204 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[Mat, 



undoubtedly tend to a diminished expenditure, :m enlarged receipt, 

 and a divisible profit much more considerable. This requires no 

 lengthened argument to prove it, facts have established it, no one 

 doubts it, and he who runs may read its import. We therefore urge 

 on the shareliolders of the South Eastern, Brighton, Croydon, and 

 Greenwich Railways the question of amalgamation, feeling convinced, 

 that the sooner they can carry it into effect, the sooner they will reap 

 the benefits of it. We are aware that at present there is a difficulty 

 in ascertaining the real value of each line, and settling the final quota 

 of each party, but even a provisional amalgamation would be no bar to 

 the eventual interests of any party. 



The Eastern Counties Company are engaged in a number of new 

 lines. They have revived the Stratford branch, the estimate of which 

 is i;45,000. They propose a Harwich branch, cost i:320,000, for 

 which they have a competitor, and the Brandon and Peterborough line, 

 72 miles long, the estimated cost of which is about a million. They 

 have also to provide for the extension of the Northern vnd Eastern 

 line to Cambridge and the north, and of the Brandon and Peterborough 

 to Norwich. The old Thames Haven has been revived, with a branch 

 from the Eastern Counties Railway to Tilbury. 



About the Harwich competition we need say nothing, between the 

 two parties we suppose the branch will be made, though both bills 

 have been refused this Session. The Eastern Union scheme is one for 

 an extension of the Eastern Counties Railway to Ipswich, but its 

 fate is uncertain. 



The line from Yarmouth, by Norwich and Brandon, to Peterborough 

 gives a long lead, but the communication by Peterborough and North- 

 ampton is too circuitous not to foster a better communication with 

 Derbyshire and Leicestershire. A line must subsequently be taken 

 either from Peterborough to Leicester, or by the Manchester direct 

 route, from the Northampton and Peterborough near Kettering, to Lei- 

 cester. At present, Mr. George Hudson, the railway dictator of the 

 North, is in close leagne with the London and Birmingham, but such 

 an alliance cannot last for ever. 



The East and West SufTolk, in which some of the Eastern Counties' 

 oflacials are concerned is a circuitous line from Colchester to Ipswich, 

 Bury St. Edmund's, and Cambridge, the proposed capital of which is 

 £450,000, and the benefit of which we do not very well see except as 

 a local Suffolk line for promoting the interests of the port of Ipswich, 

 and providing for the traffic of Bury St. Edmund's, 



The Lynn and Ely, capital £200,000, is a very promising branch 

 line, Lynn holding a very high rank among the secondary ports, and 

 the outlet for a very rich and extensive district. If this plan provided 

 for a convenient communication with Norwich, Lynn might prove a 

 competitor for the Norwich traffic with Yarmouth. 



We have now to allude to another great and important field for 

 competition, the communication between London and York. Several 

 parties have started distinct lines, of which one is the Cambridge, 

 Lincoln and York, capital £2,500,000. This proposes to carry out 

 the original Northern and Eastern line between Cambridge and York, 

 but with a distinct line from Cambridge to London. The Great 

 Northern is to go by Hitchin, Biggleswade, St. Neots, Huntingdon, 

 Stamford, Grantham, Newark, Gainsborough, and Doncaster to South 

 Milford on the York and North Midland Railway, and having a junc- 

 tion with the Sheffield and Manchester Railway. Another route, the 

 Direct York line, follows much the same route, but a little more to the 

 west in its Southern parts. A coast line is also promoted. A fierce 

 opposition to any line in this direction is to be expected from the 

 London and Birmingham and Great Midland interest, and strong sup- 

 port from the local parties, who are not disposed any longer to be de- 

 prived of the benefits of direct railway communication. 



The East Midland district is very extensively traversed with pro- 

 jected lines. One line, and an excellent one, taken up by the Midland 

 Counties, is Mr. Laxton's old line from Nottingham to Newark and 

 Lincoln. This opens a communication for Lincolnshire with Leicester, 

 Derby, Birmingham, and the West and South of England. The capital 

 proposed is £350,000, and the length of line 33 miles. From Lincoln 

 a line is projected to Boston, its southern shipping port, and to Gains- 

 borough, on the Trent, its northern port, and now carrying on a thriving 

 and extending trade. A line from Lincoln, Gainsborough, and Don- 

 caster to Wakefield, is the subject of much controversy. The capital 

 proposed is £750,000, the length of line 54 miles. From Lincoln to 

 the South shore of the Humber, opposite Hull, a line is also contem- 

 plated, and which would form an easier communication with that port 

 from most parts of the country. 



