320 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Skptkmber. 



that has tlie appearance of being raiscil from tlie ground, and produces an 

 effect alike Ijeaiitifnl by day cr lamp light. The makers are entitled toptreat 

 praise for tin' inlrudiictiun of a material capable of admitting so much elegance 

 and taste in decoration. 



Till- Arcliimeiles. — This vessel reached Oporto from Plymouth in 70 hours, 

 Ijeing .sui)pn.sed to l)e the quickest steam communication that has ever been 

 madebetHcenthe.se places; and tliis was ellected without her liaving once 

 had occasion to stop her engines. The distance is about 800 miles. 



PROGRESS OF RAII.WAYS. 



Tht Quern Dnwdi^t'/s Trip on thr Railwmj. — E-rtrnnrdifutrij Speed, — On the 

 recent occasion of llie return of the Queen Dowager from Lancaster, a special 

 train was provided for the conveyance of her Majesty and suite, from Lan- 

 caster and Preston and North Union Raihva> Companies, and thence to 

 Stafiord, being the nearest point to Alton Towers, the .seat of the Earl of 

 Shrewsbury, which was her Majesty's destination, by the Orand Junction 

 Kailway Company. The train, consisting of tliree railway carriages, one of 

 which had been handsomely fitted up by the London and Birmingham Com- 

 pany for her Majesty's use, and five private carriages on trncKs, making 

 eight in all — 



Started from Lancaster, at lOh. 12m., a.m. 



Arrived at Preston Station llh. 15m. 



Stopped there 13m. 



And on the Viaduct over the Kibble Valley Gm. 



Time at Preston 19m. 



Arrived at Parkside 12h. Urn. 



Vhere it M,as attached to an engine of the Grand Junction Railway. The 

 latter part of the journey, viz., from Newton Junction to Stafford, a distance 

 of fifty-four miles, was performed. e.\clusive of a stoppage of five minutes, at 

 Crenc, for water, in one hour and thirty-one minutes, or at the rate of up- 

 wards of S.JJ miles per hour. Her Majesty, on her arrival at Stafford, per- 

 sonally expressed to Captain Cleather, the manager of the Grand Junction 

 Company, who was in attendance, her satisfaction at the rapidity of the 

 passage, and the uncommon smoothness of the line. The engine, the Vandal, 

 on its return, brought back from Birmingham a train occupied by the direc- 

 tors and chief officers of the company, who had been inspecliug the line, and 

 holding a board ,at Birmingham on that day. It left Birmingham at fi 30r.M., 

 and arrived at Kdgehill at 9 2 p.m., having made three stoppages of five, four, 

 and three minutes; thus running the distance in two hours and thirty-two 

 minutes, or at the rate of thirty-eight miles an hour including stoppages, or 

 forty-one miles an hour cxclu-sive of them. This is believed to be tlie most 

 remarkable performance, fur a continued distance of this extent, that has yet 

 taken place on this or any other railway in the kingdom. This engine, in 

 Ijoth its trips, was under the direction ol Mr. Buddicom, the superintendent 

 of the locomotive department of the company. 



THE NORTH UNION RAILWAY. 



Engineer's Report to the Directors. 



GE^TLF.M^N — In drawing to a close the construction of the North Union 

 Kailway. I consider it will be satisfactory to the Directors and Proprietors 

 to have the detailed cost of the several great heads of cxpemliture brought 

 into one view before them. It is due to myself and the other officers of the 

 Company, that the rjuantity of work executed for the monev should be set 

 forth; .-ind without any thing beyond a simple statement of facts in this 

 respect I shall be content, should 'this report be promulgated, to leave the 

 Shareholders in this concern and the public to form their judgment. I like- 

 wise conceive that, as the first aullientic detailed dcrcument of the kind, it 

 may be taken as the coniniencement of similar statements which will here- 

 after be brought forward, and thereby be the means of collecting that statis- 

 tical information on the Railway system, which has naturally, and of late, 

 l)een so much sought after. 



It should be noted that the total length of line embraced herein is 2.3 miles ; 

 the main line from Parkside through M'igan to Preston being 22 miles, and 

 the New Springs Branch 3 miles ; and it should be observed, that from the 

 peculiar nature of this railway, the total extent of sidings, extra lines, &c. is 

 very much above the usual proporlion. 



In the total sum of £.378,931 Ki?. 2il. (say in round numbers £.580,000.) is 

 included the cost of re-laying the old line between Parkside and Wigan; the 

 Cottages now building along the line; the mainten,ance of the Railway by 

 the Contractors, for two years, from the respective openings ; and not only 

 all that has been already exnendeil on the several items, but that which is 

 now in progress, la- contemplated to be <lone, to make the railway complete, 

 and to draw the line at the foot of capital accoimt. 



From a consideration of the natiue of the works on this lir.e, many of ihem 

 of . a gigantic character, particularly the Ribble Viaduct, and including the 

 various slips and accidents, I hojic I may be permitted to consider the average 

 cost of £23, 1.57 per mile as a moderate amount, including, as it does, stations, 

 carrying establishments, interest, and management. 



