The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-15 00:00:00

A—ce,or

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Besouthern companies;
better offers must be give iaS:
whose interests were naturally illeniL fied with theirs, and
to whom it wits-of_tlw last importance 1;0 secure this im-
portant link in the great trunk line of columunication
from north to south. Besides, if the amalemation were
approved of at this meeting, what would be the result?
They would go to Parliament with the certainty of being
defeated, and if they were defeated, the souther): corn-
' panies would not have the same incentive to offer them
high terms as they had now. Those partners of tits:,
Company who were in the same position as himself, as
holding only the new stock, had an additional reason for
disapproval of this amalgamation inasmuch as they had
no guarantee, while they were made: to undertake all the
responsibilities of their copartners; he, therefore, begged
to propose the followin amendment:—
" That it is the opinion of this meeting. that the
amalgamation proposed by the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway Company with the Scottish Central Company,
will not prove advantageous to the interests of the pro-
prietors of this Company in general, and that the terms
are most unjust to the proprietors of the new shares in
the Scottish Central Company, by excluding them from
the guarantee for the payment of 51 per cent. interest
on their capital.
" That, according to the report of the Select Committee
of the House of Commons on the amalgamation of the
railway companies, and the recorded decisions of Parlia-
mentary Committees, there is every reason to anticipate
that the proposed amalgamation with the Edinburgh and
Glasgow Railway Company will not be sanctioned.
That the meeting resolves, that the amalgamation
with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway Company
be not approved."
The CHAIRMAN then stated that he feared the amend,-
ment could not be proposed to the meeting by Major
Richardson, as he was merely a scriphulder ; upon
which Major Richardson protested against this decision,
and requested his protest to be entered in the minutes.
Mr. MARTIN, a shareholder, then stated that he was
willing to adopt Major Richardson's amendment, and to
himself and
I the
In doinggesnot,lehmeenbegegeendenprarirtingcularly to guard
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on by the Government resolutions to reconsider
their position, and to record their opinions anew upon
these arguments. It surely was not intended that they
were to meet merely to reiterate their former opinion,
whether they continued the same or not ; but that they
were to be free to act as if no such opinion had been ex-
pressed. In proposing that the amalgamation should
not be approved of, he did not go so much upon the
question whether the terms obtained from the Edinburgh
and Glasgow Railway were good or not. He was not
prepared to go into an investigation of that Company's
seven or eight millions of liabilities ; nor could he hope
to satisfy any meeting such as this as to whether their
liabilities were judiciously incurred or not. But what
his friends and himself went upon was this—that how-
ever advantageous the amalgamation might be for the
shareholders of the Central, Parliament never would
ss,nction it. By agreeing to go on with the amalgama-
tion, the Central were again embarking in the expensive
discussion of last year, whether the through traffic was
to be given to the Central lines, or to the Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and the coast lines running south from its
termini ; and in doing so the Central would be driven to
take up the very arguments which had been used against.
themselves last year, by this very Edinburgh and Glas-
gow Company, and which they had then succeeded in
overturning. They would have against them the report
of the Board of Trade, the recorded decision of both
Houses last session, and, in addition to this, the very
formidable opposition sof the Great Central South lines,
and a large portion of their own shareholders. That
this struggle mast end in defeat he could have no doubt,
and its expense would form a very serious and profitless
addition to their expenditure. He concluded by moving
Major Richardson's amendment.
Mr. DAVID RITCHIE seconded the amendment.

The motion and amendment were then put from the
chair, when there were found to be 206 votes for the
motion, and 140 votes for the amendment. The result
of this vote, we understand, will put an end to the amal-
gamation of the Companies, as the approval of " at least
three-fifths" of the proprietors present at this meeting is
required by the standing orders. Three-fifths of the
votes is 207, while only 206 voted for the measure.
The meeting then broke up, after a vote of thanks, on
the motion of Major Richardson, to the Chairman.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY.
EXPERIMENTAL TRIP WITH THE MONSTER
ENGINE (THE GREAT WESTERN) TO

