The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-08 00:00:00

PROPOSED NEW RAILWAYS.

g It is not surprising that there are more railway
bills than usual for the session that is now close
upon us. In London railway history especially the
past year has been very remarkable. The first
metropolitan railway bridge across the Thames has
been opened, the works for a second at Charing-
cross have begun, and Parliament has passed an
act for a third at Blackfriars. The Metropolitan
line, which is here to meet and join the Chatham
and Dover, and with it constitute the first railroad
entirely through the heart of London, has at length
set to work in real earnest, and is likely to be
opened in the spring of next year. When we add
that many railways have been paying larger divi-
dends than at any time since the great break 'down
10 years ago, and have risen greatly in value as
investments, and that the crowding of the streets
has been getting more and more intolerable, there
need be no wonder that the ice once broken, and
London opened to the iron king after long denial,
scheme upon scheme is now pouring in. First of all,
this Metropolitan line jest mentioned, which will
come from Paddington by Easton-square and
King's-cross, and bring the traffic of the Northern
lines to Farringdon -street, has a bill for an exten-
sion to a more thoroughly "city station" in Fins-
bury-circus, to which point also it is proposed to
bring the Eastern Counties line—measures which
would certainly tend to relieve the streets and give
an unbroken communication through London from
the east to the west side of the kingdom, as
well as from north to south. Whether
Finsbury-circus will be able to hold its
own against the invader is very doubtful ; but
if that spot is too central to be spared for open
space, the Thames embankment may compensate
for its loss. Another city station scheme has also
made its appearance, in the shape of a plan for
bringing the North Londoa line from Kingsland
to Liverpool-street, Broad-street, saving the absurd
round by Bow and Stepney ; and:there is also a bill
for a line from Broad-street to Irongate-wharf, on
the river. But besides conveyance into the very
midst of London, and a railroad through London to
save through passengers and goods the drive along
the streets from station to station, there is the
pressing need of another line of communication east
and west through the town. Accordingly, we have
the " West-end :and City" scheme for an under-
ground line from Regent-circus to join the Metro-
politan at Holborn-bridge; there is also a proposal
to extend the Metropolitan itself from its Padding-
ton end to Bayswater and Kensington •, and the
Charin.;-cross Railway (City Terminus)" offers a
line from the Charing-cross Railroad in St. Saviour's,
Southwark, over the Thames to Cannon-street,
giving a route from that street to Charing-cross,
the passengers crossing the river twice. Last, but
by no means least, there is the Thames embankment
from Westminster-bridge to Blackfriars, with, it
seems, a railroad, and, in all prob&bility, a new
street eventually from Blackfriars-bridge to the
Bank. This may really become the greatest
metropolitan improvement of modern times. With
the river purified, the slimy mud banks gone, the
railway under cover, and a broad road and pic.ar-
nade planted with trees, it would, as the Commons
committee was told, almost answer the purpose of
a park in the very heart of London. But these are
nut the only metropolitan schemes; there are
others, links in the girdle round London. It is
proposed to make the Regent's Canal supply a
railroad from Maiden-lane, in the north, to the
Tuatnea at Limehouse, with branches to existing
lines. The Kensington-station line asks leave
to extend itself to Prince Albert's-road, Ken-
sington ; a line to Hammersmith is projected,
and a lice from Greenwich to Woolwich. Other
branches are proposed, some of them uniting
the great trunk lines—a line from Edgware
to King's-cross and the North London line,
another from Hornsey to Hendon, one from Tot-
tenham to Hornsey, a line connecting the Great
Northern (at Barnet) with the North and South-
Western Junction line to Kew, lines from Brent-
ford to Richmond, and Rickmansworth to Uxbridge,
the latter completing a connection between the
Great Western and North-Western, which may
bring the smokeless Welsh coal into a paper-mill
district. London and its neighbourhood form the
great mark for the competition of this Session.
But if we pass into the country we shall find
many changes in progress and in prospect. In the
south the direct line from London to Exeter has at
last been opened, and apparently with no irrepara •
ble damage to the older line, and in a few months
there is to be a second lino to Dover also. In anti-
cipation of it the South-Eastern is setting its house
in order, and proposing to improve its access to
Folkestone harbour, in the hope of making that all
its own. The Andover and Redbridge again asks
leave to enter Southampton, and there are Bills also
for lines to that prosperous town from Petersfield
and from Fareham, and also for a line from South-
ampton to Netley. Several branches are proposed
to places at present without railways—Seaford,
Bognor, Marlborough, Sherborne, St. Ives, Fowey ;
and there are projects for filling up gaps in rail-
road communication, shortening routes, or supply-
ing local branches—Alton to Winchester, Uckfield
to Tunbridge Wells, Newport to Rvde, Salisbury
to Poole, Axminster to the coast, -Wells to Bristol.
