The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-23 00:00:00

New Railway Bridge.

Whatever may be the shortcoming of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Railway, they are certainly
not those which arise from want of enterprise.
They have given their passengers the best and most
commodious stations ever seen, and they are about
to give the working classes the boon of shilling
weekly tickets over the whole extent of their metro-
politan line, and now, at their own expense, with
the exception of a contribution by the Brighton
Railway, they are about to more than double the
width of their bridge into Victoria Station, over the
Thames, the frequent stoppages on which now in-
terfere so much with that serenity of mind and
urbanity of manner so characteristic of the British
travelling public. The value of this widening of
the bridge will consist in the improved access it
will afford to the Victoria Station, which is
now literally choked at certain periods of the
day. The widening of the Battersea-bridge has,
therefore, long been felt ;to be a matter of
urgent necessity. Over its two lines of rails and
along the narrow entrance into the Victoria Station,
reminding one of the very narrow neck of a very
wide bottle, there passes the whole of the west-end
traffic of the Brighton Railway, and its lines to the
Crystal Palace and Epsom ; the mainline traffic of
the London, Chatham, and Dover, and its metropo-
ilitan extension to Ludgate ; and the Great Western
trafficby way of Kensington. Upwards of 400 trains
and engines pass over the Battersea-bridge per day,
and it is quite usual to see two or three trains stand-
ing on the bridge at a time, waiting for the signal to
get into the Victoria Station. The works have been
in preparation on the east side of the present struc-
ture for some time past, and yesterday the founda-
tion-stone of the new bridge was laid by Lord Harris,
K. 5.1., the chairman of the company. 'This new
bridge, when united with the present bridge, will
form together the widest bridge in the world. Ac-
cording to the plans of Sir Charles Fox, who is the
engineer, the new structure has four river spans of
175 ft. clear each, and two land openings of 70ft.
each. The river openings are segmental in shape,
and the ribs of wrought iron have a rise or versed
sine of 17ft. The three piers in the river have each
at the levelof springing of ribs a thickening of 12ift.
The two abutments are 20ft. thick each at that level,
so that the total length of the whole bridge is about
310 yards. The width of the bridge at the rails' level
will be 110 feet, wide enough for eight lines of rails,
some of mixed gauge. Thiswidth is carried by seven
main ribs to each span.
The mode of construction adopted for the two
abutments is to carry them down to a depth of over
15ft. below low-water mark, with the brickwork in
cement. Ordinary' cofferdams are used in the con-
struction of these abutments, the piles for which are
all 45ft. long. The excavations for these abutments
are of great size, owing to the extraordinary width
of the bridge and form of the ribs. The excavation
has to be 125 ft. long and 48ft. wide.
The piers are supported by brickwork in cylin-
ders. These cylinders are four in number to each
pier, and are sunk to a depth of 45ift. below high-
water mark. Each is 21ft. in diameter, and made
of cast-iron, in lengths of Bft. ; each length com-
posed of eight segments. After being sunk to the
required depth, and the brickwork taken up to low-
water mark, those portions of the cylinders above
the bed of the river are removed, and arches turned
from one to the other of the circular pillars, so that
all are connected above low-water mark, and the
piers will thus form one continuous wall for its whole
length, and will be faced with Portland and York-
shire stone. The length of each pier at the level of
the cylinders will be 130 ft. It will be observed that
there will be 12 such cylinders in all for the entire
bridge.
t
The general elevation will correspond ex-
ge ;
the but,
hew as
hrire
bac.: Isyee from h
withn the
e above present r
ditwenaysiobnsrid,
will be no less than four times the •
width of the
present one.

