136 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[April, 



of different weights and different velocities are well known, but the alsoMe 

 force everted ly am, body in mo/ion striking another lody, as a pile, com- 

 ■pared with a weight in a quiescent state, is well worthy of investigation ; 

 though it mav lie doubted if the one can ever become the standard of 

 mea'^urement for the other. Any of your readers having time and oppor- 

 tunity to investigate this subject, would confer a benefit of great practical 



^'^'"^" I remain, Mr. Editor, 



Yours very truly, 

 Jan. 19,1842. S. C. II. 



[We reserve our remarks on the above communications until next month. 

 — Editor.] 



MR. VIGNOLES' LECTURES ON CIVIL ENGINEERING, AT THE 



LONDON UNIVERSITY COLLEGE. 



( Concluded from page 98.^ 



L\ the ensuing lectures he should endeavour to illiislrate the following 

 points-lst. The principles on which railways should he laid out under 

 various circumstances of traffic, and topographical feature. 2nd. The com- 

 parison of different systems of inclinations or gradients. 3rd. The analysis 

 of the advantages of various breadths or gauges. 4lh. The illustration of 

 the difhirent modes of forming the raihvay proper, or upper works. 5th. The 

 investigation and explanation of the great works of construction, as pecu- 

 liarly found e-Npedient in forming railways. 6th. The practice of framing 

 estimates, and the necessary details connected therewith. 7th. The consider- 

 ation of the various modes of working railways by animal and by mechanical 

 power, locomotive and stationary. 8lh. The inquiry into the working e.\- 

 penses and annual charge on railways ; and, concluding with a summary 

 lecture, in which the general features of the course will be given, and drawing 

 such prominent inferences as might be most useful and interesting. The 

 other branches of internal communication, as well as the various and 

 numerous subjects connected with the theory and practice of a civil engineer, 

 must be taken up on other occasions. Reserving, then, the elucidation of the 

 details under the several preceding heads for the class room, he would pro- 

 ceed to make a few general remarks. Of these, the most prominent and most 

 important, in his judgment, and most to be impressed upon the mind of those 

 about to enter the profession of a civil engineer, was that connected with the 

 great excess of actual expenditure in the construction of railways over esti- 

 mates, for not only has that unfortunate, and almost invariable occurrence 

 brought discredit on e;:ch concern so alTected, but it has paralysed, and will 



long" continue to paralyse, the most honest and well-grounded schemes for 



long LUlUWll^*'^ t^ J'tli n._J ov,, ...^ ... - tj 



further internal communication in general, and of all improvements, the cost 

 of which is dependent on the engineer ; and though each case ought to be 

 tried and judged on its own merits, the public confidence appears gone, and 

 the capitalist observes with a sneer, •• You engineers are all alike ; we can 

 trust none of you." Now, without .shrinking from his own individual share 

 of the odium thus cast upon the profession, as far as it may truly be deserved, 

 the Professor denied the general and sweeping imputation, and he called on 

 the directors of public companies, injustice to themselves, to their subscribers, 

 to their onn engineers, and to the public in general, to publish such details 

 as would exonerate his profession, and leave it charged with no more than 

 what was attributable to it. He called upon his brother engineers to 

 follow this out, by furnishing their quota of information. Let the public in 

 general know tliese details as matters of railway statistics of the highest 

 interest — let the profession know them as matters of precedent of the most 

 valuable kind— and let the capitalist be undeceived as to his present impres- 

 sions i-f mistioist. Quite independent of any financial difficulties— quite 

 independent of any standing orders or regulations of Parliament — a man 

 might as well cry "mad dog" as talk of a new railway speculation, or a 

 water-work, or, indeed, any public undertaking, where the function of profits 

 is a certain known quantity, but dependent on estimates which are considered 

 visionary, because " all engineers are alike in this respect." Let, then, the 

 young engineer mark well the bitter lesson the olaest engineers arc now learn. 



ing let them cause [the must assiduous inquiry into the details — the most 



unremitting toil in gathering information— storing their minds, exercising 

 their memories, practising their hand, and working out their calculations- 

 jit them remember that by working drawings, by models, and by every 

 (1 priori means of unceasing investigation, they must " first and truly calcu- 

 late the cost" of what in future life they may be called upon to undertake. 

 If the matter be ever so trifling, they must not shrink from the truth, or 

 attempt to disguise it from themselves, still less from their employers. Let 

 them never have it said of them that they had whispered amongst themselves. 

 •• Oh ! it will never do to tell the directors what the work will cost, or it will 

 never be entered upon"— a remark uhich he had heard fall from an eminent 



engineer ; nor let them indulge in the vain hope of future fame, by taking as 

 their text the observation atiributed to another engineer of the very highest, 

 and well-deserved, reputation-" A century hence there wdl be no one who 

 will ask what this work cost, they will only inquire who did it. 



