EARLY WESTERN RAILROADS. 
87 
engineer; Mr. Hugh Mackintosh, of London, contractor for 
forming the road; and Messrs. Bailey and Co., also of London, 
contractors for the ironwork. It being found necessary to continue 
the line from Crabtree to Sutton Pool, so as to obtain better 
shipping facilities, an Act was passed (July 8th, 1820) authorizing 
this extension, the estimate for which amounted to £7200. A 
further Act was obtained (July 2nd, 1821) authorizing certain 
deviations, including a tunnel at Leigham, the estimated ex- 
penditure for the tunnel and other extra works being £5000. 
The total estimate was by these means brought up to £39,983. 
The total length of line from Princetown to Sutton Pool is 
25 m. 2 qr. 6 ch., of which in 1826 over 23 miles had been 
completed. In this year the contractors, both for road and 
ironwork, were Messrs. Johnson and Brice, of London, and Mr. 
Roger Hopkins had succeeded Mr. Stuart as engineer. 1 
The tunnel at Leigham, in the twentieth mile from Princetown, ■ 
is 620 yards long, 9 ft. 6 in. high, 8 ft. 6 in. broad, and its 
greatest depth below ground is 109 feet. It has no lining, but 
is left as cut through the rock. 
The completed portion of the line was opened for public use 
on September 26th, 1823. I take the following description of the 
proceedings on that occasion from The Telegraph and Chronicle, 
under date Plymouth, Saturday, September 27th, 1823 : 
"Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway. — Our various readers, both 
local and distant, will learn with the sincerest pleasure that this 
great work, so long the object of our hopes and fears, and well 
designated by a worthy nobleman as the glory of the county, 
is now happily opeif for general trade. Yesterday was devoted 
to the celebration of the joyous event, and its festivities com- 
menced with a public breakfast, liberally given by Sir Thomas 
Tyrwhitt, the original projector of the undertaking, at his Wharf 
on Roborough Down, where three marquees were erected, and 
every elegant species of viand provided for the reception and 
gratification of the company, which comprised much of the 
respectability and worth of the port and its neighbourhood. 
1 On the 13th of October of this same year an advertisement appeared in 
the Plymouth Telegraph and Chronicle, asking tenders for the excavating 
and completing of the tunnel at Leigham, and also the making of certain 
cuttings and embankments from thence to Crabtree and Sutton Harbour. 
Application to be made to Mr. Roger Hopkins, engineer and mineral surveyor, 
6, Tavistock Street, Plymouth. 
