FOOTNOTES.

In their review of this Report, Messrs. Stephenson and Locke state the price of coal at 4s. 6d. per ton for 37,222 tons.

Mr. Hodgson’s speech, at the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway meeting, held at Liverpool on the 21st of September last.

“An engine of four horses’ power, employed by Mr. Blenkinsop, impelled a carriage, lightly loaded, at the rate of ten miles an hour; and when connected with 30 coal waggons, each weighing more than three tons, it went at about one-third of that pace.”—Observations on a General Iron Railway, by Thomas Gray. 1825.

“They saw two locomotive engines, for drawing along these roads; but they were not at work. The boilers of these engines were eight feet long, and four feet diameter: and they usually took down fourteen waggons, carrying 53 cwt. of coals each, at about four miles an hour. The engineer said that he once took nine loaded waggons, one mile in five minutes and a half, which is equal to eleven miles an hour.”—Report of a number of gentlemen, who were deputed to inspect the rail-roads in the north of England, relative to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. 1824.

“The Company are also fully persuaded, that by means of the same power, they will be enabled to convey passengers with perfect security, and at a speed of at least twelve miles an hour.”—Report relative to the Liverpool and Birmingham Railway given in Cumming’s “Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Rail and Tram Roads, and Steam-Carriages.” 1824.

“It is estimated, that on a level railway, a well-constructed locomotive engine of ten horse power will, without difficulty, convey fifty tons of goods at the rate of five miles an hour, and lighter weights at a proportioned increase of speed. A powerful engine will work goods over an elevation of one-eighth of an inch in the yard. Nor is there the least doubt but carriages for the conveyance of passengers, or light packages, may, with perfect ease and security, be propelled at the rate of twelve miles an hour.”—Cummings’ Illustrations of the Origin and Progress of Railways. 1824.

“By the locomotive engine, fifty tons of goods may be conveyed by a ten-horse-power engine, on a level-road, at the rate of six miles an hour; and lighter weights at a proportioned increase of speed. Carriages for the conveyance of passengers, at the rate of twelve or fourteen miles an hour.”—Courier’s preliminary remarks to the “Memorial of the Subscribers to the projected Railway between Liverpool and Manchester:” dated 1st June, 1824.

“One of the railway companies at present contemplates a speed of only eight miles an hour; but another, in its prospectus, speaks of conveying passengers at twice the speed of the present stage-coaches; and we look forward, pretty confidently to the attainment, in a few years, of a velocity of 20 miles an hour. Several millions sterling are already subscribed for accomplishing these great projects.”—Leeds Mercury, 24th December, 1824.

“Emerging from the Olive Mount cutting, you approach the great Roby embankment, formed of the materials dug out of the excavation we have described. This embankment stretches across the valley for about two miles, varying in height from 15 to 45 feet, and in breadth at the base from 60 to 135 feet. Here the traveller finds himself affected by sensations the very reverse of what he felt a few minutes before. Mounted above the tops of the trees, he looks around him over a wide expanse of country, in the full enjoyment of the fresh breeze, from whatever quarter it may blow.

“This vast embankment strikingly exhibits how much may be accomplished when our efforts are concentrated on one grand object. There is a feeling of satisfaction by no means common-place, in thus overcoming obstacles and surmounting difficulties, in making the high places low and the rough places plain, and advancing in one straight and direct course to the end in view; while the pleasure afforded by the contemplation of this great work is further enhanced, when considered in contrast with ordinary and every-day impressions.” p. 50–52.

“A few miles beyond Newton is the great Kenyon excavation, from which about 800,000 cubic yards of clay and sand have been dug out, part being carried to form the line of embankment to the east and west of the cutting; and the remainder, deposited as spoil banks, may be seen heaped up, like Pelion upon Ossa, towering over the adjacent land.” p. 55.

