surfacing had to be paid), but not severed from the countryside via development restrictions like the Italian autostrade, and with factories, small residential communities, etc. having their own connecting roads. (There is a general trend in RJ's thinking about arterial roads. All of the features of the motorway exist, except the grade-separation concept.) (Possible corridors RJ threw out included London-Birmingham and London-Brighton.) RJ complained specifically about the Kingston Bypass, which was 30 ft wide and because of the lack of stopping restrictions could be used only as a two-track road. (In fact 30' would now be considered substandard for WS2.)

Countering opinion: 'Times' 28/10/1927, "New Roads for Old." P. Also RJ's article on the same page, P. But we are not going to bother with P. Instead we will type transcripts.

The new roads

Fifteen years of progress

London and its outlets

The opening today by the Prime Minister of the Kingston by-pass marks another steop in the completion of the Greater London arterial road programme.

by RJ

Few conferences have been so productive as that convened by Mr. John Burns in 1912 to study the problem of London roads. Necessary as were the roads recommended by the Conference and those subsequently added by the Ministry of Transport, it is doubtful whether so many would have been constructed but for the assistance of two other factors. These were (1) the need for finding employment for demobilized soldiers, and (2) the existence of the Road Fund, augmented by the growing produce of the motor licence duties imposed by the Finance Act of 1920.

Including the two schemes arranged by the Road Board before the war (the Great West Road and the Croydon by-pass, the 31 items in the programme comprise in all about 256 miles of new construction, of which approximately 200 miles will be open for traffic before the end of the year. The total cost of the programme may be roughly assessed at 15 millions. This figure is not large when measured in relation to the increased rateable value which it will create, nor would the annual sinking fund necessary to redeem an expenditure which may be classified as "productive" appear excessive when weighed against the time saved and convenience gained by road users.

The Kingston by-pass

The Kingston by-pass is upwards of eight miles in length. It starts at Kingston Vale, opposite Robin Hood Gate, Richmond Park, and terminates on the Portsmouth Road at Esher. It will enable traffic wishing to pass into South-west Surrey to avoid the congested streets of Kingston and the low bridge which carries the main railway line over the road at Ditton. The scheme includes a branch road known as the Merton Spur, which affords a connexion from Tooting, Balham, and Wimbledon. The spur is 1 1/4 miles long.

The present northern entrance to the new road opposite Robin Hood gate is unsatisfactory. A scheme has been arranged for a conveniently designed junction with the road through Kingston Vale. This involves a new bridge over the Beverley Brook. The work is to be put in hand almost immediately.

Traffic requirements demand that at no distant date the road be carried farther north along the edge of Richmond Park and across Barnes Common to make junction with Castelnau and Hammersmith Bridge. As regards this extension no scheme has yet been agreed between the authorities concerned.

It must not be forgotten in reviewing the arterial road programme that it is a compromise between conflicting ideas and interests. If it is in some places incomplete, one must recall that the Government, being concerned mainly with the immediate relief of unemployment, were impelled towards projects affecting undeveloped lands free from those dilatory and costly obstacles which haunt all clearance schemes. Moreover the financial support of local authorities had to be secured, and it thus happens that the undertakings which were ultimately selected were not always those holding first place on the traffic priority schedule.

The fact that there are 170 independent highway authorities in the London traffic area, often with conflicting interests and holding different opinions as to the prportions in which any expenditure should be shared, makes all the more remarkable the achievement of securing the construction and arranging the finance of over 200 miles of arterial roads. A tribute should be paid to the local authorities for the willingness so many have shown to sink their purely local interests in a time of national emergency, and to the negotiating powers of Sir Henry Maybury, the Director-General of Roads, who has been primarily responsible for the arrangement and execution of the programme.

On comparing the road map of London today with that of ten years ago, it will be seen that all quarters of Greater London--east and west, north and south--have benefited by the executed programme. In the west is the Great West Road bypassing Brentford and Hounslow, with an extension to Staines. In the east, the Southend Road. In due course these thoroughfares will be connected by the North Circular Road. This scheme, which aims at connecting Kew Bridge with Woolwich Ferry, will involve about 22 miles of new construction and widening. The great obstacle in the past has been the finance of bridging the Lea Valley, which divides Middlesex and Essex. This has now been done, and the section, with its imposing viaduct, will be opened next month. The most difficult of the remaining sections is the tunnel under the Grand Junction Canal, near Stonebridge Park, and another tunnel under the railway line near New Southgate Station.

In the north have been constructed the new Cambridge Road, 11 1/2 miles long, running up the Lea Valley, and the Watford and Barnet bypasses. In the south the Croydon and Sutton bypasses are now open, although the bridge on the latter road over the railway at Cheam will not be complete for several months. In Kent the reconstruction of 11 miles of the old Watling Street and the improvement (amounting almost to new construction) of many miles of the London-Maidstone-Folkestone Road with numerous other roads have helped greatly the access to the Kentish ports.

Progress with the Western Avenue has been delayed. This road, about 12 miles long, extends from Bayswater to beyond Uxbridge. It is expected that the Government will release shortly the balance of the money to enable this work to be completed. The authority principally concerned--the Middlesex CC--is anxious to proceed. In passing, it is right to acknowledge the debt that Greater London owes to the chairman of the Council, Colonel Charles Pinkham (who has been chairman of the Highways Committee for 15 years), to whose leadership the progress in Middlesex is largely due.

Some day it is hoped that the LCC will connect the Western Avenue with the Eastern Avenue. The latter is an important piece of new construction across the Lea Marshes to Wanstead, Ilford, and Romford. When these avenues are linked up via the marylebone Road an important east and west thoroughfare across London will have been constructed which will reduce the congestion in Fleet Street and before the Mansion House.

Another important scheme which makes little progress yet is the Victoria Dock road improvement. It has been referred to frequently in the Columns of the Times in discussions on approaches to the docks. The attitude of the LCC will determine whether the Cromwell Road extension scheme and other urgent improvements on the western borders of the county shall progress.

Middlesex and Surrey

Outside the county of London it is gratifying to be able to record activity in pressing forward approved schemes and developing new ones. Terms have been arranged between the Government and the County Councils of Middlesex and Surrey which will enable progress to be made with the Chertsey arterial road. This scheme involves the construction of two new Thames bridges at Mortlake and Chiswick. The finance of the New Hampton Court Bridge also has been settled. The Middlesex and Surrey County Councils will deserve the tribute recently paid to them by Lord Lee in the Times of October 14 last.

Surrey County Council are also maturing further schemes of road improvement. Owing to mistakes of policy in the past, the arrears of road construction and development in this county are great. The present Council, under the guidance of the chairman (Alderman EJ Holland, JP) and the chairman of the Highways Committee (Alderman Leonard Ellis, LP) are courageously tackling them, and, in particular, are seeking to arrnge the finance of those works which should be immediately put in hand in advance of imminent building developments.

A scheme for which the Ministry of Trnsport deserves most of the redit is the attempt to preserve the line of a road 75 miles long on the north side of the Thames at a distance of 20 miles or so from Charing Cross. This route, officially named the North Orbital Road, starts from Colnbrook, on the Great West Road, and skirting Rickmansworth, St. Albans, Hatfield, Hoddesdon, and Brentwood, terminates at Tilbury. in the development of the northern edge of the metropolis its value to forthcoming generations will be incalculable. That value will be increased if with the road can be associated a belt of playing fields.

The engineering problems connected with the lay-out and construction of these new roads are more properly discussed in a purely technical article. It is interesting to note that the Kingston bypass measures 100ft between fences and 30ft between the kerbs. The present surfae coat is of cement concrete.

The feature in the ne arterial road construction most open to criticism is the design at corners, cross-roads, and important junctions. Too much care cannot be given to the consideration of the layout of roads at these points. Not only is the safety of the public concerned, but the necessity of avoiding traffic blocks and reducing the cost of police supervision, as well as the convenience of the drivers of vehicles. The Town Planning Institute has appointed a committee to report on road corners and junctions and prepare diagrams of suggested forms of lay-out.

In the provinces.

The opening the Birmingham-Wolverhampton road illustrates the share which the provinces have taken in the national programme of new construction. Farther north, progress is being made with the tunnel under the Mersey to connect Liverpool with Birkenhead. Liverpool has stolen a march on London in getting the finance of its tunnel arranged in advance of the Dartford-Purfleet tunnel. It is urgently necessary to connect the road systems of Kent and Essex by a tunnel under the Lower Thames to relieve the City of much of the heavy traffic which now crosses by the central bridges. The new road connecting Liverpool with East Lancashire has also been started.

In Northumberland, the new Border bridge at Berwick-on-Tweed is approaching completion. The new high-level Newcastle-Gateshead bridge is under way. The new road from Newcastle to Tynemouth, opened yesterday by the Minister of Transport, is elsewhere described. Across the Border the new Glasgow-Edinburgh road is well in hand.

This cursory survey shows the present position of the programme which derived its driving force from the conditions of unemployment existing in 1920. Future developments depend largely upon the recongition by the public and the Government of the need for new roads to provide for the requirements of transport. The Home Secretary, speaking but a fortnight ago, reminded the country that there was no limit to the extension of motor traffic on the highways, and therefore there could be no limit to the extension and improvement of the roads of the country. A very great work has been accomplished, but muchmore, he said, would have to be done in the near future. It is well that conditions are so correctly understood by Ministers. By reason of the small units into which the country is divided for purposes of local government, the guidance, the driving force, and the greater part of the funds for building new arterial roads must necessarily be provided by the central Government.

------------------------------

[the response]

New roads for old.

The simultaneous completion of three new sections of the expanding network of arterial roads is a salutary reminder to the motoring public of the vast amount of money and labour which has been expended in various parts of the country for their benefit. [BTW, what was the funding ratio for the Road Board and early MOT?] Yesterday in the north the Newcastle-Tynemouth coast road was opened by the Minister of Transport, and today the Prime Minister is to perform the same office for the Kingston bypass in the south. Next week it will be the turn of the Midlands. The combined length of the three additions is some twenty-four miles, and the estimated cost well over £1,000,000. Of the three the Kingston bypass, though its cost per mile is considerably less than that of the Birmingham road, is probably the most important. One hundred feet in width and nearly ten miles in length, it will serve to carry a large volume of heavy traffic between the south and south-west of London and the main road to Guildford and Portsmouth. The first two sections of the by-pass are already familiar to motorists. The opening the remaining stretch--to its re-entry into the Portsmouth road on the boundary of the Thames Ditton and Esher Golf Course--puts the coping stone on an enterprise which will be an obvious boon not only to the traffic passing south of London, but to other Surrey townships besides Kingston.

Similarly the Birmingham-Wolverhampton road, which was first proposed nearly 20 years ago, should prove of real service to the industrial development of the district. Its construction has cost about £60,000 a mile, or considerably more than either of the other two roads--the extra expense being chiefly due to the greater number of bridges which have had to be built and to the extremely broken character of the land over which it passes in the Black Country. The average cost per mile of the Newcastle-Tynemouth coast road, which is nearly five miles in length, or about two-and-a-half less than the old Longbenton route, is also more than that of the Kingston bypass. It is very level and straight, and, according to an account published in a local newspaper, "were it not for nine roads running across it at right angles, it would be a motorist's paradise." The great extent of the total work of road construction and improvement of which these three short stretches are the latest development is shown in the article by Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys printed in an adjoining column. Including the two great pre-war schemes of the Road Board--the Great West Road and the Croydon by-pass--a total mileage of over 250 has been taken in hand, 200 of which will have been opened for traffic by the end of the present year. This arterial road programme, Mr. Jeffreys tells us, is a compromise. Partly undertaken as a means of providing work for the unemployed, dependent to a large extent on the financial support of the local authorities, and complicated by the number of highway authorities who have had tobe consulted, it has suffered in some cases from unavoidable delays and a lack of homogeneous treatment. On the whole, however, the local authorities, and not least those of Surrey and Middlesex, have taken a broad-minded and not a prochial view of their responsibilities. Thanks to their loyal cooperation, the whole plan of the main roads, especially in the districts north, south, east, and west of London, has already been radically changed and improved. In addition to minor operations, the new Cambridge road up the valley of the Lea, the Watford and Barnet bypass, the alterations in Kent on the Old Watling Street and the London, Maidstone, and Folkestone road, the Croydon and Sutton bypass, the Southend and the North Circular roads, nd the great West road extension to Saines and beyond--all these are in themselves worthy parts of an arterial system which might have rejoiced the heart of General Wade, and perhaps even of Cn Julius Agricola and his fellow engineers, the distinguished makers of the centuries-old roads which ran from London to Canterbury, Winchester, Gloucester, Chester, Leicester, Cirencester, and other Roman strongholds.

On the other hand the plans of our modern road makers annot always escape criticism. There are those who hold that in some cases they are altogether too Roman in the uncompromising directness of their routes. For other reasons objections to incidental parts of the schemes have lately been made, for example, by inhabitants of Petersham, Richmond, Leith Hill, Guildford, and the authorities of Dulwich College. Nor is it without cause that protests have been raised in these columns by Mr. Malcolmson and Mr. Leonard Huxley against the new project of driving a wide arterial road through the Pass of Glencoe, which forms one of the illustrations on a later page this morning.

Admittedly the present road is narrow and in bad condition, and because of its many zigzags will not safely admit of a motor speed of more than 20 miles an hour. But even as it is, it can be and is used by motor-coaches, and could certainly be made good for a far smaller sum than the £500,000 which the new road is said to cost. There could hardly be a better example than this proposal of the danger of subordinating all other interests to the demands of the motorist in a hurry. Scotsmen, at all events, will feel that to sacrifice the wonder of the Gleann na deoir for the sake of a possible extra 40 miles an hour would be an act not only of economic folly but of wnton desecration. Motorists may not be the sale of the earth, but they are not its only possessors.

Other materials:

RJ, @A regional authoirty for greater London. Proposed federal council: its constitution: its function: and it how it shall be financed.@ 'Municipal Journal and Public Works Engineer' p. 1833, 11/11/1927.

RJ, letter to Col Ashley (of MOT) regarding Western Ave. 16/12/1927. RJ wants MOT not to cancel Western Ave through Middlesex, and writes on RIA letterhead. Worth transcribing:

The Roads IMprovement Assn regret to learn from your reply to Sir Edward Iliffe in the House of Commons in November that you are not prepared to encourage the construction at the present time of the remaining section of the Western Avenue from Greenford to its junction with the Oxford Road beyond Uxbridge, a distance of about 7 miles of which six are in Middlesex and one in Buckinghamshire. The Association desire me respectfully to urge you to press the Treasury to release the money to enable this 7 miles to be proceeded with at once. Even if authority is given, the work could not be completed until 1930 having regard to the number of bridges required--5 in Middlesex and 2 in Bucks. A few thousand pounds only would be paid out in the present financial year. The money would go out in instalments in the three succeeding years. [Query. How has the ratio in cost between bridges and road surface fluctuated in time WRT technology? Why was reinforced/prestressed concrete such a great advance? What were the fiscal implications?]

You have pointed out publicly with special reference to the Kingston bypass that hardly is a new road completed than it is filled with traffic. This fact demonstrates how great is the need for new arterial approach roads to London. If the Kingston bypass serving only a small area of England ws urgent, how much more is the relief required to the Oxford Road which carries traffic for the South Midlands, Gloucester and South Wales, much of which is of an industrial character. The villages which are threaded upon this ancient highway--Acton, Ealing, Southall and Uxbridge--have now become populous townships. The traffic to and from their own local streets which feed the Oxford Road every few yards, and their shopping centres which front upon it require practically all the available road space, leaving very little for through traffic which is badly obstructed by local conditions for many miles.

Official statistics show that between 1914 and 1925 the traffic on this road through Acton more than doubled. Private motor cars and cabs increased about five times (from 3155 to 16027); motor omnibuses from 2077 to 10145. Most significant of all, however, is the increase in motor lorries from 288 to 5021. Since 1925 it is believed that the increase has been at a much greater ratio. Conditions are bad enough today. They will be much worse in 1930. Further delay beyond that date will lead to congestion and loss appalling to contemplate.

It is understood that the cost of the 6 miles in Middlesex is approximately £380,000 of which 50% is to be found out of the Road Fund. The Association beg to sugges that if the Treasury cannot be induced to release the £190,000 was a Capital sum between the years 1928 and 1931 to enable the work to be proceeded with at once, the Middlesex County Council should be authorized to borrow the whole of the amount (£380,000) instead of their moiety (£190,000) and that the Ministry of Transport with the consent of the Treasury shall give the Council a formal undertaking to pay 50% of the annual loan charges.

in this connection I venture to remind you of the undertaking given by the Cahncellor to the House of Commons on the Report stage of the Budget resolutions (April 28th) "we shall finance with the credit of the State every undertaking and commitment into which we have actually entered."

I am, yours faithfully, [sgd.]

Times, 29/10/1927: has a map of London arterial routes.

RJ, article in 'Autocar': "Money Avialable for Road Work", 30/9/1927. 1 p, P. Some interesting points: the grant %-ages of 50% for Class I and 33 1/3% for Class II are purely notional: Treasury introduces uncertainty (Circular 260 (Roads)) by reserving the right to vary %-ages year on year, not carrying obligations over from year to year, and maintaining the %-ages only to the extent allowed by Fund revenue and highway money voted.

RJ: "Road traffic and highway development. Conditions and requirements in Great Britain." 'Modern Transport' 17/9/1927. 1 p., P. RJ advocates a toll-free, tax-financed National Motor Road not precisely like the Italian 'autostrade' (which he says are disapproved of by British admin and engineers, but doesn't cite the reasons why--perhaps the monotonous straightness and failure to make full use of traffic insulation with wide medians, etc.) but with the indispensable feature that stationary traffic (to serve frontages) NOT BE PERMITTED. This, he believes, is the compelling advantage of the Italian 'autostrade'. He even suggests that railways might be willing to sell their unprofitable branch lines for conversion to motorways.

RJ: letter to editor of 'Times' regarding conflicting interests in London. 1 p., P. 31/8/1927. Reproduced below.

Sir,--I am afraid Mr. Collard's appeal to the LCC, and its chairman in particular, will be barren of result. As chairman of the Road sIMprovement Association I agree with Mr. Collard. There are many works on which £1,340,000 could be more usefully spent than on reconstructing Lambeth Bridge. On the other hand, I am afraid that if I were a responsible member of the LCC I should have voted with Mr. Gatti for its reconstruction. The RIA is free to take an unbiased survey of the needs of Greater London. Not so the LCC. It is a statutory authority. Its powers, its duties, and the limits of its jurisdiction have been fixed by Parliament. The LCC is a bridge authority (for a few bridges only) in the County of London. That county itself is not one-tenth of the area of traffic London. It is not the road authority for London; nor is it the traffic authority. A faithful discharge of its statutory duties, uncorrected by the pressure of larger interests, has led to a decision to rebuild Lambeth Bridge.

Its limited and defined responsibilities enforce a narrowness of outlook which is constantly forcing the LCC to decisions quite justifiable in themselves but opposed to the larger interests of London. May I cite a recent example? just before the recess--on July 19--the LCC refused to proceed with certain schemes for providing alternative routes for traffic recommended by the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee at a cost of £600,000. It decided, however, to proceed with a scheme for enlarging the tramway subway between Waterloo Bridge and Southampton Row at a cost of £326,500. I think these decisions were both wrong. But if a member of the LCC, I should probably have agreed with Sir George Hume--see the Times report July 20--that the recommendations of the responsible committee could not be resisted. Why?

