IS-15.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



317 



it Btands now I am making the calculation; therefore the whole cost of 

 working the locomotive line as it stands now, is less then the bare interest 

 of monev upon the atmosplicric. 



" You' have stated that if the Midland Railway had originally been intended 

 to he worked by atmospheric traction, a great saving might have been made 

 in the construction account ; can you give any estimate of what that would 

 have been ? — It is exceedingly difficult ; I made an attempt the otlicr day to 

 remodel the London and Cirmingham line, supposing I had to arrange that 

 cgain rfe nopo for the atmosplieiic system, but I found that it would ocupy 

 more time ihan I had to spare to make a model of that kind for 20 miles, in 

 order to compare it with the exprnse of the line as it stands now; hut there 

 are a few considerations which will satisfy the Committee. 1 think that a 

 very large reduction is not to he expected ; though you may diminish the 

 cuttings and embank nionls very materially, a large proportion of the bridges 

 must remain ; some of Ihem will be augmented in expense, and some will be 

 diminished ; for instance, all the river bridges must remain pretty much the 

 same, except that they may not he so high ; all the bridges over canals, and 

 over most of the turnpike roads; in fact, the greater nunil)er of the bridges 

 must remain the same. Hut in order to show in few words that the reduc- 

 tion could not have been so very large if the cuttings and embankments were 

 entirely taken nlftbe Birmingbani ; supposing there were none at all, which 

 could not be the case with the atmospheric, they only cost from 7,000/. to 

 8,000/. a mile; that is, supposing the surface of the country to be absolutely 

 level, and that therefore the cuttings and embankments were entirely can- 

 celled, the deduction would not be very much more than the additional co^t 

 of the atmospheric in the carrying establishment, and that is the case that I 

 made out in my report : I assumed that the London and Hirmingbam line 

 might have been made for 8,000/. a mile, and I am confident that I assumed 

 that figure in favour of the atmospheric rather than against it." 



(Tn In- 



,;!.) 



AMALGAMATION AND LE.A.SING OF RAILWAYS. 



The multiplicity of phins and projects to prevent and promote 

 competition and combination, by the advocates of either side, and the 

 present complex nature of the arrangements of the dilTerent Railway 

 Companies as Ihey at present exist, induced nie, for my own Informa- 

 tion, lo compile from the various documents within uiy reach the fol- 

 lowing remarks on the subject of the heading of this paper, and I send 

 it to your valuable Journal as a continuation of my former Notes. 

 We have now the declared opinion of Parli.iment and their organ the 

 Board of Trade, as also that of the recent experience of the different 

 companies, learnt in their late arduous contests in the Session of Par- 

 liament now closed, and declared by their different chairmen at the 

 lialf-yearly meetings. The Chairman of the Dirmingliam Company 

 stati s that "Experience had hitherto been entirely against the hypo- 

 thesis of competition, for in all large undertakings an increased num- 

 ber of companies had uniformly led to combination and an increased 

 scale of charges." The Chairman of the Croydon states that " it is 

 likely the companies will combine with advantage to themselves and 

 to the public." The evidence of other parties who were examined 

 before the Select Committee of the House of Commons is equally 

 conclusive in fivour of the hypothesis that companies would not com- 

 pete, but come to an arrangement, and that by economy of manage- 

 ment and avoidance of ruinous competition, and that by vigilant cimi- 

 trol, the public may get their share of the benefit, and the railway 

 system be extended into rural districts by the extension of lines al- 

 ready in existence. The Board of T'ade in their Report dated May 

 7, 1S44, under the term Annlgamalion Bills include "all applications 

 to Parliament for poweis either to con.solidale the stocks of two or 

 more independent railway companies, or to authorise the purchase or 

 leasing of one railway hy the proprietors of another, or in any other 

 way lo transfer the control and management of a railway from the 

 hands of the company to whom it was originally intrusted by Parlia- 

 ment to those of i'nother c<jmpany constituted for different purposes ;" 

 and report in favour of the lease to the Midland of the united com- 

 panies of Bitmingliam and Gloucester and Bristol and Gloucester, and 

 in f.ivour of the union of the Sheffield and Rotheili.im with the Mid- 

 land, also in favour of the union between Niirtli Shields and Newcastle 

 and Berwick, and the union of the Whitbv and Pickering with the 

 York and North Midl.ind. The Board of Trade report against several 

 other intended amalgamations, and amongst others the amalgamation 

 of the Bolton anil Leigh, Kenyon and Leigh Junction, North Union, 

 Liverpool and Manchester, and Grand Junction Companies, which has 

 however obtained the sanction of Parliament, as also the union of the 

 .St. Helen's Canal and Railway.* 



• In the Session of lS4.'i »n Act h->b pajsed callod "A niU to rcsliict the poivers of 