“Beyond Chat Moss we traverse the Barton embankment, crossing the low lands for about a mile between the Moss and the Worsley Canal, over which the railway is carried by a neat stone bridge.” p. 57.

At page 60 of Mr. Treasurer Booth’s “Account of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,” is given a “Section of the line of Railway, from Liverpool to Manchester,” which states that for 5-9ths of a mile (from Liverpool) it is “level;” that for the next 5⅛ miles it has a fall of 1 in 1092; for the next 1½ mile, a rise of 1 in 96, &c. &c. according to the following table:—

MILES.

⁵/₉ Level.

5⅛ Fall, 1 in 1092; or 1 foot in about l-5th of a mile.

1½ Rise, 1 in 96; or 1 foot in 96 feet.

1⅞ Level.

1½ Fall, 1 in 96.

2½ Fall, 1 in 2640; or 1 foot in half a mile.

6½ Fall, 1 in 880; or 1 foot in 1-6th of a mile.

4½ Rise, 1 in 1200; or, 1 foot in about ¼ of a mile.

4½ Level.

Now as it appears from this, that, with the exception of the mile and half which rises at the rate of 1 in 96 (up from l-6th to l-3rd of which their momentum carries them) the part of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway over which the locomotive engines work, has no rise that is half so sharp as the 1 in 340, nor any which is near so sharp as the 1 in 528, adverted to on the Bristol line, it surpasses my comprehension to conceive what there can possibly be to “render the locomotive engines much more effective, and subject them to less wear and tear than they are on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway”; while I am beyond measure surprised, that the confidence of gentlemen could be so misled, as to expose them to a refutation so palpable, as the statement they have thus been betrayed into admits of.

In our first steam-boats, engines of only two or three horses power could be employed; and the proposition to use larger ones was met by the usual exclamation, “Impossible!” We have now many steam vessels in which engines of 200 hones power are employed; while there is one in which they are above 300 horses power.

Independent of the large air-pumps which the iron masters themselves use, those I put up to exhaust air from the tunnel which I constructed at Brighton would, if worked at an extraordinary rate, have pumped five hundred thousand gallons per minute through it.

£ s. d.

Bridge account 99,065 11 9

Fencing 10,202 16 5

Chat Moss account 27,719 11 10

Cuttings and Embankments 199,763 8 0

Formation of Road 20,568 15 5

Land account 95,305 8 8

£452,625 12 1

And this, exclusive both of the 300,000l. (nearly) which has been expended since, and of the 130,000l. which is the estimated expense of the tunnel now in course of construction.

“On Wednesday morning, the engine drawing the first-class train of carriages from Manchester to Liverpool, on the railway, had the misfortune to break an axle-tree, when at full speed, near Chat Moss; which, after ploughing the ground for some time, went off the rails, and drew the whole train over the embankment, [53b] when, most providentially, out of two hundred passengers, not a life was lost, or a limb broken. Several persons were bruised, and some seriously.”—Morning Herald, 9th December, 1831.

These boats can and have carried 110 passengers at one time, though 100 may be considered an average number.

“The Liverpool and Leeds Railway.—A bill is now under the consideration of a select committee of the House of Commons, for the purpose of connecting by rail-roads Liverpool with the ports on the Humber, and thereby to bring the German Ocean and the Irish Sea, the eastern and western sides of the island, within six hours’ journey of each other. It is proposed to have four lines of railway, two for swift carriages, going and returning with light goods and passengers, and two for slower carriages, with heavy goods and animals. The whole is to be lighted with gas, so as to be traversable by night as well as day, and the plan of the iron rails will secure the carriages from obstructing one another.”—Times, 17th March, 1831.

“The outline of a plan has been stated to us, for lighting up the intended line of railway from this city to London with gas. Our correspondent says, ‘Of the practicability of the thing there can be no doubt; and it certainly would be an improvement, and create a great demand for coals; as the gas might be continued from the parent line to any extent.’”—Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal, 3rd August, 1833.