170 RAILWAYS, HlfiHWAYS, AND CANALS. 



ditional, but very unexpected, must be discovered, before it can be 

 used as a substitute for common roads, or even for canals. But it 

 is also worthy of inquiry whether these the most expensive of all 

 works have, in their unequal formation and maintenance,, been of 

 corresponding advantage to the stockholders, to justify (if any thing 

 can justify) their co-operate monopolies against the public; and this 

 has been furnished by Mr. Graham, of whose dissections of the 

 Darlington and Liverpool railways we shall now give a short 

 analysis. 



Darlington Railway. This is twenty-five miles long, four miles 

 hilly, and requiring fixed engines ; and the remainder nearly level, 

 and worked by locomotives. The cost of the work is not known. 

 The prices are : Coal to be exported, 3s. '2d. per ton from the coal- 

 mine to the ship, but this the managers say is not a profitable trade. 

 Coal for home consumption, 2^d. per mile, or 50 per cent, more ; 

 Mr. J. says 150 but it is probably an error of the press the total 

 cost of coal carried along the whole length of the Darlington rail- 

 way, for home consumption, is, therefore, 4*. 85^., the distance being 

 twenty-five miles; or, allowing for the return of the empty waggons, 

 which is the more laborious part of the matter, as it requires five 

 hours, while the descent with the load is performed in four hours, 

 the total is fifty miles. From the 50 per cent, advance upon coal for 

 home consumption, and the new publication of the accounts, it may 

 be presumed that the main object of this railway is to enable the 

 coal-masters in the fields to which it leads, to compete with those on 

 the Tyne, and the dealers in the export market ; and that the accom- 

 modation of the country is but a secondary object. 



Mr. Grahame contracts the rate' of carriage for home consumption 

 along this line, with that along the Scotch canals, from Lanarkshire 

 to Edinburgh. The coal carried on these canals is sold on the 

 average at fry. per ton. This is about 1|J. per ton per mile of the 

 whole distance, for the entire cost of the coal to the Edinburgh con- 

 sumer, which is 8 per cent, less than the mere carriage per mile of 

 the export coal by the Darlington Railway (which does not, according 

 to the statement, remunerate the proprietors of that work), and it is 

 64 per cent, less than the mere carriage per mile of coal for home 

 consumption. It is to be borne in mind, too, that the whole sum at 

 Darlington goes to the owners of the railway, to replace their outlay 

 and afford them a profit ; while the sum paid at Edinburgh not only 

 remunerates, but affords a profit to many hands. First, the collier 

 must have his wages; secondly, the coal-master must cover his 

 expenses, and make a profit ; thirdly, each of the canal companies 

 the Monkland, the Forth and Clyde, and the Union must have 

 their profit; fourthly, the tracksman on the canals must have 

 his profit, for he is distinct from all the canal companies ; fifthly, 

 the Edinburgh coal-merchant must have his profit ; sixthly, the 

 Edinburgh purchaser has his fuel. Here, then, are eight different 

 parties, from the man who " wins" the coal from the mine, to the 

 consumer inclusive ; whereas, the same distance on a railway, even 

 so well-formed and so judiciously placed as that of Darlington is 

 understood to be, would, for mere carriage alone, cost the local 



