The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-01 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 1, 1882.

THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.

On Saturday last was realised a most important '
fact for the great metropolis, namely, the passage
of a railway train, laden with between five and six
hundred passengers, from one of its densest
centres of traffic and population—Victoria-street,
Holborn—to its remote north-western bouadasy in ,
far off Paddington. It will be remembered that,
some ten years since, Mr. Charles Pearson, the
City solicitor, first ventilated the bold idea of a
onitral terminus on the site of Farringdon-market,
with short connecting lines to each of the great '
railways that converged round the metropolis, thus
giving to all a debosichure almost in the heart of the
City. Mr. Pearson prepared elaborate plans, and
delivered more than one explanatory lecture, but,
although the utility of his scheme was obvious to
every one, the enormous expense that must
have accrued from the neoty of purchasing
so many roadways into the very heart of
London deterred speculatora, and the scheme
slept, and was for a while forgotten by
the public. Nov_ so, however, by railway projec-
tors, by the St. Pancras vestry, or by the London
corporation. The great obstacle to success being
the coat of the ground, all heads w turned to
the consideration of how that efllelsl dlssellalass

evaded, and, at length, the happy thought oo-
cnned of making a subterranean line from Padding-
ton, not exactly to Farringdon market, but to the
new terminus in Victoria-street, which, when all its
works, main and branch, are completed, will realize
every object contemplated in Mr. Pearson's original
plan. The new line, if we consider the territory
through which it passes, will be, perhaps, one of the
cheapest in construction in the world. Passing
from the very centre of London, through some of its
most populous and busy thoroughfares, up to the
terminus of the Great Western line at Paddington,
the capital demanded for its construction was little
above a million, and, more wonderful still, the
works, which are now so'near,completion, have been
executed at a cost which leaves a margin out of
the original estimate. The line is now nearly finished
to the extent of si mike ; and on Saturday last a
prosperous journey was made from the temporary
station at the top of Farringdon-street right
through to the permanent one at Paddington, and
back again. The works consist mainly of an ellip-
tic tunnel, but perforated at the top at very short
intervals, and in many places so near the surface
that the rumble of the traffic over-bead can be dis-
tinctly beard by the railway passengers. The chief
engineering difficulties were of course connected
with the complicated system of sewers through
which the works had to pass, and the tendency of
the Fleet river to burst in and sweep away every-
thing. Thu recent attempt of this insidious fluvial
enemy and its results have already been described
at length in the Express, and, with the excep-
tion of that accident, the works have all been
prosperously carried out. The Victoria-street end
has given moat trouble in consequence of the num-
ber and complexity of the drains, and,
even still, the wet streaming down the
inner surface of the tunnel, and a very
perceptible, but not at all agreeable odour,
tell that the battle between science and sewage has
not terminated. The stratum at this portion of the
line however being all excellent gravel gives great
advantages to the contractors, and no doubt is
entertained that the Victoria end will soon be
made as water-tight and sweet-smelling as any
other portion of the line. The tunnel is a magni-
ficent specimen of brickwork throughout, with an
arch overhead of 28 feet span, and a height from
the roadway to the crown of 17 feet. As we have
before said, throughout the greater portion of the
line there is little more than a skin between the top
of the tunnel and the street overhead, but in some
places, in consequence of the well-known inequa-
lities of the route, there are 54 feet of intervening
stratum between the railway train and its rivals the
omnibuses. The line sweeps round nearly all the
way in an easy curve, dipping at one place to a
gradient of 1 in 100, but rising again as it
approaches the City terminus. Practically speaking,
a complete subterranean railway communication
has been achieved between Holborn and Paddington,
and a very abort time indeed will be sufficient to
make the whole line a complete, and, it must be
confessed, a very wonderful work.