BRISTOL.
We live in strange and stirring times, and it becomes
our duty therefore to chronicle strange and almost un-
believable facts. In travelling, the slow and sure prin-
ciple of our ancestors has given way to the rapid and
safe principles of the present day. A few years ago
we should have been designated madmen, had we stated
our belief in the possibility of breakfasting in London,
taking our luncheon in Bristol, and returning to the
metropolis in time for dinner. Such a feat, however, we
accomplished on Saturday last, thanks to the daring
energy and unflagging perseverance of those who have
the_ management of that stupendous undertaking, the
Great Western Railway Company :
A select party were on Saturday invited by the
Directors of the Great Western Company to accompany
them in an experimental trip to Bristol, with the
double purpose of testing the power of their new engine
and of manifesting the advantages which they allege
the broad gauge possesses over its rival, the narrow
gauge. The engine in question was built by Mr.
Gooch, for the company, and its powers on trial have
been deemed so extraordinary as to warrant the di-
rectors in taking the most effectual means for testing
them, and of placing the results in an unexceptionable
shape before the pnblic. We believe it was at first in-
tended to tax the powers of speed of the new engine to
their fullest extent, and to show what speed could be
attained with a comparatively light load. It was at
first contemplated to carry a load of 80 tons at a speed
of somewhere about 78 miles an hour. It was under-
stood that the engine could accomplish this with com-
parative ease, as in some previous experimental trips the
engine attained the extraordinary rapidity of 7 9 imiks an
hour with a light load. It was eventually decided that
the trip should:be made with a load of about 110 tons,
at a speed which would accomplish the distance be-
tween the stations at Paddington and Bristol, a dis-
tance of nearly 118 miles, in about two hours and ten
minutes, including stoppages ; averaging, at this rate,
a speed of upwards of 55 miles an hour ; but, allowing
for stoppages, about 56 miles per hour. At a quarter to
12 the mammoth engine of the
~railway world, The
Great'Western, was attached to the carriages, 14 in num-
ber, weighing, as we have before stated, 110 tons,
and at 10 minutes before 12 o'clock exactly the train
set off at almost lightning speed. Nothing could be
more delightful than the ease, smoothness, and safety of
the performance of the powerful engine by which the
train was propelled. Trees, hedges, villages, and sta-
tions, appeared and disappeared with the rapidity of
thought, and yet the passenger—whirled along as swift
as the wind—felt no other sensation than those of plea-
sure and complete security. We passed the Slough
station, a distance of 18 miles from London, at 10
minutes past twelve ; Maidenhead station, 22f miles, at
a quarter past 12 ; Twyford, 30.1 miles, at 24 minutes
past 12 ; Reading, 35i, miles, at 29 minutes past 12;
PPangbourne, 41 miles from London, at 35 minutes past
12 ; Goring, 444 miles, at 38 minutes past twelve ;
and arrived at Didcot, 53 miles from London,
at 12 minutes to one ; having accomplished 53
miles in 58. minutes. At this station we stopped
seven minutes, and at five minutes to one we dashed off
again in fine style on our way to Bristol. We passed
Cii
Swindon,ho
nl Pde2oP et
edon4in hh
the Steventon station, 561 miles from London and 31
miles from Didcot, at one minute past 1 ; Farringfd. on-
road station, 634 miles from London and iof from
Didcot, at nine minutes past one; Shrivenham, i i
miles from London, and 181, from Didcot, at 17 minutes
past one, and arrived at Swindon,
.77 miles from Lon-
don, and 24 from Didcot, at 24 minutes past one. At
this station we stopped five minutes, and at 29 minutes
past one the Leviathan engine was again in motion, and
again we were attempting to annihilate time and space.
We passed the Wootton Bassett station 821 miles from,
::),011rintiimd
81
tio ul
miles,nmes: i
9nafsunri
Inot
minutes
nalsme 1
tsi6ol -it
London,
than
nff;adrr
nooowmnm2:
statitowoufninr2;dreioloCl:
London. and 51 from Swindon, at 24 minutes to two ;
raanotnmhtud
ge'l2h39l
Bh( fxer onim minutess
Boxi
tl
ae
andmpstsntsiu. fromio6 mSwiliensdfornom, atLo4ndmionn,uatensd to 2 ; the Bath
294 miles from
Swindon, at 1 minute past 2 ; Saltford, 11 ti miles from
London, and 34f from Swindon at 8 minutes past 2 ;
Keynsham, 113 i miles from London,. and 36,1
_from
Swindon, 101 minutes past 2 ; and arrived at Bristol,
1181- miles from London, and 414 from Swindon, at a.i.
past 2, having accomplished the entire
.distance In
2 hours and 24 minutes. Our readers will observe,
from these details, that the greatest rate of speed
was between Swindon and Bath, in some parts of that
distance 75 miles an hour having been accomplished.
Our forefathers would have held that to be a mere idle
dream, which is accomplished daily, and is now a mere
matter-of-fact occurrence. We can understand the pro-
digious velocity with which an avalanche of necessity
descends an inclined plane, but to find the same speed
realised by mechanical skill, on a plane in which the
gradients are sometimes much beyond the horizontal.
level, is to the unscientific little short of miraculous. As.
soon as the visitors were released from the carriages.
they proceeded to inspect the wonderful engine appro-
priately named " The Great Western"—which had per-.
formed such an unsurpassed feat. The large size, power.,
and beauty of the engine excited universal admiration-
The engine weighed, as we were given to understand,
not less than 20 tons. The directors and visitors then
adjourned to the
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RUSSELL,
tchecreehaatiurrmeanco,mssifodrtsiti
was his intention, as time was of' the essence of import.
ance at the present moment, not to delay the company
by any long speeches. He should only propose two
toasts, both of which he had no doubt all present would
drink most enthusiastically. The first was the health of
their gracious sovereign, the Queen, and might she long.
reign over a loyal and contented people.---(Great cheer-.:
ing.) The anxiety she had displayed, since her acces-
sion to the throne, for the progress of science and tho
improvement of the condition of the people,. entitled her
to the love and veneration of every loyal Englishman.—.
(Cheers.)
The health of her Majesty was drank with nine times
nine, and one cheer more.
The Cstentstax said the next toast he had to propose
was, " Success to the broad gauge and the Great Wes-
tern engine,"—(Great cheering. It was usual in th.