The weight of iron in superstructure and cylinders,
. cubic feet
of stone&c.,
will
b
about 3,000
used, 1
3 0060 t, 0 0
o b
ac;100,000
yards of brick-
work, and some 250,000 to 3. Ous 0
i,
t i
Oe O-
-0 cubic
completed feet of
l
b
then ig
beer.
h Each of
withthe
n o
le a load
ss cylindersa
than 1,300 tons to
test the foundations, and to prevent anysettlement
wted
after the work is finished. At the low-water
cast-iron girders are fixed between these cylinders,
and similar ones are placed between the cylinders'
and the existing pier. Arches of brickwork of vast
strength, every part set in cement, are turned
between the cylinders and between the old and new
work, and upon all these continuous piers of brick-
work and masonry are constructed, corresponding
in general appearance with the existing piers.
There are three of these massive piers, each of
which rests upon four cylinders. The ribs of each
span, seven in number, will be considerably deeper
than those of the present bridge, and will be cross-
braced to avoid the vibration now experienced
in crossing. The girders are at the same time made
continuous over the pier, and the section is consider-
ably larger. All the cross and rail girders are rolled
beams, which being in one piece give very great
's:treength in proportion to the small quantity of
nThee w parapetport on the east side of the present
of 132 ft. Portion
bridge will be removed and re-erected on the new
words, 52ftin,
one. The .
width of the existing bridge is 33ft. 9in.
inataldetrhe
width 98ft. 9in., thus giving a total
between the parapets, or, in
the new westrain Gin, greater width than that of
Victoria-bridge by sfterr-bridge—thus making the
Thames, or, indeed, over
widest bridge over the
At present there are'. any river in the world.
two lines of rails of mixed

gauge, to which will at once be added two more, and
width will be provided for another line--thus giving
accomodation for five lines of rails, of which two
will be mixed gauge. The broad gauge will be re-
moved from the existing roadway of the bridge, and
the London and Brighton Company will be fur-
nished with an additional line of rails on the new
portion. From the Victoria Station to the bridge the
line will be considerably enlarged, and corresponding
facilities to those given by the bridge will of course
be provided. Starting from the Victoria station the
line will run parallel to the existing Victoria Sta-
tion and Pimlico Railway, but it will have easier
curves up to the bridge, and will be provided with
three lines of rails, one of which will be narrow and
two of the mixed gauge; thus, with the two exist-
ing lines, making six lines of rails between the bridge
and the station.

On the Surrey side under the arrangement with
the London and Brighton, with respect to their
South London extension, the whole of the line from
the Thames to the Wandsworth-road will be
widened in proportion. The new line will be on a
viaduct the arches of which are elliptical, of 30ft.
span and 10ft. rise, and it will be laid with three
lines of rails. The course of this line will be through
and across the labyrinth of railways which exist at
this point. It will first cross over the West-end
and Crystal Palace Railway of the Brighton
Company, near to the bridge which crosses the
Prince of Wales-road over that line. It will next
cross the London and South-Western, and at a
short distance will pass a second time over the
West-end and Crystal Palace Railway. Thence it
will pass over the present London, Chatham, and
Dover Railway, close to the Stewarts-lane junction,
and then continue its course alongside the London,
Chatham, and Dover, at Wandsworth-road, when
it will fall to the same level as the existing line at
that point. The bridges over these railways will in
themselves be large and most important works, the
girders being on an average 250 feet in length, each
being more than one-third of the entire length of
the bridge over the Thames at Battersea, or as long
as the centre arch of Westminster-bridge. From
Wandsworth the widening of the line is to continue
throughout the whole length of the Metropolitan
Extension to Blackfriars-bridge. From the bridge
over the Thames, on the Surrey side, there is a new
line running down to the Stewarts-lane junction
for the purpose of enabling the trains of the Great
Western to pass over the London, Chatham, and
Dover line to Victoria, and for that purpose two of
the lines over the bridge will be laid with the mixed
guage. The list of new works, however, is not yet
exhausted, for a new line is being made from the
Wandsworth viaduct of the London, Chatham, and
Dover, passing on a viaduct through the workshops
of the company, to form a junction with the London
and Southern at the Longhedge Junction. From
this, again, there is another line to that bewilderment
of travellers, the Clapham Junction. This latter ex-
tension is being made jointly by the London, Chat-
ham, and Dover, and the London and South-West-
ern, and it will run parallel with the West London
Extension, as far as the South-Western line, and
will pass under it by the side of the present bridge,
and then keeping to the north of that line will run
up to Clapham Junction, thus enabling the trains
of the London and South Western to pass over the
London, Chatham, and Dover Metropolitan exten-
sion to the city.
At the ceremony yesterday Sir Charles Fox, Sir
Cusack Roney, and -the contractors for the work,
Sir Morton Peto, Mr. Betts, and Mr. Crampton,
were present, with Lord Harris. Mr. Forbes, the
general manager, was unavoidably absent at his
duties as chairman of the Clearing House Commit-
tee, appointed to consider the question of establish-
ing communications between passengers and guard.
In laying the foundation-stone of the bridge,
which was, of course, the usual routine piece of
business, Lord Harris said—

