Railway Air Services in 1935: Expansion, Routes and Operations

An extract from a 1935 issue of The Railway Magazine detailing the development, routes and operations of Railway Air Services, including services, operators and expansion across Britain and the Channel Islands.

Introduction

IN the December issue of THE RAILWAY MAGAZINE a year ago, the present writer endeavoured to provide a brief history of the development of Railway Air Services since the inception of the G.W.R. Cardiff-Torquay-Plymouth service early in 1933. In the short period between then and the preceding December, development had been rapid, and many of the principal towns and cities of the West Country and Midlands, as well as London, Belfast, and Glasgow, had been linked by regular daily services, some only during the summer months, but the most important all the year round. The past year has seen no set-back in this progress; indeed, new services have been inaugurated, and two of the four group railway companies have further extended their air interests by investing capital in Channel Islands Airways Limited, a newly-formed company controlling Jersey Airways.

Growth and Fleet Development

The principal interest, however, must be in Railway Air Services Limited, the planes of which have already completed well over 500,000 flying miles while engaged in operating over regular service routes. During the winter, three of the summer services are retained with modified timetables. The “main line,” if it may be so called, is, as it was last year, the London – Birmingham – Stoke – Liverpool – Belfast – Glasgow service. Stoke, however, has been substituted as a port of call for Manchester, which is now linked with the other R.A.S. routes by the new Manx Airway inaugurated this summer and retained during the winter.

Winter Services and Routes

The winter routing of the R.A.S. Manx Airway is Manchester – Liverpool – Blackpool-Isle of Man, but, as our map shows, during the summer months there is also a direct service between Manchester and Blackpool. The only other R.A.S. service to work during the winter is that between London (Heston), Bembridge, and Cowes. This is worked jointly with Spartan Air Lines Limited, which supplies the necessary planes.

Summer Services and Changes

The services this summer again included the original 1933 G.W.R. Cardiff – Torquay – Teignmouth – Plymouth – Birmingham route. This year, however, instead of flying north from Birmingham to Liverpool, planes on this route were diverted at Birmingham across to Nottingham. The Liverpool – Birmingham – Bristol-Southampton-Isle of Wight summer service of last year was completely re-organised. A regular and frequent Southampton-Cowes-Sandown air ferry was inaugurated, and the planes from Liverpool via Birmingham and Bristol were diverted, after calling at Southampton, along the coast to Portsmouth and Shoreham (for Brighton and Worthing).

New Developments

An interesting innovation, made late in the season, was a day excursion on Sundays to Le Touquet. The fleet of planes used to operate the R.A.S. services is as follows :—

Ownership and Organisation

Channel Islands Airways Limited, which, as already mentioned, controls the efficient and popular services of Jersey Airways Limited, is owned jointly by the Great Western and Southern Railways, Whitehall Securities Corporation Limited, a powerful financial syndicate, and Mr. W. L. Thurgood, who was responsible for the establishment of Jersey Airways. The services operated are those from London and Southampton to Jersey. Planes of the de Havilland D.H. 86 type, similar to those used on the R.A.S. London-Belfast-Glasgow route, are employed.

Independent Operators and Competition

In the meantime independent operators have not been slow to follow the example of the railways and to take advantage of the comparatively favourable position which has been established largely through the enterprise of the railways for internal air services. The extent of this often competitive development may be appreciated easily by comparing our present map, on which all the summer services of the internal airlines are clearly marked, with that published in December of last year. There is at present being negotiated a merger between Hillman’s Airways Limited, Highland Airways Limited, United Airways Limited, Northern & Scottish Airways Limited, and Spartan Air Lines Limited. The new company, which will be known as Allied British Airways Limited, may have some interesting consequences owing to the amalgamation of both railway competitive and railway co-operative services. The services of Hillman’s Airways Limited and United Airways Limited, for example, are in direct competition with existing railway-operated air lines, while the only service provided by Spartan Air Lines Limited, operated in conjunction with R.A.S., between Heston and the Isle of Wight. Moreover, support for the Allied British Airways scheme is forthcoming from Whitehall Securities Corporation Limited, which, as already mentioned, is associated with the Great Western and Southern Railways in the control of Channel Islands Airways Limited.

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