1843.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



(53 



ing it round and squire, the front of it, that is, the space which remains in 

 the triangle, which was hefore undefended, was by San Micbeli provided 

 against. 



In this example of San Micheli's style, the Palazzo Pompei at Ve- 

 rona, the basement is the best part of the composition, for the order 

 is too small in proportion to the rest, and the openings on the prin- 

 cipal floor as much too large, at least as windows, for the piers be- 

 tween them must be most inconveniently narrow within. It is rather 

 singular, that while he was upon the subject of Italian architecture, 

 Mr. Guilt should not have alluded to the recent introduction of the 

 palaszo style, in this country. As an example of it, he gives the 

 facade of ihe Palazzo Pandoltini at Florence, strongly recommending 

 that and the Palazzo Farnese, to the " elaborate study of the young 

 architect," but without informing him, that by going into Pall Mall, 

 he would perceive what use had been made both of the one and the 

 other, by Mr. Barry, in the two adjoining club houses — the Travellers 

 and the Reform. Though neither copies nor even imitations— in the 

 ordinary meaning of the term, they are evidently borrowed from those 

 prototypes, which in point of mere taste, are there improved upon 

 and refined. The Reform Club House has been spoken of, by some, 

 as being a direct copy of the Farnese; with what justice or judgment, 

 may be seen from the above representation of the latter, which though 

 too small to do more than afford an idea of the general composition, 

 shows the manner in which the entrance and window on each side 

 of it are squeezed together, produces anything but an agreeable 

 effect; while the centre window above, exceptionable in character 

 at the best, is, so introduced as to constitute a striking blemish in the 

 ■whole design. 



We must now take leave of Mr. Gwilt's work, which we should 

 have been happy to have been able to speak of in less qualified 

 terms of approbation. It contains a great deal of valuable, but not 

 so much fresh matter as it might have done ; but it also contains 

 many opinions which we should be the last to support, and which are 

 not likely to gain ground with the public, at the present day. We 

 cannot, however, conclude, without expressing our high approbation 

 of the spirited manner with which the publishers have got up the 

 work, both in the typography and illustrations ; the latter are beauti- 

 fully executed as wood, or may be seen by the above specimens, 

 which we have been permitted to select from the work. 



Ensamples of Railway making; which, although not of English prac- 

 tice, are submitted, with Practical Illimrations to the Civil Engineer, 

 and ihe British and Irish public. London : Architectural Library, 

 59, High Holborn. 



The great disparity between the cost of railways in this country 

 and that of similar works in America, is worthy at the present time of 

 giving rise to some important considerations. Whilst on this side of 

 the Atlantic, our main lines of railway have been constructed of ma- 

 terials extremely durable, in a manner remarkable for strength and 

 solidity, and according to a standard of excellence with respect to 

 gradients, which far surpasses any thing that has been attempted 

 under like circumstances in other countries, the policy of absorbing 

 such vast sums of money as have been required to effect all this is at 

 least open to controversy. Hitherto every thing has been done in 

 accordance with our national character, and never has that spirit of 

 energy and industry which marks the Briton under every varying cir- 

 cumstance of time and distance, been more proudly exhibited than in 

 the bold and ardent expedition with which the surface of his country 

 was chequered by a net work of great commercial highways, con- 

 structed in almost every respect on principles the very antipodes of 

 those which have guided other nations in their imitation of the same 

 spirit. Seizing at once upon the experimental fact, that the friction 

 of iron wheels upon iron roads is incomparably smaller than upon roads 

 of stone, and connecting this with the no less certain truth, that re- 

 sistance to motion is made up of friction and gravitv, the English 

 engineer conceived the grand idea of almost annihilating gravity by 

 reducing the track of the railway to nearly a perfect level. It was 

 demonstrable that the same absolute power which could impel a given 

 weight on a common road at 10 miles an hour, would, on a level rail- 

 way, impel five times that weight at treble the velocity, and it was 

 further unquestionable that an inclination greater than I in 224 would 

 at least double the power required to effect this, and thus diminish 

 the superiority of the railway by one half. If a horizontal railway be 

 compared with a horizontal common road, the superiority of the 

 former over the latter is as 15 to 1 ; but if a railway inclining 1 in 30 

 be compared with a common road also inclining 1 in 30, its superiority 



in this case is only as U to 1. Following out the principle of which 

 these are illustrations, it is no less obvious now than it was in the ori- 

 gin of railways, that the more nearly the planes of a railway approach 

 to a level, the more superiority will they present over the common 

 road. It was this principle which demanded in the name alike, of 

 science and of commerce, that in the track of the railway every moun- 

 tain should be brought low, and every valley should be rilled up : it 

 was this which caused the transport of vast masses of earth from the 

 higher to the lower parts of the country, which forced the deep exca- 

 vation, reared the lofty embankment, bored the yawning tunic 

 dealt with all the most solid materials of earth, as il they hail been 

 the playthings of a baby's doll-house, instead of fabrics which require 

 to be encountered by the sinews of hosts and the wealth ol nations. 