The actual cost of the Railway itself has" been only £15,793 per mile, ex- 

 clusive of land ; and if the peculiarly heavy expense of the Ribble Vi.aduct 

 (consisiing of five arches of 120 feet span each, erected at a cost of about 

 £-H.885. includin"- all contingent extras) Ije excluded, as it fairly might, for 

 comparative results, the cost of the works alone is £13,998 per mile; the 

 purchase of land for the railway is £1,974 per mile additional ; £3.017 is the 



Cost ]ier mile for the stations .and carrying establishments ; and £1,872 pe- 

 mile for intere-t and management. Separating the latter item from the in 

 ferest, it will be seen that the whole expense of the superintendance of th-* 

 North Union Railway, over a period of ten years of greater or less activity 

 has sciircely exceeded 7 Jier cent. This item is, of course, not in the en- 

 gineer's department, but it is due to the managing officer of the Company to 

 state the circumstance : it will also be found that the average quantities per 

 mile are — of eaiMh work, 11C.120 cubic yards, averaging under W\il. per v,avd ; 

 of masonry, 1-000 cubic y.ards, averagirig 22s. Id. per yard ; and of iron, 287 

 tons, averaging something below 9/. Ija-. per ton. 



In respect fo the mode in which the ilitTiculties presented by the physica 

 obstructions on the face of the country have been surmounted, by the adop- 

 tion of gradients of 1 in 100 to a consider.ible extent, and thereby a vast sav- 

 ing effi^cted in the construction of the railway, I hope to be able to demon- 

 strate, at the close of the first t\\o years' entire working of the line in 

 October next, that, with the exception of some very little addition to the 

 quantity of fuel, the cost of working the North Union Railway, reduced to a 

 rate per mile per train, is belute that of other lines with superior gradients, 

 while the trains and rate of travelling are at least equal to the averages else- 

 where ; and I feel confident of being able shortly lo give a very close ap- 

 proximation of what that average expense is per mile per train, including all 

 the deductions from the gross receipts, before declaring a dividend. 



There being then but little difference, as far as observation and experience 

 have liitherto gone, in the working trains of passengers and light goods on 

 railways, diflcring considerably in gradient, at velocities and with loads such 

 as usually occur, the high importance of economy in the first construction is 

 self-evident. It has thus told effectively on the (irand Junction Railway, 

 and I trust will be equally felt on the jlidland Counties Railway, each of 

 which lines, with similar equipments to those on the North Union Railway, 

 will be found to have cost at about the same rate, or but little e.weeding It, 

 say certainly within £23,000 per mile. Reducing the whole expenses on the 

 North Union Kailway to round numbers md to a per centagc, the account 

 will stand as follows : 



Total. Percent. Per mile. 



Eartli AVork £126,000 22 — £.5000 



Masonrv 120,000 21 4800 



Fencing 21,000 3J 800 



Upper (Railway laid complete . 61,000 lOJ 2400 



AVorks. (Iron 67,000 lU — 2700 



Land and Damages .... 50,000 8i 2000 



Stations 44,000 7A 1800 



Carrying Establishment 44.000 7| 1 800 



Interest .5,000. ■ « 200 



Management 42,000 7^ 1700 



£580,000 100 £23,200 



15ut to enable a more critical examination to be made, I shall subjoin the 

 following abstract : 



Abstract of the Cost of the Works upon the Line of the North Union Rail- 

 »a) — 25 miles — with the General Heads of Expenditure in the various De- 

 partments. 



Earth Work 2,903,028 cubic yards, 



(average 1 Off/. j per yard . . . £125,676 3 11 



M.vsoNRv and Brihges.— 100,265 cubic yards 



Masonry . . . .£113.096 5 



325 tons Iron Work . . . 3.875 



25,022 cubic feet Timber . . 3 277 14 8 



FiiNci.N-o and Dr. ains.— 87,712 lineal y.ards. 

 — N.li. Tlii.1 iiirhldes Roiid Dirersions, 

 .S-c, Gates, S^T.Sfc. . . . 20,533 2 7 



Ui'i'ER Works. — 6,885 tons of Iron Rails and 



Chairs 66,833 17 7 



91,.')-l-5 lineal yards of Railway, laid on 

 Blocks and Sleeiiers, including Balla.-t, 

 Drains, Walling. Bolls. Kevs, Felt, 

 ■ Plugs, and small Materials ami Labour 61,538 2 



£394,826 19 4 



Land and D.VM.VGES.— 320 acres for Railway . . . 49,342 3 lU 

 .Stations.— Land for Stations . . ' . £17,2.57 15 5 



Station Buildings .... 13.589 8 I 



Warehouses 9,266 



Fixtures, Turnplates, and Sundries . 4,164 16 6 



Carrvino ETAni.isiiMF.NT.— Repairing Shops, 



Tools, and Fixtures .... 11,8?4 

 Locomotive Engines, Tenders, &£c. . 18.863 6 7 



Carriages, Horse Boxes, Trucks, &c. . 12.934 17 10 



88,960 4 5 



Intere.st.— Interest Account, Kates, Taxes. &c. 4,746 15 8 

 Manaof.ment. — Parliamentary and Law Ex- 

 penses 17,147 8 



En'.;incering and Surveying . . . 6,193 5 9 

 Office Expenses. Travelling. Ad\erfising,&.c. 3.134 19 2 

 S.darics . . . 7 . . . 15,580 



46,802 8 7 



Total Cost 



. £23,157 5 per mile.— or— £578,931 16 2 



It should also be mentioned that, of the above land there remains to the 

 value of about four or five thousand pounds available for re-sale ; and, in 

 conclu.simi, I trust that the dividend of nearly 7 per cent, per annum out of 

 the clear profits of the Railway, since its entire completion and opemng 

 throughout, in October. 1838. to the present time, with a prospect of a steady 



