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THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Mat, 



NEW LINES OF RAILWAY. 



We bave in the last number made some generalj'remarks on the 

 state of the railway interest, and here it is our intention to give some 

 account of the new lines, which are now before the public. In under- 

 taking such a task many difficulties beset us, for some have only been 

 jiaper plans and have already disappeared from the scene, and some 

 have sustained defeat in the House of Commons. The number of 

 projects, moreover, is so great as almost to defy complete enumera- 

 tion, and to prevent any concise view being taken of their general 

 bearings. We must, therefore, do the best we can with them, begin- 

 ning wilh the north. 



The Dundee and Perth Railway is to have a capital of £250,000, 

 and is chiefly supported by the local interests. It is to be connected 

 with the chain of railways at Dundee, including the Dundee and Ar- 

 broath, and Dundee and Newtyle, and Arbroath and Forfar, and is to 

 run to Perth, a distance of 20 miles. The estimate is £250,000. 



At Perth, the line is taken up by the Scotch Central Railway, which 

 runs by Stirling to the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway at Falkirk. 

 The capital is £700,000; the line a light line 40 miles long, and the 

 estimate £15,000 per mile. The local aristocracy and authorities 

 strongly support it. A circuitous line is thus formed between Dundee 

 and Edinburgh, andadirect line between Dundee and Glasgow, which 

 is of great importance, for Dundee is engaged in the Eastland and 

 linen trade as Glasgow is in the Western and cotton trade. Commu- 

 nication is in fact opened up with the North Eastern Scotch counties 

 to the rest of the country. A line is also talked of from Arbroath to 

 Aberdeen, but many deep rivers have to be passed, though at the same 

 time it must be admitted the coast is thickly covered with flourishing 

 seaports. 



A bill is in the house for a short line called the Glasgow, Garnkirk, 

 and Coatbridge Railway; and a line is re-agitated to proceed from 

 Glasgow to Dumbarton and Loch Lomond, being20miles, and requiring 

 a capital of £300,000. 



A more interesting arena is, however, the country to the south of 

 Edinburgh and Glasgow, where many lines compete for the communi- 

 cation with England. As Yorkshire and Lancashire on one side, and 

 Glasgow and Edinburgh on the other, require lines on their own sides 

 it is quite futile to think of a single line to serve all. In fact, the Gor- 

 dian knot is cut by the introduction into the House of Commons of a 

 bill for a railway, from Edinburgh along the coast to Berwick, called 

 the North British. As this is a line required for local wants it can 

 scarcely be objected to, and will be highly valuable to the Edinburgh 

 and Glasgow Railway proprietors as a continuation of their East and 

 West line. From Berwick the associated Southern English lines are 

 prepared to carry a line to Newcastle, thus providing for the commu- 

 nication between Yorkshire and Edinburgh, but giving no adequate 

 accommodation to Lancashire and Glasgow, much busier localities. A 

 line is therefore in the field, following much the same route as the 

 one surveyed by Mr. Hyde Clarke in 1S36, which goes from Glasgow 

 by the existing railways to Paisley and Kilmarnock, and thence by 

 Cumnock, Sanquhar, Dumfries' and Annan to Carlisle, a distance of 92 

 miles, costing £13,000 per mile. The capital proposed is £1,300,000. 



One of the competitors to this latter plan is called the Caledonian 

 Railway, and follows Mr. Locke's line, and that adopted by the Go- 

 vernment Commissioners, from Carlisle, by Lockerby, Symington, and 

 Lanark. Here the line would diverge on the right to Edinburgh, and 

 on the left to Glasgow. The capital proposed is £1,800,000. This 

 would be a short line for the Lancashire people to Edinburgh and 

 Glasgow. This line is promoted by the Grand Junction and Asso- 

 ciated Lancashire Railways. 



The Scotch or Central Union Railway is to favour the views of the 

 Newcastle and Carlisle Railway people, starting from Gilsland on that 

 line and proceeding through the inland districts, with branches to 

 Glasgow and Edinburgh. This line is scarcely likely to be a favourite, 

 being supported by no strong interest, and promising benefit only to 

 one party. 



From Carlisle a line is to be carried direct to Lancaster. This is 

 supported by the Associated Lancashire lines, and the hill is before the 

 House of Commons. Of the Cumberland West Coast line a further 

 portion is proposed to be effected by the Whitehaven and Maryport 

 line, which is connected with the railway system by the Maryport and 

 Carlisle Railway. This Whitehaven Extension unites the coal ports 

 ol Cumberland, and is certain of completion. In Furness, another joint 

 of the West Coast or Morecambe Bay line is proposed to be effected, 

 by means of the Furness Railway, "which is also before the house. 

 With regard to the plan for the embankments of this line nothing at 

 present is being done. 



In Lancashire, a line from Blackburn to Preston is before the legis- 

 lature. The length of line is 9^ miles, the capital proposed £120,000. 