The LCC is the trustee for 17 millions of the ratepayers' money invested in tramways, on which there is an annual loss running into hundreds of thousands of pounds. For the tramwys it has a direct responsibility. It is advised in its administration by very able officials who are able quite properly to influence the Finance, Improvement, Highways, and the other Committees of the Council to carry out schemes which benefit the tramway enterprise and to turn down most of those which do not. On the other hand, the LCC has no direct interest in motor-omnibus, cab, priate, or commercial traffic. The technical representatives of these interests are not constantly present, as are the representatives of the tramway interests, to inform, advise, and guide the Council. It is inevitable, therefore that a scheme for improving alternative routes for the benefit of general traffic is rejected in favor of one for improving tramway facilities.

It is absurd in these cirumstances to criticize the LCC for carrying out its statutory obligations to the best of its ability. Criticism has to be directed to successive Governments and Parliaments which neglect to adapt the machinery of Greater London's government to its presnt needs. We shall continue to get lopsided decisions which are opposed to the interests of London as a whole until Parliament creates an authority which is able to survey and provide for the needs of Greater London.

What, in short, London and the Home Counties require is a limited measure of home rule. Parliament has neither the time nor the knowledge nor the inclination to solve London's problems, and no existing local authority has the statutory powers to do so.

RJ: internal RIA memo (8/1927) to same general effect of the 'Times' letter regarding LCC. 4 pp. P.

RJ: Confidential Memorandum on the effect of Mr. Churchill's Raids on the Road Fund. this was sent to local Conservative associations (with cover letter dated 25/6/1927) spelling out the effect of the raid and its likelihood to rebound in the face of Tories. 3 pp. total. P.

RJ: suggestions for resolutions for County Councils to vote. 2 pp. total (incl cover letter). NP.

RJ: further memoranda, 2 pp. each, most NP. "The road fund. Memorandum on the future policy of highway authorities." "The raid on the road fund. effect on leicestershire rates and roads. questions for the candidates." "The road fund. Policy of the RIA. A ratepayers' question."

RJ: Letter to 'Times' (23/7/1927) about traffic conditions in Berlin. RJ says the city engineer showed him plans for an arterial road with a center tramway track sown with grass. 1 pp., P.

More froufrou on the Road Fund raid: 'Surveyor', blurb on 1/7/1927 playing up RJ's squawking; 'Contract Journal', 6/7/1927, giving added play to RJ's idea of borrowing against the Road Fund.

Plan for RIA campaign for road fund restoration. Budget between £10-12K. 1 p., P.

Times article (28/4/1927) describing RIA mtg after Churchill stole another £12m from the Road Fund (bringing total theft up to £26m).

RIA, mounrning the raids: "Roads. The second Churchill raid. Results on traffic and industry." 7 pp. P. @This Association has been beaten in its triumph. The fruits of the victory we had won have been torn from us by the politicians but we shall fight on," etc.

RJ: 'Times' article, 5/4/1927, ranging over much the same subject matter as the article advocating the National Motor Road, but taking construction of the Great North Road/Welwyn bypass connection as the jumping-off point. 1 pp. P.

'The Roadmaker' extracts (1927): incidence of road taxation on property rates estimated at 50%.

1/20

RJ: drafts of 'The RIA: Its past work and its new Programme', 1903. 5 pp. P. (but not thesis-relevant).

Records of nepotism in surveyors' depts and other abuses.

Complaints re. tramways on roads. 3 pp. P.

Extract from 1907 RIA annual regarding the "million pound scheme": suggests that Lord Balfour of Burleigh's proposed state grant to local authorities for roads (made in report of Royal? Comm on Local Taxation) should be spent on new location roads and on strengthening principal roads and on making existing roads dustless.

Thomas Codrington (MInstCE). Report on Road Maintenance. HMSO, 1889. (A publication of the LGB.)

Memorandum by the RIA (Inc), the CTC, the Natl Cyclists Union, and the Automobile Club, on the renewal of the Light Railways Act of 1896. Incl. proposed amendments. 5 pp. P. Mostly deisgned to bring the tramways to heel, but has lots of info on history of local finance of roads; apparently a block grant became available to CC's when they were formed in 1888. At the time of writing (ca 1903), the unallocated balance of the Exchequer contribution to counties was the govt grant in aid of roads.

2/5

Much of this is concerned with RJ's attempts to find mud on Sir George Gibb. Potential lines of attack included the following: (1) Gibb believed roads shouldn't compete with rail, and had a conflict of interest with the railways since he was receiving £5,000 for his Road Board job plus £3,000 as director of the NER, and had previously been employed by the Speyers (an American family which had acquired control of the District and Metropolitan lines in what eventually became the London Underground) at a cost of £8,000 PA. (2) Gibb's appointment was secured by powerful interests opposed to the Road Board. He was a friend of the Asquiths. (3) Gibb was apparently a first cousin of Eric Geddes (by marriage?).

File also includes the minute of the Road Board censuring Gibb for taking the files to Geddes without consulting the Board beforehand.

Correspondence between RJ and Gibb also included. Gibb's side of the correspondence is on Road Board letterhead. The official crest of the Road Board was "THE ROAD BOARD" above the lion and unicorn, enclosed in an oval, embossed on the paper. It's similar to the current Home Office seal.

Gibb to RJ 12/8/1914: a super-nasty letter! A quote:

[begin]

As regards the secretarial work I am bound to say that I have been disappointed with the manner in which you have grappled with it. You seem content to hand over to the junior staff, to an undue extent, work which ought to have your personal effort and attention and when you return I will expect you to put more personal effort into the secretarial work.

[end]

Also a letter to 'The Times' from Montagu WRT Geddes' conflict of interest as MOT (then "Minister-designate for Ways and Communications"). Montagu was probably RJ's silent supporter on the board--surprising that there is so little evidence of correspondence or contact between the two?

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-25T23:07:30Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-01-20]]
::[[RJ 1/15]]
::[[RJ 1/12]]
::[[RJ 1/18]]
::[[RJ 1/20]]
::[[RJ 2/5]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19

2012-03-25T23:00:48Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived, per usual schedule, around noon, and filed a papers request around 12.15. Train left Oxford within five minutes of the scheduled time (10.19 as opposed to a scheduled time of 10....

Arrived, per usual schedule, around noon, and filed a papers request around 12.15. Train left Oxford within five minutes of the scheduled time (10.19 as opposed to a scheduled time of 10.15), and so was technically punctual, but was running 11 minutes behind by Reading and so did not arrive in Paddington until about 11.30-11.35. Computer did not crash this time, but battery is showing effects of repeated half-cycle discharges and probably needs to be discharged all the way before the "memory effect" gets locked in.

Beginning to think I have reached the limit of the usefulness of the Rees Jeffreys papers. Correspondence and diaries are useful in shedding light on RJ's perspectives (and are reassuring in that they show he combined an interest in roads with pronounced "culture vulture" traits), but do not have all that much direct, tangible information to offer in terms of developing motorway design standards. Also, it is apparent that, from about 1920 onward, RJ had no official government position connected with road provision and so was on the periphery of new road developments, and forced to put his contact networks to use to get info on roads--and he does not seem to have gone beyond what would now be regarded as an "upper layer" of information provision, ie brochures with broad-rather-than-deep accounts of road design and construction, rather than (1) environmental documentation (major, commendable exceptions include reports into Severn bridge and inner London motorway rings) and (2) technical advice (roadway design standards plus technical advisories, such as Todt's series of 'Merkblätter'). The files examined thus far also reflect a hierarchy of interest, in which the strategic element of road provision is paramount, road finance is secondary, and design is tertiary, and this perhaps reflects RJ's belief that in order to build an extensive system of new roads it was necessary (1) to agree that they were needed or useful (ie that it was in the national interest to have a small core of trunk roads to handle the majority of traffic), (2) to find the money (defined not as a given amount, but as an annual cashflow subject to appropriation/obligation decisions in accordance with design standards which NEVER go beyond the purely conceptual), and (3) to embark on detailed design and construction.

So what should I be doing with the next few sessions with the RJ papers? There are a number of files, under series 14, dealing with the 1919-20 committee on road taxation (convened by order of Sir Eric Geddes?), of which RJ was a member. This should shed some additional light on the distinction between UK-only and imperial taxation of motor vehicle fuels, the related performance characteristics of cars and the ease with which cars could be changed from one fuel type to another (or adapted for various types of road uses) in response to policy aims or supply constraints, and the ultimate rationales for switching to unit rather than use taxation. There are also files on the Royal commission for Transport which should be investigated. Finally, Rees Jeffreys' Road Board papers should be canvassed for information on the TYPES of new-location roads contemplated but not built.

Curiously, the RJ papers have relatively little information on the original, 1906 proposal for a London-Brighton motor road. That thing has to be cleared up through another avenue of inquiry, based on the InstCE motorways book in which the proposal was mentioned and a bill of quantities was given. And are Montagu's papers on deposit somewhere? Ask at Bodleian personal papers dept, and do a search through the HMC database.

Operating on battery power right now--should be certain to examine the computer occasionally to be sure the battery isn't dying.

8/13

The sole content of this file is a large number of reprints of RJ's article in 'Motor' magazine, July 13, 1937, which is largely based on his 1936-37 trip to the West Indies, southeastern US, and Mexico. There is just one illustration, of a causeway road somewhere along the Mexican Gulf. Article transcript in full:

The Pan-American Highway, as originally planned, starts from Ottawa, in Canada, passes through the territories of the U.S.A., Mexico, Guatemala, Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama, in Central America, and is to be continued through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. Its approximate length is 16,000 miles and it is possible now to travel from Ottawa to Mexico City, about 3,600 miles, over perfectly constructed roads.

South of Mexico City to the Guatemala frontier there remains nearly 1,000 miles to be constructed, of which only about 150 miles have been executed. Mexico hopes to finish the section through its country within the next three years.

I have just inspected the greater part of this International Highway on its passages through Texas and Mexico to Mexico City, and on a previous visit to North America I travelled the greater part of the roadway from Texas to Canada.

In Texas there is great road building activity. Special attention is being devoted to amenities, especially the construction of roadside parks adjoining the highway.

I met one of these two-acre to five-acre roadside parks on an average on every 20 miles of highway in Texas. It is interesting also that Texas employs a landscape architect. So far all our efforts in this country to induce the County Councils to engage landscape architects to secure the amenities of our roadside wastes and advise property owners and speculative builders have been fruitless.

In Mexico I travelled altogether about 1,500 miles, of which 900 were on the International Highway. Its construction has involved great feats of engineering; twice on the journey to Mexico City the road attains a height of over 7,000 ft. and between Mexico and Puebla it reaches 10,000 ft.

As regards the finance of the road, I could obtain no exact information. The construction of good roads to the attractive resorts near Mexico City has brought a stream of American tourists far in excess of the hotel accommodation of Mexico. No doubt under a sound financial system the road can be paid for by the additional revenue it will bring to Mexico from American visitors; but Mexico does not readily evolve or execute sound financial systems.

A contract has been let to modernize the road to Tampico from the point where it joins the International Highway. Tampico is the port and centre of the oil industry.

I travelled the road from Mexico City to Vera Cruz, a little over 300 miles, and found it well graded and engineered, but wanting its final bituminous coat from the point (130 miles from Mexico City) at which it diverts from the International Highway. I was officially informed that these 170 miles will be surfaced next year. This would be the road by which English motorists would approach Mexico. Motor travel in Mexico is cheaper than in Great Britain and in the U.S.A. But English residents and English visitors to Mexico are few--fewer indeed than in the days of Diaz and Pearson.

The progress that is being made and the enthusiasm shown over this International Highway to connect North, South and Central America makes one regret that little progress has been made with the scheme for constructing a modern highway to connect Cairo with Cape Town. As throughout its length it would be constructed in countries which form part of, or are in close association with, the British Commonwealth, it should present fewer difficulties than the American highway. So far the Colonial Office has given the scheme no encouragement and until it is forthcoming effective progress does not seem possible.

In the United States road and bridge construction continues to make phenomenal progress. On my first visit, in 1912, they had no national road system and were 200 years behind Great Britain. They have now passed this country and the highway system--a miracle of post-war achievement--is many years in advance of ours. The design and layout of American roads permit, outside the built-up areas, an average speed of safe travel at least 20 m.p.h. greater than in this country. In amenities and picturesqueness, in which British roads previously excelled, the U.S.A., by the construction of parkways, roadside parks and other devices, have added greatly to the joy of travel. They have still to bring roadside advertisements under control, but progress is being made in that direction.

Bridge 4 1/2 Miles Long

Bridge building is noteworthy. The "Huey Long" railway and road bridge over the Mississippi, 3 1/2 miles above New Orleans, cost £2,600,000. The centre span is 790 ft. long and the length with approaches is 4 1/2 miles. The bridge has a total width of 78 ft., providing for double railroad tracks in the centre; two 18-ft. carriageways, and two pedestrian paths of 2 1/2 ft. Another bridge across the Mississippi at Baton Rouge is being planned.

Everywhere work is proceeding on the separation of grade crossings--American phrase for the removal of railway level crossings.

In order to provide a scenic road along the coast of the Mexican Gulf, many bridges of great length have been constructed across the gulfs and bays, such as the Dupont and Hathaway Bridges, near Panama City. There is one four miles long across Pensacola Bay.

These bridge-building achievements in the U.S.A., of enormous value to commercial road transport, throw into stronger relief the unwillingness of our Parliament to secure the building of new bridges necessary for traffic and development. Compare the attitude here in the matter of the Severn Bridge with the progressive policies of the U.S.A. Federal and State Legislatures.

While the problem of providing safe roads in the rural areas is in process of rapid solution, the U.S.A. has made but little progress in solving the problems of urban traffic. Congestion in the towns, even in towns of moderate size, is increasing. Theproblem of providing adequate parking space for stationary cars is more difficult than in Great Britain because of the larger proportion of the population using cars, and the greater height of the buildings.

The problem of noise is unsolved. All American cities are unpleasantly noisy, particularly the main throughfares in which the hotels are situated. The sounding of motor horns and of bells and whistles of many kinds continues throughout the night.

11/2

This file contains nothing road-related. It contains copies and correspondence regarding several articles RJ wrote during the war: (1) discharge of the American debt (RJ wanted early payoff of Britain's WWI debt, on which Britain had defaulted in 1933, in order to enable Britain to borrow money on American markets to finance war activity--preferably by getting rid of some overseas colonies which could then be developed by the Americans, and by selling off national art treasures if nothing else worked), (2) manpower management (RJ wanted a cap on Army size, and a system for making sure good soldiers and essential workers were not wasted or released from service), and (3) efficient bureaucracy.

13/13

Strange miscellany in this file.

First item has to do with plans for Charing Cross station: "Charing Cross Bridge. Comments on the advisory committee's report with reference to Scheme 4." Prepared by Sir Murdoch Macdonald, William Muirhead, et al. July 3, 1931.

Second item: authorship not certain, but probably Royal Dutch Shell corporate publications staff (JB Earle will have details and a reference). 'Modern Road Construction'. Illustrated with pictures of bituminous-surfaced roads in various British colonies and commonwealth countries (NEVER GB itself). Touts Mexphalte and Spramex (proprietary asphalt mixtures) at every opportunity, and seems obviously designed as a sales brochure for these products. But interesting comments about asphalt pavement structures. Divides mixtures into "classes": Class I is an open (pervious) uniform- and coarse-graded asphalt. Class IV is an impervious uniform- and fine-graded asphalt. Class II is gap-graded with interlocking coarse aggregates. Class III is gap-graded, noninterlocking. Class III is often described as a "Topeka" mixture (does the name have any connection with Topeka, Kansas?) and this gives the meaning of the reference to "Topeka" in one of the RJ 'Autostrade' files examined first time.

Third item: report on a Mersey Tunnel proposal. (Worth purchasing if can be found at a reasonable price--but would be v. difficult to p'copy, though still P.) 'Mersey cross-river traffic. Bridge or tunnel. Joint report by Sir Maurice Fitzmaurice, Mr. Basil Mott, and Mr. John A. Brodie. July, 1923.' Includes summaries and analyses of the various proposals, plus longitudinal and transverse cross-sections of the proposed tunnel (single-bore, two-way tunnel with four lanes and 17' clearance on main level, room for tramcars on a lower deck, and a massive air vent above the main deck), a map of the tunnel route between Liverpool and Birkenhead, etc.

Fourth item: materials on the Channel Tunnel. These include an article by Sir William Bull MP about the Channel Tunnel proposal, 'The Graphic', January 26, 1929 showing tunnel route through "blue chalk" stratum, two bores with a third smaller bore for drainage, etc.; a Channel Tunnel propaganda handbill issued by the Channel Tunnel parliamentary c'ttee; a printed lecture by the Baron Emile B. d'Erlanger dealing with the CT; clippings from an unnamed newspaper which reprints advocacy articles for CT by one "Callisthenes." Much of this material sent to RJ by Jessie Smout, secretary to the CT parliamentary c'ttee.

13/28

This is Rees Jeffrey's miscellany for 1937. One article on the Severn Bridge is of interest: Western Mail, 14/9/1937. Long, written by RJ, transcript here in full.

Safe and beautiful road essential to Wales' Progress

I was much interested to rad the suggestion made by Sir Robert Webber at the Welsh National Eisteddfod for a new national trunk road to connect North and South Wales. It shows that the leaders of public opinion in Wales are aroused to the importance of improved road communication in the Principality.

Such a road has been long wanted. The Welsh people would benefit culturally as well as materially if modern roads were built to the south of England and through Wales itself. There is not sufficient personal contact between the inhabitants of the different parts of Wales.

I have recently returned from a visit to the United States of America, where the inhabitants, especially in the south and wst, at the end of a day's work would not hesitate to motor 200 miles to dine. Between five p.m. and midnight they will travel 400 miles to spend two hours with their friends.

Contrast in Wales

In Wales, who would think of leaving Cardiff after tea to dine with a friend in Llandudno and return the same night, although the distance between these two centres is less than 150 miles?

The motor-car, the product of individual inventiveness and initiative, could do the journey quite comfortably, but the roads, which depend upon collective capacity, are quite unequal to a safe average speed of 60 miles per hour. Yet 20 years ago Wales had a fair road system and the United States had not one at all.

Wales has stood still in the matter of road and bridge construction; but Americans in that period have built the finest and safest road system (outside their towns) in the world.

Officially and unofficially, I have had the road problems of Wales before me for more than 40 years. As a member of the council of the Cyclists' Touring Club, I explored the roads of Wales--South, Central, and North--on a cycle in the last decade of the nineteenth century. I recall literally shedding tears of rage and despair over the condition of the great road from London to Holyhead through Merioneth.

Schemes suggested in 1910

I had read all about Telford's masterpiece with its maximum gradient of one in 30 through the mountains of Wales. I was exasperated beyond measure by the condition of neglect into which the local authorities had permitted it to fall.

When the Departmental Committee on Highways was appointed by the President of the then Local Government Board in 1903 I was the principal witness for the plaintiff--the road users of Great Britain--and I remember pleading for better roads in Wales and drawing attention to the state of Telford's road.

When the Road Board was formed by Mr. Lloyd George in 1910 I put before the BOard various schemes for improving the roads of Wales. Unfortunately, very few of them materialised.

It was a condition of Road Board grants that the local authorities should prepare schemes and provide a considerable portion of the cost. The local authorities were not keen to comply with these conditions. When pressed, the invariable answer was, "Our local resources are limited and we prefer to spend our ratepayers' money in education rather than on roads." Thus, the Welsh county highway rate was, on the average, much lower than in the English counties, but the education rate was higher.