The first impressions of the visitor on arriv-
ing at the Victoria-street station were cer-
tainly not of the most assuring character. The
whole surrounding region had a look of desolation,
iu consequence of the previous clearing away of
Field-lane, Saffron-hill, and the parts adjacent, to
make way for the great City "improvements"
which as yet, however, remain in the womb of time ;
and in Farriogdon-street: the rackety, dismantled,
bill-bespattered front of the once populous Fleet
Prison, made the traveller fancy that he had passed
within the bounds of a ruined city. Passing across
Holborn the desolation became complete. A
wooden paling passed along the side of what ought
to have been a magnificent street, and, beyond it,
might be seen chasms of variousdepths, which nature
was bravely struggling to cover with a green
carpet, but obviously very much obstructed in her
efforts by the innumerable deposits of oyster shells
and other debris, which waste grounds always
attract. The side of Field-lane which the " im-
provements" have allowed yet to remain frowned
in all its naked deformity over the back ground of
the picture, and it was impossible to avoid stopping
and asking one'sself the question, "Can this be a
central portion of mighty London, and can it be
possible that the guardians of civic interests ha*
allowed such an eyesore to remain in their territory,
to be seen and sueerid at by the whole world's
congress of the Exhibition year t" It is to be hoped
that railway enterprise will cure the consequences
of corporation neglect, and that the City terminus
of the underground line will restore vitality to
this forlorn and ruined district Having passed
through the temporary station, and descended the
platform, the "situation" could not yet be said to
be much improved. The works—that is to say, the
lines of rail—were still some hundreds of yards off,
and the unfinished tunnel yawned gloomily, the
visible darkness of the chasm being rendered only
more impressive by the dim light of a few braziers
which hung at long intervals from the tunnel walls.
The broken ends of sewers which had been cut
through in the progress of the works gaped on
each side of the open cutting, and dark and fetid
looking deposits here and there indicated that
their former occupation was not as yet entirely
gone. But things had here come to the worst,
and from here they mended every moment. A train
consisting of three or four Great Western carriages,
and a considerable number of open trucks, came
thundering down from the Paddington end of the
line, and, these having been all filled in a moment
by the very numerous company assembled, the ex-
perimental journey commenced. The easy and
steady motion of the carriages showed the solidity
of the wo-k, ard the frequent recurrence of entirely
open, or well-lighted stations, very soon removed
the impression of tunnel travelling altogether. We
first came to Granville-square, a light, cheerful,
open station, and were greeted with a cheer from
above, which had a very singular effect. A very
short further interval brought us to King's-en:es,
where the station is quite a spacious ard elaborate
Erection, as becomes the point where the little City
line is to take the traffic of the great Leviathan of
the north. Another stout pull brought us to
Gower-street, a subterranean station, but most
ingeniously lighted from the surface by means of
rows of long, slanting embrasures, which, being hued
with highly-glazed tiles and roofed with glass, throw
a fine seit light over the whole station. Here the
traffic ofwthe world above maintained a sullen but
distinctly audible and continuous roar. There are,
next, stations for the Regent's-park, which will be
of immense value to the Monday visitors to the
Zoological Gardens, and, we regret to add, that the

five gentility of Baker-street is invaded by
mg•plaoe at its very corner. Henceforth,
ridiculous to the sublime—that is to say,

from Holborn to Baker-street—will be but • step,
and Invasions too horrible to contemplate will be
inevitable into a once select and sacred district.
The Higeware-road station was particularly noticed
and admired by the passengers, probably because a
very eabstautial luncheon could be seen displayed
on tables all along the platform ; and, finally, Pad-
dington was reached, where every tone left the car-
riages, and were surprised to find themselves stand.
Mg is the closest proximity to the Great Western
Railway terminus. The problem was now solved;
engineering science had brought the east and
the went together, and the visitors, having satisfied
themselves of the fact, returned to their carriages.'
and in a very few minutes were brought back to
the Edgware-road platform and to the luncheon,
which they had regretfully passed by on their wag
down. After a reasonable lime spent here in dair
cussing the substantial viands provided by the rail-
way company, the return trip was completed, and
the whole party disembarked at Farringdon-streek,
oompletely satisfied with the result of their inspeol
tion.
Out own impression, with one reservation whit*
• 7 down, is that the line ita
gamins, aad..teat a wißlilk
also an IN commercial one. When the
eastern terminal works are completed, all the dis-
agreeable! which presented themselves to the
eyes and nostrils of the visitors on Saturday
last will have been removed, and the route will be
clean, and even cheerful throughout. The de-
scent from the street to the platform is short and
easy, and the frequent recurrence of stations makes
people almost forget that they are passing through'
a tunneL A few hundred yards is the longest in-
terval of darkness whereas, as is well known, the
Box tunnel, of which nobody ever complains, is
three miles in length. The carriages are, we un-
derstand, to be lit with portable gas, according to
a plan which is already in suocessful operation on
the Lancashire and Yorkshire line, and then,
seeing that the whole journey from Paddington to
the City will be performed in about twenty
minutes, there cannot be the slightest doubt
that the public will universally prefer the rail
to the omnibus, which never performs the journey
in lees than an hour, or the cab, the fare of which
would be at least three shillings. There is only
one point upon which we feel bound, if possible, to
concentrate the attention both of the management
and the Board of Trade, and that is the mode of
traction to be adopted. the present intention is,
we understand, to use a locomotive the invention
of Mr. Fowler, and which is professedly so con-
structed as to consume its own smoke and waste
steam. This engine was not used on Saturday,
but one constructed on a similar principle by Mr.
Gooch, of the Eastern Counties line, and it cer-
tainly did keep the tunnel clear during the greater part
of the journey. But there were times when it did
not, and when the loud coughing in the open
trucks showed how much the breathing atmosphere
had been deteriorated. Now, this is a matter on
which it is absolutely necessary that the utmost
precaution should be taken, for suppose that by
any accident the smokeconsuming apparatus should
break down in the middle of the tunnel, the whole
cavity would be filled with smoke and steam, and
the passengers would run imminent danger of suf-
focation. It is very much doubted whether any
apparatus on the engine, however scientifically
constructed, would give absolute security against
an accident of this kind, and therefore, pro-
bably the moat simple remedy would be,
either the purchase of a few houses along
the surface, in order that their sites might be
perforated with air shafts, or else the adoption of
the system of traction by a rope and fixed engines,
the same as was for many years practised on the
Blackwell Railway. We feel that we are only dis-
charging a duty both to the railway company and
the public in thus early calling attention to this most
important point—one which involves to so great an
extent the permanent consideration of the public
safety. It is expected that the line will be open
for traffic early in October, and we see nothing in
the present state of the works to render their com-
pletion by that time at all difficult.

ve a mention lower
-empowirsngiose.siag
litraortlinar/