The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-07 00:00:00

Street Tramways in London.

METROPOLITAN TRAMWAYS.* (With Explanatory

Statement and Map.)

The above pamphlet shows the advantages of
tramways as applied to the traffic of the metropolis
with tables giving the width of American streets
compared with those of London, and the traffic re-
turns along the streets of this metropolis, on which
it is proposed to lay down the tramways and the
principal thoroughfares of New York. The pro-
moters have deposited plans and sections of their
proposed routes, in compliance with the " standing
orders" of the Lords' Committee of the last session.
These routes embrace four lines. 1. The Holloway,
Islington, and Finsbury tramway, commencing in
the Archway-road, and proceeding thence along the
Holloway-road, Upper and Iligh-street, Islington,
and the City-road to Finsbury-place. 2. The
Hornsey, Camden-town, and Tottenham-court-
road Tramway proceeds along Seven Sisters'-
road, Park-road, Camden-road, High-street, Cam-
den-town, Hampstead-road, and Tottenham-
court-road, terminating where the last-mentioned
road joins Oxford-street. 3. The Whitechanel,
Mile-end, Bow, and Stratford tramway proceeds
through Whitechapel hitechapel-
road, and Mile-end-road, to Bow and Stratford,
terminating at Leyton, in Epping Forest. 4. The
Clapham and Kennington tramway proceeds along
High-street, Clapham, and Clapham-road to Ken-
nington-park-road, where it joins No. 5, the
Brixton tramway, which proceeds along Effra and
Brixton-road to the termination of No. 4, where
both join No. 6—The Kennington-park aad West-
minster-bridge tramway, which proceeds along
Kennington-green, Kennington-road, and West-
minster-bridge-road, to its junction with West-
minster-bridge. These three lines will form, when
complete, the Brixton, Clapham, Kennington, and
Westminster-bridge route. If the figures given be
correct, the width of the omnibus in ordinary use, tak
ing the outside of the wheels, is 7f t. 3in., the widthin--
side being 4ft. 9in. The tramway carriage is 6ft. 10in.
iu extreme width, and sf. 9in. inside, thus having
the double advantage of occupying five inches less
space in the street, and giving the passenger the
benefit of one foot more accommodation where it is
most required. In the former the wheels are out-
side the body of the vehicle, in the latter they are
beneath it, and the space thus saved is utilised.
The projectors, knowing that the leaders of the op-
position against them will be the General Omnibus
Company, are severe on the carriages they run, and
they contrast those they are prepared to supply in
comfort to the disadvantage of the Omnibus Com-
pany. They are careful also to point out that in-
stead of tearing up the street, as these lumbering
vehicles do, they will keep that portion over
which their carriages ply in repair, and, run-
ning on rails, the carriages cannot damage the
paving. They call the attention of the ratepayers
to the fact„ and also to the circumstance that although
the omnibuses damage the streets so much they do
not pay anything towards repairs. The promoters
promise better accommodation, with a more smooth
and comfortable drive, reduced fares, more easy
access, quicker means of stoppage, and greater
safety. They show that the introduction of street
railways into the United States was opposed as
violently as it is now here, but their advantages
have proved so great that people would no more
think of discontinuing them than they would rail-
ways and steamboats. In the year 1673 the writer
of a pamphlet, called " The Grand Concern of
England," gravely depicted the misery and ruin to
trade occasioned by the introduction of stage coaches !
The vested interests of the pack-horses were then
the main causes of opposition. The rails are not
to project above the level of the street, and will
offer no obstruction whatever to vehicles passing
along and over that portion where they are laid
down. The main thoroughfares in New York,
where these cars form the principal means of loco-
motion, are no broader than the streets selected for
the tramways in London, while the traffic in New
York is, on the whole, greater than in these streets
of this metropolis. In Dublin the street rail has
been tried and has answered ; also at Liverpool and
at Birkenhead. In an action tried by a special jury
at Chester, in which the Birkenhead Street-railway
Company was indicted for a nuisance, the plaintiffs
failed altogether, and the feeling of the town was
shown to be strongly in favour of the company.
The objections raised have been quoted and an-
swered. The project is not an experiment, and if it
can be shown to have answered admirably in the
large cities of America, which is certainly the else,
there can be no reason why it should not answer
here.

* P. S. King, 31, Parliament-street. 1867.

THE SUMTER.— This once famous Confederate
privateer, transformed into a quiet and peaceable
merchant steamer, is now in the Tyne discharging
what our American cousins would call a cargo of
" notions," or, in other words, a general cargo,
from Harnburgh. The vessel is not known by her
old name, but that of the Gibraltar.
• FOXHOUNDS FOlt AMERICA.—Last week a pack
of young foxhounds, consisting of 40 couple, ar-
rived in London from Warwickshire, to be shipped
off to 'America for wolf hunting.