The Severn Bridge Project

Then, as now, the major scheme for the benefit of Wales was the construction of a new bridge across the lower Severn as part of a still bigger scheme for a modern arterial road from London to cardiff and Swansea.

An examination of the road system of Wales will show that its main arteries run from east to west. In this respect the conditions are opposite to those of England, where the main arteries run north and south, and the communications east and west are very inadequate. In Wales there are east and west roads as follows:

1. Chester to Bangor via St. Asaph.

2. Shrewsbury to Bangor via Llangollen.

3. shrewsbury to Machynlleth and Aberystwyth.

4. Worcester to Aberystwyth via Rhayader.

5. Gloucester to Cardigan via Brecon.

6. Newport to St. David's via Cardiff and Neath.

Wales has no proper north and south roads within its borders. Its roads connect with the Great West of England North and South Highway, Chepstow-Monmouth-Hereford-Ludlow-Church Stretton-Shrewsbury-Whitchurch-Chester.

In the west of Wales there is an indifferent north and south road, a mere linking up of local roads: Swansea-Carmarthen-Aberayron-Aberystwyth-Dolgelley-Caernarvon-Bangor. Through the centre of Wales--Cardiff and Brecon to St. Asaph--there is no through direct road.

The Best Route

In the interests of Wales I have personally concentrated on building a bridge across the Severen and getting the proper road communication east and west of it. There can be no dispute as to the need for the bridge and the line of the roads east and west of it.

The information is not available on which to come to a decision as to the best route for the north and south road. If it were still my responsibility to advise the executive authorities, or I were myself the executive official, I would have a survey made of--

Road (1) from near Swansea to Conway, more or less parallel to the coast; and

Road (2) from near Cardiff to pass near Brecon, Builth, Llandrindod Wells, Newtown, Corwen, and Ruthin to St. Asaph.

The road to be built would depend upon the result of the survey, careful estimates of cost of construction and of future maintenance and all the economic factors which have to be taken into consideration when an unbiased authority is considering the route, design, and finance of a new road. These include the economic development it would bring to the country it will serve; the long-distance traffic it would support--in fact, a careful summary of all the debits and credits over a period of 25 years.

A larger local population would benefit by a modern road more or less parallel to the coast serving the many resorts which make the west coast of Wales so attractive. On the other hand, a route through the less populated and mountainous parts of the country might have greater claims as a scenic highway.

U.S. Mountain Parkway

I was much impressed when in the United States of America with the work being done on the Blue Ridge Parkway in the State of North Carolina. The following helpful information regarding the parkway is in a letter I received from one of the officials of the State. It shows how little altitude troubles the American road engineer. I have travelled in Mexico some hundreds of miles over the new International Highway perfectly graded at altitudes of from 5,000 ft. to 9,000 ft.

With regard to the Blue Ridge Parkway, we have about 75 miles under construction of a total length of 275 miles in the State, and we hope that the balance may be completed within the next three or four years. Out of 275 miles there is but little--perhaps 10 miles--below 2,500 ft., and over 30 miles of it is about 5,000 ft., and the highest elevation is slightly above 6,000 ft. It will be located through the most beautiful section of our state.

This construction is being financed by the Federal Government from National Park appropriations, and it is intended to be purely a recreational road on which all commercial traffic willbe prohibited. The entire route through North Carolina and Virginia is approximately 500 miles long, and when completed will be maintained and policed by the National Park Service. The States through which it passes have obligated themselves to turn over to the Government without cost sufficient right of way to insulate the parkway from adjoining property, this totalling about 125 acres per mile, with additional acrege where scenic attractions justify it.

My considered conclusion

With reservations as to the route, I am convinced from my long experience of road conditions in Great Britain, checked and enlarged by knowledge of road developments in other parts of the world, that next to the building of the Severn Bridge with good east and west communications a modern north and south arterial highway through Wales on which motor traffic can travel at high speeds in safety would confer enormous benefits, economic and cultural, upon the people of Wales--benefits far outweighing the cost of a soundly conceived and efficiently executed scheme.

One word of warning. The miraculous development of roads and bridges in the United States of America has been rendered practicable because both the Government and the people are satisfied that good roads are a sound economic investment and the long-distance railway interests have been either benevolently indifferent or actively helpful.

[continuation of previous sequence of notes]

"Victorian Conceptions"

In Great Britain Parliament is not convinced that modern roads are a good investment and the railway interests are actively hostile.

It ws the railway interests, which are very powerful in South Wales--which caused the Severn Bridge Bill to be thrown out by the House of Commons last year. Are the people of Wales satisfied to remain under the dominion of the Victorian conceptions of railway bureaucrats? If Wales is to progress it must modernise its transport.

The first step in such modernisation is the provision of safe and beautiful roads.

8/29

American stuff--mostly stuff RJ was sent by his US contacts, who included Gibb Gilchrist (Tex SHE), CH Purcell (Calif SHE), TH MacDonald, Garrett Browning (NC), and others. Some real treasures here, including a series of overpass pictures (many from California) which Purcell sent RJ.

"The Engineer": articles on AK Highway construction.

CHPW April 1939 issue mentions an exhibit--of "highways of tomorrow", featuring grade-separated interchanges--at Treasure Island.

Road Builder News, January 1940: article on PA Turnpike.

Highway Highlights, January 31, 1941: opening of Arroyo Seco Parkway, blurb about California's "Freeway Law."

WG Robertson: "History of the Trans-Canada Highway," presented 24/10/1940 at annual meeting of Canadian GRA at Chateau Frontenac in Québec City.

LOTS of treasures here--must definitely be revisited.

A US 66 Highway Association brochure.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-25T22:58:32Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-19]]
::[[RJ 8/13]]
::[[RJ 11/2]]
::[[RJ 13/13]]
::[[RJ 13/28]]
::[[RJ 8/29]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14

2012-03-10T18:22:04Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived about noon. Requested five folders: 8/52, 6/18, 5/14, 8/6, and 8/1. 8/6 actually an archive box, not a folder. 8/1 slow in coming since it contains prints and negatives, and ap...

Arrived about noon. Requested five folders: 8/52, 6/18, 5/14, 8/6, and 8/1. 8/6 actually an archive box, not a folder. 8/1 slow in coming since it contains prints and negatives, and apparently stored separately. Found the new strategy of using a separate, detachable keyboard works well, although when it's plugged in the laptop keyboard is nonresponsive (bad design!). More key travel, more silent, and no problems with abrupt relocations of the cursor due to accidental brushings of the L mouse button.

Tentative attempt at a contents list (5/14 was requested last time and is mostly London-Cardiff Road material, but transcript of contents got "juted" when I ejected the PCMCIA card without thinking--boredom is dangerous, especially when combined with random curiosity).

8/52

Not all that much here, and apparently none of it worth P.

1918? Chart of Union Castle Steamers, showing Africa with colonial boundaries.

1910 municipal street plan of Jo'burg, on linen.

Correspondence regarding RJ's inclusion in S African Who's Who

Correspondence with author regarding possibility of war in Europe (1938)

Distribution list for 'Roads in Undeveloped Countries' (another RJ publication?)

African World, n.d. (though reverse side of cutting indicates Sir Robert Williams, builder of a railway from SA to Belgian Congo, was made a baronet in the NY's Honors 1928), regarding "Brussels to Cape Town by Motor" (via Kenya), an expedition made by Reserve-Lt. Hubert Carton de Wiart.

6/18

Spare copies of London-Cardiff route map as proposed by RIA, built as dual carriageway, continuing route of Western Ave out of London (A40), and going to Cardiff via Chepstow, Wootton-under-Edge, Tetbury, Cricklade, Stanford in the Vale, Whanney, Sutton Courtenay, and Shillingford. It is about midway between the Bath Road (current A4 alignment) and A40/M40.

River Severn Development Association, 'Annual Report', 1936-37.

Same, 'Severnside: an industrial survey', n.d. but making reference to car and CMV ownership in the Severn valley. For all that, not P.

RJ letter to Geoffrey Smith, 25/11/1935, regarding Severn bridge dream. P.

Wallace E. Riche, general letter to Severn counties regarding Severn Bridge (on behalf of RIA), 2 pp. P.

Gibb to Rees Jeffreys, 3/4/1935. Severn barrage dead, but Ministry inclined favorably to the bridge. However, does not want to commit to location, and wants Gloucestershire to propose a scheme. (Problem: previous letter from Riche indicates Severn bridge is a regional need, best served by one located downriver, rather than a purely local Gloucestershire/Monmouthshire need, which has hitherto prevented the bridge being built.) P.

Robert Brodie to RJ, 12/9/1935, nominating possible Bristol advocates for a Severn bridge. Key point: advocate must not be perceived as servant of civil engineering interests.

More correspondence, including question of depositing copies (for a charge) of the Gibbs plan in Gloucester public library, and free copies for Monmouth public library.

Guardian cutting, 16/12/1935. Text reproduced here in full.

THE SEVERN ROAD BRIDGE SCHEME

A mixed reception

A Parliamentary bill to authorise the construction of a road bridge across the Severn at English Stones is being promoted by the county councils of Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire.

A plan for bridging the River Severn before Gloucester was put forward as early as 1845 and was taken up by the Admiralty. Several schemes followed, and in 1929 the building of a bridge was suggested by the Chepstow Urban District Council. Had it not been that the Severn barrage scheme (to generate electricyt and to carry a road) was then under consideration this scheme might have gone through.

The present scheme is for a bridge to cross the river just south of the existing railway tunnel at English Stones. It is here that the trvellers in stage coaches used to cross the river. The nagivable channel at this point is 900 ft wide and is known as the "shoots." At low tide the rest of the river-bed dries. The western approach of the proposed bridge is in Monmouthshire, while the eastern end is so far to the south of Gloucestershire that only a small area of the county's traffic would be tapped. The plan has now taken on a national aspect, and the traffic which the bridge would benefit would come, for the most part, from farther afield, as from London, from Bath, and from Exeter, while trding facilities with South Wales would be opened to Southampton, Plymouth, and Portsmouth. In South Wales, besides the advantages of increased trading facilities, it seems likely that there would be a considerable increase in the volume of holiday traffic to the seaside towns.

But the building of the bridge, while benefiting some districts, might have the reverse effect on others. In Gloucester, for instance, it is being said that the only advantage to the city would be a decrease in the volume of traffic and therefore in the cost of the upkeep of the main roads from Gloucester to London, Gloucester to Chepstow, and Gloucester to Bristol, and possibly also a decrease in the cost of reconstruction which would have been necessary owing to the increasing traffic on these roads. Gloucester people, however, do not think that the saving in this direction would offset the financial burden that the building of thebridge would impose on the rates.

Seven miles of new approach roads

Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire would benefit by the increasing rateable value of the land at the two approaches to the bridge, where a scheme of roadmaking and reconstruction would be undertaken. The roads which would lead to the proposed bridge are now mere lanes, offshoots of the main Gloucester-to-Bristol and Chepstow-Newport roads. The site can be reached by turning left about one and a half mile past Chepstow. This road leads to Sudbrook. The roads approaching it are rough, and a fifteen-mile speed-limit is in operation. A notice also states that "This road is unsafe and therefore closed to vehicular traffic." This is because of the insecure state of the banks. There are two such approach roads; the first ends at the Great Western Railway Severn Tunnel pumping station and the other at the Black Rock Lighthouse. Owing presumably to the bad state of the roads, cyclists in these parts ride on the railway tracks. It has been estimated that when the bridge is built about seven miles of approach roads will have to be constructed on both sides of the river. The prsent road through Chepstow is both narrow and steep. The bridge over the Wye and the old Norman gateway higher up in the town can take only single-line traffic. Although a large proportion of the traffic for the bridge would travel through Chepstow, the surveyors say that there is no immediate need for a new bridge in the town, so they have not included it in the estimate of the cost of the whole undertaking. Such a bridge, however, would be necessary if the traffic through Chepstow increased to any considerable extent, as it undoubtedly would.

Opinion in Gloucester is turning against the scheme, for not only would the rates be increased but the city would lose its importance as the most southerly point at which the river can be crossed by cars. The earlier plan to bridge the river above Sharpness would have been of advantage to Gloucester in joining the manufacturing districts round the city with the coalmining area of the Forst of Dean. The Ministry of Transport, however, would not be prepared to help a scheme of so purely local a nature. Fears are felt that the trade which at present comes by water to the port of Gloucester to be sent by road to South Wales would in future go the shorter route by the new bridge. The authorities of several of the Severn ports believe that the great number of piers which the bridge is to have will upset the currents and tides and raise new shoals or silt up the channels. The member for Gloucester (Mr. H Leslie boyce) has said that theprojected bridge "can only be fraught with peril, injury, and even disaster to the city of Cloucester," and his opinion is apparently shared by a good many of his constituents.

Article signed D.G.C.

There is a map--it shows Severn bridge proposed location up of Bristol, down of Chepstow.

[file summary ends here, will be resumed later--Severn Bridge coming out of my ears]

Requested an additional file, 8/16. This contains mostly material RJ received in response to an inquiry regarding American highway progress, addressed to Thos H MacDonald. Inquiry covered roadside development issues.

File list:

July 1934. Model state enabling act empowering state highway departments to construct and maintain freeways and parkways. 10 pp. P. Discusses New York parkways and Pulaski Skyway as design examples, 'sui generis' for location but attempts to identify common traits.

Letter to RJ from Westchester Co Park Comm.

Median neutral strips in multi-lane Highways. Division of Design, US BPR, August 1936. 4 pp. P.

MacDonald, "Looking toward the highway future," paper presented to AASHO at 7/12/1936 meeting in SF. 17 pp. P.

US BPR, Division of Design, January 1936. The transplanting of large shade trees and larger sizes of nursery-grown plant material as a part of roadside development work. 18 pp. all, 11 text.

Wilbur Simonson, "Roadside Planting," 7/1936 issue of 'Landscape Architecture'. Simonson ws the BPR's senior landscape architect. 4 pp. P.

Simonson, "Roadside development and control in its relation to safety," 4 pp., P.

US BPR, Division of Design, "A resume of progress in roadside improvement," 6 pp., P. 7/1936.

27/11/1936 letter to RJ from McD listing pubns enclosed.

4 pictures' worth of SFOBB West Span porn. photographer of record is Julie F. Goss, 500 Sansome St, SF, Calif.

Explanation of California Toll Bridge Authority, apparently forwarded by CH Purcell, 15/12/1937 (but there is no cover letter).

Map showing roads of Mexico: planned, built, projected, by maintaining agency etc. Mex 16 via Coyame just a dream; Juárez-Chihuahua built, but apparently only as a one-lane road.

Correspondence between RJ and ARBA (now ARTBA), mostly about statistics and RJ's request for the 1937 proceedings volume.

Guide for a BPR filmstrip (no. 415), "The country roadside restored," prepared by WH Simonson and GB Gordon.

Blue-on-white plans sheets (MacDonald called them "whiteprints") produced by the "cooperative Erosion Research Project" and giving typicals for roadway cuts and fills, slopes, flattenings, ditches etc etc. Some interesting info--P but not high priority.

Continuation of 6/18.

Handbill for "London-Cardiff Road Committee" of the RIA. RJ was a member, as was the organization general secretary (Riche?).

Interesting letter between RJ and DJ Vaughan, living at the Ridgeway, Newport. RJ: "I do not think Gloucester's opposition will count for much. It is so purely selfish."

Letter from RJ to Worthington, n.d. BUT written before 27/11/1935 and after 12/11/1935. Text as follows:

Dear Mr. Worthington,
I am glad to have your letter of 12th September and to know that you are interested in the proposal for a new bridge across the lower Severn and that you are prepared to do anything you can to forward the scheme.

For the moment events wait upon themeeting convened by the Gloucetershire County Council of local authorities to be held on 27th September at Gloucester. Much will depend upon the guidance given to that meeting by Sir Frederick Cripps, the Chairman of the Gloucestershire County Council.

I have made several attempts dating from 1909 onwards to get a road bridge built across the lower Severn. None of them came to fruition because of the unwillingness of Gloucestershire to take the initiative. Until quite recently the strong recommendation of the Commissioner for the Depressed Areas together with the encouragement of the Ministry of Transport has changed the situation and I hope that Parliamentary powers will be obtained by Gloucestershire in the next session of Parliament to build the bridge. It will take four years to construct.

If Gloucestershire again fails, I think there are three courses open--

1. For the Minister of Transport himself to build thebridge. He has powers under Sec. 8 of the Development and Road IMprovement Funds Act, but the Treasury have always placed a veto on the exercise of these powers.

2. That a Regional Council be set up to carry out work affecting the area of more than one county; or that such powers be given to the Commissioner for Depressed Areas. Or

3. That it shall be made practicable and profitable for private enterprise once more to build arterial roads and bridges and promote a bill which will satisfy (1) Minister of Transport (2) the local authorities and (3) the traffic organisations.

The easiest course is for Gloucestershire to take theinitiative, and if you have any influence with the County Council, I hope you will exercise it in that direction.

Yours truly

(etc.)

Another RJ letter:

5th October, 1935.

Dear Mr. Vaughan,

I am now in a position to answer your five questions. My information is that Sir Frederick Cripps and the Gloucestershire County Council have definitely decided to go on with the scheme if they get a 75% grant from the Road Fund. The only issue for consideration is whether the whole of the balance shall be paid by Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire out of County rates, or whether half shall be paid out of County rates and half by tolls, as to which see the answers to your questions.

1. [i]Differences in estimates[/i]. Apart from the fact that estimates for a private authority are usually more closely estimated than for public authoirties, the difference between the two estimates are due in the main, so far as I can see and without having a technical report before me, to the following--

(A) Increased height of the Anderson bridge required for navigation purposes.

(B) Increased cost in the Anderson scheme to permit the Barrage scheme being carried out at a subsequent date if so desired.

(C) Additional cost in the Anderson scheme due to the main piers of the bridge being in a position to enable them to be examined under all conditions of the river.

(d) Provision for a double-track road.

2. Under present conditions, the two Councils, subject to Minisry supervision are thebest people to handle the job when it comes to erection. There is no practical alternative.

3. You cannot hope for 100% grant under present political conditions. If there is a change in public policy in the distant future under another Government, it is inconceivable that the local authorities would be permitted to administer 100% grants.

4. You can accept any estimates by Mr. Arthur Collins, the financial expert. He is the last man to be influenced by any local pressure.

Broadly speaking, if the local authorities pay 25% of the cost between them, it will cost only about 3d in the rates. If they insist upon part of this being reduced by instituting tolls for half the county contribution, the rate would be reduced to about 2d. It really isnot worth it, especially as a large proportion of the tolls would have tobe paid by people living in Monmouthshire and Gloucestershire.

I hope, therefore, so far as your influence goes, it will be in favour of a free bridge, providing the Government contribute 75% of the clost. If the Government reduce their contribution, and they may do so if the total sum available for grants throughout Great Britain is not sufficient to give Cloucestershire and Monmouthshire such a large sum as the scheme requires, then the question of tolls and contributions by outside authorities would have to be considered; but so far as your weight goes, please be dead against tolls or contributions from outside authoirities if the scheme can be financed on thebasis of 75% grant from the Ministry and 25% contribution, not exceeding 3d in the £ by Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire.

5. According to the best advice I can obtain, the Barrage scheme is both dead and buried.

Yours very truly,

Diary for tour taken around Wales by RJ and sister Edith in autumn 1933.

Description: City of Cardiff, Orbital Road (Western Avenue). 40 ft carriageway with 9" concrete surfacing. 7/10/1933. P.

Town Planning Institute, country meeting at Cardiff, Motor Tour. Saturday afternoon 7/10/1933. Mentions the Cardiff western bypass and also the Wenvoe bypass, constructed of concrete 60" wide. P.

