The Sun.
London, England, 1836-12-20 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.

We extract the following interesting particulars of the
above undertaking, from the Railway Magazine for the
present month :-
1. DIRECTIONS OF THE LINE AND PLACES APPROACHED
BY IT.—Commencing near the western extremity of Oxford-
street, London, the line passes by Acton, Ealing, Hanwell
(crossing the Brent by a viaduct), to Southall (through the
cattle market), within 21 miles of Uxbridge (to which place
a branch is projected, as well as to Colnbrook, Staines, and
Egham), through Slough, and within 11 of Eton and
Windsor, through Salt Hill and Maiden-head, within five
miles of Marlow, of Henly, and of Wokingham, to
Reading, a distance of 34 miles, where the communication
would be effected with Newbury, Marlborough, and the
whole of the south of Berkshire.
From Reading the line takes rather a northerly direction,
passing within three miles of Wallingford, and through Dud-
cot, where it will be met by a branch railway of 41 miles to
Abingdon, and 91 to Oxford. The main line then pro-
ceeds westward, within two miles of Wantage, 31 miles of
Faringdon, four of Highworth, and 11 of Levindon, where
it will be joined by the " Cheltenham and Great Western
Union Railway," connecting together Cirencester, Stroud,
Cheltenham, and Gloucester; the latter place being the
intermediate point for railway communication between South
Wales and the metropolis. From Levindon, the line, taking
a south-west course, passes within half a mile of Wotton
Basset, six miles of Malmsbury, and six of Calne, through
Chippenham, with branches to Melksham and Devizes,
Bradford and Trowbridge, through Bath to Bristol, termi-
nating at the depot in Temple-meads, a large area of nearly
20 acres, adjoining the floating harbour. There will also be
depots at Bath, Levindon, Reading, and some other places
along the line. That at Bath consists of 41; acres, the
Company having power to take as much more it necessary.
At Bath a branch is already projected, from the coal fields
of Somersetshire, and at Bristol the line is met by the
" Coal-pit Heath Railway," which will bring the coal of the
Gloucestershire collieries—a constantly increasing traffic—
direct to the Great Western Railway.
The communication westward and south from Bristol
will be continued by the almost perfectly level line of the
" Bristol and Exeter Railway" (for which two extensive
contracts are already taken) to the numerous rising wa-
tering-places on the Severn, and through Bridgwater,
Taunton, Wellington, and Tiverton, to Exeter ; from whence,
Exmouth, Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, and other places
of resort in the south of Devon, are easily accessible. The
surveys are also made, and an act will be applied for in the
ensuing session, for a continuation of the Exeter Railway to
Plymouth.
2. GRADIENTS AND CuavEs.--Considerable improve-
ments have been effected in laying out the line since the
Act of Incorporation was obtained ; all tending to the ac-
quisition of the most perfect levels, and the most econo-
mical application of steam power. For this purpose Mr.
Brunel, the engineer, has determined to concentrate a
great part of the rise within a comparatively short space,
by means of two inclined planes, upon which assistant
power can be employed, if necessary, and the remainder
of the line, thus left free, to be worked by engines of less
weight and expense than would otherwise be practicable.
There is but one summit level,* which is about 76 miles
from London, and consequently only about 18 miles from
the centre of the whole line. The summit is 253 feet above
the London depot, and 275 feet above the Bristol depot.
From London to the summit the line rises gradually to
Maidenhead, Reading, and the point of junction with the
Oxford branch, by very easy gradients, nowhere exceeding
4 feet per mile, or 1 in 1320, and generally under this.
This is a distance of 52 miles, and the part upon which the
greatest traffic may be expected.
From this point to the summit level at Levindon, the
line continues to rise gradually, without undulations, and
with a maximum inclination of six feet per mile, or 1 in
880. At Swindon, the line to Stroud, Gloucester, and Chel-
tenham branches off.
From the summit level to Bath the line descends by two
inclined planes at Wotton Bassett and at Box ; the inter-
mediate gradients nowhere exceed 6 feet per mile (1 in 880).
The inclined planes are both perfectly straight, and the in-
clination lin 106, or 50 feet per mile.t The length of the
first, is 1 mile 30 chains ; of the second, 2 miles 40 chains.
Upon the latter, occurs the Box tunnel, which is the only
(but unavoidable) disadvantageous feature upon the line.—
From Bath to Bristol the descent is one continued gradient
of 4 feet per mile, or 1 in 1,320. Thus, upon the whole
line there will be—

Miles Furlongs
Level, or not exceeding 4 feet per mile 63 4
Above 4, and not exceeding 6 feet per mile 50 1
Inclined planes

