LESSONS IN AEOHITECTURE. 



257 



I.KSSONS IN ARCHITECTURE. XV. 



RAILWAY ARCHITECTURE. I. 



THE progress of railway* has given rise to vast strides in prac- 

 tical engineering, and been attended by the development of a 

 kind of architecture entirely novel in its character. The won- 

 ilcrtul l.ri.k'cs, the huge stations, and the many ingenious con- 

 trivances of a less imposing bat 

 not less useful nature, which are 

 connected with the modern railway 

 system, will afford us a profitable 

 subject of study in the next of our 

 Lessons. 



Let us first trace the process of 

 construction of a railway line. 

 N the works can be com- 

 menced, the country has to be 

 thoroughly surveyed, its principal 

 features noted with minute accu- 

 racy, and the course of the lino 

 finally determined upon, with due 

 regard, not only to readiness of 

 transit from point to point, but 

 also to the avoiding of physical 

 obstacles where practicable, or over- 

 coming them by engineering skill. 

 A line is frequently taken many 

 miles out of the straight course to 

 avoid the necessity of the construc- 

 tion of lengthy tunnels through 

 hills, of viaducts over precipitous 

 valleys, or bridges over important 

 streams. Where the country is 

 comparatively level, the engineer's 



task is easy, and he can go straight onwards ; and where it 

 departs but little from a certain general elevation, the minor 

 obstacles it presents are readily surmounted, either by altera- 

 tion of the gradient or incline of the line, or by cuttings or 

 embankments, as the ground happens to be too high or too low. 



the most eminent engineer* were divided in opinion 

 the gauge or width between rail and rail of a single line 



SECTION OF A RAILWAY TUNKEL. 



as to what 

 .-i. *d4 



be. Some contended for a broad, and others for a narrow 

 gauge, as most desirable ; and the long discussion which took 

 place on this subject is known as the " battle of the gauges." 

 At the head of the broad-gauge party was Isambard Brunei, 

 who contended for a width of 7 feet from the inside of one rail 

 to that of the other ; and he con- 

 structed the Great Western Bail- 

 way on this principle. In the front 

 rank of his opponents was Robert 

 Stephenson, who *"""**"H the 

 opinion of hi* father, George 

 Stephenson the founder of oar 

 railway system that 4 feet 84 

 inches was the most suitable width; 

 and the Stephensons carried oat 

 their opinion in the series of rail- 

 ways now known as the London 

 and North- Western. Bat the in- 

 convenience of different gauges 

 throughout the country threatened 

 to become so serious as railway 

 construction extended, that Parlia- 

 ment stepped in and enacted, in 

 1846, that the narrow-gauge of 4 

 feet 8$ inches should thenceforth 

 be adopted in all railways laid 

 down in England and Scotland. 

 By this means facility of communi- 

 cation, in the passage of the same 

 carriages from one line to another, 

 was secured ; and tha Great Western 

 afterwards brought itself into com- 

 munication with the narrow-gauge lines, by placing a third rail 

 within the original two at those points where access to or from 

 its own line was required, and continuing this third rail as far as 

 it might be necessary to run the carriages of other lines on their 

 system. The width of the gauge varies in different countries. 



ESTE RAILWAY. 



The course having been determined on, it is marked through- 

 out at the width required either for a single or a double line of 

 rails, and the removal of the surface earth commences, in readi- 

 ness for the laying of the permanent way. The width of a line 

 is now regulated in this country by the enforced adoption of a 

 uniform gauge. When railway construction first commenced, 



69 N.E. 



In Ireland it is 5 feet 3 inches ; in India it has been fixed at 5 

 feet 6 inches. 



The chief reasons for the final adoption of the narrow gauge 

 were the greater economy in construction less land being 

 necessarily required and the saving of wear and tear by the 

 employment of smaller and more economical " rolling-stock," i.e., 



