200 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[June, 



St. James's Street, at 660 feet from Piccadilly, is . 1 in 27 



Waterloo Place, ending at Piccadilly . . . . 1 „ 25 

 Haymarket, at 490 feet from ditto . . . . 1 „ 22 



Strand, opposite Northumberland House . . . 1 „ 33 



Charing Cross, from ditto towards Whitehall . . 1 „ 37 



Southampton Street, from the Strand . . . . 1 „ 19 

 Fleet Street, opposite Salisbury Court . . . . 1 ,, 42-a- 

 Ludgate Hill, ending at St. Paul's Churchyard . . 1 „ 25 

 Holborn Hill, varies from . . . 1 in 165 to 1 .. 23 



Skinner Street, varies from . . 1 in 24 to 1 „ 29 



Messrs. Barnard and Geary published a plan, in 1836, for carrying a via- 

 duct along the north side of Holborn Hill, between Hatton Garden and the 

 upper end of Snow Hill, removing the greater portion of the houses between 

 those points. The estimate of the expense was £350,000. 



In the Second Report of the Metropolitan Improvements Committee for 

 1838 appeared a plan by Mr. Pocock, consisting of a viaduct on the south 

 side of the hill, between St. Andrew's Court and Sea-coal Lane. 



Mr. Galloway's plan, in 1841, was to erect in the centre of the present 

 line of road a viaduct upon iron arches, between Hatton Garden and the 

 Saracen's Head Inn ; this viaduct was to be 30 feet wide, and used for horses 

 and carriages only, leaving the street below as at present, only \videning it 

 where requisite. 



Mr. Moon's plan, in 1841, was nearly similar to Mr. Tiu-ner's, only in- 

 sisting upon a greater width of road. 



Several propositions were also made for forming a new street either on 

 the north or south side of Holborn Hill ; among them are mentioned the 

 following plans : — 



Mr. Davey's, in 1833, which was to commence at Fox Court, in Gray's 

 Inn Lane, cross Saffron Hill, and proceed, in the form of a crescent, to meet 

 Skinner Street above Snow Hill. 



Mr. Whishaw's plan, in 1835, was to build a viaduct, commencing at the 

 end of Fetter Lane, to the north of New Street Square, thence across Far- 

 ringdon Market, which he proposed to render more convenient and airy, and 

 to terminate at the top of the Old Bailey, the roadway throughout being 

 perfectly level. 



Mr. Ross's plan resembled Mr. Whishaw's, but was less comprehensive, 

 and avoided Farringdon Market, the viaduct being still nearly level. 



These latter plans were laid out with a view of avoiding the existing tho- 

 roughfare, and the valuable property on Holborn Hill and Skinner Street. 

 The plans were collected by the author for the purpose of showing their 

 comparative merit and originality, and (as far as he was able) the dates. 

 The communication was illustrated by a series of drawings and lithographs 

 of almost all the schemes, with prospectuses of nearly all for reference. 



March 1. — The President in the Chair. 



" Description of the Permanent Way of the South-eastern Railway." By 

 John Pope, Grad'. Inst. C. E. 



This communication commences with a general description of the slopes of 

 the cuttings and the embankments of the line, and explains the mode of 

 ballasting and the quality of the materials employed. On either side of the 

 bank of ballast, and below the level of its bed, there is an open drain, 3 feet 

 in width, extending throughout the line, which ensures perfect drainage from 

 beneath the sleepers. The different works connected with the laying of the 

 rails are then successively noticed. The sleepers are placed transversely, and 

 differ in shape from any hitherto employed. They are of Baltic fir, and are 

 formed by a square balk being diagonally divided so as to cut out four tri- 

 angular sleepers, which are laid with the right angle C downwards, which 



Square balk divided to form four 

 sleepers. 



Triangular sleeper A, B, C, con- 

 trasted with a half balk. 



form (A B 0) has as much bearing surface as one of twice the cubic content 

 cut out as a half balk in the usual manner. The advantages arising from 

 this form in the economy of timber, the facility of packing, and the improved 

 drainage of the ballast in contact with the sleepers, are pointed out, and the 

 apparent disadvantage of tlie tendency to act as a wedge, is combated by 

 showing that the inclination of a right angle exceeds the limits within which 

 he principle of the wedge obtains. The chairs are of a peculiar form, de- 

 signed by the engineer to combine lightness with strength ; they are cast on 

 a plan invented and patented by Messrs. Ransome and May, of Ipswich, 

 whereby the inward inclination of the rails, instead of being made to depend 

 merely upon the rail layers (as is usually the case), is effected entirely by the 

 shape of the cavities of the chairs, which are all cast with peculiar accuracy. 



Elevation of Chair, showinsr the inclination of the Rail. 



The uniformity of inclination attained by this improvement greatly diminished 

 the lateral motion of the carriages, observed on almost aU other lines of raU- 

 way. The chairs are placed horizontally on the sleepers, and are fastened 

 down with trenails of oak compressed by the patent process of Messrs. Ran- 

 some and May.* The wedges employed to secure the rails in the chairs are 

 similarlv compressed. Details are then given of the rails, which are paralle., 

 with their upper and lower tables of equal breadth ; of the amount of com- 

 pression of the wedges and trenails, their dimensions, shapes, &c. 



The author concludes by stating, upon the authority of Mr. Barlow, the 

 resident engineer of that part of the line, that the passage of 70,000 tons of 

 ballast over several miles of the " permanent way " already completed, has 

 not rendered the shghtest repair necessary, although the weather has been 

 very unfavourable. 



The paper is accompanied bv a drawing showing the construction of the 

 permanent way, and it was illustrated by the exhibition of a pair of sleepers 

 with two pieces of the rails placed in the chairs, which were fixed down with 

 the compressed trenails, complete as on the railway ; aU the tools employed 

 in laying the permanent line ; and specimens of teak, oak, mahogany, horn- 

 beam, walnut, and other timber, compressed and cut so as to show the sub- 

 sequent form of the sap vessels. 



Intermediate Chair. 



Joint Chair. 

 End view. 



End view. 



Remarks. — In answer to questions as to the compressed fastenings, Mr. 

 May explained that the peculiarity of the system consisted in the fibre of the 

 timber being compressed equally from the circumference to the centre. The 

 pieces of wood for the wedges were cut out with parallel sides and forced by 

 hydraulic presses into tapering moulds ; whilst in those moulds they were 

 subjected to the action of heat applied through the medium of low pressure 

 steam, and after being allowed to cool, they were forced out of the moulds, 

 and so long as they were kept dry would retain their form ; but as the ope- 

 ration simply contracted the dimensions of the sap vessels without crushing 

 the fibre, the power of capillary attraction was not destroyed, and when 

 driven into the chair and exposed to moisture, they swelled so as to remain 

 perfectly tight. There was this difference between wedges so compressed 

 and all others ; that a true wedge was formed from a piece of wood cut 

 parallel on all sides, whilst all former modes that he was acquainted with 

 produced, not wedges, but parallel pieces. 



* Minutes of Proceedings,*1840, p. 84. 



