628 



ENGLAND. 



3. Railroads. There is an immense number of railroads in England, bnt most of them 

 are short, not exceeding 6 or 8 miles in length, and serving merely for the .transportation of 

 coal, &c., from the mines, or quarries. The first emplo3'ment of this species of road, on a 

 public thoroughfare, for the transportation of passengers and merchandise, was in the Stockton 

 and Darlington Railroad in the county of Durham, finished in 1825 ; and locomotive steam- 

 engines were not successfully used instead of horse-power until several years later. The 

 J^ewcasth and Carlisle Railroad crosses the island fi'om sea to sea ; it is Gl miles in length, 

 exclusive of several branches. The Liverpool and Manchester Railroad is 30 miles in 

 length, exclusive of the great tunnels at the Liverpool end ; these are excavations in great 

 part through solid rock, through which the road passes. The JManchesler and Sheffield Rail- 

 road is a continuation of the above, and connects it with the Crouiford and Peak Forest 

 Railway, which passes over the Peak of Derbyshire. The Manchester and Leeds Railroad 

 is a northern continuation of the ^Manchester and Liverpool Railway, and is itself connected 

 with the eastern coast by the road from Leeds to Selby. A railroad is now in progress 

 from Liverpool and Birmingham to London, a distance of upwards of 200 miles. The East- 

 ern Counties Railroad from London, the JVestern Railroad i'vom London to Biistol, the 

 London and Southampton Railroad, &c., are also in progress. 



The Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, beginning at Liverpool, enters an open cutting 22 



feet deep, with 4 lines of railway, 

 and leading to the mouth of the Great 

 Tunnel, which is 22 feet wide and 

 16 high. The sides are perpendicu- 

 lar for 5 feet above the floor, and 

 surmounted by a semicircular arch. 

 This tunnel is cut through strata 

 of red rock, blue slate, and clay, 

 and is 6,750 feet, or above a mile 

 and a quarter, in length. The 

 whole extent of this vast cavern is 

 lighted with gas, and the sides and 

 roof are whitewashed, to give a 

 greater effect to the illumination. 



The road in the tunnel curves 

 and begins a gentle ascent toward 

 the east. At ihis extremity, the 

 road emerges into a wide area, 40 

 feet below the surface of the ground, cut 

 out of the solid rock, and surmounted on 

 every side by walls and battlements. From 

 this area, there returns a smaller tunnel 

 towards Liverpool. Proceeding eastward 

 from the area the traveler finds him- 

 self upon the open road to Manchester, 

 moving upon a perfect level, the road 

 slightly curved, clean, dry, free from ob- 

 struction, and the rails firmly fixed upon 

 massive blocks of stone. After some time 

 it descends almost imperceptibly, and 

 passes through a deep marl cutting, under 

 large stone archways thrown across the ex- 

 cavation. Beyond this, the road passes 

 through the great rock excavation of Olive 

 Mount, a narrow ravine 70 feet deep, with 

 little more space than suffices for two trains 

 of carriages to pass each other. 



After leaving this, it approaches the great 

 Roby embankment, stretching across a val- 

 ley 2 miles in width, and varying from 15 

 to 45 feet in height. Here the traveler 



Great Tunnet. 



.Grcnt Rocii Ercnvafwn of Ohve Movnt. 



