The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-28 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MARCH 28, 1856.

slipped and turned trains off the line—tunnels hav e
fallen in—various accidents, from failure of brickwork,
earthwork, add ironwork, have occurred on railways,
but I believe no one can point to an instance in which
an accident has been shown to arise from simple failure
of timber."

Mr. Bidder proceeds further to defend the use of wood,
by pointing out that it is more easy of inspection, more
capable of restoration, that the time it will continue in
good repair is easily calculated, and that the known lia-
bility of timber to decay in a certain time causes a
watchful superintendence very useful for any railway.
Mr. Bidder then lays down a position that "experience,"
and not "inspection," is the only test of the safety of
the line, and he quotes two cases (the Torksey viaduct
and the Westminster-road bridge of the South-Western
Railway) to shrew that Government inspectors had
pronounced unsafe works that the after experience
of working for some years had proved to be per-
fectly secure. " These facts and instances appear to in-
dicate that the railway department of the Board of
Trade is in the habit of receiving from its inspectors re-
ports and representations calculated to excite needless
alarms ; and that it is also in the habit of assuming,
upon those reports, a false position, from which, sooner
or latter, it is obliged to recede."
After pointing out that the use of wood in the
Eastern Counties bridges was a necessity, owing to the
nature cf the ground and the want of iron, stone, or
brick in the neighbourhood, Mr. Bidder says : " When
these bridges were designed and executed it was an-
ticipated by the conatructors that they would last
from twelve to fourteen years—the usual period for
the duration of timber in similar situations. It was
not, however, anticipated that .they weaild last during
that period without attention and oceMional repara-
tion. Everyone knows that where *titer gets into
the joints of timber decay is induced ; an that frequent
examination is required to avert the consequences. If
the incipient decay of wood-work is not stopped it be-
comes, as it were, contagious, and the eeneral deteriora-
tion is propoitionahly rapid. But if stopped in time,
the maintenance of 'the fabric will be proportionately
prolonged.
"Now, how do these facts apply themselves to the pre-
sent state of bridges on your line ? The Yarmouth
branch, which the sGovernment inspector reports to be
in the worst state, was opened in 1844, 12 years ago.
During a considerable portioe of that time, owing to
the insufficiency of the repairs effected by a late super-
intendent engineer, the bridges and viaducts upon the
line have been without any reparation of any sort.
Yet, what have been the results ? From 1844 up to
this moment the traffic of the line has been carried o❑
over those timber viaducts and bridges without a single
accident, arid, until within the twelve months, with-
out the slightest impediment to traffic!
" These results, then, demonstrate eenclusively the
applicabiay of timber for railway bridges, its durability
to the full extent expected from it, and the safety of such
works for all purposes of traffic. The assumption that
bridges and viaducts of timber are unfitted for railways,
and that the material is unsafe, as Lieutenant-Colonel
Wynue reports, is proved by these facts to be mere as-
sumption, based upon no experience, and communicated
without consideeation.

" I have already advi rted to the fact, that these bridges
and viaducts have lasted the period they were expected
to endure, and that in consequence of the insufficiency
of the repairs done by a late superintendent engineer in
your employment, they have fallen into a much worse
state than th('y ought to have been permitted to have
fallen into. The extensive reparations required upon
bridges were fu'ly reported to the Eastern Counties
Company by their present engineer, Mr. Peter Bruff, at
the tirsa, meeting after his appointment, in February,
1555. From that periial down to the present time, i.e.,
neaey fourteen month:, Mr. Broil and his staff have
b-en unceasingly engaged in the work of reparation.
The Governinew inspector after declaring, as he says,
without exaggeration,' that 'in many parts the tine-
hers could be dug out with a spade, like garden
mould,' tells you of the viaduct on which ho inspected
those timbers—' When I inspected it, the repairs
it was undergoing were nearly completed, and I am able
to report that they are such as to fully meet the exigency
of the case, and to place the structure in perfect se-
curity.' "
Mr. Bidder estimates the cost of the repairs and the
Norfolk line (94 miles) at 11,0001., "after the wear and
tear of 12 years." He goes on to say :—" Had those
bridges been built of brick or iron, they would have
cost at least. 50.000/, more than they did cost. The in-
terest on 50,0001., at 5 per cent., is 2,500/. a. year, which
in 12 years would have amounted to 30,0001. Instead
of 30,0001. interest, we have, atter the expiration of 12
years, to pay only 11,0001. to put the whole of the
bridges in complete and effectual repair."
Mr. Bidder concludes as follows :—"ln order to
inquire and report satisfactorily respecting a railway,
it is necessary that the inspectors should be persons
of enlarged experience, accustomed not only to the
construction of railways but to their daily use.
In the present, and in other cases, the reports to
the Board of Trade upon railways, their work-
ing, and their condition, - have been made
by a gentleman who has never himself been engaged in
the construction of a single mile of railway, or of a single
bridge, who practically knows nothing about either, and
whose only source of practical acquaintance with the
subject on which he so w.rongly report., is that practice
of inspection if new railways which, for all useful pur-
poses, every civil engineer knows to be valueless and
absurd. When we remember that, with a host of emi-
nent officers of engineers employed in the Crimea, her
Majesty's Government nevertheless thought it proper to
entrust practical civil engineers (the priucipal of whom
was engaged in the construction of your line) with the
duty of laying down 6 miles of railway from B:tlaklava
to the heights, it certainly does appear not a little anoma-
lous that that Government should think it proper to com-
mit the inspection of the railway works of practical civil
engineers to men of the v ery class to whom they could
not commit their construction. If inspections and reports
of thi; sort are persisted in, I ask, in conclusion, what
will be the consequence ? At the present time, in case of
accidents upon a line, the law exposes the railway com-
pany on whose line it oceurs to very serious liabilites
and penalties. That law was adopted in the belief that
it would afford the public the best security against rail-
way accidents. But if railway directors and manager:
are to be interfered with, not only when accidents occur,
but when they do not occur, the result will be that rail-
way directors and mauagers will decline the responsibili-
ties they now undertake, and charge them upon those
who assert the right to control their management. If
Government %y id interfere, it is to Government the pub-
lic must lock for safety, and for compensation when their
safety is not secured."