THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



27 



Edinburgh, Lcith, and Newhal'en Railway. — An elegant and substantial hriilRe, of 

 thirty feet span, under tliB Queensferiy road, aljoiit one mile from tlie city of Kdin- 

 burgb, has been llnisbed, under llie superintendence and design of Mr. James Adam, 

 .Jan., the assistant euifineer, for 1,400/. The lowest offer by contract was 1,900/. 

 The contract from this bridjce to the Water of Leith is now nearly completed. It 

 consists of embankments and excavations of thu-ty-four feet in height and depth, and 

 has an interesting appearance from the city. The contract at Trinity is also far ad- 

 vanced. Tho principal depot is situated at this teruiinus ; and from this it is 

 intended to cany the branches to the pier at Granton, and the harbour at Leith. It 

 is also expected that the tannelwillbe commenced immediately, at the principal depot 

 at Canal-street. The Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as the great Newcastle and 

 Loudon line, will terminate at the same spot, which i.s in the very centre of the city. — 

 Raihra)/ Times, 



West Cumberland Railway. — Another source of distrust towards the coast line 

 scheme is that the parties do not look for obtaining the general support and con. 

 cnrreuce of the residents in tho distincts through which Uie line is to pass. This 

 may account for the cavalierness of the committee, but it also suggests that some 

 jobbing interest is at the bottom. — Kendal Mercury. 



Railway to Glasyow. — The people of Gla.sgow have ah-cady begun to evince their 

 anxiety to imite with Carlisle, to communicate with the south, either by Mr. Hyde 

 Clai-ke's Morecorabe Bay Line, or that over Shap. — Dumfries Courier. 



Saatch Railway. — The Dumtries people are anxious to form a junction with 

 Carlisle, and to give every assistance for this object. It would be worse than 

 superfluous in ns to add one word of ai-gument in support of the eligibility of Mr. 

 Hydo Clarke's West Cumberland railway communication with Scotland. — Dumfries 

 Times. 



Preston and Lancaster Railway The operations on this line of railway ai*e pro- 

 ceeding with great activitj', and, so far as the work has proceeded, everything has 

 been highly favourable. A great number of men are at work, and the respective 

 conti-actors are sparing no pains to advance the works with all possible rapidity. — 

 Manchester Guardian. 



Eastern Counties Railway. — The following is a statement of the progress of the 

 works on this line between I^oudon and Romford: — TForlis completed in Brickwork, 

 Masonry, and Inn — A bridge over the Regent's Canal, of iron, 36 feet span ; bridge 

 over the river Lea, 70 feet span ; Stratford viaduct, of five arches, 36 feet span each ; 

 Mill Pond bridge, 46 feet span ; Stent's bridge, of four arches ; Abbey bridge, 33 feet 

 span ; Aldersbrook bridge, 40 feet span ; Roding bridge, 40 feet span ; Romford river 

 bridge, SO feet span, in 34 feet embankment ; Essex tumpike-road bridge, carried over 

 railway on cast iron girders for a distance of 1 54 feet ; besides 1 1 bridges over public 

 roads, and six occupation bridges ; six other road bridges are in progress, and also 

 the viaduct between Cambridge row and Devonshire-street. — Earthwork — Embank- 

 ment over Regent's Canal to Hatfield's archway, nearly ready for ballasting and per- 

 manent way ; ti'om Grove-road bridge to Tredegar-square, the embantraerit up to the 

 baUiLst line : Coborn-road to Fairficld-place, embaulmient partially formed ; from the 

 west culvert to Forest-gate, the cutting and embankment complete, and the per- 

 manent way laid for nearly two miles ; from East Ham up to and beyond Ilford, the 

 cutting and embaukment crossing the Ilford valley complete, and the permanent way 

 laid for more than a mile. 



The portions of cutting and embankment not yet begun amount to not quite a mile 

 and three quarters. About a mile and a quarter consists of a cutting only eight feet 

 in depth, in very favourable soil ; a quarter of a mile is embankment, not averaging 

 six feet iu height, and the remaiuuig quarter of a mile is that portion of the embauk- 

 ment over the Stratford marshes, where the gromid for a depth of eight feet is 

 inchned to " spew up." Considerable ditficnlty and delay might have arisen by the 

 consequent subsidence of the embankment, but this has been completely obviated by 

 carrying a frame-work of timber, supported upon piles, in advance of the operations. 

