18-15.1 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



239 



BefoK the Great Western Railwav was ronstrurted, (lie departure 

 from unifurmity of the g.iiige cf Ei'glisli raihviiys aitr.icltd llie deepest 

 and most careful altentk'n of enpineers and otlu-rs interested in cx- 

 amiiiiiig tlie question. Inqnirics were instiliit'-d, experiments intide, 

 long and eUdjorate reports were written, and all to sitile wlieilier the 



Great West<'rn was to have the 



■ gangH 



I. titer lines. I5iit the 



public look.d on coldly: they had not ytt snff.'red any inconvenience 

 from the change, h'om however we have Farlianientaty Debates, 

 Royd Commissions, leading articles in newspapers, pamiilth ts and 

 public meetings to discuss the subject. Th-- question assiitues the 

 technicalities of partizanship. "Broad Gauge" and "Narrow Giiige" 

 might be mistaken for the war-cries, and the " Bailie of the Gang, s," 

 for the conflict of two hosts. We are now hotly determined on rtme- 

 dying the evil: alas! we did not think much about pnrtnling it. 

 John Bull never sees anv thing till it is thriisl under his nose. 



Among the various di'sseitations to whi<h the present excitement 

 has given birth, not the least important is the pamphlet before us. 

 Mr. Wyndham Hatdtng has under his control the British and (ilou- 

 cester kailwav, a broad gauge line ; he has also had the management 

 of narrow-gauge railways. In listening to him we are therefore listen- 

 ing to one who brings practical experience as a powerful support of 

 his arguments. He tells us also, what the tenor of his memoir con- 

 firms, that he examines the question impartially and has not "the 

 slightest personal interest in the decision of the queslioti, either as it 

 may affect the extension of any particular gauge or the success or 

 failure of any particular railway company." After giving a descrip- 

 tion of the dirterent gauges, he proceeds to consiiler the arguiiunt 

 brought forward when the broad gauge was proposed by Mr. Brunei, 

 that the Gnat Western Railway would not lie connected with any 

 Other, and that the company were therefore at liberty to choose what 

 gauge they pleased. In answer to this Mr. Harding observes — 



The completed or projected brandies of the Great Western railway itsplf — 

 which was expected, as we have seen, to have no eonneclion with any ntlier 

 existing line — now join it to most of the other main lines in the country. 

 For instance : — 



To the Grand Junction, and to the projected Shrewslmry and Birmintthani 

 railways at Wolverhampton. To the Grand Junction, London and liirming- 

 ham, and Midland railways, at Birmingham. To the London and Birming- 

 ham, the Midland, and the proposed Trent Valley and Churnet Valley Lines, 

 at Kughy. To the London and Birmingham railway again, at Warwick. To 

 the Birmingham and Gloucester railway, at Cheltenham and Worcester. To 

 the South- Western railway, at Basingstoke and Salisbury. To the projected 

 Dorchester and Southampton railway, at Dorchester. To the proposed 

 Welsh Midland Line, at Hereford and Swansea. To the Bristol and Glou- 

 cester Line, with which it is already connected, at Bristol and Stonehouse.* 



And if the Great Western railway, with its broad gauge hranclns, does not 

 go to these lines, they with their narrow gauge branches will come to the 

 Great Western. Thus connecting by railway almost every county and town 

 in the kingdom with every other. 



And in answer to the argument that the peculiarity of the Great 

 Western gauge had no direct tendency to exclude the eni;ines of other 

 companies from running i n that line, because, in fact, each company 

 used only its own engines and carriages, it is remarked — 



It is a well-known fact to all who are conversant with the working of the 

 narrow gauge railways, that the carrying stoik of all narrow gauge lines are 

 used very much in common by the dilferent companies ; that carriages and 

 wagons, the property of one company, are sent over other companies' lines 

 according to the distinction of the passengers or goods with which they are 

 laden ; thus you may continually find Darlington and Hull wagons at Glou- 

 cester, and the reverse. 



To facilitate this interchange, there is a central office, called the Railway 

 Clearing-llou e, established in London, to which daily returns from the sta- 

 tions in the narrow gauge district are made, and each company is there 

 charged for the use it has made of the carrying stock of the neighbouring 

 lines. 



Mr. Harding then proceeds to consider whether mechanical contri- 

 ■vances could be successfully introduced by which carriages could be 

 shifted from one gauge to another. 



The present railways are generally well furnished with carriages and wagons i 

 so well, indeed, as usually to be able to work branch lines of considerable 

 length, without additional carrying stock ;t their aggregate stock is of great 

 value; but unless the existing lines of the broad and narrow gauge will con- 

 sent to destroy their present stork, and to build in lieu ot it the newly con- 

 trived stock capable of running on both gauges, no contrivance of this class 

 will remove the diihculties of a change of gauge. I'or if, comparatively, only 

 a few of the new vehicles are introduced, they will be scattered throughout 

 the country, and not available when wanted for the purpose for which they 



* AH these are narrow gauges, with the exception of the last, which is a br.i«d paii^e 

 line ai present ; hut its propriet-iis have iinnouuced their desire and attention of obtaining 

 powers to convert it Into a na-row gunge line. 



