iiiS 



TUE 13RITISH ISLES. 



Xortli British, and the Caledonian, which have bought up many of the smaller 

 concerns and increased their revenues, though not always with a due consideration 

 for the interests of the public. On an average the net revenue of the railway 

 companies amounts to about one-half of the gross receipts. English railway 

 engineers have not been called upon to surmount elevated mountain ranges, but 

 they have thrown bold viaducts across river estuaries and arms of the sea, and 

 constructed tunnels beneath houses and rivers. The cost of carrying some of the 



Fig. 231.— Valenti.v and its Telegraph Cahles. 

 Scale 1 : 225,000. 



"^ 



='"^vLenioB Rock 



/ ..' — ; Lit. 



■•.^Siellij Rock 



•» Roc» 



W. of G. 



lines throuo-h populous towns has in many instances been prodigious. The number 

 of railway accidents is unfortunately very considerable, a circumstance due in a 

 laro-e measure to the frequency of the trains and the speed at which they 

 travel.* 



* Eailwav statistics for 1879 : — Length of lines, 17,696 miles ; capital (including loans), £717,003,469 ; 

 ^Toss receipts, £61,776,703; working expenses, £32,04.5,273; net earnings, 4-14 per cent.; passengers 

 conveyed, 680.000,000. Eollmg stock : — 13,174 engines, 39,877 coaches, 381,246 waggons. Accidents : — 

 1,074 persons killed, 5,827 persons injured (including railway employés), 154 collisions. 



