The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-02 00:00:00

OLASGOV7 AND WZST OP SCOTLAND

DISTRICT.

The Committee re-assembled this morning in the Court of Common
Pleas; Mr. V. Smith, chairman.

ATitsuraz, BRIDGE OF Will"Re AND PORT

GLASGOW JUNCTION.

Examination of witnesses continued—

Mr. Turner, solicitor to tke Glasgow and Greenock Company, said
that their liabilities were found to be so extraordinarily large that
they were obliged to give up the idea of constructing the branches to
the Greenock and Port Glasgow harbours. They were obliged to
come to Parliament in 1.841 for power to raise a sum of 108,0001.,
and. again, in 1843, for a further sum of 150,0001. to pay off their
liabilities. They now proposed to n
to raisea sum of 60,0001. for the
purpose of making a branch line to arston and the
bridge of

The witness en being cross-examined by Sir T. PIIILLINI, put in a
number of letters which had passed between the Company and the
chief magistrate and town clerk of Port tilasgow, showing the anxiety
of the inhabitants that the branch to the harbour should be con-
structed. and the apparent willingnoes of the Company to accede to
their wishes.

Mr. Stewart, M.P., gave evidence to show that the non-construe-
don of the branch to Port Glasgow was never deemed a grievance
until it was now put forward to serve a purpose. If It had been
publkly complained of he must have heard of it in one of three capa-
cities—as Member for the county of Renfrew, as director of the
Greenock Company, and as curator and guardian of his nephew, Sir
Michael Shaw Stewart, whose estates would be effected. He knew
the county between Port Glasgow and Johnstone, and the only town
on the proposed route was Kilmalcolm, which had a population
of 377 souls.—(Laughter.) There was, however, excellent shooting
on tine line—(Laughter)--as a considerable portion of the country
was moorlands.—(Continued laughter.) He thought that the line
would be difficult of construction, because he remembered that they
had on the Greenock Railway a cutting of 500 feet through a granite
rock which had been once in a stato of fusion.—(Laughter.) Ho was
quite certain that the line 1f constructed would never pay Its cost of
300.0001,

After a short discussion

Mr. Harding proved that the Compiuy, in the years 1841, 1842,
and 1843, when he was secretary, paid the cartage trom the railway
to the harbour of Port Glasgow, ant that no complaint had ever been
made on the subject of the eon-construction of the branch.
Mr. Errington, civil engineer, was examined to show that the pro-
posed line could not be remunerative, scarcely practicable ; that it
would be attended with great and serious evils to the
public item the prevalence of fogs on the Clyde, the de-
scending gradient of 1 in 75, and the sharp curves just before
coating to the station at Port Glasgow, which would render it
a matter ofimpoesibility for the engin9-mau to time. his sl.eed ie
exactly as to come correctly to the station. The waits of the dis-
trict where not supplied would be amply provided tar hy a branch to
Houston and Bridge of Weir, promoted by the Greenuek Company.
They would only require to construct a length of seven mile, of new
railway. while the Glasgow and Ayr Company would reeuire abeve
fifteen miles. The cost in the our case ereu'el only he 60,00.1., in the
other the estimated cost was 300,0001.
Mr. Lrrington was cross-examined on the part of ate. it. ~f
Eiderslie, to show that injury would be done to in, re,idon,al pro
piety, and fer the Glasgow and Ayr Railway, to show that there
were many railways is that kingdon which were worked on as steep
a gradient as the Ayrshire, Brida, of Weir, arm Port Glasgow ..i enee-
lion. At the station near the latter place, there was a d.:seeeding
gradient, on the Garnkirk Railway, of 1 in 80, with a level beire
coining to the station ot only 100 yards. The caso was not paralki.
because on the former linel the heavy gradient extended for tour
miles, while the level, before coming to the station, was only 306
yards.
The Committee then adjourned.

GROUP xiv.
SOUTH EASTERN RAILWAY.