 This will have a beneficial influence on the Preston lines. To Bury 



two lines are proposedi'one'called the Rossendale, another from the 

 Manchester and Leeds. To join the Rossendale project a line is pro- 

 posed called the Blackburn, Burnley, and Accrington, capital £400,000, 

 which would advantageously open up the North-West district of 

 Lancashire. These are the principal Lancashire lines, but many 

 others interest the district. We must not, however, omit to notice 

 a report that Lord Francis Egerton is about to turn the Bridge- 

 water Canal into a Railway. 



Here, too, we may pause to mention that the Manchester direct line 

 is about to be revived. This line would be 185 miles long, leave 

 London at Battle Bridge, and proceed by Barnet, Luton, Bedford, Ket- 

 tering, Harborough, to the Midland Counties Railway near Leicester. 

 Following the railway to Derby, from Derby a direct line would be 

 taken to Manchester. 



Looking at the West Midland Counties, heretofore a neglected dis- 

 trict, we find the Chester and Holyhead line, with a capital of 

 £2,100,000, supported by the London and Birmingham Railway Com- 

 pany, and deserted by the Grand Junction Railway Company. A part 

 of this plan is to buy up the Chester and Birkenhead Railway. 



The communication to Shrewsbury, providing fur a very great line 

 of traffic, has at last been taken up, and some dispute is going on as to 

 the course to be pursued. The Grand Junction want a line to Stafford, 

 which although a good line for Manchester would clearly be a bad line 

 to the South. Others promote a line from Shrewsbury to Wolver- 

 hampton. Such a line would of course take the North Wales traffic. 

 It is also proposed to form a direct communication between Shrews- 

 bury and Birmingham by Wolverhampton and Dudley, which would 

 certainly entirely avoid the Grand Junction line : and if another con- 

 templated line be carried forward from Shrewsbury through the mining 

 districts, Oswestry, Ellesmere, and Wrexham, to Chester, (thepart be- 

 tween Wrexham and Chester, 1 1 miles long, is before Parliament,) vphich 

 is, we understand, supported by the London and Birmingham Railway 

 Company, a direct communication will be made between London and 

 Birmingham, with the Holyhead and Chester line, without running on 

 any part of the Grand Junction Railway, or the Chester and Crewe 

 line; and also by the branch from Chester to Birkenhead, already 

 agreed to be bought up, a direct communication will also be formed 

 with Liverpool, without running on either the Grand Junction or the 

 Liverpool and Manchester lines, consequently there will be two most 

 formidable competing lines of railway between Birmingham and Liver- 

 pool. 



A line is talked of from Wolverhampton by Dudley, Stourbridge, 

 Kidderminster, Worcester, Evesham, and Banbury, to Oxford. From 

 Oxford and Banbury a line is also proposed to Rugby, by the London 

 and Birmingham Railway, as likewise one from Banbury to Warwick, 

 and so by Leamington to Coventry. 



A plan called the Trent Valley line is well supported, and is to have 

 a capital of £900,000. This line is under the auspices of the Man- 

 chester and Birmingham Railway, and is to start from Stafford, pro- 

 ceeding by Rugeley, Lichfield, Tam worth, Atherstone, and Nuneaton, 

 to Rugby. It will be seen this line cuts off a great corner between 

 Rugby and Stafford, saving a considerable distance, and of course com- 

 peting with the London and Birmingham and Gfrand Junction, yet it 

 is strongly reported to be favoured by the latter Railway. 



The danger which has always threatened the Birmingham line, from 

 its being a Birmingham line and nothing else, is now imminent. 

 Passing through a thinly-peopled, inactive district, it has, perhaps, 

 less local traffic, in proportion, than any part of the country, and is 

 always liable to be turned on the right and the left, depriving it of its 

 lateral feeding traffic, and the traffic beyond its Birmingham terminus. 

 The Birmingham, however, has long been a favourite line — it was the 

 best inthecountry — it was the head of the railway interest — it could do 

 wrong and receive none — such seemed to be the popular feeling, but 

 those more distrustful have always looked forward to the day when 

 the London and Birmingham line would have to fight for its traffic 

 inch by inch. The immediate quarter from which that danger was 

 most imminent, the eastern side, is for the moment apparently secure, 

 Mr. George Hudson, the railway dictator of the north, having for the 

 time being entered into league and alliance with the Birmingham di- 

 rectors. That this will not last for ever any one who considt-rs the 

 position of the parties, and the great ability of Mr. Hudson, must feel 

 convinced ; nothing would astonish us less than to find Mr. Hudson next 

 year abandoning the Birmingham, securing himself, and promoting a 

 new line to London, for a line to the east must be carried. Does it, 

 indeed, stand to common sense that a district 150 miles long and 

 from 50 to lUO miles broad, containing 10,000 square miles and 

 2,000,000 of people is to be neglected, or that its population will 

 be contented to go 50 miles out of their way to fill the pockets of 

 the Great Midland and London and Birmingham Directors ? It does 

 not— the local interest and the public interest are both opposed 



