104 



ON AN IBIPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTUKE OP IRON AND STEEL. 



[1854. 



opened for traffic, by officers of the Railway department of the 

 Board of Trade, who required the opening to be postponed in 

 twenty-eight instances. The total number of inspections 

 which were required to be performed by the officers amounted 

 to fifty-eight. 



Of the railways opened during 1853, twenty-five portions of 

 railway, representing a total length of 298 miles, consisted of 

 single line open at the end of 1853, viz., 1708 miles, was 

 between one-fourth or one-fifth the whole amount of railway 

 open. It is to be observed that the length of single line open 

 at the end of 1852 was 1485 miles, and at the end of 1851, 

 1807 miles. A single line of railway cannot be worked with 

 safety except under special regulations, so framed as to prevent 

 the possibility of engines or trains moving in opposite direc- 

 tions, from meeting on the single line ; such regulations are, 

 however, inconsistent with a large amount of traffic. In all 

 cases of single lines opened during 1853, the regulations re- 

 quired generally either that the trains should be worked by 

 means of one engine moving backwards and forwards over the 

 line, or over particular portions of it; or that some jjartioular 

 man should be appointed to accompany the trains moving over 

 the portions of single line. And in cases where the electric 

 telegraph is in use, the regulations required were, that the 

 persons employed to start trains should be distinctly respon- 

 sible for ascertaining, before starting the trains, that the line is 

 clear so far as the next station. 



The amount of capital invested in railways at the end of 

 18.52 was £264,165,680, of which £161,400,256 consisted of 

 ordinary capital, £38,700,655 of preference capital, and 

 £64,064,668 of loans. The amount of capital raised for 

 railway purposes in 1849, was £29,574,720 ; in 1850, 

 £10,522,967 ; in 1851, £7,970,151 ; and in 18.52, £16,398,993 ; 

 thus increasing the amount invested in railways at the end of 

 1849 from £229,747,778 to £264,165,680 at the end of 1852. 

 The amount of money which was raised by railway companies 

 during 1853 has not yet been returned to Parliament; but it 

 may be assumed not to have been less than that raised during 

 1852, and it is therefore probable that the whole sum raised 

 by railway companies to the end of 1853 is not less than 

 £281,000,000, of which about £42,000,000 may be assumed 

 to have been preferential capital, and nearly £70,000,000 

 would appear to have been borrowed on the security of the 

 undertakings. 



The number of miles of railway in course of construction 

 on the 30th of June, 1853, was 682 miles, and the number of 

 men employed on them was 37,764. The number of miles 

 open for traffic at that date was 6512, and the number of men 

 employed, 80,409. The number of men employed on railways 

 open for traffic was 9-5 per mile in 1852, and 10-7 per mile in 

 1853. 



The total number of passengers conveyed on railways in the 

 United Kingdom in the year 1853 amounted to 102,286,660; 

 the number in 1852 had been 89,135,729. The total receipts 

 from all .sources of traffic amounted in 1853 to £18,035,879, 

 and in 1852, to £15,710,554. 



The receipts from goods have increased from £4,750,504 in 

 1849, to £8,112,477 in 18.53, being an increase of from £1090 

 per mile, in 1849, to £1415 per mile, in 1853 ; and whilst the 

 receipts from passengers in 1849 were larger than the receipts 

 from goods in the proportion of 53-42 to 46-48, in 1853 the 

 contrary was the case, viz., the per centage of the passenger 

 traffic was 47-45, and of the goods traffic 52-55. 



In Scotland the progress of traffic on railways has been 

 similar. The mean length of railway open curing the year has 

 increased from 795.5 miles open in 1849, to 987 miles open in 

 1853. The number of passengers conveyed in 1849 amounted 

 to 7,902,228, and in 1853 to 10,999,224, which represents 

 9993 per mile in 1849, against 11,246 per mile in 1853. The 

 relative number of passengers of each class conveyed would 

 appear to have slightly varied, the number of first and third-, 

 class passengers having increased, and the number of second- 

 class passengers having diminished, the number in 1849 being 

 720 first-class passengers per mile, 2035 second class passen- 

 gers per mile, and 6997 third-class passengers per mile, 

 against 1107 fii'st-class, 1971 second-class, 8165 third-class 

 passengers per mile in 1853. The receipts from passengers 

 having increased from £540,778 to £697,712; or from £680 

 per mile, in 1849, to £713 per mile in 1853; and the 

 proportion of receipts from each class conveyed having been 

 in 1849, £149 per mile for first-class, £196 per mile for 

 second-class, and £331 per mile from third class passengers, 

 against £181 per mile from first-class, £179 per mile from 

 second-class, and £345 per mile from third-class passengers in 

 1853. 



It woirld, therefore, appear that in Scotland the third-class 

 traffic preponderates considerably both as regards numbers and 

 receipts. There is also in the Scotch lines a preponderance 

 in the receipts from goods traffic over the receipts from pas- 

 senger traffic. 



The amount received from goods in 1849 was £650,640, 

 and in 1853 it was 1,068,016, representing £818 per mile in 

 1849, against £1075 per mile in 1853. The relative propor- 

 tions of the two descriptions of traffic were, in 1849, passenger 

 traffic 45-38, and goods traffic 54-62 ; and in 1853 the receipts 

 from goods traffic amounted to 60-48 per cent, of the whole, 

 traffic. 



The mean length of railway opened in Irelan d in the year 

 1849 was 428 miles, and in the year 1853 it was 771 mUes. 



The total number of passengers conveyed in 1849 amounted 

 to 6,059,947, or 14,142 per mile ; and in 1853 it amounted to 

 7,074,475, or 9175 per mile. 



The receipts from goods are also largely increasing, and they 

 bear every year an increasing proportion to passenger traffic. 



With respect to accidents, it appears that in 1852, 217 per- 

 sons were killed, and 486 injured on the railways in the United 

 Kingdom out of a gross total of 89,135,729 passengers; of 

 these persons 181 were killed and 413 were injured in Eng- 

 land ; 24 were killed and 71 injured in Scotland ; and 11 were 

 killed and 2 injured in Ireland. In the year 1853, out of a 

 gross total of 102,286,660 passengers conveyed by the railways 

 of the United Kingdom, 305 were killed, and 449 injured; 

 of these 243 were killed and 369 injured in England ; 37 were 

 killed and 68 injured in Scotland ; and 25 were killed and 

 12 injured in Ireland. 



Oa an Improvement in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel. 



BY M. AUGUST LAUGEL, PAEIS.* 



Scientific revolutions are always caused by the discovery of 

 some entirely new principle ; industrial ones by a new and 

 happy application of principles long known, but from which all 

 the results have not yet been obtained. 



* From the " Jom-nal of the Franklin Institute." 