 .\ certain proof of this, is the fact, that between the llth of September and the 23rd 

 of October, the embankTuent was cai'ried from the east side of the Carpenters' Com- 

 pany's occupation archway over Stent's Mill bridge, a ilistance containing 4^4,680 

 cubic yards, although the lead was one mile and a half 



In order to insure an early opening of the line up to Romford, four locomotive 

 engines ai*e working night and day in the formation of the embankments. — Extracted 

 from the Railway Times, 



A Railway Warner. — There is an ingenious contrivance by which accidents may 

 be plfectuijly prevented. It consists of a bar of iron fixed in front of the engine, 

 at a small distance above the rails, crossing the whole breadth of the road, which 

 pushes any obstructing body before it, and, when so obstructed, rings a bell, which 

 L-i.cs notice to the eugiucer. The benevolent inventor allows the use of liis con- 

 Irivauce gratis. — Morniuy Advertiser. 



Railway Missionaries. — The Bishop of Bath and Wells has appointed the Rev. F. 

 Campbell, M.A., as a missionary among the navigators employed on the Bristol and 

 Exeter Railway. Tlie Railway Directors, and the Church Pastoral -\id Society, have 

 liberally contributed, and it is hoped that the same well-judged efforts will be made 

 elsewhere to reclaim them from their present heathen state. — Battt paper. 



FOREIGN RAILWAYS. 



Railway .from. Brunswick to Harzbury. — The iirst section ft-om Brunswick to 

 Wolfenbuttel was opened on the 30lh of November. The duke himself was 

 present on the occa,sion, and the train, consisting of five cai'riages, set out 

 at twelve o'clock, and reached Wolfenbuttel (seven English miles) in twenty 

 minutes. The duke, the ministers of state, and other distinguished persons, were 

 highly pleased with the result of this trial, which was loudly cheered by the crowd 

 that had assembled to witness the novel sight. On the return, it was resolved to 

 divide the train between two machines, in order to try theil- power and the gooduess 

 of the road. Their progress was accelerated as much as possible, and the seven miles 

 were passed in ten minutes. The road was opened to the public on the 1st instant, 

 and in the first seven days there were 6,.527 passengers, and the number would have 

 lieen much greater, did not the shortness of the days prevent the trains from going 

 more than four times in the day, backwards and forwards — Hanorer Gazette, Dec. 1 1. 



Nuremberg and Furih Railway, — The number of passengers on this Hue in three 

 years has been 1 ,357,28.5, and the receipts 173,443 florins. During this period no 

 loss of life has been incurred. — Globe, 



Havre Railway. — Two important measures were adopted at the recent meeting of 

 the Council of Administration of the HaVTe Railway Company, which decided that a 

 new .survey shall be made of the whole line from Paris to the sea by the engineers of the 

 company, and has also named from amongst its members a committee charged to disciuis 

 with the Government the modilications which it may be necessary to inti'oduce uito 

 the contract, in consequence of tho estimates and plans to w hich the investigations 

 abo\e alluded to may lead. Till the expenses of the railway shall bo laid down witli 

 accuracy and precision, the Council of Admiuistratiou, it adds, has suspended the works 

 which were commenced according to the estimates of the Government engineers, but 

 w hich might have compromised the capital of the shareholders in an undertaking 

 impossible to be terminated w ith the funds at the disposal of the company. — Commence. 



Havre Railway — The committee have determined to have the whole line re-sur- 

 veyed by their own engineers, not beiny abk to place any dependence on the yovernni£nt 

 enyincers. M. Lebobe has been appointed temporary managing director in the place of 

 Count .Taubert. — Commerce. 



The German Diet, before it broke np, took a resolution which has caused great joy 

 at Mayeuce. It consented that the iron railroad of the Taunus should have its ter- 

 minus in the federal fortress of that city, and even that one of the bastions should be 

 pierced, if necessary, for that purpose. It seems that the Bavarian ambassador de- 

 clared that he had orders to oppose whatever might, in the smallest degi-ee, affect the 

 security of that important fortress. The Austrian and Prussian engineers declared 

 that there was not the smallest danger in complying with the wishes of the citizens 

 of Mayence ; and an eminent Danish engineer cleaiiy demonstrated it. — Morning 

 C lironicle. 



Austria, — The statutes of the company for the Milan and Venice Railroad have 

 been approved of by the Austrian govei-nnient, and tho works are to be commenced 

 next spring. The journey will be accomplished in eight hours, and the fares are to 

 be exceedingly moderate. 



