Garnkirk and Glasgow Railway. 49 



discussion has been excited as to their ultimate success, which 

 has justly been looked upon as the test of the expediency of 

 forming others in various parts of the kingdom. 



Their success, however, having more than equalled the most 

 sanguine hopes of their proprietors, has satisfactorily demon- 

 strated, that such undertakings must not only ultimately prove 

 a safe and profitable investment for capital, but likewise be of 

 essential benefit to the empire. 



In the course of my enquiries on the subject of Railways in 

 England, I was naturally led to consider the extent of such un- 

 dertakings in this part of the island. These I find have, com- 

 paratively speaking, advanced but little ; the greatest works of 

 this description being situated in Lanarkshire, in the vicinity of 

 Glasgow, and in one of the richest mineral districts of Great 

 Britain. 



The public Railways constructed in this quarter are the 

 Garnkirk and Glasgow, the Monkland and Kirkintilloch, the 

 Ballochney and the Wishaw and Coltness, the last of which is 

 not yet finished. (Plate I.) 



Of all these undertakings, the Garnkirk and Glasgow rail- 

 way, both from the magnitude of the works connected with its 

 formation, and the superior manner in which it is constructed, 

 more particularly attracted my attention. 



The apparent object of this work was to form a communica- 

 tion with the Glasgow market, it being clear to every one, that 

 if coals could be sent for a distance of 17 miles (one-half of 

 which was by a railway conveyance, and the other by water) 

 with any chance of profit, both the proprietors and the public 

 ivould be gainers, if a railway conveyance could be got for the 

 whole distance. Besides this, the greater dispatch obtained by 

 shortening the distance one-half, and its being the means of 

 bringing into the market many new fields of coal and ironstone, 

 which, from the difficulty and expense of carriage, it was 

 thought a needless waste of money to attempt to work ; were 

 additional inducements to the promoters of the undertaking. 



From the inequalities of the face of the country through 

 which this line of railway has been carried, and from the well- 

 known maxims of engineering, that the least deviation from a 

 level line adds considerably to the difficulty of draught; and 



VOL. XIX. NO. XXXIX. JULY 1835. D 



