1854.] 



THE KEPORT ON RAILWAYS FOR 1853. 



10.3 



lord keeping a clerk to elicck the produce, -wliicli is also tested 

 by the receipts from the mines at the railways aud canals. 



It would appear that the most improved methods of working 

 coal practised in this country are also adopted at the great coal 

 mines of Pennsylvania. The descent is often by shafts, with 

 an inclination of 55°. Thej' have, as with us, a subterraneous 

 road, called the highway, to which the coal is brought by 

 branches, and it is raised by the methods which we adopt. — 

 The price of the anthracite is SGJ in Ihikdel] his.src^iTil in 

 New York, per ton of 2000 lbs. ; but wages are rising at the 

 collieries, and labourers, who three j'ears ago only received 

 from STaC. to 81, are now paid from SI to §li per day. 



Great quantities of the coal of this region are carried by the 

 railway from Pottsville, through Reading, to Philadelphia, 

 generally known as the Reading Railway. Much English 

 capital is invested in this company, and as it is believed that 

 the present floating debt will be absorbed by the profits in 

 about a year, the stock has recently advanced from 31 to 36J-. 

 The details respecting a railway almost entirely dependent for 

 its prosperity on its coal trafiic are curious. Its working stock 

 consists of 105 locomotive steam-engines; general freight ears, 

 684; passengers' cars, 40; coal cars, 4792. The receipts 

 from the road, in 1853, were 82,688,283, of which passengers 

 contributed 8225,783 ; merchandise, 8180,612 ; and coal, no 

 less than 82,254,694 — a state of traffic contrasting strangely 

 with the railway returns of England. We are assured that 

 recently no fewer than 2500 cars, each containing 45 tons, 

 were in one day sent down the road from Pottsville and 

 Schuylkill Haven to Philadelphia, Richmond. The present 

 freight to Philadelphia is 82,5- per ton, and the receipts are 

 frequently 820,000 per day. 



Railways in America necessarily possess vast advantages 

 over canals for the carriage of coal, railways being open and in 

 action all the year, while canals are closed by ice all the winter. 

 and as the coal railways of the American Union promise well, 

 we are glad to learn that a large proportion of their stock and 

 bonds is held in England. The Reading Railway has been the 

 cause of converting the upper part of the city of Philadelphia, 

 called Richmond, into an American Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 

 and a fleet of coal vessels is now to be constantly seen lying 

 there. 



The canals communicating with the Penn.sylvania coal field 

 appear to be also highly prosperous, and the details which we 

 have thus in a condensed form presented to our readers, must 

 satisfy them that, however great and rapid the general advance 

 of the United States has been, the singular increase, within a 

 limited and defined period, of the anthracite coal trade, is 

 probably the most striking ard remarkable feature which it 

 presents to our consideration.- Mlninrj Journal. 



The Report on Railways for 1853. 



BY CAPTAIN GALTON, R.E. 



The length of new lines of railway sanctioned by the legisla- 

 ture in the United Kingdom during the year 1853, was" 940 

 miles, which amount is very considerably greater than that 

 sanctioned during any year .since 1847. Of this amount 589 

 miles were in England, 80 miles in Scotland, and 271 miles in 

 Ireland. 



Among the most important of the new lines in England ap- 

 pear to be the following, viz : — A line from Strood to Canter 



buiy, by which the communication by railway along the south 

 bank of the Ihames will be rendered continuous a's far as the 

 North Foreland. The Portsmouth railway by which a direct 

 communication will be aftorded between Portsmouth and the 

 metropolis. An extension of the ilidland railway from Leices- 

 ter to Plitchin on the Great Northern Railway, by which a 

 second line of communication will be aflorded from the Mid- 

 land districts to the metropolis, and the Worcester and Here- 

 ford Railway, by which a more direct road will be opened 

 between the Midland Counties and South Wales. 



In Ireland the most important line would appear to be the 

 Londonderry and Coleraiue Railway, by which a direct route 

 will be aflorded between Belfast and Londonderry; and the 

 Londonderry, Coleraine, and Sligo Railway, which will aflbrd 

 a direct railway communication from Sligo to LondondeiTy and 

 to Lublin. 



The total length of railway which has been authorised by 

 Parliament to the end 1853 is 12,688 miles. Of this number 

 of miles 7686 have been opened for traffic, leaving 5002 miles 

 to be completed ; but the compulsory powers of 2838 miles 

 have expired without being exercised, or the railways being 

 opened to the end of 1853. The length of railways for the 

 construction of which Parliamentary power exists is 2164 

 miles. The length of railway opened previously to December 

 1843, was 2036 miles. The length opened in the year 1844 

 was 204 miles ; in 1846, 296 m"iles ; in 1846, 606 miles ; in 

 1837, 803 miles; in 1848, 1182 miles; in 1849, 869 miles; 

 in 1850, 625 miles; in 1851, 269 miles; in 1852, 446 miles; 

 in 1853, 350 miles ; making the total length then opened 7686 

 miles; of which 5848 miles are in England, 995 in Scotland, 

 and 843 miles in Ireland. The length of narrow guaae rail- 

 way, including the Irish guage of Si'feet, is 6965 miks, of 

 the broad guage 626 miles, and of the mixed guage 95 miles. 

 The number of railway companies having single lines of railway 

 at the end of 1853 was 97, the length of single narrow gauge 

 lines, including the Irish gauge, 1543 miles, of broad gauge, 

 112 miles, and of mixed guage 53 miles — total, 1708 mile's ; 

 of which 1135 miles of single Hne are in England, 132 miles 

 in Scotland, and 441 miles in Ireland. 



Of the single lines opened at the end of the year 1852, 32 

 miles 46 chains in England, and 41 miles 76 chains in Ireland, 

 have been made double during the year 1853. 



The total length of new lines which were opened during the 

 year 1853 amounted to 350 mdes. 



Of the lines opened in England, the principal ones are — the 

 Oxford, Worcester, and 'S\'olverhauipton railway Irom Wolver- 

 cot to Evesham, by which the manufacturing districts near 

 Birmingham, the town of Worcester, and the' important agri- 

 cultural districts between Worcester and Oxford are accommo- 

 dated with a direct route to London ; the Newport, Aber"a- 

 venny, and Hereford Railway, by which _ direct route'" is 

 afiForded from Birkenhead to South Wales; and the Thiisk 

 and JIalton, and Malton and Driflield Railways, by which 

 railway comnmuication is afforded to an important district in 

 Yorkshire. 



In Scotland the only line of importance opened for traffic 

 was the Deeside Railway. In Ireland the most important 

 lines are the Watcrford and Kilkenny, and Waterfbrd and 

 Limerick Railways, by which AVaterford has been connected 

 with the Irish railway system ; and the railway from Killarney 

 to the Great Southern and Western Railway. 

 - All these lines of railway were inspected, previous to being 



I 