America. — The late accounts from the United States present some interesting de- 

 tails of the progress of the improvements in the free states of the federal union. The 

 state of Pennsylvania has completed the survery of the route of the raih'Oad to con- 

 nect Pittsburgh with Philadelpliia, and the state was about to make an immediate ap- 

 propriation for making on its own account a railroad to conitect it with the Harrid- 

 burgh and Lancaster road, by which. the Ohio and other great rivers will be reaches 

 in 24 hours. The same state has also made a railway to Lancaster, and will continue 

 it from Harrisburg. 



ENGINEERING -WORKS. 



Fortijicaliun of Slieerness. — A suiwey of the Isles of Sheppy and Grain has been 

 going on for some months past by order of Government, with a view of imme- 

 diately fortifying her Majesty's Dockyard, whicli is at present without almost the 

 slightest power of resisting an invading foe. Several plans have been laid before the 

 Lords of the Admiralty, but the one that is most likely to be brought before the house 

 next session proposes a line of fortification across the range of hills extending from 

 Minster church to the Swale. A range of batteries here, it is said, will cover tho 

 whole island, and woidd at any time prevent an enemy from laniUng at the soutli- 

 eastern extremity. The Dockyard and Miletowu are to be covered by strong batte- 

 ries, and martello towers will be also erected along the shores at given distances. 

 The Isle of Grain is to be fortified with strong batteries, extending in the shape of a 

 half-moon. These will nut only cover the entrance of the Thames, but also the Med- 

 way. The estimated expense is nearly a milhon and a half of money. — Greenwich 

 Advertiser, 



London Docks A great improvement has been lately made in these docks, by the 



erection of a magnificent jetty, supported on massive piles, extending from the south- 

 west quay, eight hundred feet across the large basin, afl'ording a quay frontage on 

 botli sides for the loading of outward-bound ships of 1,600 feet. The jetty is 62 feet 

 in width, and three lofty sheds, each 208 feet long by 18 feet wide, for tho recsption 

 of goods and merchandise for exportation, are in the cotu-se of erection ; one of these 

 storehouses is already completed. There will be a space of seven feet cleai- on each 

 side of the warehouses. The erection of the jetty is said to have cost the London 

 Dock Company not less than 60,000/., and it will afford great acconmiodalion to tho 

 sliipping, and particularly to the Sydney and Hobart Town ships. There are now 

 eight large vessels bouud to those places lying alongside the new jetty. They will all 

 carry out a great number of emigrants. There is snfiicient depth of water for tho 

 largest ships iu the jetty, and at sjuing tides there is twenty-three feet of w'afer. The 

 whole work rellects great crecht on the skill and enterprise of the respectable com- 

 mercial body by whom it was designed. A capital of one million sterhug has been 

 expended during the last twelve yeai's in enlarging and improving the London Docks, 

 including the excavation of the eastern bason and enti-ance, and we understand fur- 

 ther improvements are in contemplation. The dock, with the various rows of lofty 

 warehouses and vaults, is the fii-st establishment of the kind in the world. 



The Eddystone.—We feel great pleasure in statuig that, on examination by the 

 competent authorities sent here from the Triiuty Board, it is ascertained that tho 

 Eddystone Lighthouse has not sustained the shghtest injury dming the late severe 

 storm. The report forwarded from this port to London, that it was feared that the 

 lighthouse had been severely damaged, created, as might be imagined, gi-eat sensation; 

 and an eminent engineer (Mr. Burgess), and a member of the Trinity Board, were 

 immediately dispatched to ascerUuu the extent of the injuries, and preparations were 

 made to place a floating light near the rock, if it should be found uecessai-y. On the 

 arrival of the deputation here they proceeded to the rock and commenced their survey, 

 making the most careful examination tlu-oughout the structure. They repeated their 

 visit a few days after, accompanied, we understand, by two eflicieut public officers of 

 tlie port, and wo ai-c enabled to state, from what we consider uudcjiibtid authority, 

 that it has been found that the noble structure has not received tho slightest damage, 

 unless the washing off tho paint from a portion of the upper piut of the building, 

 which exhibits a crevice in the paintwork about a yard in length, and damaging two 

 of the panes of glass in tho lantern to tho extent of a quarter of an inch, be called 

 iuiuries. The result of the survey will, no doubt, be made public, iu order to restore 

 co'nlidence as to tho stability iif "the edifice after the alarming reports which have 

 been made. It may be fairiy presumed that the extreme violence of tlic slorm, and 

 its continuation for so many days, created fears iu the minds of the men iu the light- 

 house for thcij- safety, and this, no doubt, gave rise to the rumour that the buUdinij 

 had been shalsou by the sloriu. — Plymouth Herald, 