The Sheffield and Chesterfield Railway was projected as a direct 

 route from Sheffield to the South, and as a competitor with the North 

 Midland, and under an enlightened system of legislation will be author- 

 ised as a great benefit to the public. The Barnsley and Peniston 

 Junction was proposed also by the Sheffield and Manchester Railway 



Company as a shorter route from Manchester to Barnsley, Leeds and 

 York, and must in the end be carried. 



The Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal is one of the 

 plans for making usi- of existing lines of canal, and would prove a 

 serious competitor with the Manchester and Leeds Railway. The 

 capital proposed is £000,000, and arrangements have been made with 

 the Canal proprietors. 



The Leeds, Bradford and Halifax line has been proposed as afford- 

 ing a shorter route between Manchester and Leeds than is at present 

 afforded, and will, we hope, ultimately be carried into effect. The 

 length is nine miles ; the capital proposed £300,000. We should 

 observe, however, there are two competitors for this line. 



The Leeds and Thirsk line is proposed as a means of saving a con- 

 siderable distance between Leeds and the North, and is vehemently 

 opposed by the York and North Midland parties. 



Several lines are projected from the up country to Goole; and 

 something of the kind is essential to allow this rising port effectually 

 to compete with Hull. The interests however of the Don Navigation 

 are in the way. 



The Harrogate and Knaresborough line is a short branch from the 

 York and North Midland. The capital proposed is £140,000, ana 

 the length of line 10 miles. 



The York and Scarborough line, joining the Whitby and Pickering, 

 is one of the favourite plans of Mr. George Hudson, on which he has 

 guaranteed 10 per cent. It proceeds from York to Pickering and 

 Scarborough, and will undoubtedly prove a valuable line. 



With regard to Ireland a good movement is going on there. The 

 completion of the railway communication between Dublin and Belfast 

 by way of Drogheda, may be considered as secure. A branch from 

 Drogheda to Kells is proposed, and a line from Dublin to the North 

 West through Kells. The Great Leinster and Munster, from Dublin 

 to Kilkenny, is being revived, and a line called the Dublin and Cashel 

 seems likely to be pushed on. A line from Dublin to Mullingar, one 

 from Portadown to Monaghan, and another from Carlow to Wexford, 

 are also projected. 



TtEVIE-wa. 



Architectural Biography : — News Allgemeines Kunsller Lexicon, von 

 Dr. G. K. Nagler, I— XIV. Band. Miinchen 1835—44. 



At first sight, this work appears to be one of great labour and in- 

 dustry, and is certainly very far more comprehensive in plan than any 

 other we are acquainted with, inasmuch as it gives the artists of all 

 ages and all countries, living ones included. When, however, we 

 come to put it to the test by examining and consulting it, we very 

 soon discover that performance by no means keeps pace with pro- 

 mise, and that it is little better than a mere omniiim-gatherum, very 

 slovenly executed, without any sort of judgment, discrimination or 

 diligence ; wearisomely diffuse and prolix where compression would 

 have been desirable, the very same information having been given 

 over and over again in other works; and provokingly unsatisfactory 

 and meagre where information is most of all desirable. 



As we can best estimate this extensive Biographical Dictionary by 

 its architectural articles, and as those are likely to have most interest 

 for our readers, we shall chiefly touch upon that department of the 

 work. In every department there are a number of exceedingly ob- 

 scure names — such as will hardly ever be searched for by any one, or 

 if they should be, will, when found, be discovered to be mere names, 

 it being in many instances honestly confessed that nothing whatever is 

 known of the individuals themselves; or else we are told that they 

 are "said to have been," or are "supposed to have been," so and so. 

 Surely then that would have been an all-sufficient reason for not en- 

 cumbering with them a publication which has swelled out so enor- 

 mously beyond the limits at first assigned to it, that instead of being 

 completed as was promised in six volumes, the first Lieferung of the 

 fourteenth does uot reach to the end of the letter R.! 



Yet although, it would seem, omission was on no account to be 

 thought of, although — provided it could be got at all — no name, how- 

 ever utterly insignificant and null, was to be passed over, omissions 

 there have been after all, and many of them — for they are not a few — ■ 

 are most startling and incomprehensible ones. It does seem quite incre- 

 dible that while Dr. Nagler has literally opened the door of his Tem- 

 ple of Fame to so many of the oi iroAAoi, hoi polloi — the ragtail and 

 bobtail among the followers of art, he should have slammed it to, in 

 the face of one whose name would be a passport into more select 

 company than he would here have found, for as we have already, 



