1845. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



305 



worth, Coventrv, Birmingham and Trent Valley Junction is composed 

 of the late Leicester ;ind Birmingham and Leicester anil Tamworth ; 

 the Northumberland and Lanc;ishire Junction is composed of the late 

 Newcastle, Durham and Lancashire, and Manchester, Liverpool and 

 Great North of England Union, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and 

 Direct Glasgow Junction are amalgamated or composed of the lute 

 Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hawick, Edinburgh and Glasgow Junction, and 

 Newcastle and Carlisle and North Tyne Junction; the Cheltenham, 

 Oxford and Brighton Junction amalgamated with the Cheltenham and 

 Oxford; the Scottish Western and Scottish Grand Jiwiction have 

 c<>alesced, the former to receive lUs. per share premium, or option of 

 remaining in the united company; the Glamorgan Central, late Daf- 

 fryii, Llysar and Port Cawl unite with the South Wales. 



In reference to the position of the established companies previous 

 to the year 1640, when the tirst act of combination took place bv the 

 gale of the Chester and Crewe line to the Grand Junction, it is to 

 be observed, that they were content with arrangement of a less per- 

 manent character, which simply consisted of two classes, viz., toll- 

 paying and toll-receiving; the latter was adopted by the Grand Junc- 

 tion, London and Croydon, Manchester and Birmingham, North Union, 

 and Bolton and Preston, and the former by the London and Brighton, 

 London and Crovdon, Manchester and Leeds, Manchester and Bir- 

 mingham, Slieflieid and Manchester, and South Eastern. These ar- 

 rangements continue in practice yet, and are in my opinion much pre- 

 ferable for the public and tlie shareholders than the present extensive 

 fever fur amalgamation, and issues of new stock for the benefit of the 

 directors and large capitalists, at the expense of the small holders. I 

 have no doubt but that the inhabitants of Caledonia have shown their 

 nsual caution in entering into arrangements less permanent than 

 amalgamation. In the case of the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston 

 Direct, the Glasgow and Greenock work the line, and the Glasgow, 

 Kilmarnock and Ardrossan are to pay toll. 



The position of the railways at present has been compared to the 

 Houses of York and Lancaster, in the battles of the Red and White 

 Roses, and indeed there may be said to exist only two companies, the 

 East and West Coast Lines. The capital expended on lines open is 

 70,327,2()4/., and south of the parallel of London we have the South 

 Western, 95 miles, 4,853,000/.; South Eastern, 92 miles, 9,000,000/. 

 nearly; London and Brighton, 41 miles, 3,000,000/. nearly; North of 

 London, the London and Birmingham, 370 miles, 144,000,000/.; the 

 Great Western, 95 miles, 5,000,000/. ; Eastern Counties, 130 miles, 

 6,000,000/.; Midland, 403 miles, 101,000,000/.; the Manchester and 

 Leeds, 704 miles, 3,000,000/.; the Sheffield and Manchester, 40^ 

 miles, li,000,000/., and the residue is made up from the following, 

 Chester and Birkenhead, Stockton and Darlington, Newcastle and 

 Carlisle, Maryport and Carlisle, Lancaster and Carlisle, Preston and 

 Wyre, Norfolk, Taff Vale, Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock and Ayr, 

 Edinburgh and Glasgow, Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock, Dundee and 

 Arbroath, Arbroath and Forfar, Dublin and Kingston, Ulster, Dublin 

 and Drogheda. 



The following old lines may be said to be oot of the market for 

 speculation, being guaranteed dividends by other lines, Northern and 

 Eastern (London and Greenwich); Bristtil and Exeter ; Bristol and 

 Birmingham; Great North of England ; Hull and Selby; Lancaster 

 and Preston. There is another class of line to which the old con- 

 tribute a portion of the capital, the Lancaster and CarUsle; Cale- 

 donian; Trent Valley; Manchester and Buxton; Manchester, Bury, 

 and Rossendale: South Devon; Chester and Holyhead; Newcastle 

 and Berwick. As to the effect produced by the ne.w lines of 1S45, 

 it has only drawn the old combination into closer alliance. The 

 territory of the South Eastern is apportioned, the Great Western and 

 South Western have their limits assigned. The Midland and the 

 Wancliester and Leeds have agreed to au armed neutrality. The 

 Great London and Liverpool, with a capital paid up of 15,000,000/. 

