EARLY WESTERN RAILROADS. 
91 
A railway from Hayle to Tresavean Mine was authorized in 
1834, and powers of alteration given in 1836. This railway 
was at first worked by horse-power, but subsequently connected 
with the West Cornwall line under an Act of 1850. 
THE TREFFRY RAILWAY. 
Mr. J. T. Treffry, the proprietor of the port of Par, which 
port owed its existence to his enterprise, and who was also chief 
owner of the Fowey Consols and other mines in the district, 
formed a project to develop the resources of the neighbouring 
country by means of a tramway across Cornwall, from his port of 
Par on the south coast to his port of Newquay on the north. 
This railway was intended to open up the china-clay district, and 
to serve the granite quarries at Luxulyan, beside connecting the 
two coasts. 
It is carried across the Eock Valley on the Treffry Viaduct, 
the foundation-stone of which was laid in March, 1839, and 
weighed ten tons. The viaduct was a little more than three 
years in building, the whole of this work being carried out 
by and at the sole expense of Mr. Treffry. The structure was 
made to serve the twofold purpose of a viaduct and an aqueduct. 
It consists of ten arches, each of 40 feet span, springing from 
piers 28 feet by 10 ft. 6 in. at the base. It is 650 feet in length, 
and 98 feet in height, and contains 200,000 cubic feet of granite. 
This is the oldest viaduct in the West of England now existing, 
and is at present utilised by the Cornwall Minerals Kail way, 
which is formed on the basis of the original line. 
With this we may be said to have reached the last of the 
early western railways, and to have traced the evolution of 
the permanent way down to modern times. 
Since 1836 the principles of construction have remained prac- 
tically the same, though the details have been subject to constant 
improvement. I have shown on the diagram the forms of rails 
in use in 1838, and on the other side of the sheet the result 
of fifty years' progress — whether the next fifty years will show 
an equal advance is open to great doubt ; but let us hope that at 
least the shareholder in a modern railway may obtain a better 
return on his money than did his predecessors of half a century 
ago. They paid dearly for the experience which is ours to-day. 
