British Railways are in a real difficulty over their train-
meals. I refuse to believe that persons travelling at their own expense (a practice to be avoided whenever possible) will long be content to pay 7s. 6d. for a lunch or 5s. for a breakfast. It is all very well to say that the menu includes items like chicken or Dover sole. A perfectly simple two-course lunch which will avoid the unpleasant alternative of sandwiches in the carriage is quite enough. But that, of course, is no real solution. The trouble is that the actual food accounts for only a small proportion of the 7s. 6d. and a small saving on it will be very little help. Substitution of buffet-cars, which need fewer attendants, on many routes seems inevitable. It is a bit of a pain to recall the excellent half-crown lunches on the old South Western, and a little later on the Great Western—the only time I remember the Great Western being second in any field. However, a friend of mine who recently had dinner on the Marseilles express, with a little wine and a very, very little brandy to wind up with, got a bill for 1,400 francs-28s. British Railways, have not gone quite that far.
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