The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-05 00:00:00

PENNSYLVANIA RAILWAYS.

The American Railroad and Alleging Register, of
November 14, has the following remarks regarding certain
new works in contemplation by the Atlantic and Great
Western Railway Company :
As Mr. JAMES WHENEY, the financial engineer of the
Atlantic and Great Western enterprise, is a Pennsylvanian,
he appreciates the geographical fact that Pennsylvania
is between New York and the great West ; and that,
therefore, to get a short line from the West to New York
city it is necessary to run through Pennsylvania length-
wise —not across its corners. And hence, doubtless, have
arisen some of the many rumors of a newly-developed
policy on the part of the Atlantic and Great Western Rail-
way Company, to strike out on a new line from Meadville,
as the point of divergence from their existing trunk road,
n 1 • PanicifivlvAni. n.,1 anrnaa Nan, _Tanen., +lli V. 1., V nrlr
city. From meadville north-east to Salamanca they own
101. miles of road ; from Meadville south-west to Dayton
they own 287 miles of road. From Meadville east, via
Franklin to Oil City, they have in use 36 miles of road.

From Oil City about 223 miles of new road will carry
their line to Milton, to the Catawissa road, which they have
leased ; they have also leased the Morris and Essex Rail-
road from Easton to Hoboken. The Lehigh Valley Rail-
road interest, we also have reason to believe, will accom-
modate them with a third rail; or they may build a now
road from the Catawissa roadto the Morris and Essex road,
over an undulating but shorter route than the Lehigh
RivOr Valley, via Allentown.

Miles.

From Meadville, via Salamanca and the
Erie Road to New York city, the dis-
tanc9 is
From Meadville to Now York city, via
Franklin, Oil City, Milton, Catawissa,
Mauch Chunk and Easton, the distances
are: Miles.
Meadville to Oil City
Oil City to Milton, air line l5O
Add for curvature fifty per cent., same
per cent. as Pennsylvania Railroad be-
tween Harrisburg and Pittsburg, and
Philadelphia and Erie Railroad between
Sunbury and Erie 75
Making for new road from Oil City to
Milton —225
From Milton to Now York city, via Cab;
wissa, Lehigh Valley and Morris and
Essex Railroads 220
Total distance from Meadville to Now
York, via Oil City,Catawissa, and Easton 481

Distance saved by proposed new route..

The Morris and Essex Railroad is nine miles longer than
the New Jersey Central Railroad, and will doubtless be re-
duced in length by a cut-off link. And if a new road be
made between the Catawissa Railroad and the Morris and
Essex Railroad, over a route nearer the Wind Gap than
Allentown, another saving of mileage may be made,
though higher gradient will be incurred.
Besides, if the new road between Oil City and Milton be
made on a line nearer straight than the Pennsylvania Rail-
road between Harrisburg and Pittsburg, and the Phila-
delphia and Erie Railroad between Sunbury and Erie City,
in such case, less than 225 miles of new road will suffice
between Oil City and Milton. Hence, instead of showing
a saving of only 35 miles by the new route, as against the
Salamanca route, there is a possibility that about 75 miles
of distance may ultimately be extinguished.
Nor will the adoption of the proposed new route cause
the abandonment of the 101 miles of road between Mead-
ville and Salamanca, because a connection with the Erie
road will always be mutually desirable and beneficial for
local intertrade, independent of through traffic to and from
New York city and the Mississippi Valley.

The 101 miles of road between Meadville and Sala-
manca will also comprise an important link in the wide-
gauge road which is in progress from Salamanca to Buf-
falo, thence across the international bridge at Black Rock
into Canada, and thence down the Niagara river to Lake
Ontario, to a shipping point for freights down the St. Law-
rence water route, in the season of navigation.
Meadville will thus be made the diverging place whence
one line will continue on northward to the cheap outlet
down the St. Lawrence, for shipment of breadstuffs to
Europe ; and whence the other line will lead out east
through Pennsylvania to New York, with a prong to Phi-
ladelphia, giving the Atlantic and Great Western Rail-
road a forking, but end in the two great cities on tidewater,
and making it another grand trunk line into the great in-
terior, which is already peopled on both slopes of the
Rocky Mountains—an interior which is a vista of rising
cities as the sky is a firmament of flashing stars.
All this, we are aware, foreshadows a gigantic under-
taking, and vast outlay of money to build and stock it.
But. the fact is too palpable to be ignored or underrated,
that, ,under the financial manipulation of James
Mlienry, Esq., the Atlantic and Great Western Railway
organisation commands the confidence and co-operation of
British capitalists of powerful influence and ample means,
who have had experience in building roads and in placing
bonds in market.

Hitherto this organisation has had its face turned west-
ward, till a wide-gauge connection is secured with Cleve-
land, with Cincinnati, with St. Louis; and now it would
appear as if it is about to turn short round to the East,
and, by leasing existing roads and building new links,
carry its own independent wide gauge to New York city,
the show-window of the great Republic—not omitting a
wide-gauge connection with Philadelphia, the centralising
focus of American mechanic arts.

What legislation may be necessary to enable the At-
lantic audOrent Western Railway Company to consummate
its bold scheme for a line of its own, by ownership and
lease, all the way to New York city, is a question to be
solved next Winter at Harrisburg, where there are fewer