"Roads and Bridges." Another 1 p. propaganda special from RJ, advocating trunking, and adding novel arguments--government can use trunk roads to initiate land settlement schemes (New Towns) and long-distance pipeline utilities.

RJ's memorandum (present in other arterial road files as well) advocating central initiative to build Lond-So'ton, Lond-Cardiff, B'ham-Birkenhead, Lancs (mersey) to Yorks (Humber), as unemployment relief projects. 6 pp. P.

RJ: an essay advocating London-Cardiff road, as a mechanism for employing surplus Welsh miners, making possible their resettlement, etc. 3 pp. P.

RJ: letter to the press regarding 27/9/1935 Glos. CC meeting on Severn Bridge. Probably best to type it in.

SEVERN BRIDGE

tHE COUNTY COUNCIL AND THE ROADS IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

My attention has been called to a letter to which Press publicity has been given addressed by the Clerk to the Gloucestershire County Council to the various local bodies which have been invited to a Conference at Gloucester on September 27th for the purpose of discussing a proposal for a bridge across the Severn.

It is all to the good that a Conference has at length been called by the County Council, and it is hoped that all invited local authorities will attend and register their approval of a bridge across the Severn and pledge themselves individually and collectively to use their utmost endeavours to obtain early Parliamentary sanction for such a bridge.

It would be of doubtful wisdom, however, for that Conference to express itself in favour of any particular scheme, whether that prepared by Messrs. Mott Hay & Anderson which has not yet been published, or that prepared by Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners to which wide publicity has been given. Obviously these or any other schemes of an authoritative character require technical examination by the very capable engineers of Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea, Newport and Glamorganshire as well as by the County Surveyors of Gloucestershire and Monmouthshire. In the event of any difference of opinion the decision as to which is the best must rest ultimately with the Minister of Transport who will be called upon to provide the greater part of the money.

It would be well perhaps to put on record the reason why two reports by distinguished firms are available to the Conference.

The RIA first proposed a bridge over the Severn in 1909. Further attempts were made either by the Association or by myself personally to get a bridge constructed in 1912, 1920 and 1929; but they all failed to make progress because of the unwillingness of the Gloucestershire County Council to move.

In 1931 the RIA prepared a more ambitious scheme showing a bridge and new road connections to London and to the Bath Road, and caused it to be exhibited at the Ideal Homes and Building Exhibition at Cardiff. That scheme with many others was sacrificed on the altar of National Economy.

In the current year we have made a sustained effort to get the bridge scheme into the region of practical politics. We were aware of the importnce the Commissioner for the Depressed Areas attached to it in the interests of South Wales. We knew also that the Minister of Transport was benevolently disposed to any well considered scheme which could be financed within the limits of the funds at his disposal. We were also advised that the Gloucestershire County Council had set up a Committee to consider the subject.

RJ, 25/7/1935, RIA press release describing "RIA Activities. New Severn Bridge." P.

5/14: contents list is deferred until a later time. This is because it comes wrapped in linen tape, and there is not all that much valuable stuff in it.

8/6 is a treasure trove of publications, many of them from Dr. Todt himself. Ignoring most of the correspondence, we will focus on the primary source materials.

Statistiche Ungaben über die 2. deutsche Verkehrszählung vom 1. Oktober 1928 bis 30. September 1929. This gives traffic and haulage statistics disaggregated by province, town, state, etc.

Die Reichsautobahnen: Principles of Design and Construction. Edited by Volk und Reich Verlag on behalf of the Inspector General of the German Roads. 1936. Basically, an English translation of the official Reichsautobahnen description. This describes technical standards, but is probably not a technical manual per se. 30 pp., but definitely P.

Biblio references:

Richtlinien für Fahrbahndecken (Specifications for Roadway surfaces)

'Strasse' magazine no. 4, 1936. (Another Volk und Reich Verlag pubn.)

A series of notes or technical advisories: "Merkblatt".

Merkblatt nr. 1. Die landschaftliche Eingliederung der Reichsautobahnen (Landscaping of Autobahns)

Merkblatt Nr. 21. Gestaltungsaufgaben (Problems of Form Giving)

Also has interesting descriptions, accompanied by pictures, of the Autobahn work camps.

Papers which don't really belong in here: materials RJ received from George Pepler, his Min of Health contact, regarding the Second Arterial Road Conferences (1916). (First Arterial Road conferences were held in 1914. These were 2 rounds of conferences sponsored by the Local Government Board.)

Other material, of not much interest, which has to do with traffic statistics. But then there are two maps:

Traffic count maps from Saxony state.

Karte A shows tonne-km along major corridors. The biggest and busiest ones are among Leipzig, Dresden, and Chemnitz.

Karte B shows traffic counts (AADT?) along the major corridors.

Both maps are "bar type"--ie bars are widened to correspond to traffic volumes. Both maps disaggregate into PT, private cars, and freight vehicles. Same symbolism (red for private cars, blue for freight vehicles, etc.) used throughout.

Maps cover period 1928-29.

And a road map for Saxony, strikingly similar to Ameican ones with road numbers appearing in little circles etc. Both this map and the preceding traffic flow maps prepared by Staatliche Sächsische Strassen-Baudirektion (ie the road maintaining agency for the state of Saxony).

And there is a preprinted blank book, called a 'Zählbuch', which looks vaguely like a trucker's logbook but is more probably a traffic census taker's book because the cover has blanks for writing the street name, and the inside has room for writing different vehicle classes. Not clear whether it has provision for writing down origins and destinations.

Translation: Act for the creation of an imperial motorways undertaking. 27 June, 1933. Worth transcribing (the original is clipped to the translation--apparently it was published in full at the time).

The imperial government has passed the following act, which is hereby brought to notice:

1. The German imperial railway company is empowered to establish a subsidiary undertaking for the construction and operation of a revenue-producing system of motor roads under the title of Imperial Motorways. The Undertaking is a fully recognized corporate body, and its registered office is in Berlin.

The motor roads are to be highways exclusively reserved for use by mechanically propelled vehicles.

3. The Imperial motorways undertaking has the exclusive right to construct and operate motor roads.

4. The supervision of the Imperial Motorways vests in the Imperial government.

5. The imperial chancellor appoints an Inspector General for German Road Administration. This officer will determine the location and layout of the motor roads. The German Imperial Railway Company is repsonsible for the administration and organization of the Imperial Motorways.

6. The German Imperial Railay Company appoints advisers to act in a consultative capacity with respect to the planning of the motor roads.

7. The imperial motorways undertaking is empowered to charge tolls, subject to a tariff approved by the imperial minister of transport.

The inspector general of German Roads determines the construction plans after hearing the views of the local authorities. His approval of plans comprises the final decision regarding all interests affected by the cheme.

For the execution of these functions, the imperial motorways undertaking hs compulsory powers of land acquisition. The provisions of paragraph 38 of the imperial railway act as interpreted by the decree of the 13th March 1930, and by the third order for the provision of employment dated 16 May 1933, are applicable.

10 The empire assumes the supreme administrative powers in so far as the motor roads are concerned. The imperial government issues the regulations affecting the construction, the operation and the traffic on motor roads.

11. To ensure conformity in the planning of the provincial highway system, the inspector general of German roads has the right to demand from all highway authorities the submission of plans for the construction and improvement of provincial highways. The inspector general of German roads has the right to intervene in the case of all building projects which might affect the construction and development of the imperial motorways undertaking. The effet of this intevention is that all works planned by the highway authorities must take second place. There is a right of appeal conferred upon highway authorities against this intervention. A decision upon the appeal rests with the German government, after hearing the highway authorities affected.

12. The Imperial government issues the requisitie provisions for the due execution of this Law.

Berlin, 27 June, 1933.

(signed) Adolf Hitler, Imperial Chancellor.

(signed) van Eltz.-Rübeneck, Imperial Minister for Transport.

And there is an old gazetted copy of the 'Strassenverkehrsordnung', with insert giving basic regulatory and warning signs but no direction or information signing. (The insert is similar to the NSKK road book later published.)

'Die Reichsbahn'. pp. 602-608 has an rticle, in German, by Dr. Theodor Kittel (Berlin) explaining the implications of the autobahn ordinance.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-10T18:21:35Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-14]]
::[[RJ 8/52]]
::[[RJ 6/18]]
::[[RJ 8/16]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12

2012-03-10T18:00:53Z

J N Winkler: New page: Have returned to the RJ papers after a hiatus of 1½ weeks, caused by illness (cold for nearly all of last week plus stomach flu early part of this week). Had a relatively normal trip in ...

Have returned to the RJ papers after a hiatus of 1½ weeks, caused by illness (cold for nearly all of last week plus stomach flu early part of this week). Had a relatively normal trip in to London this morning; managed to avoid getting on the Bristol TM train like I have the last couple of times, nursed my Amt Espresso cappuccino all the way to Paddington so I didn’t get a painful stomach/heart palpitations, and was nearly punctual at Paddington even though the train seemed to stop or slow down radically all the time for signals until it got to the newish stretch E of Slough. Made some disquieting observations about the NB computer, though. Upper part containing the LCD screen is insufficiently rigid and screen is nearly flush with the rim, so when the NB is subject to pressure, the keys on the NB keyboard chafe against the surface of the screen. Over time this chafing has been bad enough to leave regular marks on the screen which are noticeable when light is allowed to reflect off it (though they can’t be seen when screen is on and ambient light is angled so that specular reflections don’t happen). Also, lack of rigidity places additional strain on the L hinge and this has resulted in the portion of the laptop cover around the L hinge cracking. Bottom line: this thing is basically falling apart. It’s free, so I ought not to be worried overmuch, but it does have a TFT screen, and laptops with TFT screen still aren’t much under £1000, so some additional maintenance measures are in order: (1) some ammonia to wipe KB; (2) some LCD screen cleaner to clean screen; (3) new habit of placing a hankie between screen and KB whenever closing the NB (starting with departure today); and (4) timed exercise of the laptop battery to extend its life (it’s being deep-cycle discharged right now).

25/21 (left over from last time)

Interesting extract re. Transport costs:

Saturday March 2. Morning packing. Oh, this packing! Tea at 7. Breakfast 8.15. Talk with Secretary. Pay my Bill. Leave at 11. Call en route to see Odham (out, leave note) and at Chemist to buy a bottle of Vichy and fruiterer to buy pineapple, mango, and plums. This difficulty to get fruit in Africa is extraordinary. A few miles out of Nairobi fruit is rotting on the trees. In Nairobi you pay London prices. Pineapple 1/- and 1/6. Plums work out about 1 d. each. Mango 1/3. I was told that the prices offered to growers did not pay cost of carriage. Artichokes price ¾ d. sold at 2 d. and so on.

Another extract of interest:

Friday, march 1, contd.

I decided to plant the seed of an effective Road Organization for Kenya in other minds, not being satisfied that Mr. Lawson was the man to carry through the suggestion I had made. Mr. Rutley seemed the most hopeful. He was new to the country and the Shell people are in a position to take larger views than the small trader. I accordingly wrote the following letter and sent it to him by hand—

Roads Improvement Association
180 Clapham Road
London, SW 9

Written at Nairobi on 1st March 1929

Dear Mr. Rutley,

I should have liked another chat with you, but I understand that you are leaving today at four o’clock.

The more I think over it, the more I am convinced that the time is ripe for the Road and Road Transport interests to join together and set up some sort of organization with a competent man at its head to protect the interests of road and road traffic against the highly organized Railway interests.

In the E.A. Standard of Monday the 25th February it sets out a scheme for the extension of the Railway to Nanyuki with a Capital of £82,000, with an annual burden on the Colony of £5,000. I have a very strong suspicion that the cost of a first-class, all-weather road sealed with Asphalt and constructed to carry lorry traffic would be infinitely cheaper than the present scheme. I am told that this Railway will only carry one train a day and therefore there will be a wasteful railway and a bad road. The alternative policy of an Asphalt road has never been tried out. What is required is a road organization with a competent man at the top who can prepare alternative road schemes and work out their comparative economic and financial results.

I suggest that—

1. The Local motor traders.
2. The oil and asphalt and Motor Spirit interests.
3. The Tyre interests.
4. The Road Transport interests

To put up £3,000 a year between them and get a good man that could do much.

Perhaps you could talk this over with Mr. Wilson Jones at Mombasa, and possibly later with Mr. Cartwright of Cape Town, and the people at home. If any useful purpose might be served by my discussing it in London with Mr. Killick, let me know.

With kindest regards, yous sincerely, WRJ

PS I have also put this proposal both to Mr. Carr and Mr. Lawson. They advise me among other things that a good tarred or asphalt macadamised road would give the English car and lorry a much better chance than the present rough road which favours the American vehicle.

Aide-memoire: Write to NMSHTD (or the Big I project managers) and find out what happened to the Big I model—can it still be viewed, etc. And make up a search list for UNM materials/figure out whether ILL possible/do the same or similar for signing-related materials such as Lunenfeld & Alexander, the Highway Sign Symbology conference, etc.

Article by RJ in Times, 14/10/1929, based on his SA experiences:

Road and rail in Africa

Troubles of the Union

Racial reactions

Africa is confronted with two problems of prime importance—the problems of race and transport. The racial questions are the more difficult. British, Dutch, Portuguese, Belgian, French—can they cooperate or will they work always on different and often conflicting lines? How shall the “white” Administrations deal with the “native” and with the “coloured”? The major question of race enters into the minor one of transport. Africa produces raw materials, minerals, and foodstuffs. Her industrial need is cheap and efficient transport in order to place her products cheaply and quickly in the competitive markets of the world. In the course of a journey from the Cape to Cairo I investigated these interrelated problems and heard them discussed from many angles.

In the Union of South Africa the question of Rad v. Rail is acute—more acute even than in this country. Human nature everywhere prefers the freedom of the open road to the restrictions and limitations of the rail even when, as in South Africa, the “rail” is comparatively good and the “road” comparatively bad. The mobility and speed of the motor-car entice travellers to leave the railway to travel by the rutty, dusty, unmade roads and through unbridged streams whenever it is practicable. Railway receipts are affected. The railways in the Union of South Africa are State-owned. The Minister in charge of them is a member of the Cabinet. The question is therefore from the outset a political one. The Government’s concern is to protect the capital invested in the railways, and next to obtain an annual return thereon. While I was in Cape Town the Government appointed a Commission to investigate and report upon:

The whole problem of road motor competition and its bearing upon the road motor and railway services of the South African railways administration, having regard (a) to the fact that the main transport system of the country is State-owned, in which vast sums of public money are invsted, and (b) to the country’s need for economic development.

With such terms of reference it is not difficult to forecast the general lines of the Report of a Commission containing two railway officials and no representative of the road authorities or of road transport interests.

Railway investment

Over 130 millions have been invested in the railways of the Union of South Africa. The “Railway Policy of South Africa,” by professor H. Frankel, of Witwatersrand University, recently published, discusses the administration critically from the railway standpoint. From his study it would appear that the railway provisions of the South Africa Act, 1909, designed to remedy the evils of disunion and of political railway management, have been consistently contravened and disregarded. The hope that the south African railways would be managed on commercial principles and not as a mere State Department on bureaucratic lines has not been fulfilled.

The present Government of South Africa has caused the railways to give employment to many thousands of poor whites, i.e., Dutch. Coloured and native labour has been displaced. The racial question enters, then, into transport. The employment of the poor whit ehas increased greatly the cost of railway administration and, it is alleged, seriously impaired its efficiency. The wisdom of helping this class of the community by employing them on the railway has been debated vigorously. There is much to be said for and against the present policy. From the purely transport standpoint, “poor white” labour at high rates means increased railway costs. Its employment has encouraged the transfer of rail traffic to roads. This result in turn has brought a demand from the railway administration for security against road competition.

The roads in South Africa, unlike the railways, are not the direct responsibility of the Central Government. Their administration rests with provincial Governments and the municipalities. There are four provinces and administrative authority is vested in Administrators (appointed by the Government) assisted by provincial councils.

Road development has not kept pace with railway development. Such capital as South Africa has been prepared to spend on transport during the past 50 years has been spent mainly on building news railways. At present South Africa is burdened with many hundreds of miles of branch railway lines which have never paid, do not pay, and never can be expected to pay. I investigated several. There is the line, 35 miles long, from Outdtshoorn to Calitzdorp. It supports six trains per week—three in each direction. The train traveller from Calitzdorp may have an enforced stay of two nights at Oudtshoorn. The traveller by road can get there in an hour and a half before breakfast, do his business, and return before lunch. Running side by side are a railway line that does not pay and a road, poorly constructed, dusty, and ill maintained. The existence of the one is an excuse for not spending money on the other. Both are inefficient. Here in concrete form is the problem of the road versus rail.

State of the roads

Circling the Cape Peninsula itself there is a hundred miles of road well designed and soundly engineered, constituting the finest marine drive in the world. The combination of land and sea views ia magnificient. Not all of this mileage has been tarred or treated with bituminous material. The up-country roads, particularly the main roads north-west from the Cape to Worcester and west to Swellendam, are badly corrugated and honeycombed with pot-holes as a result of the increasing lorry traffic.

The Paarl Divisional Council (controlling the area immediately north of the Cape Peninsula) has entered into a contract at a total cost of £60,000 for the reconstruction of about 20 miles of main road out of Cape Town. Work was begun in August, 1928. It was expected to complete it this month. When finished it will be the longst continuous stretch of high-type road construction so far carried out in South Africa. The work includes the reshaping of the existing road, the laying of a kerbing, and the construction of a 4 in. standard bituminous grouted surface course 18ft in width, together with the necessary drainage and making up. The bitumen used is Spramex.

The absence of bridges closes many roads to motorists during the wet season. There is considerable risk and uncertainty whether a car will succeed in getting through an unbridged river. When motoring from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth by the cost road via George, which reveals some of the finest scenery in South Africa, I was fortunate to get through. A sudden storm in the Zitzikamma Forest caused a following car to break its back axle on one of the boulders in the stream hidden by the rising water. The attempt to bridge these rivers and drifts by means of iron and steel high-level bridges presents a financial problem that is insoluble. The authorities ar enow building concrete causeways, or low-level bridges, which give a smooth surface for the car and are well above the flood level on most days of the year. On three or four days per annum the causeway or low-level bridge may be submerged, but the water rushing over them does no damage and quickly subsides. A dozen of these causeways can be built for the cost of one steel bridge.

So far the rough roads and the river crossings have favoured cars of American construction. The English-made car, with its low petrol consumption and efficient transmission, gains most in countries with good roads. The saving of money in petrol costs weighs nothing in the mind of a south African against the advantage of a reserve of power which enables him to climb a sharply rising river-bank or force his way through roads inches deep in mud. The cylinder of small diameter which has been forced upon the British designer and manufacturer by the British system of taxation has militated against the development of cars suitable for Colonial markets. Under present conditions it is difficult to sell British cars in South Africa against the American production. A general improvement in the roads of South Africa and the building of causeways across the rivers and drifts will assist the sale of the British product.

Unorganized interests

Road interests in South Africa are unorganised. The railway bureaucracy is very strong with a Cabinet Minister at its head. The total amount of capital funds which Africa can spend on transport is necessarily limited. In the division of those funds the railway organization has the pull. The railway administration is itself being educated by circumstances. It recognizes, like railway directors at home, that under present conditions profit is to be made by providing the public with facilities for road transport. The natives in South Africa, as in India, like travel. On Sundays it is interesting to see them crowding every lorry of which they can get possession for the purpose of joy-rides. The railways have in recent years been developing road services. The official timetables contain a 66-page supplement showing 220 of these services.

