The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-24 00:00:00

[Stamped, id. Additional.)

brings the new railway to its junction with the
Cannon-street line. Here we may pause to asy

that this CI

extension and station are

planned for construction on the most enlarged
scale. The new railway-bridge across the Thames
at Southwark will be of five spans, three of 136 and
two of 125 feet each ; it is to be 6t feet in width,
and will be laid for no less than five lines of rails.
The station into which it will conduct will be one of
the finest in the world. It will be 580 feet long, more
than 200 feet wide, and nearly 150 feet high. This
portion of the railway is only in course of construc-
tion ; the bridge is only jest commenced. It will
require a year and a Lalf or two years to complete,
but when finished it may be expected to be unsur-
passed.
From the point at which the Cannon-street line
diverges the new railway becomes particularly in-
teresting. The new thoroughfare of the Metropoli.
tan Board of Works is here crossed by a lattice
bridge of very elegant construction. Seen through
this bridge, on the right, are some of those huge
granaries and hop warehouses which are so common
on the south side of the Thames. On the left a
building is thrown opeisof great aktesatzedof more
than ordinary interest—to wit, Barclay and Per-
kins' Brewery, from which a fragrant scent of
" porter-beer " arises to stimulate the palate of
the thirsty foreigner. Just beyond this point the
Borough market "is reached—a wretched agglo-
meration of potato merchants and greengrocers'
stalls—which having for a long series of years been
a decided nuisance in a confined locality, is now
deriving importance from the position in which the
new thoroughfare and new railroad have each con-
tributed to place it. At this point works of
construction of an interesting character have been
undertaken for the improvement of the market,
At this point, also, the superb Church of St.
Saviour's, Southwark (or St Mary Ovary, as it was
called in days of yore), is for the first time com-
pletely thrown open to public view, presenting the
finest specimen of early English architecture in
' London, and actually rivalling Westminster Abbey
in many of its architectural peculiarities. The line
panes through two high bridges, over Bridge-street,
Southwark, and the entrance to the London-
bridge station. A curve, however, brings into
sight the Brighton and Crystal Palace station, the
new hotel at the London-bridge terminus, and the
terminus of the South Eastern Railway itself,
where the passenger is bid to observe that be is
on the " new and direct overland route to India"
—between which and Charing-cross he is left to
imagine that there are " no stoppages."
At this point the passenger from Charing-cross
reaches his terminus. It is the old one, of yore
devoted to Greenwich traffic, but now very much
enlarged and improved. Having set him down at
this point, let us say a few words upon the line
in general.
All who travel over it will, we have no doubt, ad-
mit that tbeCharing-croes new line is magnificently
constructed, that it effects great public improve-
ments in the district through which it passes, and
that it promises to afford a vast amount of public
accommodation. Will it relieve the streets, and
will it pay T These are the two great
problems affecting it which have to be
decided by experience. Too much must not be
expected of the line at first. It is only when its
communications with Cannon-street are finished
that the real value of the metropolitan traffic of the
line will be developed. If it should be open to London-
bridge on the Ist of January next the line will
also be subject to disadvantages arising from the
unfinished condition of the Charing-cross station,
which we cannot hope to see in working order by
that date. But, on the other baud, if this Charing-
cross Railway, by the time parliament meets in
February, should be exercising a wholesome in-
fluence on the street traffic of Fleet-street and the
Strand—if it should be found that it offers facilities
for both metropolitan and suburban traffic, and
that the number of passengers using it are likely to
secure a return for the immense outlay its construe-
tion has invo!ved—in such case there can be no
doubt that the results of this line will greatly affect
the decisions of parliament upon the important
subject of metropolitan communications, and will
lead to indications of public opinion in its favour
as marked as those which, in January, 1863, fol-
lowed the opening of the line from Farringdon-
street to Paddington.