( 246 ) [April, 



6. ENGINEERING— CIVIL AND MECHANICAL. 



Thz winter season is not generally the busiest time amongst members 

 of the engineering profession ; works already commenced are 

 course, not permitted to remain at a standstill, bnt few new works 

 are commenced nntil the spring. Mechanical engineers generally 

 are now beginnin _ more busy, after rather a long period of 



_ j-ation : locomotive engineers especially have plenty of work 

 before them, and others are perhaps more or less occupied in con- 

 nection with the forthcoming Paris Exhibition. 



The bills before Parliament do not exhibit any Tery great 

 activity on the part of engineers, there being only ninety-six for 

 railways, whereof sixty-one for new fines I which are of 



any great length : and eighty- three for miscellaneous works. 



Am::^: the many important railway works at present in pro- 

 gress, may be mentioned the Great Eastern Metro] jlitan Exten- 

 sion, and the East London Railway ~ d M3e End 01 

 and Liverpool Street. Between these points, the two lines will 

 lollow the same course, only at different levels : the East London 

 being below the surface of the ground, and the Great Eastern above 

 it. thus necessitating the construction of a combined viaduct and 



red way. The former line will also make use of the Thames 

 Tunnel, and will serve a very important purpose in connecting 

 the lines north and south of the Thames to the East of London 

 Bridie Fiur-nrths oi the length of the Metropolitan and Bt 

 John's Wood line has now been completed, and it is expected that it 

 will be opened early in the autumn of the present year. On- : : 

 the bills before Parliament is for the reintroduction of omnibus rail- 

 ways into London : there can be no doubt that such an addition to 

 the present means of communication would be most acceptable, but 

 whether it will prove more successful than the similar attempt 

 made a few years back by Mr. Train, remains to be proved. In 

 Liverpool also, an effort, supported by the Town Council, is being 

 made in the same direction. 



The works on the Great Northern Railway, between Bone 

 and Gainsborough, were expected to have been completed by the 

 let March : on the opening of this line the whole of the ::;-._ traffic 

 between Boncaster and London will pass over it via Lincoln and 

 Peterborough. The Stonehouse and Nailsworth branch of the [Mid- 

 land Railway was opened in February last. The opening of the 

 Salisbury and Dc met Railway took place on the 27th Beeernber : and 



?xtenfflon to connect the Neath and Brecon line with the Brecon 



