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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[August. 



Rdihi'dJi J'loiii J'l'iiifc fo jMittni. — One (tf the most stupL'nduus ^\*urks ornnidfrn 

 times is ii iiriijecle.l railruad from Venice to Milan, connecling tlie seven 

 rieliest anil must pupiilous cities of Italy with each other. Venice, Pailiia, 

 \'iceiiz , Vcrtma, Menttia, IJrcscia, tiiul Milan ; the most j;i^antie portion 

 will lie the liriilge over the Tjagoons, connecting Venice with the mainland. 

 The length of the raihuad will be 1GB Italian (about the .same in Knglish), 

 miles, passing through a population of three and a half millions, the seven, 

 cities having alone a population of half a million, viz... Venice. 120,000, 

 Padua 44,000. Viccnza .^)0,000. Verona 4B,000. Mantua .S4.000, Briscia 42,000, 

 and Milan 180,000 inhabitants, to w liieli may be added 20,000 foreigners in 

 Venice and Milan. — Forrign Qnartci-Iij Itevkw. 



liriiihton Raihraij. — A half yearly meeting of the pro])rietors was held on 

 the 18tli tilt, at the London Tavern, when a very satisfaetoiy report of the 

 Directors and of the Engineer, Mr. Rastriek, was read ; the report of the latter 

 contained a full account of the progress of the railway on the whole Icngtii of 

 the line, which is divided into 18 contracts; we regret that we have not space 

 to give this report, but must confine ourselves to the following extract. 



The foUowitu/ is a summanj of the corlhwork removed ami to be removed on 

 the line, and of the men and horses emjiloyed on the works : 



The Directors will perceive from the foregoing summary that one-third o 

 the whole of the earthwork lias been excavated, and this has been done in a 

 period of eight months ; from which it might appear that sixteen months 

 more would be recpiired to remove the remainder ; l)iit as at the commence- 

 ment of the works upon every contract it re(|uircs a considerable time to stock 

 it with materials, wagons, horses, Ixc, the above jieriod is no criterion of time 

 necessaiT to comi)letc the remainder. 1 trust, therefore, you arc satisfied 

 with the progress of the works ; and I have only to add, that the whole of 

 the railway can be opened to the public within eighteen months. 



GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY— THE BOX TUNNEL. 



One of the greatest obstacles to the aecompUshment of this stupendous 

 luiderfaking was found to exist in Box Hill, a large extent of elevated ground 

 lying directly between, and about eipii-distant from, Chippenham ami Bath. 

 This hill, the highest part of which is about four hundretl feet above the ]no- 

 poscd level of the rail-road, could not be avoided ; to make «ii open cutting 

 through it was imi)Ossiblc, and to perforate it was thought by many equally 

 so. Jsevcrtheless .Mr. Brunei, with that boldness for which he is so celebratd, 

 adopted the latter plan, and accordingly it was determined that a tunnel, one 

 mile and three quarters in length, forty feet in height, and thirty feet in 

 width, should be made through the hill. The extraordinary attempt of 

 boring through tliis immense mass, consisting in great part of soUd beds of 

 free-stone, was commenced in the summer of 1836, and will, it is hoped, be 

 completed in 1841. The difficidties that have stood in the way of tlie per- 

 fonnanee of this great work, particularly that part of it on the east, or Chip- 

 penham side, have been appalling ; but hitherto they have l)een siumounted 

 liy the enterprise, skill, and perseverance of Mr. Brewer, of Riidloe, and Mr. 

 JiCwis, of Bath, the gentlemen who contracted with the directors for the com- 

 pletion of that portion of the work. Their contract extends from shaft No. 

 8, whicli is stuik at the jiroposed mouth of the tunnel on the east side, to a 

 point three hundred yards towards Shaft No. 6, and altogether 2,418 feet 

 from the entrance at the Chipiienliam end, this portion Messrs. Brewer and 

 Lewis confidently expect to he able to finish in January next. 



Independent of the diflieulties arising from the laborious nature of the un- 

 dertaking, the constant flow of the water into the works from the numerous 

 fissures in the rock has been constantly most annoying, and in the rainy 

 season so formidable as almost to destroy all hope of being able to contend 

 wth it, lu N«Yeniber, 1837, tlie steaia-pvusp tlisn employed being iiiite iu- 



adcquate to the task of making head against it, the water increased so fear- 

 fully, having filled the tunnel and risen to the height of fifty-six feet in the 

 shaft, as to cause the total suspension of the work till the July following. 

 This would liave caused may persons to have abandoned the work in despair, 

 but Messrs. Brewer and Lewis determined to fulfil their contract if possible, 

 erected a second pumii, worked by a steam-engine of fifty-horse i)ower, and 

 had the satisfaction of vanquishing their enemy and resuming their work. A 

 few months afterwards (in Nov. 1838) the works were again stopped by an 

 iiiflux of water, which, liowever, was got under in ten days, the engine dis- 

 charging 32,000 hogsheads of water a day. 



