632 



RAILWAY. 



dington Station, and is continued thence, in an 

 almost direct line, towards the New-road, pass- 

 ing beneath the Edgware-road at right angles, 

 and intersecting in the same manner Lisson- 

 grove-road and Upper Baker-street, skirting 

 along, beneath, and just outside the southern 

 extremity of Regent's Park. Thence it passes 

 under the houses at the eastern extremity of 

 Park-crescent, continues beneath Tottenham- 

 court-road into the New-road, and, passing 

 close by Euston-square, turns at King's-cross 

 to effect a junction with the up and down lines 

 of the Great Northern Railway. From King's- 

 cross a great part of the line is an open cut- 

 ting, except for a length of about 600 yards 

 beneath Bagnigge-wells-road and Coppice-row, 

 where again, for the length we have said, a 

 tunnel intervenes. From this to the Victoria- 

 street Station it is nearly all a fair open cut- 

 ting. From the station to be erected in Vic- 

 toria-street, the line is to have two bi'anches, 

 one intersecting Holborn-hill, or rather Skin- 

 ner-street, and continuing its course due south 

 under the site of the old Fleet Prison, effecting 

 a junction with the Chatham and Dover line, 

 which is to cross the Thames at Blackfriars. 

 The other and more important branch in fact, 

 the main line is to be continued under the 

 ground north of Smithfield and south of 

 Charter-house-square, and will pass beneath 

 Barbican into Finsbury circus. At this ter- 

 minus it is intended, for the present at least, 

 to stop. As it is, even completed to the Vic- 

 toria-street Station, and communicating with 

 the Chatham and Dover-bridge when finished, 

 the facilities which it will offer to rapid travel- 

 ling will be immense. A person starting from 

 Brighton or Dover will be put do\vn almost at 

 his own door at Bayswater, instead of, as now, 

 taking almost as much time to travel from Lon- 

 don-bridge to Bayswater as to perform a long 

 journey by rail. In like manner, those com- 

 ing from the North Edinburgh, Liverpool, 

 or Manchester will be able to book direct 

 through to Dover or Southampton without the 

 loss of a minute on their journey. It is not 

 too much to say that for passengers pressed 

 for time the two or three miles' interval be- 

 tween the northern and southern stations of 

 the metropolis is equal in actual delay to 200 

 or 300 miles' distance on an unbroken journey. 

 By the condition of taking the line under- 

 ground, sewers were not to be interfered with, 

 gas-pipes and water-pipes not to be touched, 

 churches to be avoided, and houses to be left 

 secure. With these drawbacks, Mr. Fowler 

 was at liberty to take his tunnel through a laby- 

 rinth of sewers and gas and water mains if he 

 could. At every step, vestries, gas and water 

 companies, and the Board of Works had to be 

 consulted, and but for the kind and liberal spirit 

 in which the Company was met, and the fair 

 efforts which were everywhere made by these 

 bodies to help them Over their great difficul- 

 ties, the railway could never have been made at 

 all. 



The following are the constructive details of 

 the portion of the line completed : To the Vic- 

 toria-street Station the line is nearly 3^ miles 

 long, having stations at Paddington, Edgware- 

 road, Baker-street, Portland-road, Euston- 

 square, King's-cross, and Victoria-street. From 

 west to east the average slope downwards of 

 the whole line is about 1 in 300 feet, though 

 after entering the city it again rises, but there 

 is no steeper gradient throughout than 1 in 

 100. Its greatest curve is of 200 yards' radius, 

 and its greatest depth from the ground above 

 to the rails not less than 54 feet, and there are 

 not more than 1200 yards of straight line 

 throughout. The span of the arch of the tun- 

 nel is 28 feet ; its form is elliptical, and its 

 height 17 feet, except in the parts where there 

 is great superincumbent pressure, when the 

 form of the arch is altered to give it greater 

 strength and to take the crown to a height of 

 19 feet. The foundations of the tunnel go from 

 four to five feet into the solid ground on each 

 side below the rails, except in some few places, 

 where the close vicinity of very heavy buildings 

 rendered extra strength necessary, and here 

 the tunnel has been driven like a shaft, and is 

 a solid ring of massive brickwork above and 

 below ; in fact, in all parts of the tunnel itself 

 the most zealous care has been taken to ensure 

 the structure, being everywhere greatly in ex- 

 cess of the strength it actually requires. Thus, 

 even the lightest parts of the tunnel have six 

 rings of brickwork, though railway arches of 

 seven feet greater span are never built with 

 more than five. The outer side of the arches 

 is also filled in with solid beds of concrete, 

 and the whole covered over with a layer of 

 asphalte to keep it water-tight. In fact, the 

 tunnel has been formed on what engineers call 

 the " cut and cover " principle ; that is, the 

 ground has been opened to the base of the in- 

 tended tunnel, the tunnel built, covered with 

 concrete and asphalte, and filled in again with 

 earth, and the roadway paved over as before. 

 On this plan, and working in 12-feet lengths, 

 the tunnel has actually been constructed at the 

 rate of 72 feet a week, quicker than any work 

 of the kind has ever yet been accomplished. 

 It has not all, however, been completed at this 

 rapid rate. Passing near churches and heavy 

 buildings, the tunnel has been regularly driven 

 in four-feet lengths by skilled miners ; and 

 such portions advanced but slowly. At the 

 western extremity, where the soil was a fine 

 gravel, the works were at one time greatly im- 

 peded by the water, which in that district is 

 abundant everywhere at about 14 feet from the 

 surface. This it was useless to try pumping 

 out, as the pumps brought up sand and gravel 

 as well as water, and would, had the attempt 

 been persevered in, have brought up the very 

 foundation of the surrounding houses also. It 

 was necessary at last to make regular drains into 

 the low-level sewers in order to keep the works 

 free. Through the gravel and through the 

 London clay the labor has been very easy, but 



