154 Railways and their Future Development. [April, 



Yet, why not? all venturers stand a risk. Certainly, mines 

 are more sporting investments, to say nothing of the won- 

 derful and fearful enterprises in unknown corners of the 

 American continent, into which the British public plunge 

 with a confidence worth} 7 a better cause. To these, at 

 least, there is a hope of some sort, remote though it be : the 

 story may be true — diamonds may be found in ant hills — 

 and a good round bonus be the occasional reward of the 

 speculator. But the unfortunate railway shareholder has 

 no such hope ; if, after years of earnest expectation, he 

 reaches the grand consummation, the summum bonum of five 

 per cent., he is thankful if not satisfied. 



Hence, few will embark in fresh railway enterprises 

 legitimately; and this being the case — as it undoubtedly is — 

 we may conclude the summit has been reached. It is true 

 the rivalries of contending companies will induce them to 

 support branch lines, but in themselves these branches are 

 suckers rather than feeders — justly regarded as necessary 

 evils — to be tolerated only where they cannot be avoided, 

 as Dr. Johnson said of notes in books. It is now just four 

 years ago since the Chairman of the London and Brighton 

 Railway Company told his proprietary, who had subscribed 

 four millions towards the construction of a number of 

 branches, that they might as well have used the bank-notes 

 to light their pipes with ; therefore, several important 

 authorised lines for which the land had been actually pur- 

 chased, and, indeed, the works partially completed, were 

 abandoned, to the chagrin of the districts they were intended 

 to serve. 



Various attempts have since been made, both in Sussex 

 and Kent, to revive these defunct undertakings, hitherto 

 without success, and as the system now stands, the failures 

 are likely to be repeated, and even success itself promises 

 a crop of financial burthen and disaster. 



There is a want of something different from what has 

 gone before, and several engineering gentlemen of eminence 

 have given us their ideas on the subject; the gauge question 

 has been revived by Mr. Fairlie ; Mr. Fell has brought out 

 the central rail invention, and others equally novel and in- 

 genious ; wire tramways, as they are called, have been built 

 for the conveyance of minerals, and suspended railways for 

 the conveyance of passengers on the tops of posts have been 

 proposed by one eminent advocate. Yet still no practical 

 progress has been made, and we find ourselves where we' 

 were when we began. 



Now, it is necessary to begin at the beginning, and to 



