Staffing
From Railways
The "Big Four" companies were large organisations: in staff terms they were among the largest employers in the land during the 1920's and 30's.
The top level of staffing was pretty much set down by law, with a board of directors, some of whom were full-time managers (executive directors in modern parlance). The Chairman of the board tended to be pretty much full-time although this was not required by law.
The set of executive directors varied from company to company, with the Great Western having more than the others (especially during the early 1920s). In all companies the officer responsible for general, day-to-day management of the company was a member. This officer usually had the title of "General Manager" although the LMS under Sir Josiah Stamp adopted American terminology (see below).
The major departments were essentially
- Operating (sometimes termed 'Traffic')
- Locomotive
- Engineering - specifically Civil engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Hotels
- Docks
- Shipping
In later years most of the big companies also had an omnibus unit, but this was typically hidden under operating as was the railway owned road transport used in parcels and freight collection/delivery.
The Great Western also had a small airline operation.
Some change of name was evident in most cases. The LMS did things differently. Generally, locomotive running and the associated functionality were a part of the Mechanical engineering group, but the LMS used the Midland model and had a "Locomotive Operating" department responsible for footplate and shed staff but reporting to the board through the head of operating. It was an interesting and potentially divisive setup, as the head of locomotive operating could (and during the years 1924 to 1929 actually did) talk to locomotive suppliers and order stock without reference to the head of mechanical engineering.
In the case of the Southern there was also an Electrical Engineer's department of high-level visibility.
Most companies had a Signal Engineer (later often renamed 'Signals and Telegraph Engineer') who usually reported via the main Engineering group.
[edit] The LMS Title Model
The LMS model has the Chairman of the company titled as "President of the Executive". Executives reporting directly to him were titled "Vice-President", typically with some sort of qualification to indicate their functional area.
In 1931, H.J (Sir Harold) Hartley was "Vice-President for Engineering" and represented all engineering matters at board level. However there was also J H Follows who was "Vice-President for Research" (the LMS being the only one of the four companies to have a department explicitly for that purpose).