t Cairying stock implies carriages, wagous, horse-boxes, &c., and their accessaries. 



are intended J and the contrivance will thus fail to affect its ohcct, of re- 

 niedying the evil of a change of conveyance. To make this clear : Take the 

 case of the general gnnds trade ;* the arrangement we are cnnsiilering in- 

 volves the keeping np throughnut the country of three distinct descriptions 

 of wagons ; namely, the ordinary narrow gauge, the ordinary broad gauge 

 wagon, and the new aii<l peculiarly cnnstrui ted wagon, capable of running 

 on both gauges, to be used exclusively for traffic, going beyond the point of 

 meeting of the gauges, and therefore having to pass over lines of both 

 gauges; these wagons we will call, for the sake of distinction, "shifting 

 v»agon8 ; and we will call traffic wbieb has to go over lines of both gauges, 

 and consequently to pass the point of a change of gauge, "through traffic:" 

 — a ton ot wonl, for instance, going from Bristol to Birniinghani, and having 

 to pass the point of meeting of the gauges at Gloucester, would be " thorough 

 tratfic." 



Now in practice it would he found that " through goods" would come to a 

 station at times when the new " shifting wagons" were not tliere ; at another 

 time the new " shifting wagons" would be there when tliere were DO 

 " through goods" to be conveyed. 



Here however, tliough we do not speak decisively, it seems to us at 

 present that the agreement is defective. The principal disadvantage 

 in passing from one gauge to another is the delay not to goods trains, 

 but passenger trains, and it seems to ns by no means certain that this 

 dilhculty could not be overcome. Wilhout incurring the expense of 

 chinging one or both the gauges. It is v.ell known that on a long line 

 the engine is generally changed abciut everv fifty miles. The engine 

 which takes a train from London to Wolverton will be there rcfjl.tced 

 by another which continues the joiirnev to Birmingham. In the same 

 way the engine is changed at .Swindon, while the passengers from 

 LoudcMi to Bristol arc slopping for refresliments. Now supposing at 

 the meeting of the two gauges a "refreshment station" exists 

 where in a7iij C'lse the engine would be clianged, it does seem to mat- 

 ter that that engine should be one adapted to a new gauge. The pas« 

 sengers v\ill have left their seats in the carriages, and it will be of 

 small consequence to theni whether they step back into their former 

 carriages or ( thers of dilferent width, nor would there be any more 

 delay bv this process than bv the present, where the engine only is 

 changed.t The comparatively small quantity of goods which the pas- 

 sengers bring could surely be packed in receptacles which by a crane 

 could be shifted from a broad gauge truck to a narrow one in a few 

 seconds. And surely there would be no difficulty, and ceri.iinly little 

 expense in providing each through train with such a truck and such 

 a receptacle for the passengers Inggige. To be sure, as Mr. Harding 

 pathetically observes, the passengers must shift their "accompani- 

 ments in the shape of hats, great coats, cloaks, shawls, sticks, um- 

 brellas, small parcels, &c.," but then it may possibly have been ob- 

 served by Mr. Harding, that when a man gets out at a station he usually 

 takes his hat with him; his great coat also not unfrequeiitly. The 

 ladies also whom we li.ive had the honour of meeting it) the refresh- 

 ment rooms of a station, have usually worn their shawls, and if a 

 fidgetty old genllem.in mill encumber himself with his sac de nuit, in- 

 stead of having it securely packed away for him, he ought to think it 

 no great hardship to take it from one carriage to another. 



With respect however to goods trains, things need not be done in 

 such a hurry : ten minutes more or less is of little moment in the 

 transit of merchandise; the principal matter here is regulariiy of 

 transit; and we may fairly liope that with a little system and experi- 

 ence this point would be perfectly attained. 



Mr. Wyndham considers the impediments to the rapid transit of 

 troops, which a change of gauge would cause; he says — 



Take for instance the case of an invading army suddenly landing in force 

 on the coast of Norfolk; it becomes of the last importance to bring troops 

 and materiel from the South of Ireland, (where a large force has always been 

 stationed,) and we will assume that the termini of the metropolitan railways 

 are connected by railway, as they shortly will be. The troops and stores are 

 conveyed from Watertord to London, (say in twenty-fours) ; on arriving in 

 London, instead of being carried on to the place required in two hours more, 

 every thing has to be shifted into other vehicles — a process which would oc- 

 cupy, even a single division, a space of time, to say the least of it, much 

 greater than would be sufficient with a uniform gauge, to place the troops 

 on the spot when they were required. 



His instance is however not a happy one, for the removal of troops 

 from /rt/u«6/ to England would be comparatively little facilitated by 

 the most perfect uniformity of gauge. With an intervening sea, it 

 little matters that the Irish gauge should be the same as the English. 



Another consideration is that even when lines for through traffic 



* The terms " poods trade" and " goods" Include merchanrllse of every description, a< 

 distinguished from passengers aiut parcels; cattle and pigs are included among the arti- 

 cles or the " goods 'rade," e cept where the conuary is expressed. 



t At the station the new carnages might he br. ught alongside to the same places where 

 the loimer carriages stopped, by laying parallel rails in the neighbourhood of the statlOD, 

 so thai the line should have " both ' the broad and narrow gauge. 