He be-'cd to repeat, then, what he stated at his first introductory lecture, 

 that theTonstant ma.xim the young, as well as the old. engineer should keep 

 before him is-" That the success of an engineer in this country ot private 

 enterprises and individual exertions, depends not upon the beauty or the cost 

 of his constructions, or as mere works of art, but on their success as profit- 

 able and mercantile speculatioitB." They must not suppose this to be an 

 ignoble maxim; it must be followed out to its true results, and tlien they 

 would find that prudence, caution, economy, judgment, and the highest intel- 

 lectual gratification follow closely in its train ; for, to apply the words ot 

 Mr Booth, the intelligent secretary of the Liverpool and Mancdiester Rail- 

 wav. and one ot the fathers of the modern railway system-'' The contem- 

 plation of what is passing in England (alluding to the first cost of railways,) 

 must not be without its lesson, for, in all countries, and under all circum- 

 stances, it is an object worthy of a statesman, to prevent the reckless waste 

 of the national means, and to give a right direction to the public expendi- 

 ture ■' And shall it be said that it is not equally worthy of an engineer . 

 What are the aggregate subscriptions of associated and incorporated bodies 

 of individuals but great portions of the " national means, ' which should not 

 be wasted bv the statesman or by the engineer? What are the monies 

 invested in railways but a part, and, in the United Kingdom, a most impor- 

 tant part, of the " public expenditure ?" And is it not at once the duty, as 

 it ought to be the pride, of an engineer, to give that expenditure a "right 

 direction '-■" Let the maxim he had laid down be duly followed out, and that 

 duty would be accomplished. The learned Professor continued, by stating 

 that, even at the risk of having motives attributed which he should be 

 unworthy of public or private estimation if he entertained for a moment, he 

 would call the attention of the student to an instance of great expenditure 

 on railways. The perfect completion in the manner contemplated of the 

 internal communication bv railway from London to the Sussex coast, a dis- 

 tance of httle more than fifty miles, will amount, in the aggregate, to nearly 

 four millions sterling. Is not that a reckless waste of the national means? 

 Is that a right direction of public expenditure ? Will not the public, in some 

 way or other, pay for ihat?-the subscriber or the traveller, or both;' io 

 quote the words of an intelligent and exp.rienced raihvay man-" W ith such 

 results before us, Mould it not be almost criminal not to endeavour to secure 

 the advantages of a better sv.stem?" The average cost of the railw.ays in 

 England has been very nearly £30,000 per mile. The cost ol future lines 

 must not be more than one-half of that sum, or it may be considered that 

 there is an end to the extension of the railway system. The Professor stated 

 that it wou'd be his attempt to explain, in the course of his lectures, his ideas, 

 that such a reduction in the expense might easily be made, and he would show 

 that they were founded upon practical experience. Tlie profession would be 

 •rreatly aided, and the public vastly benefitted, if the railway companies and 

 Uieir engineers would publish the detailed accounts he had asked for, to serve 

 as a beacon, for which all would be very grateful; and it was his deliberate 

 opinion and recommendation, that if they would not do so, Parliament 

 ought to give the railway department of the Koard of Trade powers to 

 enforce such returns. 



The total amount of capital invested in the railway speculations ot Ibis 

 country is probably little short of £.50,000,000, and the total extent of lines 

 about 1700 miles— most of which are now completed. This m.ay be said to 

 be the creation of the last fifteen years. The total length of navigable canals 

 in Great Britain is nearly 2500 miles ; they were chiefly formed in the last 

 40 years of the preceding century. The capital invested in this branch was 

 about £20,000,000. with an annual expense of about 50/. per mile. In addition 

 to canals, there are about 1500 miles of navigable rivers. Tbe turnpike- 

 roads of England and Wales are stated, in official returns, to be nearly 

 20.000 miles in extent, executed at an expen.se of at least £20,000,000, and 

 maintained at an expense of about £1.750,000 per annum, and all formed 

 within little more than a century, exclusive of other highways, in length 

 about 100,000 miles, with an annual expense of 12/. or 13/. per mile, or 75/. 

 per mile for maintenance. The extent of executed railways in the United 

 States of America appears to be about 4000 miles, executed within the last 

 fifteen years, at a cost of about £8,000,000, or about £5000 per mile ; most of 

 them are single lines, and it is stated that the average net income has been 

 about 5 per cent, per annum. Tlie extent of railways in Belgium is now 

 about 200 miles, executed at a cost of rather more than £1,500,000, or about 

 £8000 per mile ; most of these are single lines, and have all been executed 

 within the last ten years. 



The average annual expense of maintaining the railways of England 

 (exclusive, of course, of moving power, c irrying and managing establish- 

 ments, &c.) appears to be from £200 to £300 per mile per double way ; but 

 on the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, where the system of longitudina 

 timbers for the upper works has been completely carried out, the same heads 

 of cipense are now reduced to less than 50/. per mile per.annura, « ith a loco- 



