The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-27 00:00:00

STRUCTURE OF RAIL-ROADS.

It seems now pretty clearly ascertained that we must
either give up the promised advantages of locomotive
carriages, or establish a line of rail-road throughout
the country. After enumerating the disadvantages of
our present road, as adapted to locomotive carriages,
a writer in the Quarterly Review observes—" Suchm
being the state and capabilities of ordinary roads, we
must have recourse, in order to give effect to steam
carriages, to some new and improved species of
road, and for this purpose no contrivance seems so
well adapted as the rail-way; which has already
made such progress in this country. The great ob-
ject of a rail-way is to remove all the obstructions
which occur on roads constructed of soft materials,
which it does, by substituting for the soft and un-
equal surfaCe of the common road, a smooth and
hard surface of wood or metal, laid in two narrow
tracks, along which the wheels of the carriage roll
with a facility and velocity as far exceeding the
effect of the most perfect modern road, as the latter
exceeds what was known on the roads of former
times. These tracks were formerly made of wood,
but they are now ,niversally (not universally, as we
shall see) made of iron, laid in lengths of from four
to sixteen feet, united firmly together by joints at
their extremities, and resting at every yard on a
block of stone firmly bedded into the ground. Each
of these lengths is termed a rail. The two tracks
together form what is called a single line of rail-road.
Where the traffic is considerable another line is laid
down running parallel with the first, and at a die-
tanco from it of four or five feet, and this is called
a double line; the object, of course, being to allow
carriages moving in opposite directions to pass each
other, without interfering. Any number of rail-roads
may be laid down in the same manner ; and com-
munications may be established between them at
intervals, so that one carriage overtaking another in
the same track may turn aside to one of the adja-
cent lines, and pass it without stopping either."
Simple as the idea of a rail-way appeals to be, its
execution is by no means easy : it is attended with
great expense, and requires moreover a highly im-
proved state of the sciences and arts to give full
effect to the principle." It is quite plain, indeed,
that because a rail-road costs so much to make in the
first instance, and costs so much afterwards to keep
it in continual repair, that such a thing could not
possibly be carried into execution, except in a densely
peopled and highly commercial country. A rail-
road, for example, through the wilds of America,
would be of no use; it would not be of much ser-
vice in the deserted Highlands of Scotland; but it
is of inestimable utility in such a neighbourhood as
that between Liverpool and Manchester. This fact
shows the folly of Governments ever attempting to
force such things upon a country ; they grow up in
their own good time, and depend on circumstances
over which Governments have not the smallest be-
neficial controul.

Railways, the other half of the contrivance which
is soon to supply us with such increased facilities
of communication, are already extensively in use.
Besides a vast number of them adapted to private
collieries, and lime-pits, and iron founderies ; besides
these, which are exclusively private property, there
are several already established, which partake of the
character of public conveniences, and testify to the
possibility of establishing them with ease, though
not without considerable expence, throughout the
country. The Cardiff and Merthyr; we are told by
the author of " Observations on► a General Iron
Railway," is 26 miles long; it runs near the Gla-
morganshire canal. The Sirhoway rail-road extends
a total distance of 28 miles. The Blaen Avon rail-
way is 5i miles long. The Caermarthenshire rail-
way extends 15 miles. The Oyster-mouth rail-way
is seven miles in length. Altogether, the length of
rail-ways laid down in Wales, a mountainous coun-
try, not very proper for canals, amounted to 150
miles in 1811, according to Mr. Tredgold, exclusive
of under-ground rail-ways, intended to bring iron ore
and coal to the pies mouth, one of which, in Mer-
thyr Tidvil, was not less than 30 miles in extent.
There are several rail. ways also in Scotland, though
they are there not yet so extensive as in Wales, In
England we have a rail-way close to the metropolis,
called the Surrey rail-way. It extends from the
banks of the Thames, near Wandsworth to Croydon,
91 miles, and thence to Merstham, 8 miles,
or a total distance of 18 miles. This rail-way,
however, has not answered the expectations of
its projectors, owing, it is said, partly to the
mode of constructing it, and partly to the
waggons employed on it being too small.—
The Surrey rail-way is in fact a tram-way, made
of cast iron ; the consequence is, that it is generally
filled with dirt and stones, and soon becomes of
not more use than a common road, besides which
the breakage of the trams is so considerable that it
requires all the profits to keep it in repair. The
writer saw it not long ago, and the weeds and grass
had grown over it, and there appeared to be no
traffic. If this had been laid with wrought iron
edge-rail, and was now to be continued to Brighton,
of what importance would it be to the metropolis!
--A locomotive engine would run the distance in