Total ll7 4
and whilst the whole line (with the exception of the inclines,
may practically be considered level, it happens that 4 sths
of the traffic will be carried upon that part of it where the
maximum gradient does not exceed 4 feet per mile.f
The curves are in general very slight, chiefly of 4,5, or
6 miles radius. Mr. Brunel considers that even a mile ra-
dius is not desirable except at the entrance to a depot,
where the speed of the engines is always greatly slackened ;
and except in these instances, the only deviation from his
rule which he has admitted, is in the curve, about a quarter
of a mile below one of the inclines, where the radius is
three-quarters of a mile, and not on a level, and entirely in
deep cutting.
3. EXCAVATIONS, &c.—The total amount of cuttings be-
tween Bristol and London (including the branches to
Bradford and Trowbridge, and the excavations for the tun-
nels) was stated, in the evidence before Parliament, at
9,750,156 cubic yards ; but this amount will be rather in-
creased, though not in any considerable degree, by the im-
provements effected in the levels, and by the substitution
of open cuttings for tunnels in one or two places.l
The deep cuttings and embankments are all of moderate
extent, and balance each other with sufficient exactness.
The general run of the deep cutting is from thirty to forty
feet, and the embankment twenty-five to thirty feet. There
are points where it is higher ; but those are not frequent,
and only for a very short space, dropping off rapidly " down
to nothing."
According to the Parliamentary plans, there would be
seven tunnels upon the line, amounting together to four
miles fifty-four chains, but one of the longest of these has
been dispensed with, and it is expected that an arrangement
will he effected to substitute open cutting for another of
them, which was only proposed to avoid injuring an orna-
mental property. If this change be effected, there will be
no tunnel (except that at Box) between London and Bath.
This (at Box) is the longest tunnel upon the line,
being nearly one mile and three quarters, but the time
occupied in passing through it will not exceed six mi-
nutes at the slowest rate of the engines. Between Bath
and Bristol there are four tunnels ; one of 528 yards, one
of 1,012 yards, one of 132 yards, and one of 435 yards. The
three last have the drift carried already completely through,
and are proceeding with rapidity. All the tunnels will
have a roadway of thirty feet wide, and be from twenty-five
to thirty feet in height. Two of them might altogether
have been dispensed with, had not the wish to avoid injury
to private residences interfered. §
4. COMMENCEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE WORKS,

The Act received the Royal assent on the last day o.
August, 1835. The letting of the contracts for works
commenced on the 26th day of November following, and
since that period contracts have been entered into on satis-
factory terms, as compared with the engineer's estimates, for
nearly forty miles of the line, to the amount of upwards of
650,0001. The works are now in active progress between
London and Reading, Bath and Bristol, and at the Box
tunnel, and the line is marked out, and the preliminary
steps for preparing the contracts of the principal works in
the intermediate portion are completed.
It is expected that the line will be completed from Lon-
don to Maidenhead in the autumn of 1837, from Bristol to
Bath in the spring of 1838, from Maidenhead to Reading
* Some small intermediate undulations occur, but so trifling
in extent as hardly to be perceptible in a section on the Par-
liamentary scale, and in no way affecting the correctness of
the above as a general view of the line.
t " The descent of 1 in 107 is considerably less than the
descent from the houses at the corner of Parliament-street to
the Parliament Houses; it is about half as steep as Burlington
Arcade ; and exactly the same as the Lowther Arcade ; and
therefore, as regards any appearance of steep descent, there
can be none."—Mr. Brunel's Evidence before the House oj
Lords, June, 1835, p. 93.
t In his evidence before the House of Lords, Mr. G. Ste-
venson stated that " he knew of no railroad of such an extent
with such advantageous levels."—Evidence on Great Western
Railway Bill, p. 276.
Mr. Locke and Mr. Robert Stevenson gave testimony to
the same effect : —" The lower the maximum can be kept upon
a railway the better, because the power of the engines, or, in
other words, the load that the same engines can draw, will be
governed by the inclinations over which they have to take that
load at any one part of the line." This is the principle on
which Mr. Brunel has laid down the Great Western Line.—
p. 92.
The proportionate quantity of cutting upon the Great
Western Line, and other railways, shows that the Great Western
passes over an easy country. The London and Southampton
Railway, up to Basingstoke, and their (once proposed) line on
Bristol, averages about 200,000 yards a mile ; the London and
Birmingham averages 110,000 ; the Liverpool and Manchester
100,000 ; and the Great Western 78 or 80,000.—See Evi-
dence before the House of Lords on the Great Western Rail-
way Bill, p 144.
§ The Great Western Line is about 6 miles longer than the
London and Birmingham Line, and it will have about mile
IT tunnelling on the whole. The longest tunnel on the Bir-
minham line mile ; and on the Liverpool and Manches-
ter Line there are now two long tunnels ; the first, 1:1 mile in
length, having an inclination of 1 in 48, through which all the
goods pass the second, also 11 mile long, 18 feet high, and
25 feet wide, with an inclination of about 1 in 100, to carry
assengers into the centre of the town.