The railway administration has no responsibility for the roads and these road services are started on roads quite unfitted to support them. It is not long before the asset in the road is destroyed. The question who shall pay for the reconstruction of the road, the provincial authorities or the railway, inevitably arises. No satisfactory arrangement has been reached. The question is further complicated by the fact that the railway-owned cars and their parts, fuel and oil, are exempt from the Customs duties which private owners and companies are called upon to pay.

Notwithdstanding many difficulties, I am convinced that the transport problems of South Africa can be solved. The country can be given a co-ordinated system of road and rail transport without placing an undue financial burden upon the present generation. There is, however, no single or royal road to this achievement. There are many things that need to be done, and done in the right way and in their due proportions. The railway main lines require development and the speed and efficiency of the services improved. Non-paying branch lines need to be closed and the money spent on maintaining them devoted to the improvement of the roads that serve the area. Rivers need to be bridged or concrete causeways constructed. Roads must be laid out by trained men. Earth roads demand proper draining, grading, shaping, and continuous maintenance. This means the organization of an experienced body of road engineers, road chemists, and road foremen. The provincial and municipal authorities are unlikely to face the financial burden of such an organization (although the expenditure will be reproductive) without the assistance of the Union Government. There is expectation that the Union Treasurer out of surplus revenue may provide £1,000,000 for road grants to the Provinces. If this hope is realized there may be a progressive improvement of South African roads, which will react beneficially upon the home motor industry.

RJ article in Times, 15/10/1929.

Road and rail in Africa.

II—New demand and new policies.

British v. Latin.

The future administration of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika has been the subject of a Report of a Royal Commission and the purpose of a special journey by a Permanent Under-Secretary of State to East Africa. Whatever further measure of unity may be introduced into the government of these three countries, it is important that their transport systems shall be envisaged as a whole so that the funds, necessarily limited, available for transport development shall be spent wisely and economically.

The roads in Kenya and Tanganyika are few and bad. In Uganda they are numerous and good. There is no good road inland from Dar-es-Salaam, the port of Tanganyika, or from Mombasa, the port of Kenya. The communication between the port and the country is by rail.

Railway policy dominates the transport situation of Kenya and Tanganyika. Nairobi started as a railway centre. It has developed into a capital town, which is unfortunate, as its situation is by no means ideal. The railway in Kenya is the instrument of fiscal policy and of taxation. For example, traffic “up” is made to pay the cost of the traffic “down.” Coal, petrol, whisky, and other imported goods going up from Mombasa to Nairobi and the interior beyond are charged far more than the economic rate in order that maize and other products of the country can be conveyed to the port at rates below the cost. Maize, coffee, and other produce of the country had to be placed in the world’s markets at competitive prices. To enable this to be done, the railway rate has to be low. The constitution does not allow that special rate to be made good out of general taxation. Therefore the difference has to be met by the other users of the railway.

The effect of this policy is to make the cost of living in Kenya and Uganda very high. In this as in other matters the interests of Uganda and of Kenya are not identical. So far, in Kenya very little money has been spent upon roads. Tracks have been made by pioneers. Others have followed in their tracks—a rough road is developed. As time goes on public money is spent upon it. The unfortunate feature of this kind of development is that the original track taken by the pioneer is never the one which an engineer would have adopted if he had been called in to design the road in the first place. A road engineer, Mr. R.S. Moore, with Australian experience has been recently appointed whose activities, it is hoped, will lead to some improvement in the lay-out and maintenance of the roads.

Lack of balance.

It is difficult to see how it is possible in a country like Kenya to maintain the proper balance between railway and road administration. The railways represent the most powerful unified financial interest in the Colony and command the services of very able officials. Even the Governor, as Commissioner of Transport, draws £1,000 of his income from railway funds. On the other side, there exists no organization of those interested in building, maintaining, or using the roads which may plead the cause, or state the case, for road development with the same authority. While I was in Nairobi a decision was taken to spend £82,000 on a short railway extension to Nanyuki. The wisdom of the expenditure was questioned from many quarters. Only two or three trains weekly will be needed and the State is required to contribute £5,000 per annum to the loss.

The pressure from home is also in the direction of railway construction. For every £100,000 spent on railways, orders for steel rails, locomotives, and rolling stock are placed in Great Britain. The return to Great Britain from the expenditure on roads is not so immediate and is more widely distributed. The locomotives may be British, but the motor-cars are American, namely 88 per cent.—British being 7 ½ per cent. And Continental 4 ½ per cent. American lorries and trucks were 92 ½ per cent. And British 6 per cent. Of the total. This result is due mainly to road conditions. Bad roads favour the Ameican vehicle. The local agents and motor dealers in Kenya are practically all British and would prefer to import the British article.

Uganda is the only country in Southern and Eastern Africa which has a good road system. The result is that bicycles—ordinary push bicycles—are used everywhere by the natives and they are all of British construction. Recently it has been decided to link up the Uganda road system with that of the Belgian Congo. At the present time there is no railway to Kampala, the commercial, or Entebbe, the administrative, capital. The railway stops at Jinja, but its extension to Kampala is under construction.

Destroyed bridges

From Entebbe it is possible to travel by good roads for 600 miles through Uganda and the Southern Sudan to Rejaf on the Nile, the terminal port of the Sudan Government boat service. This road was in good condition throughout its entire length during the month of March when I passed over it. A month later it would be no longer usable as the rains beginning in April flood the low-lying portions, wash away some of the bridges, and render it useless for through traffic for the following seven months.

I was informed the expenditure of a few thousand pounds on concrete causeways such as those described and illustrated in the article on South Africa would make this an all-weather road. It appears, however, there are objections on the part of the Administration to provide these funds as this road competes with the official route via Namagasali, Masindi, Butiaba, and Lake Albert to Nimule. Nimule is to be connected with Rejaf (the Nile port) by an all-weather road. This road, 100 miles in length, will cost about £34,000, and is in course of construction by the Sudan Government. The Government are also building a new Nile port at Juba, eight miles down the river, to replace Rejaf. This official route, however, involves frequent changes. The train has to be left for the steamer on two sections. The steamboats run only about once a week. A few thousand pounds spent on making the road from Mongalla—the capital of southern Sudan—to Nairobi an all-weather road would provide a route on which travellers could start at any hour of the day or night on their own vehicles and be independent of the infrequent train and steamer services. At a push the journey by road from Mongalla to Nairobi can be made in four days. There was general agreement that this great north and south road should be reconstructed and improved south from Nairobi through Tanganyika to Livingstone in Rhodesia.

The only existing all-weather road in the Sudan is one from Rejaf to Aba in the Belgian Congo, about 130 miles. Traffic flows along this road from the rich territories in the north-east Belgian Congo to Rejaf and thence down the Nile to Europe. The river boat on which I travelled was carrying gold mined at Moto and Kilo. This road transport is in the hands of an enterprising company known as Société du Haut Uélé et du Nil. I inspected their large fleet of Lancia lorries. An all-weather road into Abyssinia was spoken of as highly desirable.

Transport in the Sudan is mainly by river or rail. The railways belong to the Government. So do the steamboats. From Rejaf it is 1,000 miles to Khartoum by boat. The journey takes 10 days. There is one boat weekly in the season (about four months) and one fortnightly during the remainder of the year. The Government willnot entertain building roads which it can be alleged will compete with their railways. Some of the business interests in Khartoum would like to see a rod from Port Sudan to Khartoum. They would then be able to get their goods much quicker and cheaper than by rail.

Broadly speaking, the territories under British influence in Africa have during the 20th century developed railways and neglected roads. All the British Administrations (including the Governments in Pretoria and Cairo) are concerned to protect their railway asset against road competition. Railway engineers have been sought and liberally rewarded. The road engineer has not had a look in. The Latin countries are following a different policy. The French, Belgian, and Portuguese employ competent road engineers to build good all-weather roads. They also maintain in an indirect form the compulsory service system which prevailed under native chiefs before the advent of the European. Public works and notably all-weather roads are constructed and maintained at a comparatively small cost. Incidentally, aviation, which demands roads and a good ground organization, is developing much more rapidly in Latin than in British Africa.

There enters into the problem of transport the question of forced labour and the attitude of the white man to the native, which involves many complex issues. Engoush has been said to show that the transport problems of the Governments holding sway in those parts of Africa usually coloured red on the map require reconsideration in the light of Imperial as well as African interests.

25/21 finished, other material possibly worth transcribing—including the memo a female SA friend wrote to RJ regarding the frequency of gates across rural main roads (often 1 to the mile).

14/46

Not much in this file—mostly correspondence and one memorandum (ca 4 pp) dealing with the general subject of Registration Books, an ancestor to the modern V1 form. RJ originally proposed this idea but later asked to have it done away with because of the risk that it could become a de facto title, the administrative delays associated with getting a registration book returned from the licensing authorities (a big problem for the motor trade), and fears that it would not, in fact, prevent a traffic in stolen cars. Correspondence dates from late 1920/early 1921 but issues still very much alive today, cf. reformed V1 in 1999.

14/45

This file deals with general issues of taxation and registration for vehicles. Not strictly thesis-relevant, can be gone through at a later date.

14/58

This is simply a copy of the Ministry of Transport’s circular letter on “Standardisation of Road Direction Posts and Warning Signs,” dated 28/2/1921, denominated Form No. 39 (Roads) and making reference to an earlier circular letter from the LGB (SR&O, 1904, no. 315) dated 10/3/1904 which “gave details as to the size, shape, and colour of certain symbols for road signs, which had been jointly recommended for adoption by the County Councils Association and the Association of Municipal Corporations.” Ought to look up this Circular Letter—not sure if it specifies fonts or an alphabet (this copy of the Circular Letter does not, but it may be incomplete, as I suspect the Bod’s copy does include letter drawings).

14/52

This very thick file is largely concerned (judging from a study of papers in the top third—haven’t had time to go through the rest) with the particularities of changes, made circa 1920, to the regulations governing the British equivalent of “dealer plates.” Apparently rules had been modified so as not to allow transport of a new car to its owner on dealer plates once payment had been received, and other inconvenient restrictions had been imposed. There is evidence of a split between RJ and Maybury, partly as a result of what Maybury perceived as double-dealing by RJ’s MLC friend Hacking in his involvement in prosecutions over illegal use of dealer plates (“GIM plates,” apparently, though “GIM” not spelled out that I can see).

Much of this not strictly thesis-relevant.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-10T18:00:22Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-10T17:59:40Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

::[[LSE Library Archives 2003-02-12]]
::[[RJ 25/21]]
::[[RJ 14/46]]
::[[RJ 14/45]]
::[[RJ 14/58]]
::[[RJ 14/52]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11

2012-03-10T17:22:03Z

J N Winkler: New page: Have taken a quick look at files 14/19 and 14/37. The former contains materials pertaining to the regulation of hackney vehicles (basically, taxi licensing) while the latter contains main...

Have taken a quick look at files 14/19 and 14/37. The former contains materials pertaining to the regulation of hackney vehicles (basically, taxi licensing) while the latter contains mainly memoranda on the petrol taxation question. 14/37 would be fairly difficult to go through as much of the material is stapled or on very tight tags; it might actually be preferable to get some of this at the PRO. But come back to that issue later.

14/38 contains mostly Minutes of Evidence from meetings held by the Maybury committee on taxation and regulation of road vehicles. There is however an interesting HMCE memorandum on the problems of collecting petrol tax (photographed, as noted below).

IDEA: After main thesis work is done, I probably could do a straightforward economic history paper on the horsepower tax in the UK. There is certainly the material here that is required to illustrate the thought process behind its adoption, and the reasons the Maybury committee believed it would not get progressively more distortive and caved in and recommended it. But that is only one end of the argument. There are others, including quantification of the distortive effect of the horsepower tax, in terms of manufacturing, pricing, car ownership, distribution, usage, export, and possibly characteristics of the road system. (Anecdotal evidence is not enough. It is not enough that in 1947, RJ’s friends in the motoring community advised him that the horsepower tax would end—who was responsible for that, BTW? Gresham Cooke?—and that the motoring industry would thereby be unfettered; or that RJ heard from motoring industry representatives in South Africa, Kenya, and New Zealand to the effect that the horsepower tax was slowing down sales of British cars.) Probably could show a distortionary effect by correlating per capita income across a range of advanced industrialized countries, using the same logistic curve the RRL used to predict car ownership. But should do ‘before,’ ‘during,’ and ‘after,’ and probably should take overall car ownership costs into account, to avoid being fooled by false proxies. Are there standard references giving the cost of licences and petrol taxes in the UK? Need to check with Garel Rhys, Sue Bowden, Stephen Plowden, and JSTOR on UK road taxation. (Further observations: there was an element of divide and conquer in that the road transport interests wanted vehicle-based taxation, while the RIA and other groups interested in the development of private motoring wanted petrol taxation. Frank Pick, representing the London Omnibus Company, was especially ham-fisted in pushing the vehicle taxation interests, and helped scuttle the motor lobby’s attempts to come up with a compromise whereby the private motorists would accept a horsepower tax but also be the first to benefit from tax-cutting when the very elevated rates in the immediate postwar period were reduced. The RIA was fairly singular in its creed of developing private motoring and roads for the private motorists, and although the vehicle manufacturers would have benefited from higher car sales, they were divided, since they felt cheap American-made cars would flood in with petrol- rather than horsepower-based taxation (thinking of the Model T here, and of course assuming that the low purchase price would prove much, much more attractive than the relatively higher running costs).

Note: 14/37 and 14/38 have duplicative content: the document numbered RV/TR/120.

5/15

Starting with this file. It is very thin.

. . . Finished.

8/36

Have also photographed this file. But have to do some follow-up inquiries, here at LSE, and also when I am back at home.

14/38

Right now, am photographing only the HMCE memorandum on petrol duty collection. Don’t want to mess with the minutes of evidence and other memoranda right now.

[Sigh] This visit was not as productive as expected, because of the massive duplication across 14/37 and 14/38, the fact that the two files consisted largely of material whose value I have a hard time determining because I don’t know quite enough to locate it in a policy context, and that the summaries of the committee meetings (with numbered actions) are really in 14/23, which I was hoping to get when I ordered 14/19 but did not because it turns out those two files are not housed in the same box. (I feel certain other files are housed with 14/23, but not sure which ones they are.)

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-10T17:21:45Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-11]]
::[[RJ 14/19]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07

2012-03-10T17:12:54Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around noon, requested four files. 16/1 turned out to be repeat. Others were 16/2, 5/7, and 5/19. Contents descriptions follow. 16/2 Basically three items, which are Post-War...

Arrived around noon, requested four files. 16/1 turned out to be repeat. Others were 16/2, 5/7, and 5/19. Contents descriptions follow.

16/2

Basically three items, which are

Post-War Roads and Traffic: A memorandum issued by the royal automobile club, the automobile association, and the royal scottish automobile club, on roads and road traffic policy in relation to post-war planning and evelopment. July 1944. 16 pp, advocates motorways as top tier of road system, requiring cyclists to use cycle tracks where provided, etc.

Speeches at the BRF's 1943 exhibition on motorways/new road design standards. Worth p'copying.

Documentation concerned with a 1943 meeting, called by BRF, held at RAC offices in Pall Mall, to discuss general tenor of post-war road proposals and possibilities of building County Surveyor Society's road plans. Entire thing is worth p'copying.

Correspondence between Rees Jeffreys and his Sussex CC contact, Arthur Floyd (Co surveyor), re new road design standards being discussed by MoWT. Probably not worth p'copying.

5/7

Miscellaneous articles relating to road design.

RJ letter in 'Highways, Bridges and aerodromes', 10/8/1949 (basically KH book blurb)

London trip notes--mostly handwritten and very cursory, nothing worth p'copying

RJ speech (not given in person due to "unavoidable absence") at RIA, 2/6/1949. Major themes: delay of roadworks, treasury stranglehold, centralization, railway influence, state as largest road transport user . . . Not worth p'copying. It was read at RIA mtg by Killick.

EB Hugh-Jones, Safety as a factor in road design, construction & layout, Town Planning Institute (pamphlet) 1949--1st RJ triennial lecture

Press cuttings relating to RJ speech of 2/6/1949.

5/19

Mostly reprints of RJ's own stuff.

Times, 5/4/1927--"Special motor roads - pressing need of to-day - appeal to the government"--worth p'copying.

Times, same date--"New arterial roads - penalties of delay - gaps in the programme"--worth p'copying.

Telegraph, 2/5/1930--"Breaking-up of roads - menace to London's traffic - a rental for use"--worth p'copying.

Observer, 8/4/1928--"Road upheavals - the cost of traffic delays - rights of the 'underground user' - need for official inquiry" regarding street works; worth p'copying.

Telegraph, 25/8/1928--"Road dangers - growing peril of blind corners - need for reform"--not worth p'copying.

extra copies of RJ's autostrada article.

Roads and Road construction, 1/10/1930--"The international association of road congresses: its story, purpose, and achievements"--worth p'copying.

RIA press release regarding special motor roads--(drafted by RJ, apparently, and released 9/1926)--dealing with the motor road resolution at 1926 road congress.

Municipal journal and public works engineer, 6/1/1928--"Road corners and junctions - their design and lay-out - how to reduce congestion and accidents"

Same, 24/8/1928--"Sixth international road congress. Meeting at WAshington, October 1930: an attractive programme"

Country life, 21/8/1928--"The lay-out of roads - how to plan a corner - designs for road curves - carriage entrances."--worth p'copying, but for general interest and a description of problems encountered in safe design of country lanes, not as thing likely to promote better understanding of m'ways.

Requested additional folders.

8/5: a treasure trove on German autobahnen. Includes photos (mailed by Todt to RJ) and the 'Road Construction' version of Clements' contribution to GRD report, with extensive photo illustrations not in the GRD version. More detailed catalogue as time permits.

FOLLOWUPS ELSEWHERE

Do the RAC have an archives? Montagu presented the 1923 London-Birmingham-Liverpool road scheme at the RAC. It included models, conceptual plans, etc.

In addition to 1906 private bill for London-to-Brighton motor road, there was a PB in 1922 for a Bournemouth-to-Swanage motor road, a Motorways Bill in 1923 (JR Clynes) and 1924 (Leslie Scott). 1926--PBs for Coventry to Manchester and London to Brighton schemes. (Info for this comes from another article by GP Blizard.)

The problem of compensable blight inhibiting town planning.

Folder call list for second tranche:

5/14, 5/15, 6/3, 6/14, 8/5.

New code word for p'copiable: P.

Probably want 8/5--which appears to be the main Autobahn folder--kept till the next time, probably Tuesday of next week. 8/5 asset list:

Times, 7/10/1937--article by Lord Wolmer on "Motor Roads in Germany."

Surveyor and municipal and county engineer, 10/6/1938. Frank T Davis, Motorway Construction or Trunk Road Improvement? (Extracts only) (successful thesis for Pickering prize of 1938)

Same, Geo. S. Barry, Some aspects of highway engineering and administration.

Brochure, autographed by Todt, with map of Autobahn network as of 1937 (finish of 2000 km), listing the stretches (9) and conveying best wishes for the new year.

The photo envelope, addressed to Herrn Rees Jeffreys, c/o RIA, 180 Clapham Rd. Brief descriptions of pictures as follows:

[landscape]

AB exit paved with granite setts (19581)

AB stretch through piney woods, showing kinky vertical and horizontal curves

AB stretch through clearing, showing fairly graceful curve

Car on AB through piney woods (kinked V curve in distance)

Workman with wheelbarrow looking over newly finished AB

[portrait]

AB stretch toward terminus visible from underneath bridge, with kinks in V alignment. Terminus appears temporary in character.