 Selling r.r Leasing Hallways loiitiiined in certain Acts of Parliament relating lo such 

 llailiv.jys," in nhich It is required to have a distir.ct prnvis on in some Act of Pari a- 



ThefoUoning have ceased to exist as independent Lines. 



Ashton, Stuleyljridge and Liverpool Jnnc- Leeds au-J Selby 



Leicester and Sivannington 

 Liverpool ,inrl MunchMler 

 Lowestoft Ka Inay 

 UTanchesfer M<dton and Hury 

 Kluncbester, Bury and Hosseu late 

 Midland Countie4 

 IMonk and and Kirkintilloch 

 Northern and Eastern 

 North MIdlan.! 

 Norih Shields 

 Nonvich and Brandon 

 Northern Union llullivay. 



til 

 Aylesbnry 

 I*nllochney 



Hirmingham and Gloucester 

 Ulackhnrn, Bnrnley and Accringlon and 



Colne Kxtension 

 niackburn and Preston 

 llollon and Leigh 

 Iliillon and Preston 

 Hrandling Junction 

 liriBtol and Gloucester 

 Canterluiry and Whitstable 

 Chester and Crewe 

 Cruvduii and Epsom 

 Durham Juncth n 

 KdiiiburKh and Dalkeith 



; \V< 



1 Un 



North I'l 



Shellielil and Itotherhani 



Slaniannan 



Stanhope and Tync 



Wrsl London 



Wiiilhy ond rickering 



Varnionth and Norwich 



Pri'viously to the Session of 181-1 the Eitiltrn Counties leased in 

 pirpeluity ilie Northern and Eastern line at a certain rent, with ;i 

 patiicipation in profits if they exceed the amount fixed as rent ; this 

 arrangement took pliee Jan. 1, IS-ll. The Yuik and North jMidUiud 

 purchased the Leeds and Silby Nov. 17, IS13, and have since pur- 

 chased (he Whitby and Pickering for their Scarboro Branch at a fixed 

 sum. The JMancltisitr and Lctds bought the Ashton, St.deybridge 

 and Liverpool Junction, whose Act received the royal assent July 19, 

 1S15. The Bolton and Preston line amalgamated with the North 

 Union in the Session of 1813, and the latter line Nov. 9, 1841, amal- 

 gamated with the Livtrpool and Manchsttr, which last line iiad pre- 

 viously purchased the Bolton, Kenyon and Leigh Railway, and is now 

 itself uniting with the Grand Junction Railway, which latter line in 

 Ib'lO had bought the Chester and Crewe line. 



The Lancaster and Carlisle (69J miles) have purchased in fee 

 the Lancaster and Preston (20 miles 18 chains) at 5 per cent, on 



nient specifying the Railway to be leased, sold, or transferred, and the party bv whom 

 such may be accepted. And on ihe lOth Jidy, ISI.'i, by a Minute of the Lords' of the 

 Connniltee of Privy Council for Trade, the Uuilway Department was reconstituted, and 

 now the Railway business is lo be managed by the l.vrds of the Privy Council In the same 

 manner as the urdiintry business, and no reports are lo be prepure'l for Parliament, but 

 copies of the plans ond a wrilten descr ptiun of the course of an Intended railway, as also 

 a sketch on an Ordnance map are t(> be ('eposited with the Hoard as heretofore, and the 

 Board will report to Parliament, if they see ht, any unusual departure from ordinary cus- 

 tom, witliout presuming an opinion on the actual or comparative merit ol any radway 

 sclieme, and will publish tlieir intention of preparation of any minute In the (iazette for 

 the In^brniutlon of those whom it may concern. Hyareturn to an order ot the Commons, 

 dated Aug. 4, 1845, of the Railway Bills and projects, classitied in tlieir groups, which 

 have been considered by the committees to whom they were referred, 1 find 2ii projects 

 unsupported, 23 rejected, 'A dropped, 81 withdrawn, 3 considered, 10 postponed, 14 lost on 

 standing orders, 13(J recommended. Both Houses of Parliament have made provision for 

 the Bills before the ditferent Committees to lake up their present state of forwardness at 

 the point they are now at in the Session of lti4'i, but it is considered of little advantage to 

 the ditferent schemes. 



