The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-23 00:00:00

.RAILWAY 7RAINS.

At all hours of the day and night, in all directions, and
at all points, the railway continues its wonderful and inces-
sant labours. Thus, last year, 1,902,069 passenger trains,
travelling 44,694,359 miles, and 1,222,617 goods trains, tra-
velling 42,973,849 miles, were run in England and Wales;
275,825 passenger trains, travelling 5,044,655 miles, and
276,152 goods trains, travelling 6,558,777 miles, were run
in Scotland ; and 174,445 passenger trains, travelling
4,416,462 miles, and 30,882 goods trains, travelling 1,553,338
miles, were run in Ireland. We thus arrive at the amazing
aggregate of 105,141,440 miles as the railway work of the
British islands for 12 months. Astronomical calculations
indicate that the earth is 95,000,000 miles from the sun,
and the unwearied locomotives accomplished this immense
distance with an odd 10,000,000 miles to spare. Further,
it would appear, that they traversed nearly 31 miles in
every second which elapsed during the year. This prodi-
gious activity was not, however, attained without a great
effort, and taking every item of working expenses into ac-
count, it appears that every mile traversed involved an out-
lay of 2s. 7td. The 12 great companies contributed to the
year's labour as follows :—The Caledonian ran 38,489 pas-
senger trains, which travel sed 1,043,858 miles, and 104,689
goods trains, which traversed 2,342,663 miles—or 3,286,621
miles in all; the Great Eastern ran 118,680 passenger train's,
which traversed 2,951,069 miles, and 52,312 goods trains,
which traversed 2,286,719 miles, or 6,237,788 miles in all;
the Great Northern ran 17,306 passenger trains, which tra-
versed 2,715,124 miles, and 28,446 goods trains, which tra-
versed 3,605,505 miles, or 6,320,629 miles in all; the Great
Western (including the South Walesand %Vest Midland) ran
190,787 passenger trains, which traversed 5,498,132 miles,
and 52,360 goods trains, which tro.vcraed 4,141,129 miles. or
9,639,261 miles in all ; the Lancashire and Yorkshire ran
181,896 passenger trains, which traversed 3,415,300 miles,
and 120,402 goods trains which traversed 3,001,020 miles, or
6,416,320 miles in all; the London, Brighton and South Coast
ran 136,956 passenger trains which traversed 2,364,091 miles,
and 23,210 goods trains, which traversed 407,026 miles, or
2,771,117 miles in all ; the London and North-Western ran
228,036 passenger trains, which traversed 7,959,484 miles,
and 195,888 goods trains, which traversed 7,724,804 miles,
or 15,684,288 miles in all ; the London and South.
Western ran 174,653 passenger trains, which traversed
3,113,898 miles, and 55,152 goods trains, which traversed
1,297,899 miles, or 4,411,797 miles in all; the Manchester,
Sheffield, and Lincolnshire ran 55,301 passenger trains,
which traversed 1,296,008 miles, and 33,376 goods trains,
which traversed 1,375,810 miles, or 2,671,811 miles in all;
the Midland ran 132,941 passenger trains, which traversed
3,487,256 miles, and 151,933 goods trains, which traversed
5,398,190 miles, or 8,885,446 miles in all; the North-East-
ern ran 141,956 passenger trains, which traversed 3,313,154
miles, and 119,854 goods trains, which traversed 6,329,233
miles, or 9,642,387 miles in all ; and the South-Eastern ran
102,649 passenger trains, which traversed 2,300,500 miles,
and 9,392 goods trains, which traversed 691,217 miles, or
2,991,717 miles in all. A. consideration which adds to the
interest of these wonderful figures is the fact that the work
performed goes on incessantly from day to day, 100 miles
having been run upon a fresh account while the reader,
himself snugly ensconced perhaps in cushioned carriage, has
been conning over this somewhat bewildering paragraph,