The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-26 00:00:00

GROUP XL

COLCXESTIIIt .824111 STOUR VAIMEY (LA-
VENIULEZ AND EMIT EXTENSION).
The Select Committee appointed to consider the merits of
the 'dills comprised in this group re-assembled at the usual
hou, tnis morning. Mr. Forbes Mackenzie in the chair.
Th._ engineering evidence in this case having been brought
to a close this morning, the Committee consulted together
for a few minutes, and afterwards decided that the preamble
to the Bill had been proved.
The remainder of the day was occupied with the clauses.

GROUP XVIII.

The Committee on this Group assembled this morning, at
twel-e o'clock, the Earl of Lincoln in the Chair, with Mr. J.
O'Connell, Sir W. James, Mr. Smythe, and Capt. Jones.
CHELTENHAM AND OXFORD LINE.
A variety of evidence was taken to show the advantage of
this branch to the traffic of the South-Wales District, by way
of Reading and Tring, to the Valley of the Thames.
Mr. Paul described the several gradients OR the line, and
he underwent a long cross-examination by Mr. Alexander,
upon the subject of the drains of Cheltenham, the construe-
' lion.; of some of which had had the effect of drawing off the
tier, from the shallow wells of the town.
To Mr. M. O'Connell the witness replied, that the average
distance of the sewer from the broad gnage line was fifteen
chains, and the sandbed near the line would be deeper than
in High-street, but the cutting would cross the sewer
near that street.
Mr. Brunell stated that he was the engineer of the line, and
that the principal_ reason for taking the north of the Mar-
borough Downs, on the Great Western line, was a desire
to aec'mmodate Cheltenham. The Cheltenham 'and.
Glonee3',-r line was also constructed by him, but

the coupe*, by which it was designed+ was a dis-
tinct c..mpany, he being the only person connected with
loth that company and the Great Western, in an official
capacity. The Bill for the Gloucester and Oxford line was
obtained in 1836, and was shortly after commenced, and part
of it to Swindon made. But in consequence of the mercan-
tile difficulty of 1838 and 1839, the Company was obliged to
stay their proceedings, and the Great Western Company
early in 1845 obtained an Act to purchase the
line. The works had been subsequently continued
but an interruption of a violent proceeding, in consequence of
a body of individuals to the number of seventy or eighty
coming down forcibly, deporting the men engaged on the
,w °srtke'' and
carrying them before the magistrates at Glou-
cee• The several works had, however, been shortly re-
-Burned• and were now far advanced. Since the arrangement
-etmh
r,an they?allud Oxford, the Gloucester and Hereford
t.nined their Acts, and the Us Wales Railway Company had ob-
great portion of the traffic of those
lines would come upon the new line, it was determined to
,c,,,me up to Parliament foran Act to go direct from Chelten-
haus to Oxford ;
.orcester, Wolverhamp-
tor, ,tn.l Oxford Bill wasYtlrenthe through the Le is Cheltenham, the
lattice. With respect to the Jaatsin
osnr..iny
.had been for several years', communication with
of a Committee
the inhabitants, and it was at the (Inez
that they had selected the site
chiefch they wished
to adopt. That was one of the
going a, near to the centre of the town. ft, reason for
station, which would occupy part of the marrk...etavping thie,
Weald peas under High-street, and then.,.-e under ;Ilea"'
other
streets, and so pass out of the town of Cheltenham, in •t„
course affecting property generally of very small value. its
was intended that the line should he carded through the
town ;n a cnttirg under walls, but where the noise
1V53 1 k•!19 to prove inconvenient, at the desire of
the committee, the cutting would be covered over from
Nerth-ol ce to Winclicomb-street. This was in Mr. Brunel's
4.pinion the best mode of passing through a town, and it
sited tunnelling to a great depth. There is indeed hardly
a large town in England which is not, or which will not
shortly be traver,ed in this way. It was the case at Bath,
aid at Teignmouih, on the Great Western line. The distance
of the transit through Cheltenham would be between fifty
and sixty chains. He was aware that a gr, at outcry had
been made respecting the line affecting the sup-
P lv of wafer, but he believed that it was all a mere
. .
g.oun4 ass alarm ; but his atte:ltion had been drawn
t.) it, but there would be no difficulty whatever in the
matter. A great part of the town of Cheltenham stands on
a bed of sand, but the cu'tiug would be formed with an
invert and side walls, which will be perfectly watertight,
so that draining the- water down to its level was not at alt
likely. Than as to the interception of the water—the line to
"the east of the town was far above the water level,
•nd did not reach it till it came near High-