The result of the decisions of the Committees of the House of Commons as compared 

 with the now defunct department of the Board of Trade Is, that 16 were decidedly against 

 their recommendation, 3 with them, and 4 partly f.>r and partly against. The lines in 

 which the two bodies ogree are the Belfast and Ballymera. the Monmouth and Hereford, 

 and the South Wales; and those in which they partially agree o e the Dublin and Bel- 

 fast Junction, the Leeds and West Riding, the Newry and Ennlskillen, and the Liverpool 

 and Manchester. Tile general Atts of Parliament referring to railways are — Aug. 14, 

 IS.'W, "An Act to provide for the Conveyance of the Mails by Railway" ;" Aug. 10, IS4U, 

 " An Act for Regulating Railways ;" Ju y 31.1, 1842, " An Act for the better Regulation of 

 Railways, and for the conveyance of troops;" Aug.!*, 1644, "An Act lo attach certain 

 Conditions to the Construction of future Railways authorised or to be autllorlsed by any 

 Act of the present or succeeding Session of Parliament, and for other purposes in relation 

 to Railways;" Sept. 5, 1844, "An Act for the Registration, Incorporation, and Regula- 

 tion of Joint Stock Companies;" Sept. 5, 1844, "An Act for Facilitating the Winding-up 

 the Affairs of Joint Slock Companies unable to meet their Pecuniary Engagements." The 

 dales ot the Reports of the Select Committee aie— First, April 2C, 18.IU; Second, Aug. 9, 

 18:)!<; Third, May, 1840; Fourth, July, 181(1; Filth, July II), 1844; Sixth, July 22. 1844. 



The lines of 1843 and 1844 were more or less competing and injurious lo existing in- 

 terests, and the Select Committee on competing lines excluded from the Coniinitlees on 

 hallways all local and inuividual intertsts, and the Board of Trade expressed a decided 

 opinion against amalgamations and branch extensions that might impede new and iegili- 

 mate enlerprises, so that the present feeling, as in the case of the London and Vork, is 

 decidedly more in favour of new companies than inclined to vested interests. 



The lirst Act of Combination was the sale of the Chester and Crewe, in 1840, to the 

 Grand Junction Railway; and nothing intervened until in Oct. S.'i, 184;<. the Kastern 

 Counties leaseil in per|)etuity the Northern and Eastern, so that the extensive combina- 

 tion has been the rapid work of only 18 months ; and the Hu son Bay Company's ti st 

 work was the purchase of the Leeds and ^elby lor the Vork and North iMIdland, Nov. 17, 

 18J3. The dilferent forms under which it has been accomplished are-direct iiurchase 

 for a fixed amount; leasing in perpetuity ut a fixed rent and participation of protils; 

 leasing for a fixed period, terminable at the option of either party on notice at certain 

 periods, with a fluctuating rent depending on the increase of Ihe weekly receipts ; leasing 

 on a fixed amount and participation in prolit up to a certain per lentage, wi'h t'le opl*on 

 of purchase when the amount arrives at the fixed percentage; lease in perpetuity with 

 option of purchase at a fixed period at a certain amount; amalgamalion of interests with 

 the foregoing, any profit for a fixed period ond an unequal per centage on the receipts ; 

 a consolidation of inteiesls with instant admission into stock at a certain depreciated per 

 centage ; a consolidation of interests by the creation of stock witll a guarantee! dividend . 

 for a fixed period without participation of profits; leasing for a linrited period at an In. 

 creasing rent, increasing at tixed periods at dilfer. ut per centage on :be gross receipts. 

 In the enumeration of the dales of the Reports of the Select Committees. I have omitted 

 those for UaiUvays In Ire'and. a|ipoinled October 18.ill, reappointed November 1837; 

 '" rclil8.'7; Si'cond, Nov. 1838; also the Report of the Committee 

 London, Edinburgh and Glasgow; as also Copt. Alderson's Be- 

 es, ami the appointment of a Royal Commission on the Gauges, 