The tunnel between Shafts No 7 and 8 (1,520 feet in length) is entirely 

 finished at the roof, and for six feet below it, where tlie base is fomteen feet 

 wide ; but half-way between the two shafts there still remain about three 

 hundred and fifty feet of cutting to be done, which is ex|)cctcd to be cleared 

 away some time next month. In this portion of the work Messrs. Brewer 

 and Lewis commenced their operations at each end, working towards the 

 centre; and when the two cuttings closely aiiproxim.ated, much anxiety 

 was felt lest a straight line should not have been kept, and the luiion of the 

 two portions of the work should not have been true ; but on breaking 

 through the last intervening portion of the rock the accuracy of tlie headings 

 was proved, and to the joy of the workmen, who took a lively interest in the 

 result, and to the triumph of Messrs. Brewer and Lewis's scientific working, 

 it was fomid that the jmiction was jierfeet to a hair as to the level, the two 

 roofs forming an unvarying line, while at the sides, the utmost deviation from 

 a straight line was only one inch and a quarter. This, in a cutting of 1,520 

 feet in length, begun, at opposite ends, and worked towards a common centre 

 is, perhaps, unexampled in the annals of tunnelling. 



The cutting on the Chippenham side has hitherto been, and it has already 

 extended two thousand feet, through one solid bed of freestone or sui>crior 

 oolite, in many places one hundred and thirty feet thick, and lying ujion a 

 bed of fuller's earth, or clay, one hundred and twenty feet in thickness ; 

 under which bine marl, resting upon lias clay, is found. So uniuterrnpted 

 and compact is the rock through which tliis end of the tunnel passes, that no 

 masonry is reqiiircil in any jiart of it, the stone itself forming sides and roof, 

 and nothing being required at the bottom but the rails on which the carriages 

 will run' — Abridged /rom (he Wiltshire Independent. 



.7 /(ir^r .i^;(«c of a female figure representing France, clothed in floHing 

 drapery, ami bearing a crown of stars, is now in process of icnninalion in 

 one of the ateliers of the Institute, it is to bo placeil in the centre of llie 

 Place du Palais Bourhon. in front of the Chamber of Deputies, tuid this square 

 w ill henceforth bear the name of the Place de France. 



The President, &c.. of Columbia College, New York, have agreed to [ilace 

 the gilded crown, uhich formerly adorned the cupola of the college previous 

 to the revolution, upon the figure-head of the Briiish Queen steamer, expectcil 

 at New York during the summer. This superbly made crown has remained 

 in their library since 1777. 



Orsnnic Remains. — In excavating for the Great ^Vestern Railway, a few 

 days since, a remarkable fine tusk of the Mammoth was discovered lying on 

 a beil of new red sandstone, about seven I'eet below tlie surface, between the 

 Bristol Cotton Works and .St. Philip's Bridge. Themsk, logotlier with some 

 very beautiful specimens of iron and lead ore. found near the same spot, have 

 been kindly brought to tlie Philosophic Institution by Dr. Fairbrother for 

 the inspection of the members aud their friends. — Ctintbriuii. 



Riissin. — At a general meeting of the shareholders in the Zarskojeselo rail- 

 road, held at .St. Petcrsburgh at the end of last month, it appeared by the re- 

 port of Ihc directors, that the cost of the fomiation of the road and its mnliiirl 

 had amounted to 5,281, 667 roubles. The original calculations Here fiiiiniled 

 upon the anticipation of 300,000 passengers within the year, but, during the 

 preceding twelve months, the nuiniicr oftra\ellers between the capital and 

 / irskojeselo had amounted to 500.000. and the number which passed along 

 the whole line to and from Paulowsk was 707.091. The rccei[its amounted to 

 920 237 roubles. At the end of Ihc first nine months the receipts exceeded 

 Ihr cNprniliturc by 316,976 roubles. Of this balance 90.000 roubles were ap- 

 plied m paying the interest and reimbursing the loan from the crown; and 

 140.000 roubles fo the payment of interest on shares ; 15.848 roubles were di- 

 vided, according to the statutes, among the directors ; 1,555 I'oublcs were Jiaid 

 to the chief engineer ; and 69,572 rouljles were carried to the reserved furid. 



Tlie f.vperimenlal paving nf Oxford-street. — Another of the specimens of 

 asphalte paving — viz., that laid duw n by the Scotch Asphaltum Company, 

 has given wa\ (although repaired since it was first laid) under the exiraor- 

 dinaiy traflic of Oxford-street. The specimen was .'lO feet by the width of 

 ihe road, containing 210 sipiare yards, and when laid down, with what was 

 considered liy thi' asphalte and biliuncn companies most extraordinary and 

 unparalleled expedition, the work occupied 1 1 days. T'he road was stripped on 

 Thursday night, 4lli ult., by the parish workmen, under the direction of Mr, 

 Seaice, the surveyor of Marylebone, of the Scotch ;isphallum contained in 

 the above-mentioned si'acc. and nearly the whcle rep.ived wiih A!ierdeen 

 granite, grouted, and completed during the follnwing day, the ruad Ijeing 

 open to the public to the extent of about two-thirds of its width early in the 

 afternoon ot Friday. The only specimens of the experimental paving now 

 remaining in lliis great thoroughfare are those laid down by the Val dc 

 TiMVeis Company, the Bastcnne and Gaujae Bitumen Company, a portion of 

 granite paving Idled up and cemented togelher by Claridge's asphalte. and 

 the wooden blocks. Ainopg thcse spefimciis no material alteration lias 

 takvu plage,— jT/wto.-, 