street, and, from the construction of the line, there would
be no obstacle whatever to its flowing down freely both on
the North and South sidee. As the water flowed east to
west, and where there was the slightest chance of a stoppage
in one small portion it was intended to lay the line on in-
verted tiles. In fact there was no engineering difficulty, and
it was merely a case of every-day engineering experience.
As to lowering the wells during the progress of the works he
apprehended neither difficulty nor inconvenience in either
saving the loss of water. Indeed, in order to allay the
apprehensions which had been excited he had requested three
professional gentlemen, unacquainted with the railway, to go
I down to ascertain the facts of the case, and they had de-
cidedly agreed with him. After leaving Cheltenham he
went direct by an inclined plain to the summit of the Cotes-
wold Hills, which has attained, first, a small distance on a
grapient of one 113, then for four miles and eight chains, to
Dowdeswell by an incline of one in sixty, then on
to Northbach (which is at the summit) on an incline
of one in 100. The Cheltenham and Tring Company placed
their station on an elevation then descended, going a little
circuit outside the town by a gradient of 1 in 100, then rose
on an incline of 1 in 90, then 1 in 100, and 1 in 132, and 1 iu
175. The distance being somewhat more than eleven miles.
To the CHAIRMAN-Mr. Brunel replied that the distance
on his own line was seven miles and a quarter, there being a
few intermediate bits of gradients. He proposed to
work this incline by assistant power as after passing
Northleach the highest gradient would be only I'in;2oo. No
difficulty was to be apprehended from the incline of 1 in 60,
as there was 1 in 60 and 1 in 75, the whole distance was
about four miles long; on the present Cheltenham line, be-
tween Swindon and Stroud, in which they were constantly
working; but, in order to ascertain the real fact of the case,
he had several trains running constantly up this
incline, and the results of the experiments were,
that with one of their large eight-wheeled engines they carred
up trains of 50, 60, and 70 tons each, at a rate of from 25 to
35 miles an hour. Seventy tons was about equal to a train
of 14 carriages on the narrow gauge line. With a common
goods' train engine they had taken up 140 tons and 110 tons
at 25 miles an hour, which is faster than the usual speed.
Neither did he apprehend any difficulty in going down
into Cheltenham, for they constantly did so on their Swindon
and Stroud incline, and stopped with ease at the bottom.
On the Birmingham and Gloucester narrow gauge line their
is an incline of one in thirty-six, which has for years been
worked. The distance saved between Gloucester and London
would be five miles, and between Cheltenham and London
nineteen miles„ and twenty-one miles if they went into
Cheltenham. Between Gloucester and Oxford the saving
would of course be greater. On his own line there would be
no tunnels whatever between Cheltenham and! Oxford, and
there were none between Oxford and London. Nor
were there any roads either turnpike or others
crossed at a level, while on the other hand the Tring line
would have fonr tunnels between that place and London, and
it passed seven turnpikes, and forty-eight other roads passed
on a level. The formation of this line would give greater
opportunities of sending trains frequently to the Southe natural Wales
district, and, on the whole, he conceived it to be the
completion of the works which had already been begun.
Mr. HILDYARD cross-examined on the alteration made
since the project of last year, and the respective advantages
of the rival projects.
The Committee adjourned at four o'clock.