In the extreme west it is proposed to construct a
railway from the North Devon line to Okehampton
and Tavistock (with a branch to Launceston), com-
pleting an inland route between Plymouth and
Portsmouth. Passing over to Wales, which is gra-
dually filling up with railroads, we find schemes for
supplying links in the communication between
Manchester and Milford and between the manufac-
turing districts arid the South Welsh coalfield and
ports on the Bristol Channel : plans for access to
Aberystwith and the western coast, with lines in
that direction from Rhyl in the north and Haver-
fordwest in the south ; for lines from Shrewsbury
to the Carnarvonshire coast, from Oswestry to
Whitchurch, and from Montgomery to Stretford
Bridge, on the Hereford—both the last two
uniting trunk lines. On the opposite side of the
kingdom, in the restless region of the eastern
counties, there is a multitude of schemes—lines for
new communications between Colchester and Cam-
bridge, between London and Bury St. Edmunds,
from this latter town to Thetford and Lyan and to
join the Spalding (and consequently the Great
Northern), and from Bishop's Stortford to Brain-
tree, uniting the Colchester and Cambridge lines;
from Holme to Ramsey, and from Lynn to Hon-
stanton ; lines to Saffron Walden, and to Bright-
linalea, en the coast, near Colchester.
In the Midland counties there is a proposal to
extend the Wycombe branch to Oxford, with a view
to a now and shorter route thence to London ; and
there is a bold scheme for extending the West
Midland from Yarnton, near Oxford, to London.
Already the West Midland, by its recent amalga-
mations, stretches from Shrewsbury down to South
Wales on the one hand, and to Oxford on the other.
Leave is to be asked for a line from Ashchurch,
near Tewkesbury (whence a railroad to Malvern is
being constructed), to Evesham, uniting the Bristol
and Birmingham line with the West Midland. A
line is proposed from Worcester to Leominster ; one
from Dudley to Craven Arms, on4he Shrewsbury
and Hereford line • from Wolverhampton to Bridg-
north ; a branch from Atherstone or Nuneaton, on
the Trent Valley, to Whitacre, on the Birmingham
and Derby, which, with lines in progress, will give
a direct communication between Leicester and
Birmingham; lines from Ellesmere to Wrexham
and Mold, and also to Oswestry, on the one side,
and to Whitchurch on the other; a line extending
the Stourbridge to Smethwick, near Birmingham ;
all these connect trunk lines with one another at
intermediate points, and that is a noticeable charac-
teristic of the projects for next session. Then there
are bills for lines to Market Drayton, Much
Wenlock, Alcester, and Henley-in-Arden. The
Cheshire Midland, it seems, is to be extended from
its Northwich terminus to Chester, giving a
second line thence to Manchester. A line is
proposed from the Midland at Mansfield, and
also from near Chesterfield, to Shireoaks, on the
Sheffield line, near Worksop. The Great Northern
again perseveres in asking to be extended from
Doncaster to Wakefield ; the South Yorkshire
seeks to cross the Trent at Keadby ; a line is pro-
posed for shortening the route from Hall to Don-
caster, another connecting the Sheffield line with
the Whaley-bridge, and lines to Otley and Ilkley-
The Great Northern and the Sheffield companies
are, it is said, to have their desired line from Gars-
ton into Liverpool, giving the Sheffield a road across
from the kingdom froGrimsby to the Mersey. The
London and North-Western propose a line from
Edgehill, Liverpool, across
r to Bootle, on the other
side of the town ; and
other hand from the Lancashire ncasillhie is
proposed on the
re and Yorkshire at
Walton, near Liverpool, to join
Garston line. Both the great the Edgehill and
ecompanies just named
ask for several new branches inmanufacturingan districts ; the North-Western nom
line from Eccles to Wigan, and ap liarnePropose a
crossingo
the Mersey at Runcorn, and there is a bill f
branch to Batley. An important link is being
crona-
structed, and must now be approaching completion,
joining the (Little) North-Western at a point near
Settle to the Lancaster and Carlisle near Tebay,
shortening the route to Glasgow. A scheme for a
line from Penrith to Cockermouth proposes to take
Keswick in its route, making another inroad upon
the Lake district. On the opposite side of the
country the Cleveland seeks extension to the Tees,
and various small local lines are proposed in the
Newcastle district, besides one of more importance
—the Newcastle, Derwent, and Weardale, a line
from the first-named town to join the South Dur-
ham and Lancashire, and thus give a new route
from Newcastle to Liverpool. Without going fur-