Sepia: AB crossing clearing, kinky V alignment

[landscape]

Car parked on AB hardstrip/RH lane

Same, looking in front of car (rather than behind car) (in both pictures, car too close to the corner)

Bridge shot of Darmstadt-Frankfurt/M AB

[end of pix]

German Roads Delegation. Report upon the visit of inspection and its conclusions. 1937. 120, Pall Mall, London SW1, Hon Sec'y R. Gresham Cooke. 30 pp. P.

DDAC, map of the Autobahn network, 1938 2 sides. P.

German Roads: preliminary report by the members of the parliamentary road group on the German Rods Delegation on the subject of their visit to Germany, 9/11/1937. 16 pp. P.

Times, 18/11/1937. Dr. Todt visits London.

Modern Transport, 6/11/1937. RJ on: "Failur eof government's road policy. Transport minister's impossible task. Suggestions for future organisation." 2 pp. Uses Western Ave as case-example of how not to plan & build roads.

Geographical Magazine, January 1938. Alan H Brodrick, "The New German Motor-Roads." Extensively illustrated with photographs of new ABs, ABs in course of construction, typical interchanges, etc.

Miscellaneous AB photographs, in a folder entitled "Insanity Fair" (name of a book by Douglas Reed--connections with ABs are ambiguous).

Indian Concrete Journal (Road Architecture section), has a reprint of Clements' description of AB features but with PICTURES. Pictures include construction, bridges, and author's roadside pictures (apparently--they all have a car, with the same BI nationality identification and N.140 numberplate). They are sign pictures: fork for Frankfurt M/Langen-Morfelden, deer warning sign (standard pattern, but with reflective buttons adhered to the surface--and it appears to be constructed of extrusions), another fork (Munich/Chiemsee-Bernau, but nonstandard pattern), advance sign for gasoline. Also, another supplement from the same journal has the same car (BI/N140) in pictures from Belgium, Italy, etc. Obviously these are an Indian road engineer's vacation pictures.

extracts from 'The House that Hitler Built', by Stephen H Roberts, a description of the Autobahn network and life in Germany generally.

Telegraph, 15/9/1937: articles on German Rds Delegation visit.

News Chronicle, 24/9/1937: "Germany can teach us a lot about roads."

8/5 is worth requesting again, to investigate reprographics and make sure we get copies of the unknown Indian roadgeek's pictures.

6/14: a file on London-Brighton road. This was apparently a widening rather than a motorway as subsequently proposed by GP Blizard and C Carkett-James and the other principals of LSCM. Incl:

Map.

"Brighton Road Scheme." 11 pp. P?

"The London-Brighton Road"--notes by Mr. AH Carpenter. 4 pp.

RIA. "Scheme for the improvement of the Brighton Roads." 15 pp. First Draft. 23/1/1923.

6/3

Sole contents:

(confidential) "A" Ring Proposal, County of London, report of the technical sub-committee of officers of the London County Council and ministry of transport. August, 1948. 35 pp.

5/15

Contains mostly correspondence and paper scraps dealing with "Special Motor Roads." Incl corresondence with Dixon Davis and Lord Montagu of Beaulieu in 6-7/1923 dealing with London-Liverpool road scheme.

Undated blurb for advantages of motorways, clipped to announcement of Maybury's retirement.

Cox's Pottery Annual and Glass Trade Year Book, 1926. GP Blizard, "Midlands to the Mersey: Big Motorway Scheme. Route via the Potteries." 2 sides, and advocates construction of motorways in the pottery country in the Midlands. Autostrade are shown as the design examples: Varen, Milan termini, and stretch under construction near Vergiate. (Autostrade as proposed WERE built--but with cycle tracks, and publicly funded--such as the E Lancashire Road. It's dualled now; was it so when it was built in the 1930's?)

Times, 16/5/1932, "New Rhineland Motor Road - Pedestrians excluded" from "our Correspondent." FULL text:

bERIN, mAY 15

One of the most modern motoring thoroughfares in Europe is about to be opened between Cologne and Bonn.

The existing roads, although sufficient for weekday traffic, are inadequate at the weekends, when multitudes of the 10,000,000 inhabitants of the great Rhineland industrial area pour southward to the Seven Hills, the Lorelei Headland, the Dragon's Rock, and other places of attraction. At weekends 1,000 cars use these roads every hour, and of these at least one, as statistics show, does not return. There are several danger points, like the notorious "death curve" between Hersel and Widdig, and this prompted the construction of the motor road, at a cost of some £11m.

It is 59ft wide, and has but one level crossing in its 15 miles. Pedestrians and all non-motorists are strictly excluded, and on its specially prepared surface the motorist, having a clear field of view for several hundred yards and no fear of hidden curves and crossings, may drive at 75 mph along a most picturesque stretch of the valley of the Rhine.

2 maps for Birmingham-Birkenhead Road (76 miles from Wolverhampton to Birkenhead), estimated cost £4m.

"Proposal that State should build arterial Roads."

Correspondence (mostly 10/1929) concerning plans for a MR which one Arthur Schofield, consultant, drew up for someplace in Sussex and submitted to the Arundel, Lilttlehampton, E Preston, and district joint town planning committee. RJ lent a copy of the report by George Kepler, Ministry of Health, who asked for it back and indicated that the road was being recommended for inclusion in the unemployment programme for the county.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-10T17:10:07Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-11-07]]
::[[RJ 16/2]]
::[[RJ 5/7]]
::[[RJ 5/19]]
::[[RJ 8/5]]
::[[RJ 6/14]]
::[[RJ 6/3]]
::[[RJ 5/15]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06

2012-03-07T20:35:39Z

J N Winkler: New page: Set out for London an hour later than usual (11.15 train rather than 10.15). Train was delayed getting into Padd (for some reason there is some kind of traffic restriction going into the ...

Set out for London an hour later than usual (11.15 train rather than 10.15).

Train was delayed getting into Padd (for some reason there is some kind of traffic restriction going into the station), and was actually about 30 minutes late. Bakerloo down to Embankment was bearable, but after that it got really bad, with sardine-tin density for the hop from Embankment to Temple. Hoping it will be a little better at 8 PM when I finally leave.

Anyway:

8/5

One of the major German Autobahnen files. Finished up with this.

8/24

This was RJ’s trip Holland-Denmark-Germany, summer 1938. Finished in its entirety.

5/12

This is a road signs and white lines file—expect to finish in entirety today. Very interesting Public Roads article on button copy.

. . . Finished.

8/21

This is RJ’s 1936-37 West Indies/USA/Mexico diary. Starting . . .

. . . Finished.

8/6

This is a miscellany, and a lot of it is crumbling newsprint. Main items of interest are the translation of Todt’s book on the Reichsautobahnen, some correspondence with Todt, reports of the Arterial Road Conferences (I think second series, sponsored by the Board of Trade in 1916) and correspondence between RJ and George Pepler pertaining thereto—apparently Pepler managed the Conferences, and may have known RJ from the BOT before he moved over to the Ministry of Health. I photographed only the Todt-related material. In time it may be worthwhile to come back to the Arterial Road Conferences, but I seriously doubt this. I am considering this file closed till it becomes clear to me I have to come back to it.

16/1

Main item of interest in this file is a Public Roads article on concrete in the German Autobahnen. I think I will pronounce this file closed as the remainder deals mainly with what appear to be RJ’s own proposals for a motorway network.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-07T20:34:55Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2003-10-06]]
::[[RJ 8/6]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04

2012-03-07T20:28:02Z

J N Winkler: New page: Arrived around 12.30. Trains ran smoothly all the way from Oxford rail station to West Hampstead tube station, but Baker Street station was closed (transfers only; people could not walk o...

Arrived around 12.30. Trains ran smoothly all the way from Oxford rail station to West Hampstead tube station, but Baker Street station was closed (transfers only; people could not walk out) due to an "incident outside the station." However, it was raining when I walked out of West Hampstead tube station, and the rain progressed in severity until it was raining cats and dogs by the time I walked into the Skeel Library forecourt. In spite of the raincoat, I could not avoid a full shoulder-and-lower-leg soaking, and am sitting here writing this in half-wet sweatshirt and trousers, which are only just now starting to dry out. Archives are unusually busy, with one other present and evidence of 2-3 visitors a day in the visitor's book. Otherwise not very crowded. Requested 5 files as usual.

14/31

Very thin file--contains only correspondence about RJ's views on the Trunk Roads Bill 1936 (not included in the file itself) and an article clipped from 'Times', 23 May 1938, reading (in full):

MAIDENHEAD BY-PASS

At a meeting of Berkshir ecounty Council on Saturday Colonel F. G. Barker, chairman of the Highways and Bridges Committee, was asked the reason for the delay in the construction of the Maidenhead by-pass. Colonel Barker replied that the matter was now wholly with the Ministry of Transport, but he gathered that there was little hope of the work being started yet. The Ministry of Transport had said they had to work under the Ribbon Development Act, 1935, which meant that every owner had to be given a chance to negotiate. The benefit of handing over trunk roads to the Ministry of Transport, he added, did not seem very helpful in getting work proceeded with.

The scheme, when mooted about 16 years ago, was estimated to cost £200,000; the cost now is approximately £500,000.

[end article]

Letters comment that RJ understands the County Councils Assn was 50-50 on the Trunk Roads Bill. But RJ does not know, and asks, what the County Boroughs think.

14/36

This is more Committee material, consisting mostly of reports to the Committee by police officials with respect to motorcycles with sidecars being licensed as taxis in provincial towns and being proposed for such licensing in London. The police suggest that experimentation in London be refused since the sidecars generally don't have their own brakes, the motorcycles wear out rapidly, traffic delays are likely from the fact that engines have to be restarted after waiting for passing traffic, and there is little net roadspace advantage since the motorcycle + sidecar combination is slightly wider and slightly shorter than a hackney cab.

There is also correspondence between RJ and a trailer manufacturer. Trailer manufacturer wants the Committee to eliminate restrictions on trailers. An industry group, the Road Transport Federation (?), is against this, because of the safety implications of lorries hauling trailers which the driver cannot supervise properly and which may overload the braking system (reference is made to dangerous reliance on flywheel brakes, whatever those are). However, this industry group swiftly gets down to its real message--it won't object to derestriction so long as operators are required to have a "third hand" to watch the trailer. Typical union make-work bullshit.

14/38

This is a WHOLE BOX of Committee material. A good deal of it is printed minutes of evidence (HMSO non-parliamentary). This should be looked for at the Bodleian first. A full account of this box is deferred until a later time.

Returning to . . .

8/36

Interesting excerpts, from RJ's American journal:

Friday, January 9. Mr. & Mrs. Crosby called with letters and to say Au revoir. Mr. Spencer V. Cortelyou (District engr. 7th div.) and Mr. L.M. Ranson (district construction engineer) arrived with two cars at 12.45 just before the Crosbys left, and lunched with us.

We departed from [the Hotel] del Coronado 2.10 p.m. following coast route. Drive of great natural beauty. San Diego under an old Spanish grant extends some 20 miles and much of the land belongs to the town. It is an ideal site for laying out and building a magnificent town. The type of Government is City Manager but the manager has no real power and has to report to the politicians by whom he is controlled. Apart from the problems of water supply, drainage, and freeing harbour from oil, there is the question of town planning and layout to stop the congestion of traffic in the central portion of the town. The State is helping the town by cooperating in building a new approach road up the hill at the entrance to the city, and another one to an aerodrome near the habor. Work is being done by contract let by City, contract specification being approved by the State which has a Resident Engineer. The object of Mr. Cortelyou's visit to the Manager that morning was to insist upon the work being done to a higher standard.

We passed through Del Mar (nice hotel) Oceanside (raw and unfinished) Laguna Beach, attractive looking with an artist's colony, Newport Beach where we had tea and turned inland through Santa Ana and Anaheim, originally a German settlement. They possess attractive fruit markets and florist shops where what we regard as spring, summer, and autumn flowers are all sold together.

Mr. Cortelyou was very informative about his work and gave me costs &c. He was appointed by Mr. Fletcher. Some of the road originally built by Mr. Fletcher as 16 ft. road have all been widened to 20 ft. and conditions much improved. Mr. Cortelyou is very anxious to work in with the cities and pointed out many "co-operative" schemes.

REached the Huntingon, Pasadena, about 6 p.m. 145 miles. The Huntington is a large hotel with views of the mountains including snow-clad range, gardens and terraces, palms and outdoor swimming pool, all laid out attractively. Artistic bungalows are in the grounds for visitors staying any length of time who prefer their own quarters. It is expensive. The lowest rate, like the Coronado, is $12 (48/-) per day inclusive of board (American plan) as opposed to separate charges for meals and rooms (European plan).

[next excerpt]

Tuesday January 13. Left Hotel about 10.30 in Highway car with Mr. Ranson and drove through Pasadena and Glendale to Hollywood, passing some of the Cinema Studios to Beverly Hills. In the broken foothills the successful film stars have built their houses. The homes of Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and others were pointed out to us. After driving the length of the Beverly Boulevard we followed the cost route to VEntura County, the road lying between small summer residences on the beach (these beach residences are of great value) and high cliffs. For some 16 miles we went through an estat ethe owner of which (a woman) had held up the road construction for 3 years by litigation carried to the Supreme Court. Her claim for $6 million was reduced to less than $100,000. There had been heavy falls of rock, the road maintenance gangs were at work and further on some coast protection work was in progress.

Turning inland we climbed well graded mountain pass formerly a narrow track now made safe by judicious widening. Our route lay through the Valley of San Fernando irrigated by the Los Angeles water scheme, and walnut groves claimed to be the largest in the world. After passing small townships forming part of the film industry withkennels for dogs, a farm of African lions, and other animals used in staging the scenes, we re-entered Hollywood by the Ventura Boulevard and got back to Pasadena after a round trip of 100 miles. The weather was hazy with a slight sea mist and we did not see the mountains and coast line with the same sharp clearness as on our journey from San Diego to Pasadena. On this trip we saw a coyote, a wolf like wild beast.

[Jan. 17. RJ meets E.E. East and A.S. Greer, ACSC figures. Apparently EE East had worked under SV Cortelyou in Fletcher's dept.]

[next excerpt]

Left Pasadena 10.30 A.M. Mr. L.M. Ranson taking E. & self. Mr. Frank Moore called to say au revoir bringing introductions for Honolulu. Mr. Wanzer, Cosntruction Engineer, with car for luggage from Fresno.

Crossing the Arroyo Seco Bridge and through the San Fernando Valley to the Ridge Road. The Ridge Route is the outstanding scenic feature of this portion of the country. A winding road through the mountains over the Tejon Pass (4200') and a second pass of the same height with view of the Tehachapi Mountains. Although this road over the mountains is first class according to British and Continental standards being well graded, banked at corners, well protected, it does not satisfy California standards. A new road over the Pass is being built at a cost of $3 million with fewer bends and corners to facilitate overtaking and increase speed of travel. (We did the existing road which will be turned over to the County between 40 and 50 miles per hour.) We crossed the scene of a dam burst, water rushing down the valley, sweeping bridge, railway track and all before it. Loss of over 400 lives. The breakage about 2 years ago was due to an insufficient study of soil conditions by the designer. Mr. Ranson was on the scene on the morning following the burst and described the finding of bodies &c.

At Lebec we lunched in the open and were met by Mr. E. Wallace, District Engineer, and changed into his car saying goodbye to Mr. Ranson, with messages to Mr. Cortelyou who was prevented at the last moment from accompanying us. Passed through the valley towns of SAn Joaquin and so to the Hotel Californian, Fresno. 235 miles. Curious scenic effect over the valley giving the appearance of the ocean in the distance caused by mist.

(The San Joaquin Valley is nearly 300 miles long [Stockton to 40 miles S. of Bakersfield] and 60 miles wide.) It is one of the first valleys to be irrigated. It grows peaches, figs, walnuts, olives, citrus fruits; some of the fig and other ranches cover many thousands of acres. The fig is fertilized by a wasp which breeds in one particular kind of fig (the Capri fig) and two of these figs are put in boxes on the trees of the white fig to facilitate fertilization.

[next excerpt]

Went to Highway Offices to say goodbye to Mr. Pierce who gave me a good selection of photos illustrating the journey through his district, No. 10. Mr. Pope prepared and gave to me a map of California marked to show the 10 districts into which it is divided and the names of the engineers. Met Mr. Purcell and he came back to hotel and talked with E. for a few moments. Mr. Pope and Mr. Pierce also came to wish us Bon Voyage. Left hotel 1.15 in the car of Mr. H.A. Summers.

Taking Riverside Route to San Francisco, over County Roads, our way lay through rich alluvial country, many miles of asparagus, pear and cherry farms. Passing the big asparagus canning plants of Libby & Co., we next crossed river by bridge and drove about 10 miles of very bad ungraded road, recrossed by ferry to the main highway and then again by Antioch Bridge. Cup of tea in little town of Walnut Creek climbing in time to see from Observation Point on the Akland Sky-line Boulevard the sun set over the Golden Gate, the wonderful view of the bay and town not too clear on account of mist. We were motored through Piedmont (rich residential "enclave" into Oakland round Lake Merritt, passing the Oakland Hotel and through the new tunnel to Alameda and thence by the ferry from Alameda to San Francisco.

These ferries are wonderfully organized. They take thousands of people and dozens of cars and go every few minutes. The journey takes about 20 minutes and there is a restaurant on board so that travellers can eat their breakfast or dinner on board. Schemes are in hand, with every reasonable prospect of being carried through, for building a bridge from San Francisco to Oakland resting midway on Goat Island for $72,000,000, and another across the Golden Gate for $36,000,000, but more likely to cost double.

We motored quickly through the town and up the very steep hill, possibly 1 in 6, to the Fairmont Hotel, regarded as the best-class hotel in San Francisco although it is not so modern as the St. Francis or the Sir Francis Drake or the Mark Hopkins. The latter is under the same proprietorship as the Fairmont. We occupy two fine rooms overlooking the Bay which get the morning sun, the only drawback the noise of the cable trams climbing the hill. This is however a city of tramlines and is intolerably noisy in consequence; but Americans don't mind noise. Rooms 232 & 234.

[Jan. 27. RJ mentions: The State has built and is building 3 magnificent highways into the SF peninsula, all with 10 ft. tracks or as they call them "lanes": (1) Sky Line Boulevard, (2) US 101 (strings the towns), (3) Bay Drive (dock and commercial)]

[next excerpt, at the end--this journal does not go to NZ after all, perhaps separate file]

Extract from the Weekly Bulletin of the Engineering Association of Hawaii. Vol. IV no. 7.

A special guest of honor at last week's meeting was Mr. W. Rees Jeffreys of London, head of the British Delegation to the 6th International Road Congress held last October in Washington. Since that time he crossed the States entirely by auto and has given our road system careful and critical study. Mr. Jeffreys has attended all previous international Road Congresses, the first of which was held in Paris in 1908. He was Secretary of the third, held in London in 1913. At home he is Chairman of the Roads IMprovement Association of Great Britain and a technical adviser to the Minister of Transport. In England the words "Jeffreys" and "Roads" are synonymous. In America he was present at the birth of the Federal Aid. This occurred in 1912 when, as a guest of Mr. Logan Waller Page, head of our Good Roads Bureau, he gave valuable testimony before a committee of the Senate, which was then considering the first Federal Aid Bill. This measure was passed and marked the beginning of our trememdous expansion as a road building nation. Wm. C. Furer, Secretary.

REturning to . . .

