The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-12 00:00:00

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MR. C. PEARSON'S PR 'ii§AL FOR .
A METROPOLITAN TRUNK R WAY, WITH A
CENTRAL RAILWAY STATION 'FARRINGDONe
STREET.
A meeting was held last evening, in tfieKefeincil 9lninebeEt
Guildhall, for the purpose of offering to the inspection of the
municipal authorities and the citizens of London, Mr. Charles
Pearson's large model of his proposed trunk Metropolitan
Railway. The open space in the middle of the Council-roorii;
was occupied by a large model of the proposed railway, with
its passengers and goods termini. The doors were opened at
six o'clock, and long before seven o'clock, the hour at which
the proceedings were to commence, every seat in the chamber
was occupied. The Lady Mayoress and several ladies
honoured the meeting with their presence, and were accom-
modated with seats c ose to the chair.
At seven o'clock the Lord Mayor took the chair, and im-
mediatelvafterwards
Mr. C. PgAnsote commenced the exposition cf his pro.
posed plan. The City of London, he said, had for centuries
maintained its commercial supremacy by means of its mag-
nificent river, which brought it the wealth of the world.
Other towns of the empire had latterly taken advantage of
the physical advantages of their situation, and had been
enabled, not to compete with London, but to hang upon its
skirte, by improving the advantages of water communication
by means of the rivers on which they were situated. As
long as the rivalry was confined to water communication
London had nothing to fear, but of late years men had tra-
velled by iron instead of by water, and unless London was
prepared to compete with them in the iron ways as well as
in the water ways, she must eventually be distanced in the
race of competition. The Mocking of the streets of London
by the traffic was matter of notoriety. The traffic
had outgrown the streets. Various endeavours had been
made to remedy this evil. The Corporation, at an expense
of 50,0001. had opened Gresham-street as an easement to
Cheapside, but it had not operated as an easement, be-
cause in that street was situated one of those great empo-
riums which operated as a feeder to the railroads. Persons
ehaving
to
g thisi sto d
great
s send
warehouse,
the h
ons
e,whcountryre dispatchedthey w erh
were deposited
te min
the various rai roa ermine an
again, loaded upon
dother carts, b(yi
athgoaeine ctra
d nto the various luggage trucks. Now each transhipment of
ar tss
heiopnpve edy there
pthinoesheegdoosdestwigahstlaytteasnded
itdbidy einxptheness and
these days,
days,wt-hhaen o t
ecxinlpiseefitwioasn
a great object of consideration. Now by the plan
which he proposed, the merchant would only have
to send his goods to the City terminus, whence
they would be at once transferred to the railway goods car-
riage, and the expense of one unloading would be saved. The
line which he proposed for the Metropolitan Trunk Railway
riwialLiSwat3l,is
proposed
v,;
htihtchehr.ethefrwopanr; an open space near Battle-bridge,
situated close to the confluence of the great metropolitan
New Road, near King,sptchorste:sp,tootthttahaitkeietrasa.i
railway
red
srhuuaishould
et commencement.rhosbatchke
of Gray's Inn-lane, traversing the new street to Calthorpe-
street, that then it should hug the wall of the Cold Bath
Fields' Prison, and debouclie in Doddington-street ; that it
should pass through the district of Mutton-hill, Saffron-
hill, and Field-lane, diverging towards the north
upper gut of Field-lane; that it should
,ss under the Hoheorn valley to Farringdon Market and
of the Fleet Prison, which should he the passengers
ermini, while the goods termini should be in Field-lane, so
as not to cross the Holborn Valley; thus he would keep the
goods and the passenger termini entirely separate. Hitherto
there had been but two methods devised by engineers for
revtehremthehmy
Ipisa,"mhelgantsh (e,
fl eavveli sa(otfcstt,rteiettes
o;
tittheer
wasaktoasp
astos
pmaisdse
means of a tunnel. In both these ways property was sacri-
ficed. He proposed to adopt a third plan, by means of which
the property in the neighbourhood of which the railway
should past would be improved instead of deteriorated.
He proposed to raise the whole of the streets by
taking the basement as the railway line, and
arcading it over with spaces at every ten feet,
to admit light and air to the railway, while on
the roof of the arcade he would carry the until car-
riage-way and the usual passenger traffic, thus forming a
street over his railway, while he secured to his railway all
the advantages of light and air, advantages of which a tun-
nel would necessarily deprive it. Tide would secure an ex-
cellent street frontage above the railway, and would transform
Field-lane, Saffron-hill, and the other localities celebrated in.
"Oliver Twist," into the abodes ofrespectable tradesmen, while
it would secure a grand arterial communication from
the north to the south of the metropolis, which
was much wanted. The gradients and curves were
of the most favourable descrption, and he proposed
that, where excavations were necessary, the earth excavated
should be used to raise the low parts of the ground over
which the railway was to pass; for instance, the low ground
at the foot of Snow-hill, which would be of great advantage
in facilitating traffic. Having taken Farringdon Market as
one of the termini, he proposed to erect a new market for
vegetables, fruits, and flowers, near to Sea-coal. lane, if such
should be deemed necessary, and he also left in the neiglee
bourhood of the Fleet Prison sufficient space for the London
and Birmingham Company, should they be disposed to carry
out the proposition for a tunnel from Islington, terminating
at that point in a City terminus. He insisted most particu-
larly on the absolute necessity of keeping the goods termintla
separate from the passenger terminus, and as a proof of the
advantage of having the goods terminus on the Field-lane
side of Holborn, he mentioned its vicinity to the Smithfield and
Newgate markets. He then entered into very, minute details
as to the advantages by the proposed termini, explaining
them by referring to the model, and also explained the re-
adjustment which he proposed to make in the streets in the
vicinity of the proposed station, explanations which it would
be impossible to describe without reference to a map or a
model. He then entered into various details to show what
would be the outlay for the purchase of property, of good-
will, and the construction of the railroad; and, on the other
side, what would be the probable receipts for ground-rents,
&c.; and he concluded from these premises that the proposed
railway would be cons:ruct.ed at the cost of about a million.
He proposed that it should be worked by atmospheric trac-
tion, which hid answered so well in the Dalkey and Kings-
town line that for six months no train had been one minute
beyond its time, and the length of the proposed metropolitan
line would be about the same as that of the Dalkey and
Kingstown, viz., about a mile and a half. He proposed to give
the management of the line to a commission, 13 members of
bleb snouts De nominated by the Coporation of London, 8 by
the shareholders in the various lines which would be benefited
by it, and a certain number ofcommissioners to be appointed by
the Board of Trade. If the board were thus constituted the
line could never become a monopoly in the hands of anyone
railway company, to the exclusion of the public. He pro-
posed to raise the funds by means of a 5 per cent. stock, with
a sinking fund of 21,i per cent., so that in the coarse of time
the debt should be extinguished. As it was nearly ten
o'clock before his explanations on the subject of railways
were completed, he deferred his observations on country
houses for the poor to another opportunity.
A vote of thanks to Mr. C. Pearson for his able exposition,
and another to the Lord Mayor for his kindness in taking the
chair, having been passed by acclamation, the meeting
separated,

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