For, acting on principles which appeared to.be sani tioned by every 

 maxim of wisdom and experience, who can blame, with any >how of 

 reason, the engineers of this country, to whom the world is so much 

 indebted, ],o less in the early origin, than during tin' steady progress 

 of railway engineering. Fifteen years ago, when railway sciem 

 in its infancy, no voice was raised in opposition to the principle of 

 almost horizontal gradients, and the necessity for those gigantic works 

 which this principle demanded was as heartily acquiesced in by di- 

 rectors, by shareholders, and by the whole public, as by the engineers 

 themselves. Nay, had it been otherwise — had the engineers stood 

 alone in support of their principle — had the public voice been against 

 them — and had the public press branded their projects as extravagant 

 and wasteful, we are amongst the number of those who contend that 

 they would still have done right to maintain their principle, and we 

 should have applauded and admired them the more for carrying, in 

 the first instance, a superior degree of excellence into those works 

 which were destined to furnish an example to the whole civilized 

 world. We confidently appeal to any competent judge, who, tho- 

 roughly understanding the mechanical and political distinctions be- 

 tween the railway and the common road, shall fairly and dispassionately 

 review the circumstances of this country, whether we should have 

 done well or wisely to adopt a less horizontal succession of planes for 

 those main lines which are probably destined to endure for ages, as 

 the great arteries through which commerce will ramify into a thou- 

 sand inferior channels all over the face of the country. While we 

 thus regard with great satisfaction the superior character with respect 

 to gradients which has been adopted for all the great railways of this 

 country, there is yet another element in their construction, which, 

 while it influences in no degree whatever the facilities for locomotion, 

 yet contrasts remarkably in point of expense with corresponding 

 works on the American lines. We shall readily be understood here 

 as referring to those costly bridges and viaducts of iron, brick and 

 stone, which have so enormously swelled the estimates for executing 

 our principal railways. To decide upon the kind of gradients to be 

 adopted for a given line of railway — a decision which regulates, more 

 than any thing else, the cost of its construction — required, in the first 

 instance, only a knowledge of simple principles, and in the absence of 

 that experience which later years have supplied with respect to the 

 comparative expense of working lines with steep and with level gra- 

 dients, our engineers acted in a spirit of perfectly sound wisdom, 

 when they laid the greatest practicable tax upon capital for the pur- 

 pose of enabling the nation to realize, in its full extent, the superior 

 advantages of railway transit. But in deciding on the style and cha- 

 racter of the attendant works, which are entirely independent of the 

 surface of the railway, the question assumes a purely commercial 

 aspect, and may be thus stated: Suppose a line of railway with the 

 most complete 'and substantial works of masonry, to have cost, say, 

 one million of money, and suppose the same line could have been 

 constructed with a more perishable class of works, as tor instance, 

 bridges and viaducts of timber, at an expense of half this sum, which 

 kind of work is it most judicious to adopt, having regard to the cir- 

 cumstance, that after the lapse of a certain number of years the con- 

 structions of timber will require to be renewed, whilst those of ma- 

 sonry would require onlv very trifling repairs. Suppose in the former 

 case, where the railway had cost a million sterling, the interest de- 

 rived from the expended capital would amount to i per cent per an- 

 num. It is clear that in the latter case, where the line only cost half 

 a million, the interest derivable on the capifal would be 10 per cent. 

 Now supposing 5 per cent of this to be set aside as a reserved fund, 

 would the works of timber last so long a time as not to require 

 restoration, until the reserved fund had sufficiently accumulated to 

 effect this restoration? This is the grand point which should de- 

 cide between the adoption of timber, or a more expensu e and durable 

 material for the architectural works of railways. We are not here 

 to be understood, for one moment, as contending that any such pro- 

 portion, as that which has been assumed, exists between the cost > f a 

 railway with stone bridges and viaducts and one iu which their works 