14/38

Contents include (this listing is not comprehensive):

RV/TR/149. HM Customs, Memorandum on the Taxation of Motor Fuel. P. 20 pp. Details the technical difficulties associated with collecting the petrol tax, arising from the lack of a workable definition of (taxable) motor spirit which resulted in only spirit actually used as a motor vehicle fuel being taxed while rebates and bonded supplies were given to non-motor users of otherwise taxable fuel; these collection difficulties were exacerbated by the introduction of Imperial Preference in 1919 (5d for fuel coming from within the Empire, 6d for fuel coming from without), and the mixing of imperial and non-imperial petrol.

Philip G Tennant, Proof of Evidence given before C'ttee (23/2/1923). 4 pp. P.

Sidney E Garcke, Proof of Evidence given before C'ttee--this deals mainly with taxation of petrol and its effect on omnibuses. Garcke argues that taxation of petrol doesn't tax according to use because petrol consumption varies according to congestion. (Garcke implicitly takes the view that taxation by use should mean taxation by miles travelled or people carried.) 11 pp. P.

Corbet le Marchant Gosselin (representative of Commercial Motor Uses Assn), Proof of Evidence given before C'ttee (10/4/1923). Tenor is much as in Garcke's report, except that Gosselin engages in special pleading for reduced rates of duty for PT vehicles. 12 pp. P.

Meeting proceedings, printed, for days 3-16 of the 1923 C'ttee's meeting. Far too much to summarize and this material really should be in the Bodleian (among the non-parl OP's). One important comment, however, is Maybury's statement that the 1923 committee faces the same definitional problems in deciding what a motor spirit is, and how to tax it, that inhibited the 1919-20 committee from following its "first best" choice of taxing proportionately to user by taxing the petrol.

JA Cole, Addendum to Proof of Evidence (25/1/1923). LTC Cole wishes to stress his position: taxation of home-produced benzole would be more expensive than taxation of imported motor spirit, because excise tax gathering machinery would have to be put in place domestically. Plus benzole production is limited (20m gals PA, 6-7% of annual consumption of motor spirit), and collection costs would be high in relation to revenue gain. Ca. 10 pp. P.

Note: do JSTOR searches for "motor taxation," "motor spirit," "car" and "taxation," and see what secondary-source material exists on motor taxation. Also, look in the familiar references--Theo C Barker, Philip Bagwell. Need a view of the forest before getting lost in trees.

Paperwork indicating the Motor Cab Trade supports petrol taxation, endorses the principle of taxation according to use (in spite of the possibility of greater tax incidence for SOME but obviously not ALL of its members), does not want special preference for home-produced petrol, etc.

RV/TR/140. Typescript of C'ttee's 28/3/1923 meeting. 100 pp.

RV/TR/141. Supplementary memo by govt chemist on a possible taxation regime. 4 pp. P. Govt chemist basically tells the C'ttee that, sorry, there's no way around the dual-use problem.

RV/TR/139. Not P; this is set-up correspondence to get the oil cos to send chemists to comment on the proposed liquid fuel tax.

RV/TR/135. Circa 10 pp., P. This is a memo supplied by RJ explaining how petrol-based tax works in India.

Note: do Web searches (and attempt to relocate page on the FHWA website describing FHWA's attempts to help states collect the gax tax more efficiently) on tax collection mechanisms in the USA. Find out what it means to tax at terminal, tax off the rack, etc. (How does KDOR do it?)

RV/TR/131. Secretary's memo on alternative schemes for motor taxation. A fair precis of the various options and the problems with them. 20 pp. P. Interesting observation: after 1920, Ireland dumped the RAC rating for a tax system based on cubic capacity. (This the same as displacement?)

RV/TR/130. Views of the local authorities. Mostly BOMFOG. Definitely not P.

RV/TR/129. Views of the special interest groups. circa 20 pp. P.

RV/TR/128. Views of individuals. Very long, maybe 200 pp. Mostly not P.

Note: does PRO hold papers for HoL Roads Group?

14/37

THe bulk of this file is duplicative of 14/38. The material that is not duplicative, however, includes stage-setting documentation for the "reform" of motor taxation considered by the 1923 committee (the haters of vehicle tax having finally made themselves heard), memos from the automobile clubs as to their preferred mode of taxation, a paper by E Leeming (possibly a relative of the JJ Leeming who later advocated transitions for vertical curves?) arguing broadly for taxation according to use and pointing to tests by the US BPR and its French equivalent which showed that pneumatic tires were less damaging to the roads than solid rubber tires and should be given waivers on taxation, etc.

Perhaps most important doc in this file is a memo by Godsell, C'ttee secretary, explaining the rationale behind the 1921 decision to place the whole tax on vehicles and the reason for rejecting a tire tax (it was felt that this would create perverse incentives for nonmaintenance of roads, among other things), and suggesting ways of approaching the new problem of devising tax for liquid fuel. Mention is made of the fact that, in the immediate postwar period, it was felt inexpedient to subject home-produced fuel to even a use-based tax.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-07T20:26:42Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-12-04]]
::[[RJ 14/31]]
::[[RJ 14/36]]
::[[RJ 14/38]]
::[[RJ 8/36]]
::[[RJ 14/37]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2007-03-22

2012-03-07T19:51:20Z

J N Winkler: New page: National Archives, 22 March 2007 As before, this visit will consist largely of exploring files not previously seen, and likely to give additional insights into detailed planning of motorw...

National Archives, 22 March 2007

As before, this visit will consist largely of exploring files not previously seen, and likely to give additional insights into detailed planning of motorways.

MT 121/366

Contains a lot of material which the MOT used in its response to the Public Accounts C’ttee’s report, including detailed explanation of how benefits balanced against costs in the formulation of motorway design standards. The entire file is worth photographing, and is set aside for this purpose at a later stage.

MT 120/91

This file, which is important but perhaps not necessary to photograph unless we go down to scheme level, deals with the Ministry’s response to lobbying by various groups in West Yorkshire regarding the priority of the Sheffield-Leeds motorway. The WR interests (including the Yorks Chamber of Commerce and the WRCC) wrote to the Ministry in 1959, asking to have Sheffield-Leeds and the E-W motorway (later M62) jumped up in the road programme, feeling that the Ministry’s traffic estimate for the latter (60% of Sheffield-Leeds) was too low, and Sheffield-Leeds was needed to relieve overloaded trunk roads in the vicinity of Sheffield and also to relieve the congested WR conurbation more generally through the rapid construction of a motorway network. By 1959 WRCC was doing preliminary work to fix the alignment for Sheffield-Leeds, and in 1959/60 submitted an application to the Ministry to be named as the agent authority for Sheffield-Leeds (on balance Ministry reviewers were disposed to accept the proposal, because WRCC knew the lay of the land better and it was likely to be a complicated project, but held back slightly because they felt the WRCC might be too busy with A1 improvements). Ministry took the position, however, that it was difficult to fix Sheffield-Leeds without knowing where its southern end was going to be, and agricultural interests in Leicestershire were putting up such a fight about the M1 that Crick-Doncaster (the second part of London-Yorkshire) had deliberately been left out of Marples’ “big five” road programme. Ministry also felt WR traffic woes were being relieved, to a large extent, by A1 improvements (including Doncaster BP). Ministry did agree that Sheffield-Leeds would carry more traffic than the Doncaster spur, and some civil servants therefore objected to the use of the phrase “reinstated [my italics] in the road programme” in a PQ asked in relation to Sheffield-Leeds, because it had never actually been dropped from the programme in the first place; it had only been given lower chronological priority.

Interesting point to note. London-Yorkshire Motorway was not a motorway to the heart of Yorkshire; it was only a motorway to Yorkshire. Therefore, Ministry talked about Sheffield-Leeds and Doncaster motorways as if they were both spurs of London-Yorkshire.

January 1959: deputation of WR highway authorities at MOT HQ. Basically, they suggested omitting Doncaster spur, jumping up Sheffield-Leeds so it is built ASAP, and building Lancashire-Yorkshire motorway simultaneously. They also want a link road between north end of Sheffield-Leeds and Great North Road at Wetherby (subsequently built as M1-A1 link?), but MOT prefers improvements to Leeds ring road and A58. MOT response is that the “current order of priorities” (Crick-Doncaster, Sheffield-Leeds, Lancashire-Yorkshire) is optimal. Starting dates quoted in relevant minute (Doc 36) in terms of £60 million and £80 million ceilings to the road programme. £60 million (order of priority): 66/67, 68/69, 69/70; £80 million: 65/66, 66/67, 67/68. MOT didn’t agree regarding lack of need for a Doncaster spur, because of heavy port traffic at Hull and Grimsby.

The “big five” (listed in minute at Doc 25A, draft reply from MinT to Sir Peter Roberts Bart. MP): (1) modernization of A1; (2) Construction of London-Birmingham-Preston Motorway; (3) Improvement of route between Midlands & S Wales (M5/M50); (4) Improvement of route from London to Bristol & South Wales; and (5) Improvement of route from London to Channel ports. (1958-11-18; Watkinson.)

Lobbying began in earnest in June 1958 when WR highway authorities, in response to a number of resolutions in favor, submitted a preprinted “case” for their desired priorities to the Minister. Cover was printed, inside was typescript (quoting statistics relating to economic activity and industrial production designed to prove strategic transport need), and maps showed WR and their route proposals.

MT 123/59

This deals with settling-up details of Owen Williams’ consultant contract for the M1. There were some hiccups. Ministry thought about taking away a £5000 windfall Sir Owen had as a result of the decision to call for fixed-price tenders, but thought better of it. However, Ministry didn’t fully reimburse Owen Williams for the costs associated with elaborate landscaping plans, which were developed at great expense (including the hiring of a number of foresters), but rejected by the Advisory committee on landscaping of trunk roads. OW claimed for £39,000, Ministry offered £20,000 in settlement after much debate. OW also put in a supplementary claim in respect of the long time it took to close out with Laing—contractor was very slow submitting claims, so the process took six years instead of the more usual 1½. Ministry refused the supplementary claims; Lofthouse report later recommended imposing a holdback penalty for contractors’ dilatoriness in settling-up.

Owen Williams was also reimbursed for work connected to experimental trials, including hard shoulders, lane markers, and hard shoulder reconstruction, for a total fee-payable works total of £18,990,692. (Fee was 3.75% of 50% of actual works cost.)

File contains the original copy of the consulting engineer agreement, together with Minister’s official seal. Dated 1956-08-23. Signed by Owen Williams himself, OT Williams, and one other person, and countersigned for Minister by Gillender, an assistant secretary. (Original of minister’s counterpart not included—this was sent to Owen Williams.) Multiple drafts, wording revisions.

MT 152/1

This deals with a claim made by JA Pettitt in regard to a farm he occupied (as a tenant) for which about 7 acres, out of a total of about 40, had to be acquired for the motorway, with added disruptions (entry and stopping-up of a brook he used to water his cattle). The file was saved apparently because the case was referred to the Land Tribunal. It gives an idea of the scope and extent of the “householder’s surplus” problem. Pettitt was unwilling to settle with the MOT because the motorway disrupted his sweetheart relationship with his landlord (subpar rent--£90 for land which could sustain an estimated annual rent of £250) and he could not be compensated directly for this. Entry was obtained in 1962/63 and the case was still going on by 1967/68. To give an idea of the negotiating positions, after the case had been going on for several years, Mr Pettitt had been paid a £200 advance, but the Ministry recommended a final settlement for approximately £380. Mr Pettitt totted up the various annoyances, including five years of metered water to replace the stopped-up brook, the maintenance cost for the motorway fence, etc. (lots of little petty charges) and came up with a claim for £1620. The case (according to next file, see below) was taken to the Land Tribunal, which awarded £976. The Ministry appealed, but only £100 or so was shaved off. HLL Division didn’t recommend appealing to the Lords because the decision from the Court of Appeal was so unfavourable. Decision appeared in the Estates Gazette of 1969-01-25, rendered by Denning, Russell, and Winn.

MT 152/2

Cf MT 152/1 (this file contains much of the fallout from the Land Tribunal and appeal). It also contains copies of the judgments, reports in the Estates Gazette and the Times, and also file correspondence from the Ministry regarding the legal implications of the judgment for other land purchases. The Ministry had two main concerns regarding the legalities, as expressed in a 1968-03-22 letter: (1) higher compensation payments, and (2) a new requirement to pay rent for a set period of time. This was 3 years under an old judgment; 6 years in the Land Tribunal decision in Pettitt’s case; 4 years in a bill dealing with compensation matters which was before Parliament in 1968 (the Agriculture [Miscellaneous Provisions] Bill); and 5 years in Pettitt’s £1620 claim document (MT 152/1).

MT 34/119

This is the main file for the Traffic Signing Committee (chaired by Sir Henry Maybury) of 1931. It includes: (1) printed copy of the final report; (2) AA memorandum on “air signs”—evidently the typeface used was proposed for traffic signs; (3) French road code book; (4) various drafts of various parts of the report; (5) miscellaneous file correspondence regarding protocol and implementation; and (6) correspondence with members and representative bodies. At bare minimum, the Report is worth photographing. Less sure about the file as a whole, though of course certain documents are well worth photographing. Let’s be selective.

MT 34/266

This file deals with the run-up to issuance of the 1921 circular on standardization of road direction posts and signs. Apparently there was an (informal, departmental) traffic signs committee which studied proposals developed under Maybury’s guidance. The auto clubs submitted representations as to the preferred forms for standardization. Andre Michelin also submitted a representation, at Killick’s invitation, describing his own efforts to secure a logical road numbering system in France, and putting forward A for first-class roads and B for second-class roads as an example of how a British numbering scheme could be set up. (It is not at all clear that A or B had already been selected as part of the separate classification effort which began in the Road Board days.) There are also drafts galore, and correspondence between Maybury and Geddes—Geddes wants to know what is being done, and queries black background for A-road cartouches.

This whole file is worth photographing, despite not having a clean copy of Circular 291 (which I think I have anyway, in a separate file).

MT 95/301

This is a plans folder, consisting largely of review plans for bridges on the M4 Maidenhead Bypass, including a rather long structure across the Thames at the Berks/Bucks county boundary.

MT 95/831

This is the Hendon Urban Motorway signs file—it consists mostly of draft plans (in an envelope) plus correspondence between the Ministry and the consultants for the stretch, WS Atkins. I wanted to have second sight of it, so I could see whether it was worth photographing. It is not, although there is much file correspondence dealing with tight curves on entry (from Scratchwood Services?), including a mention of a RRL research program into curve advisory signs. The curve advisory sign then in use said “Maximum speed” on two lines, but was otherwise more or less exactly identical to the current one, which I think says just “Max speed.”

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-07T19:51:01Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-22]]
::[[MT 121/366]]
::[[MT 120/91]]
::[[MT 123/59]]
::[[MT 152/1]]
::[[MT 152/2]]
::[[MT 34/119]]
::[[MT 34/266]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/831]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2007-03-20

2012-03-07T19:35:48Z

J N Winkler: New page: National Archives, 20 March 2007 This will be notetaking in the traditional way, since one of the objectives of this visit is to carry out a reconnaissance of files relating to the planni...

National Archives, 20 March 2007

This will be notetaking in the traditional way, since one of the objectives of this visit is to carry out a reconnaissance of files relating to the planning of the M1 London-Yorkshire Motorway. One key goal is to trace, in rather more detail than has been done previously, its evolution from a London-Birmingham Motorway to a London-Yorkshire Motorway with a spur in the general direction of Birmingham. Hoped-for milestones include the discovery of the contract plans (drawings), any location studies and reports prepared by Owen Williams prior to formulation of line & slip road orders, any design studies, any documentation pertaining to the last-minute (prior to order publication) change in width from dual two-lane to dual three-lane, the paperwork covering OW’s consultant brief and decision to study a London-Yorkshire Motorway, and the change in routing/traffic service concept which resulted in the “spur” to Leeds becoming the Aston-Sheffield-Leeds Motorway, a prolongation of the main body of M1. Other side goals are to have a look at the land acquisition case at MT 152/1.

MT 95/650

Despite file caption, seems focused largely on Aston-Sheffield-Leeds. Major question addressed in the handwritten minutes at front of file is whether PCU values at the junctions justify lighting. (Most minutes dated 1965, implying time of volume standard for provision of road lighting.) Some engineers think lighting is justified at lower PCU values because of infamous West Yorkshire “murk”—low visibility not seen as fog. Discussion re. Lighting of Lofthouse occurred in March 1965. Apparently roundabout chosen instead of free-flow design because it was estimated to be £1 million cheaper. 800’ diameter. Much concern for need to light, because Lofthouse is m’way to m’way, and police experience on M1 versus A1 is that people drive more “reasonably” in fog on A1 (all-purpose) than on M1 (motorway). (Decision in favor of Lofthouse was made over objections of agent authority, which recommended free-flow.) Ginns (1965-03-02) votes for lighting at Lofthouse, as mitigation of lowered standard. Policy was also, apparently, to light terminal roundabouts, even temporary termini. A letter to Bill Spencer dated 1963-02-20 sets out the comparative costings: three-level roundabout: £1.47 million; “four-level roundabout of the Almondsbury pattern” (!): £2.81 million; “rotary type” (?): £3.29 million (this is probably a turban).

Plans in the back include a map showing footprint of Lofthouse, with additional land required for the interchange shaded in pink. Apparently this could not be purchased to build the M1, until the M62 scheme had been made. However, there are no plans showing the various options for Lofthouse.

This file has odd tagging (including tape-only corners on some repaired documents) and is rather hard to work with.

MT 95/296

This file deals with the carriageway specification for the M1 etc. London-Birmingham Motorway. Papers begin February 1957 (ish), and end in early 1958. The key dates are advertisement for tenders sometime in late 1957 and tender opening in early January 1958. This file is really a companion to the DSIR files dealing with Glanville’s controversy with Baker and Owen Williams, and tells the Ministry’s side and sheds some light on the Cement and Concrete Association’s role in the matter. Some themes emerge:

• RRL had reservations about the specification for the flexible pavement option (one or the other of the base and subbase was too thick, while the other was too thin, reflecting undue pessimism about subgrade CBR after compaction)

• Cement and Concrete Association (in letter 1957-11-18) queries the haunch adjacent to the slab edge (which would support a marginal strip similar to that seen on German Autobahnen, and would have required additional excavation); this letter was sent to Williams, but Baker was copied in, which made Williams angry (feeling the Association was trying to set up a tripartite correspondence), and determined to deal only with his client (the Ministry); in the correspondence Collins identified some possible economies which might cut the cost £5000-£10,000 per mile

• Maurice Laing had at least one meal and some correspondence with the Minister, then Harold Watkinson. There was some discussion of the specification, with Laing hinting that the options for flexible and rigid construction seemed not to have been designed to the same standard, with rigid construction being disadvantaged; Laing did not like this because his company had worked hard to establish a “niche” for concrete carriageway construction done to very strict surface profile standards

• When tenders opened, apparently the cheapest options turned out to be flexible carriageway construction

• Ministry’s view of the big meeting of the secretaries, at which Glanville and Baker were present—this was held sometime in 1958. Apparently the Ministry had leverage over Glanville and Melville, because Melville needed the Ministry’s help developing five-year estimates for DSIR (including RRL) for the five years beginning in 1959, and both Glanville and Melville wanted the Ministry to agree to allow DSIR to publish RRL research results covering experiments on the public road system where the Ministry had done something contrary to the RRL’s research-derived recommendations. Ministry started with principle that RRL was a provider of confidential advice, and Melville was able to secure agreement only to publish in general terms, without reference to specific Ministry schemes where RRL’s advice not followed (Hyde Park Corner cited as an example)

MT 95/651

This file contains plans only, and is a companion to MT 95/650. Again, despite title it covers only the Aston-Sheffield-Leeds motorway. There is a general plan for Lofthouse showing the layout of proposed lighting columns, but not any plans for any of the proposed alternatives to Lofthouse.