The Committee met to-day at twelve o'clock. Present, Mr. Pro-
thcroe (chairman), Lord Evelyn, Genera, Lygon, Mr. J. O'Connell,
and Mr. Grogan-
After a delay of twenty minutes, caused by the absen-ee of Mr.
Austin, the examination of Mr. G Bidder was resumed by Mr.
lIEBREWETHER. The witness stated that the most severe gradient on
the South-Eastern, between Woolwich and Dartford, is one in 150,
and that only for a short distance. The remainder is practically a
level. The working gradient of Mr. Vignoles, over the same ground,
is lin 100. The works of the South-Eastern, from Woolwich to
Dartford, are light, while Mr. Vignoles'a are rather heavy. The
line would be a perfect engineering anomaly. The four acres pro-
posed for the Union-street Math n, would be wholly insutile lent.
The Paddington station occupies thirteen acres. The bhorediteh
station occupies five acees and a half, and is about to
have an increase of four acres more. The Union-street
station would be thirty feet above the level, and a good ap-
proach to it would require a road of 300 yards in length. The Lon-
don and Birmingham station occupies seven acres. The station at
London-bridge is about four a res. There is a station at the Brick-
layers' arms, which occupies the very large area of twenty-six acres.
The Union-street station of the North Kent line would be incon-
venient, as people going to it would have to cross Southwark-bridge
and pay the toll, and besides the streets around it are very dirty and
narrow. The London-bridge station cost 300,0001., exclusiv, of what
was expended by the Greenwich Company. The arching of the.
Union-street station would cost 80,0001., and hat would merely
be the platform for the railway; 20,0001. would not then
complete the station. The estimate for this station is only
100,0001. Believes that before the Union street statical
could be built so as to accommodate all the traffic which
it was intended to accommodate, it would cost 250,0001. Mr.
Vignoles proposed to carry the line from Union-street to the junction
with the Croydon line on an embankment held in by retaining walls.
That embankment would cross more than 900 yards of street, and
there would of course be so much arching required. A populous
neighbourhood ought no: to be crossed by an embankment. Mr.
Vignoles's lme affects a rental of 16,0001. per annum. The purchase
of that at thirty years' purchase would be 480,0001., and the legal
expenses attendant on the transfer of property in the metropolis
are very great, in fact they would be in this case about 70,0001.
When the Blackwell Railway was about to be constructed it passed
through some property of the most wretched description, in tact
mere shells of houses, of which the rents were collected every morn-
ing, and -set the cost of three miles of line which affeected that
part cost more than 700,000/. There is TIO possibility -of making a
correct estimate where house property is concerned, as to many con-
tingencies arise in the formation of the works. Believes that the three
hides of line from the Union-street stations to the Croydon junction
would cost •1,150,0001. The junction at New-Cross would be a most
dangerous junction, as the embankment is constantly slipping, and
the New-Cross station is situated at the foot of a long incline.
There would also be the inconvenience of crossing the atmospheric
pipe, in order to get on the rails. Toe way ill Wilk]] it would he
necessary to join there would require a gap in the pipe of from twenty
to thirty yards, and the atmospheric traits would have to be drawn
across that space by some other power. The gradient of the
North Kent, at the point of junction, is 1 in 569, and the
Croydon line, where it is joined, has a gradient of 1 in 100. The
South-Eastern is so continfigil as to avoid the powder-mills rt
Dartford, and the Company will pure base the Ospringe powder-mills
in order to avoid any danger from the proximity of their line. Mr.
Vignoles proposes, in the tram-way which he intends to throw out
to the town of Faversham, to cross the main street at a level with a
gradient of one in seventeen—au incline rather steeper than the
present approach to Westminster-bridge. The length of it 1s to ba
halt' a mile, and the total declivity or tall is 54 feet. In case of one
of the waggons getting loose it would cross the main street at the
rate of forty miles an huur, and from the curve at the bottom of
the tram-road would inevitably be projected into the creek. The
line from London to Chilham, as proposed by the South-Eastern
Company, has a decided advantage over the North Kent
Company, in point of direction, expense, gradients, and working.
The Balton Ridge, near Canterbury, is to be passe • by a tunnel
1,500 yards long. Had: examined Balton Ridge very minutely' in
1832. In that year it was his opinion that Chilham, lower down
the ridge, was preferable for a railway, as it avoided the capping of
clay at the top of the ridge, and war more available for general pur-
poses. Mr. Vignoles' cutting to the Balton Ridge will be forty or
fifty feet deep, and about thirty feet into the clay. The depth of his
cutting in one place will be equal to the height of the i ,uke of
York's column, and the width will be 280 yards. The cost of the
work will be about 290,000/. Mr. Vignoles will, by his tunnel, save
about 2 miles in distance, but it, is not worth the
expenditure of 30,000/. The interest of 30,0001. would run
four or five long special trains per day from Canterbury to
London. The expenditure of that 300,000/. would only save four
minutes of time to a special train and eight minutes of time to an
ordinary train. The distance from Greenwich to Canterbury by the
South-Eastern line is 58 miles, and by the North Kent it would be
54 miles. The South. Eastern would, from its arrangements, be able
to reach London in the same, if not in less, time than the North
Kent line.
The Committee then adjourned until four o'clock to-morrow.