The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-28 00:00:00

BLACKWALL RAILWAY.

A meeting of the Shareholders of the above COM.
paly was held at the L-mdon Tavern yesterday, Wm.
Routh, Esq., in the Chair. The common seal of the
Company was affixed to the registry of Shareholders.
The SECRETARY then read the following Report
from the Engineers to the Line :
" Having had the satisfaction of bringing the works
reo,yo
upon your railway, between 13Iackwall and the Mino-
ries, to a conclusion, and the line between those points
being in operation, we beg to report to you our ob-
servations, both upon the manner in which the works
haveilat system been
uponan
donoutirie m
practicaleoete n efficiencydatin ofu
t
have been pleased to adopt.
6' With reference to the works generally, we will only
observe, that though plain, they are sound and substan-
tially constructed ; whilit the casualties attending their
progress were unusually few and unimportant.
" The subject to which we conceive, on the present
occasion, it is our duty more particularly to advert, is
the mode of working the stationary engine system, as
now in practice on your railway, In
adapting this
system to the exigencies of this railway, particularly
with regard to the provisions for such an extensive
intermediate traffic, involving as it did much novelty of
application, it could scarcely have been expected, even
by the most zealous of its advocates, that no interrup-
tions would at the outset occur ; and it gives us the
greatest satisfaction to know, that those interruptions
have been unimportant, and attended with vary slight
inconvenience. As respects the working of the engines
and the machinery in connection with them, our most
most sanguine expectations have been realized ; not only
as regards the loads they are capable of drawing, and '
the speed attained, but also in reference to the great
economy which will be found in the working expenses.
" The only description of casualty, to which we feel
it necessary to allude, is the breaking of the rope ; this
ought not to be attributed to the insufficient strength of
the rope ; but the following appear to us to have been
the causes : inexperience of the breaksmen—the sys-
tem of signals not being perfected—in consequence of
which, the carriages, during the first ten days, several
times overran the rope, and damaged it in places ; and
lastly, the tendency of the rope, near the drums, to
twist to a greater extent than we had foreseen.
" We have now, however, to state, that the breaks-
men have acquired the necessary experience—the sys-
tem of signals is well understood—and to counteract the
twisting of the rope, we have introduced swivels, which
have been found effectually to answer the purpose. All
the damaged parts of the rope have been taken out, and
other improvements have also been made, wh'cli, to-
gether with parcelling and serving the rope, wo feel
assured will increase its durability, and, at the same
time, obviate the noise from its rapid motion over the
sheaves. Effectual means have been adopted at the
London engines, for maintaining the vacuum in the eon-
, densers ; the advantages of which have bean found of
great importance in facilitating the despatch of the