 yearly, has been formed out of discordant elements. The pugnacious 

 Trunk Line (the Croydon) has been swallowed up in victory over its 

 more extensive neighbour the Brighton. Those changes have not 

 been effected without some instances of special injustice ; and the 

 chairman of the Eastern Counties says, "he was not afraid of the 

 ■monetary system of the country : money merely passed from hand to 

 hand ; but the system was one which tendetl to the ruin of the little 

 and exaltation of the great." What think you of this, after the cool 

 proposal for the abrogation of "The Eastern Counties Pekpetual 

 Five per cent. Stock ?" It is a great pity that no directors have as 

 yet moved for an equJl division of what was in hand, and allowed 

 tlie shareholders to seek their remedy, they (the directors) retreating 

 tlirough the loop-hole of resignation, or ceasing to be qualified, 

 having parted with their shares. Among the instances of injustice 

 that now occur to my mind are the Midland Counties 20/. shares, or 

 amalgamation with the North Midland being cut down to 2/. shares, 



after being guaranteed G per cent. But the " crowning mercy " of 

 Worcester field was the return of the deposit by the Birmingham 

 and Gloucester Railway, after a guarantee of 5 per cent. ; and wi> 

 niav exclaim with Shaksperc. "What's in a name?" when we find 

 this example really called "The Worcester Deviation Line." The 

 directors, on being remonstrated with, reply, "there was no alter- 

 native." Amongst the other means of annoyance to the small holders 

 of shares, are those with preference or guaranteed dividends on the 

 quarter shares in Tafi" Vale, 3 per cent stock. The Glasgow, Paisley, 

 and (treenock ; London and Croydon, thirds ; Midland, filths; Preston 

 and Wyre, halves; and the Clarence " Government preferential loan 

 shares." The above are a preference class of shares in each com- 

 pany. Those wherein the whole shares of a company are guaran- 

 teed bv another have been previously noticed. Another source of 

 annoyance is the consolidation of shares, after being issued into a 

 lower nominal amount, as in the London, Brighton and London, South 

 Western, and London and Croydon companies. In conclusion, one of 

 the effects of the great number of new companies of the session of 

 1845 is to cause the old companies to create shares with deferred 

 interest and deferred calls, as the Manchester and Birmingham, and 

 Manchester and Leeds, and Great Western, to issue shoals of scrip 

 for extension, as the South Eastern •2^9,000 in one lot. In f.ict, 

 policy, not honesty, is the present order, and what can a shareholder 

 do in an account of 15,000,000/, as ascertaining whether a dividend is 

 bond fide or not. The playing off directors or shareholders against 

 each other, as in the London and York case, is injurious to both, and 

 will probably end as did the fight of the famous Kilkenny cats. 



O. T. 



ATMOSPHERIC RAILWAYS. 



Sir — There is one part of the Evidence given before the Parliamentary 

 Committee on Atmospheric Railways, which I wish to notice ; I mean the 

 contradictory opinions of Dr. Robertson (710), and Mr. Stephenson (1588), 

 on the maximum velocity qusstion. Recent experiments seem to show 

 that a greater velocity than Mr. Stephenson expected has been obtained, 

 but of that I shall not at present say anything, I merely wish to show that 

 both Mr. Stephenson's evidence and Dr. Robinson's are partially true, in 

 respect to their theoretical views, and that Dr. Robinson is quite right in 

 his principles, but has led Mr. Stephenson wrong by taking a most un- 

 fortunate example. 



Let/be the accelerating force on the train of which the mass is M. 



P = lbe pressure of the atmosphere oo the area of the piston. 



p=the pressure of the air in the partially exhausted tube on the same 

 area. 



Ri=that part of tha resistance which is independent of velocity. 



Rj^that part of the resistance which does depend on velocity. 



The reason for this separation of the resistance into two parts will ap- 

 pear directly. 



Then we have M/=P — p— R, — Rj. 



When the velocity is a maximum M/=:0,and R^ is a constant, (bccaiifee 

 the velocity is constant), 



... P — R,_R,=p. 



And therefore p mnst be constant, or the gauge is stationary. 



Therefore when flte velocity is constant, the gauge in stationary. 



Mr. Stephenson says—" when the gauge is stationary, the relocily is 

 constant; but this, the converse of the preceding deduction, is not true; 

 and he was led into error by supposing the proposition to be convertible ; 

 for if p be constant, M/=P— ;) — R, — R^r; a constant — Rj, and here, 

 where Rj is a function of the velocity, we know that it by no means fol- 

 lows, as a necessary consequence, that the velocity is uniform — e. gr. 

 the equation of motion of a body falling in air is 

 d'2 



M 



Lf — f — ftf^ -i I or M/= a constant — K (velocity)* 



And in this case we know the motion is accelerated up to a certain point. 



Mr. Stephenson then is wrong in concluding from a stationary gauge 

 that the velocity of the train is at its maximum, though he was quite right 

 in expecting that when the velocity was maximum, the gauge would be 

 stationary ; it being evident that the gauge may be stationary when the 

 velocity is increasing — but it must be so when the velocity is greatest. 



Dr. Robinson staled what was perfectly true, but unfortunately took an 

 unpractical case, (he supposed ;)=0), and this Mr. Stephenson did not fail 

 to notice ; but if he had said — suppose the air in the tube to be kept con. 



