Occasionally the Society receives articles for the Journal too long to go into one edition and are also not appropriate for publication as a book. Such articles are now being published as online Supplements to the Journal through the medium of the website.
NEW: The latest in our series of Supplements to the RCHS Journal available is the fifth of Tony Sheward’s articles on the financial history of railway companies to be published in PDF form on the website. This article considers the Metropolitan District Railway. When researching for his article on the financial history of the Metropolitan Railway (MR), Tony made a comparison of the MR’s performance in 1900 with that of the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR), its last full year of independence. This prompted an interest in the MDR, which was reinforced by the fact that he was fortunate enough to obtain the services of the late Mike Horne to review his draft before submission for publication. Mike’s two volume history of the MDR is considered by most authorities to be the definitive history of that company. Tony thought that it would be useful to supplement the financial information provided by Mike Horne by attempting a full financial review initially for the independent years. It is well known that the MDR had a series of financial difficulties during its history as an independent company and was only able pay dividends on its ordinary shares in a few years. Perhaps one of the great “ifs” of the MDR was whether, if it had supported the City of London authorities in their proposals building the link between Mansion House and Aldgate, it could have avoided the large increase in its fixed charges and improved its financial position between 1884 and 1900. Even so this might not have been enough to avoid the problems it faced in 1900.
These PDFs (click on title to download) may be saved to PC, mobile device or converted for e-readers such as Kindle.
Previous titles (58, 80, 67, 68, 49, 50, 109 & 129 pages respectively) in this series are:
A Financial Review of the Cheshire Lines Committee 1867-1912 by Tony Sheward
What were the investment dilemmas of the LNER in the inter-war years and did they successfully overcome them? by William Wilson (an enlarged version of an article published in the March 2019 edition of the the RCHS Journal
The Financial Impact of the Great Central Railway’s London Extension by Tony Sheward
The Ealing & South Harrow Railway Company by Owen E Covick
‘Place on Rail’: Transportation of the Dead by Train in the UK by Brian Parsons
A Financial History of the Metropolitan Railway: 1853-1933 by Tony Sheward
Watkin’s Struggles at the S.E.R. Board 1876-79, and R. W. Perks by Owen E. Covick (rev March 2021)
A translation, by Mike Clarke, of an article, written in 1852 by J-V Poncelet, which appeared in ‘Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l’Académie des sciences, tome 35 (juillet-décembre 1852), pp494-502′ and subsequent issues. This translation was prompted by John Poulter’s article ‘Some thoughts and observations about skew arches’ published in the November 2023 edition of the RCHS Journal.
Skew Arches (J-V Poncelet, 1852) translated by Mike Clarke