MT 106/188

This file contains the consulting engineer’s reports for Stage I and Stage II of the LCC’s West Cross Route, between the Thames and Westway. (I am not sure whether some or all of this route was built; major crossings at Shepherd’s Bush and Cromwell Road, and the Earl’s Court exhibition building and British Rail lines in the corridor were significant alignment constraints.) Very attractively drawn plans and profiles, to relatively large scale, plus perspectives of the road with proposed alternatives for an OC and UC at Shepherd’s Bush. Plus there are drawings setting out suggested erection procedures for various types of bridge deck, the common theme being their being rolled out onto their supports on erection girders in order to allow traffic to be maintained on the railway tracks underneath. Girder types & cross-sections include concrete precast (similar to what was used on Westway flyover near Paddington), steel box, . . .

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-07T19:35:17Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2007-03-20]]
::[[MT 95/650]]
::[[MT 95/296]]
::[[MT 95/651]]
::[[MT 106/188]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)

National Archives 2003-05-29

2012-03-07T19:30:32Z

J N Winkler: New page: Back at the PRO as usual, although arrived later than usual. (Sat down with docs at 12.45 last time; this time it’s 1 PM.) Three files requested to start. Going to try to do a full ni...

Back at the PRO as usual, although arrived later than usual. (Sat down with docs at 12.45 last time; this time it’s 1 PM.) Three files requested to start. Going to try to do a full nine files today.

MT 121/70

This file contains committee papers, draft reports, meeting minutes, agendas and correspondence (plus a few press cuttings on American turnpikes) of the WPM1. Perhaps the most important single document in the file is a piece of correspondence, from one c’ttee member to another, explaining that most of the evidence viewed by the committee trended against motorways and discussing ways to address this evidence so as to develop a convincing argument that motorways should be built. The main issue faced by WPM1 was apparently to find a way in which a patently strategic decision to build motorways in defined interurban corridors, connecting one city to another, could be justified in economic terms.

Much in here worth copying.

MT 121/71

Much the same as MT 121/70, only differently arranged.

Check Charlesworth and Dudley & Richardson and see what they have to say.

MT 121/517

This file contains papers of the Working Party on Aids to Travel and Safety on Motorways—which was evidently responsible for addressing the following sorts of questions:

• Junction numbering
• Resigning motorways to reflect the primary route destinations chosen in the wake of the Worboys report
• Emergency signals on motorways (fog, ice, accident, etc.—M5 was the guinea pig for this)
• Emergency signals for Severn Bridge, Chiswick-Langley, M1, etc.
• Treatment of parking on motorways
• Signing of 70 MPH speed limit (why?—maybe because it was recently imposed, and was not yet considered a NSL not requiring any signing except special safety repeaters)
• How to encourage motorists to obey revealed “secret signs”
• Distinguishing separate destinations on signs (at one point, a 2 SW separation was expanded to 5 SW)
• Etc.

Much here worth copying, but few drawings other than a mock-up of the A52 Nottingham ½ mile ADS with junction number plate (38).

MT 106/331

Have ordered this file before—ordered it again by mistake. Folding it up again!

MT 109/188

This file is entitled “Motorways temporary work signs” and covers about a decade from 1958. There are three main topics of interest:

• Controversy with LAs about the Ministry’s “Major Road Improvement Ahead” signs, which they felt were really advertisements and were so large that if the MOT weren’t erecting the signs, they wouldn’t be allowed under the Control of Advertisements Regulations. These signs were put up over LA objections (for the most part) because they were expressly requested by the Minister, to allow drivers to see the work in progress (so to speak). There were basically two generations of design: the first featured black-on-white signs with, e.g. “MINISTRY OF TRANSPORT/MAIDSTONE BYPASS” in the old MOT font, and “Agents: Hallamshire County Council” in some sort of invented mixed-case script (not sure if Kinneir font used at this point). This was replaced circa 1964 by something similar to the current design, with (e.g.) “Ministry of Transport/M.4 Maidenhead to Slough/One of Britain’s motorways/Agent: Berkshire County Council” in white Transport Medium on blue background.
• Controversy, including letters from the public, on how properly to sign lane closures and contraflows (many writers demanded the Cadillac system, ie VMS, while the MOT considered signs good enough), and whether roadworks contractors were in fact following the MOT’s established guidelines.
• Probably the first suggestion that the triangular “cricket stump” warning sign (to indicate lane closures) be replaced by a “wicket sign” (informatory sign shape and colors) indicating the closed lanes was made in a 1966 letter (internal to MOT) illustrated by hand drawings of the signs. The arguments made in favor of this, viz. that the rectangular shape made it easier to show the symbols at a larger size, were not felt to be cogent at this time.

MT 152/120

This is the first of two files dealing with signs to be provided on the Ross Motorway. Three county councils involved—Gloucester, Hereford, Worcester. This file contains most of the correspondence, while the other file contains plans etc. Salient points:

• More information on motorway emergency signs, which were being experimented with here.
• Information about tenders for signs and posts (Tarmac supplied RC posts for the signs while D&M Reflective supplied the sign panels).
• Major running controversy about signposting “Gloucester” from the motorway. As I don’t know the geography of the area in detail, I can barely piece it together, but the main features appear to be this: (1) Downs, the Glos CS, who in the opinion of JE Jones at MOT HQ is just as bad as his predecessor Boyce (pissing off the Chief Engineer and so on), does not want Gloucester signed via the A417 because he feels he had to build a bridge on the A417 in 1954 with steel which had been stored since before the war and was probably of substandard strength, and anyway the route is 7 miles longer. (2) There is also a Class II route from motorway to Glos which passes through Newent. Glos CS also does not want it to be used for signposting a route to Glos, because Newent has complained. (3) MOT does not want to signpost Glos via A40 because it feels traffic should be using the motorway instead. DRE/SW, Hubbard, forced to act as a peacemaker between Jones and Downs. The end result is that MOT caves in by putting “Gloucester” on the ADS for A417, but also patching it out, and the endgame is that Downs pesters Jones about “Gloucester” being visible on these ADS (patch not applied) and Jones bites his nose off—“It is not my habit to go back on promises made,” etc.

Going to pick up the plans . . .

MT 152/121

This file is a huge disappointment—no plans, although it contains a BOQ and specifications for the signs. It is mostly a correspondence file, similar to MT 152/120. It deals with various signing issues arising on the M50 after completion, such as the destinations to be signed off the M50 and what the route confirmatory signs are to say. Some salient issues:

• The Newent signing issue flares up again in 1972, with Banks (Hereford CS) this time wanting traffic discouraged from going through Ross to get to Gloucester, and a BP apparently having been constructed around Newent but Downs thinking that the B4221/B4224 as a whole is still unsuitable for signposting to Gloucester.
• One junction on the M50 (J1, the M50 EB to M5 SB movement) has a sharp bend, marked with sharp bend sign, arrow board, and 30 MPH advisory speed plate. However, there is still a long history of crashes in spite of the additional signing. The CS in the area having responsibility wants permission in 1974 to convert the EDS to a map-type diagrammatic showing the sharp curve of the exit ramp, but approval from DOE HQ is not forthcoming owing to the additional size (and therefore cost) of such a sign, plus a firm conviction that the warning sign treatment should be enough on its own. The proposed alternative is to put up bigger signs at different spacing.
• Signing for Traveller’s Rest Roundabout—there is stuff about this being retrofitted with the Worboys-standard roundabout signing treatment. Previously it had had the old, Anderson-style “REDUCE SPEED NOW” signing treatment, with a shepherd’s-crook graphic above “REDUCE SPEED NOW” on a much larger sign panel. Also, a “Go left” sign (and maybe arrow boards?) were apparently also to be fitted.

MT 121/308

This file consists exclusively of two items:

• Correspondence between the MOT and Freeman Fox, mostly in 1963, to set up an agreement whereby FF would design a series of standard gantry signs, to be approved by the Royal Fine Arts Commission, for the MOT and bill only for expenses and technical staff time (3s per hour), with the time of their Partners (meaning mainly OA Kerensky) being offered FOC. The total estimated cost for their services was around £2,500, with £500 of that being for preparation of models of the gantries.
• In the end, FF came up with about ten different designs. These must have subsequently become standard on the motorway network since most gantries appear to be done to those standards. The plans envelope at end of file gives 19 drawings, consisting of 9 walkway details and 10 drawings showing gantries in plan, elevation, and section. Only three of the drawings showed gantries with trusses: one gantry with truss legs, the other two with box-section legs, and none of the trusses conformed to American truss design ideas, as they had no vertical elements—just bars arranged in what appear to be equilateral triangles. (The basic design concept appears to have been the tetrahedron rather than the rectangular prism with reinforced corners.) The other gantries were all box-section or tubular variants, with the same type of section generally being used for the sides that were used for the horizontal element. These were all full-width OSBs spanning one carriageway of the motorway; there were no cantilever overhead sign designs.

MT 118/122

This file deals with the same topic as MT 121/308, but is generally focused on issues pertaining to the steelwork. Salient contents:

• Correspondence with the Associated Steel Companies regarding their alternative standard gantry sign design—it was considered not acceptable since it made use of stressed (cold-rolled) and spot-welded steel complying to the specification for building steel rather than continuously welded hot-rolled steel meeting the standard for steel to be used in bridges.
• Correspondence with FF regarding their problems with the RAFC. The MOT at one point had to send letters to the RAFC to tell them to cease and desist with demands to have the backplates removed (this would expose the horizontal and vertical sign support elements), to have the signs stand clear of the girder supporting the walkways, etc. Also, FF tried to introduce a large variety of designs and ran into difficulties, and asked for a new payment authorization taking their pay entitlement up to £4000.
• Correspondence with CS about the difficulties associated with on-site assembly of gantries. Drake and the Hertfordshire CS did this and didn’t report difficulties, although Hertfordshire CS was concerned about aligning the downward-pointing arrows with lanes.
• Pictures of the Associated Steel Cos. Gantry designs.
• Etc.

User:J N Winkler

2012-03-07T19:28:43Z

J N Winkler: /* Raw notes files from archives visits */

==Contact details==

Via [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk SABRE].

==Personal collection==

NB--My collections have significant duplication with other members'. Titles listed below are not thought to be duplicates. Secondary and primary sources are mixed.

:'''[[JW 01]]''' William Rees Jeffreys, ''The King's Highway'' (1949)

:'''[[JW 02]]''' Robert Caro, ''The Power Broker'' (1972)

:'''[[JW 03]]''' Franz Seidler, ''Fritz Todt: Baumeister des Dritten Reich'' (1988)

:'''[[JW 04]]''' Francisco Javier Rodriguez Lázaro, ''Primeras autopistas españolas 1925-1936''

:'''[[JW 05]]''' William Plowden, ''The Motor Car and Politics 1896-1970'' (1972)

...more to be added later

==Scuttlebutt==

A selection of old National Archives laundry lists, mostly cut-and-pasted from the original text files:

:[[Photographable PRO files 2005-09-07]]

:[[Photographable PRO files 2006-12-13 Done files omitted]]

:[[PRO files to examine 2007-05-12]]

Some aspects of British traffic signing at the National Archives remain essentially untouched, notably the administrative run-ups to the 1922 circular letter on standardisation of road direction posts and signs, and the 1933 (?) traffic signing committee report.

==Raw notes files from archives visits==

When I visit an archives, I typically create a notes file which contains information on each file examined. This section contains a selection of raw notes files arranged in date order, lightly edited to remove information considered private or otherwise inappropriate for publication on the open Web. In general, a notes file will be included in the following list only if it contains a substantive description of at least one file. A list of the files consulted and described in the notes follows each date entry.

Earlier entries for the National Archives may include retyped extracts from memoranda since they pre-date the general grant of permission for digital photography in (approximately) the summer of 2003. Typically these extracts will be flagged at the start with ''[BQ]'' (for "block quote") and will be full of uncorrected typographical errors.

Currently I keep notes files in plain text format in order to allow easy searching and recompilation using command-line tools, but in the past I kept them in Microsoft ''Word'' format. No attempts have been made here to preserve formatting as used in the original ''Word'' files.

Some notes may use obscure abbreviations but typically the expansions will be obvious from the context. Examples: ''M'' = motorway; ''cttee'' = committee; ''bd'' = board; ''LBM'' = London-Birmingham Motorway; ''BBM'' = Bristol-Birmingham Motorway; ''AP'' = all-purpose (i.e., open to all vehicles with no control of access for agricultural traffic); ''BP'' = bypass; ''DC'' = dual carriageway; ''DRE'' = Divisional Road Engineer.

:[[LSE Library Archives 2002-10-24]]
::[[RJ 8/42]]
::[[RJ 25/25]]
::[[RJ 25/10]]
::[[RJ 16/3]]
::[[RJ 16/1]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-04]]
::[[MT 116/2]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 95/496]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-06]]
::[[MT 113/47]]
::[[BT 31/32680/205362]]
::[[MT 113/46]]
::[[MT 113/48]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-11]]
::[[MT 95/53]]
::[[MT 116/15]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[DSIR 12/323]]
::[[DSIR 12/474]]
::[[MT 117/109]]
::[[MT 95/506]]
::[[MT 95/501]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-13]]
::[[MT 121/32]]
::[[MT 39/41]]
::[[MT 95/652]]
::[[MT 121/22]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-18]]
::[[MT 39/38]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-03-20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]
::[[MT 39/96]]
::[[MT 39/145]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-01]]
::[[MT 39/295]]
::[[MT 39/294]]
::[[MT 95/531]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-03]]
::[[MT 121/63]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-08]]
::[[MT 39/147]]
::[[MT 39/657]]
::[[MT 39/554]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-10]]
::[[MT 39/555]]
::[[MT 39/558]]
::[[MT 39/466]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-15]]
::[[MT 116/3]]
::[[MT 39/465]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-22]]
::[[MT 39/41]]

:[[National Archives 2003-04-24]]
::[[BT 31/30394/235508]]
::[[BT 31/33164/246553]]
::[[BT 56/20]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-13]]
::[[MT 39/305]]
::[[MT 39/468]]
::[[MT 39/152]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-15]]
::[[MT 89/217]]
::[[MT 120/51]]
::[[MT 100/12]]
::[[MT 95/384]]
::[[MT 95/831]]
::[[MT 95/900]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-20]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 12/257]]
::[[MT 95/604]]
::[[MT 112/392]]
::[[FCO 76/360]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 95/690]]
::[[AY 26/148]]
::[[MT 112/351]]
::[[MT 95/689]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-22]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 113/99]]
::[[MT 126/1]]
::[[MT 95/537]]
::[[MT 95/632]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-27]]
::[[MT 55/338]]
::[[MT 39/516]]
::[[MT 39/537]]
::[[MT 120/61]]
::[[MT 95/894]]
::[[MT 95/709]]
::[[T 228/424]]
::[[MT 95/642]]
::[[COU 6/128]]

:[[National Archives 2003-05-29]]
::[[MT 121/70]]
::[[MT 121/71]]
::[[MT 121/517]]
::[[MT 106/331]]
::[[MT 109/188]]
::[[MT 152/120]]
::[[MT 152/121]]
::[[MT 121/308]]
::[[MT 118/122]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-05]]
::[[DSIR 12/189]]
::[[DSIR 12/188]]
::[[DSIR 28/520]]
::[[ZLIB 12/123]]
::[[MT 120/95]]
::[[MT 120/96]]
::[[FCO 76/580]]
::[[FCO 371/136050]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-10]]
::[[DSIR 12/95]]
::[[DSIR 12/96]]
::[[DSIR 12/97]]
::[[MT 95/743]]
::[[MT 95/744]]
::[[MT 95/742]]
::[[MT 95/335]]
::[[MT 95/7]]
::[[MT 95/992]]
::[[MT 95/8]]
::[[MT 95/200]]
::[[MT 95/915]]

:[[National Archives 2003-06-12]]
::[[MT 95/1018]]
::[[DSIR 12/174]]
::[[MT 148/32]]
::[[MT 95/301]]
::[[MT 95/309]]
::[[BD 30/28]]
::[[MT 106/427]]
::[[MT 121/409]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-07]]
::[[MT 95/606]]
::[[MT 113/108]]
::[[MT 39/556]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-14]]
::[[PRO 30/69/450]]
::[[MT 95/605]]
::[[DSIR 27/101]]
::[[DSIR 27/138]]
::[[MT 95/709]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-09]]
::[[DSIR 12/294]]
::[[FO 371/101715]]
::[[FO 1020/1835]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-21]]
::[[DSIR 28/218]]

:[[National Archives 2003-10-28]]
::[[FO 1014/1083]]
::[[FO 1013/1068]]
::[[DSIR 12/292]]
::[[DSIR 28/227]]
::[[DSIR 28/208]]
::[[DSIR 28/207]]

:[[National Archives 2004-02-17]]
::[[BT 31/26776/176801]]
::[[BT 31/29965/224416]]

:[[National Archives 2004-04-08]]
::[[MT 95/482]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-09]]
::[[RAIL 418/209]]
::[[RAIL 418/208]]
::[[DSIR 12/190]]
::[[DSIR 12/183]]
::[[DSIR 12/186]]
::[[RAIL 423/1]]
::[[RAIL 423/2]]
::[[RAIL 423/6]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-14]]
::[[MT 45/17]]
::[[MT 39/502]]
::[[RAIL 418/104]]
::[[RAIL 418/105]]
::[[MT 95/135]]
::[[MT 95/133]]
::[[T 228/219]]
::[[T 228/397]]
::[[T 228/497]]
::[[MT 95/161]]
::[[MT 95/262]]
::[[MT 95/160]]
::[[MT 95/482]]
::[[MT 95/494]]
::[[MT 95/284]]
::[[RAIL 418/103]]
::[[RAIL 418/102]]

:[[National Archives 2012-02-16]]
::[[T 228/555]]
::[[T 228/556]]
::[[T 228/560]]
::[[T 228/562]]
::[[MT 95/900]]
::[[MT 95/1001]]
::[[MT 45/22]]
::[[T 230/366]]
::[[T 230/352]]
::[[T 230/351]]
::[[MT 49/151]]
::[[MT 39/505]]
::[[MT 39/506]]

==Whose initials are these?==

This is only a partial key, divided by National Archives file series and fleshed out using information from the Civil Service List, Ministry of Transport office notices, an organigram published in a 1942 issue of ''Roads and Road Construction'', and secondary sources on the twentieth-century Treasury. This list is confined to officials who habitually signed memoranda with their initials.

:[[MT]]
::CWH = Cyril W. Hurcomb (later Lord Hurcomb), originally a Post Office civil servant but at various points from 1920 Permanent Secretary, Director-General for Inland Transport, Chairman of the British Transport Commission, etc.
::RHH = Reginald H. Hill, Deputy Director-General for Inland Transport and later director of the modal Executive under the British Transport Commission dealing with ports and inland waterways
::FCC = F.C. (later Sir Frederick) Cook, Chief Engineer
::EG, sometimes ECG = Sir Eric Campbell Geddes, North Eastern Railway executive who acted as Lloyd George's logistics director during World War I and later became first Minister of Transport; probably best known to historians outside the transport sector as namesake of the "Geddes axe"

:[[T]]
::BWG (sometimes looks like "BWS") = B.W. (later Sir Bernard) Gilbert, Treasury assistant secretary during the interwar years, with responsibilities for expenditure control (in practice, finding credible reasons to say No to schemes proposed by a spending department)