I have great pleasure in declaring this stone to be well
and duly laid. It is the corner-stone of a bridge in which I
am sure you will all feel with me a great interest, and you
will, I am confident, join me in the congratulations which
we have reason to feel in this the laying the foundation-
stone of a bridge which will form an important portion of the
London, Chatham, and Dover system. Many of us have
seen other important undertakings commenced in connexion
with this system of railways. The bridge which we have
seen thus successfully commenced will be for the use of all
sections of our line. As you are all aware there are groat
difficulties in carrying on the traffic over the present bridge.
It may be hoped that the completionof the work now com-
menced will afford great facilities for carrying on the
traffic. It is not more than 20 months since we were as-
sembled to witness the laying of the foundation-stone of
the Blackfriars-bridge. We have lived to see that com-
pleted, and the bridge now used, and I have no doubt that
the present extensive and important work will be carried
out with the same energy as was displayed in the case of
our first bridge over the Thames.

The stone was then duly laid, and at the conclu-
sion of the ceremony the party returned to the
board-room of the company, where an ample lunch
was provided to do honour to the occasion.

Sir M. PEro, who presided, proposed " Success to
the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway Com-
pany," coupling with the toast the name of Lord
Harris. He said :

" That although they had had the pleasure of seeing a
stone of the new Victoria-bridge laid that day, he should
not be doing justice to their companies did he not mention
that the Brighton Company had contributed £125,000 to-
wards the undertaking, paying for 17 feet of the width of
the whole bridge. The necessity for the additional works
arose from the immense increase of traffic, not less than one
train passing the bridge every four minutes during the
entire day. (Hear, hear.) Looking to the future, if he were
speaking in the year 1875 instead of 1865, what would be
the position of the railway ? In that year the Metropolitan
Extension and the whole of the inner circle would be com-
pleted, the London, Chatham, and Dover would be con-
nected with the Great Northern on the one hand and the
Midland system on the other, and they would be running
trains round the 12 1-3 miles of the inner circle every three
minutes. The line to the Crystal Palace, with its high-
level station, would have been in use something like four
years, and the Kent Coast line, with all its various branches
would have been in active work five years ; while the Green-
wich line and the Woolwich and Chatham extensions, and
the South-Eastern, with all its stations, would be in con-
nection with this company. He thought, therefore, that
they might well look forward to the success of the under-
taking, and that Mr. Forbes was right in anticipating that
within two years the ordinary stock of the company would
be paying a dividend. (Cheers.) He concluded by observing
that they were greatly indebted to Lord Harris for the zeal
and ability he had brought to the undertaking."
Lord HARRIS, having returned, thanks, proposed
the health of the contractors, which was acknow-
ledged by Sir M. PETO, and the thanks of the guests
having been tendered to Mr. Forbes, the general
manager, and the principal officers of the company,
the party separated.
While on the subject of railway bridges we
may call the attention of the Chatham and Dover
Company to the condition of their viaduct over
Ludgate. For many months past not a thing has
been done to this work. No attempt is being made
to put up its handsome external castings, to remove
the unsightly planks with which it is hung about,
or to do away with the bill-stuck hoardings which
still shut in the ornamental stonework of its abut-
ments. It was only on condition that they erected
a handsome bridge, and that they improved and
widened the approaches, that the railway company
were allowed to cross this important thoroughfare
at all.
hpdlooaus ne. placarded
e t
d to
with
When
In place of the handsome bridge the pre-
sent eyesore only seems forthcoming, the approach
from Fleet-street is still as narrow as ever, and the
with fine buildings, still remain in dingy emptiness
improvementsmusic-halls
enpromised
ral in
disbeliefbn by
railway companies, is it wise to thus conspicuously
of the metropolitan -
btheebil publictbills
removed furthervery general
back and replaced
ofall
have
disfigure one of the best known and most frequented
thoroughfares in London ? Such laxity cannot now
much hurt the Chatham and Dover, but it may be
taken as certain that it will affect the chances of
other companies which yet hope to make their way
over the streets of London. The example offered
by the present condition of Ludgate-hill is not
likely to be forgotten.

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