The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-25 00:00:00

being done, he said he could not listen to any appli-
cation for bail.

Mr. Freshfield intimated that the session being
at present holden at the Central Criminal Court, it
would be impossible to have the case ready in time,
particularly as it was intended to indict the prisoners
for a conspiracy to defraud the Globe Insurance Com-
pany as well as for arson ; and, therefore, it would be
more convenient to adjourn the case over the present
and-to the next session.

This was conceded to ; the various witnesses were
bound over for the next sessions, and the prisoners
ordered to be brought up on another day prepara-
tory to a final commitment.

THE METROPOLITAN RAILWAY.

-

The continuous thoroughfare which formerly was known
as the New-road, but which latterly has been parochially
divided and renamed, has gained very little by the.change.
It has always been and it remains a dull, unlovely street,
struggling fitfully for existence. Without the attractions of
a syren, it seems in some way or other to lure business-men
to ruin. From whatever quarter they come, they generally
discover it to be the high road to the Bankruptcy Court.
Tradesmen who deal in tall ladders, zinc chimney-pots, and
artificial stoneware, appeared until lately the only people
who could flourish, like violets, in that shady region. Re-
cently, however, the purveyors of penny ices, and merci-
less twopenny photographs, have migrated to it, and dis-
played their wondrous specimens to tempt the pedestrians.
Wherever no business or show of business is seen a shabby
gentility sits sadly by the wayside, with patches of rank
♦egetation forming forecourts to the monotonous
brick houses. The freshness of the Regent's-park, and the
stateliness of Portland-place, expire instinctively when
they come in contact with the New-road. Those Oriental
gems—the royal family of Oude—could not bring wealth or
fashion to it, but found there an appropriately lazy, dirty
atmos7here. The very omnibuses which traverse it peri-
odically do so in a hum-drum, lifeless way, as though they
were likewise afflicted with the partial paralysis which pre
vails there. No opposition troubles, no nurses follow them.
Their coachmen are never fined for furious driving, and
their diversions, caused by the monopoly of portions of the
New-road by the railway men, excite no murmur. They
seem as though they were condemned for some unrecorded
offence to drive, in all weathers, uselessly and unprofitably
from Paddington to the Bank, or eh.o to be engaged in gently
exercising invalid horses. A full load is a very great rarity
with them, and causes their blank features to be varied with
an admixture of astonishment. An empty omnibus occa-
sions no concern in them. They have grown quite stoical
and suit the thoroughfare admirably.
Oxford-street and Holborn take all the through passen-
gers to the Bank. Carriages, waggons, vans, and vehicles
of every description crowd into those main arteries, and
will not be diverted into the New-road. Numerous schemes
have been started to relieve the overcharged streets ; one
man proposed to run railways along the widened balconies of
all the first-floor windows of the principal streets, forming ,
colonnades beneath them. Another tuggestion pointed at a
belt of connecting lines around London ; but at length the
notion of extending the termini into the very heart of the
metropolis has assumed a practical form. The London,
Chatham, and Dover will be pushed forward into Farring-
don-street, the South-Eastern into Charing-cross, and the
Great Western and Great Northern will be linked together
by the Metropolitan, which will have its terminus in Vie -
toria-street. Whether for good or whether for ill, these
lines will be completed. One effect of them will be to give
greater facilities to City men to dwell in suburban homes,
and to furnish the same accommodation on other lines as
the London-bridge railways now almost exclusively afford.
Now a man may reach his place of business as quickly from
Reigate by rail as he can from Bayswater by omnibus.
There is no reason why, with the Metropolitan Railway, he
may not, without loss of timerdwell in one or other of the
beautiful villages adjacent to stations on the Great Western
or Great Northern lines. There is, of course, a dread
amongst cab and omnibus proprietors that their occupations
will be gone when " steady and swift the self-moved cha-
riot moves" in their domains; but it may be some consola-
tion to them to remember that two centuries ago the same
fear existed on account of the substitution of coaches for
pack-horses, such as the Wife of Bath was wont to ride,
" girt with a pair of spurres sharp." The omission of all the
paraphernalia of swords, pistols, pillions, strapping, saddle-
cloths, horse-keepers, and yeomen, incidental to a journey
in the " good old times" was foretold to be the ruin of
trade. Let them also recollect that the Lyonese who broke
the machines of Jacquard in 1806, raised a statue to his
memory in 1840. Even if the Metropolitan Railway did
dispose of our modern style of omnibuses, there are few
riders who would mourn their decease ; but there is little
hc,-pe of so blissful a consummation. An omnibus " station"
is on every inch of its course, a railway station is only at
intervals, The new line will, nevertheless, be a great boon
to the public, and a real relief to the traffic in our streets.
As an engineering work it is one of great magnitude and
skill. None but those who have threaded its cavern -paths
can fully appreciate the difficulties which have been so suc-
cessfully surmounted. From the commencement of the line
to its conclusion there has been one long series of obstacles
to conquer, the chief of which have been the miles of gas
and vater-pipes which had to be safely diverted before the
"labouring pioneers with spade and pickaxe armed" could
cut the permanent way.

The line leaves the Great Western Railway at the north
end of the Paddington station, and passes under the coal
wharf, being there covered for a distance of 140 feet by iron
girders. Thence—

• On either side
Its massive walls arise, and overhead
Arches the long passage.
The arch is of an elliptical form, 16 feet 6 inches high from
the level of the rails, and 28 feet 6 inches wide. It 's com-
posed of 6 half-brick rings, forming a depth of 2 feet 5 inches.
It curves about, following the direction of the South Wharf=
road, till it arrives at Praed-street, m here there is a junc -
tion by a huge bell-mouth, with a branch which is to run
westwards along Praed-street to the Great Western Hotel.
This bell.mouth, covered with 'elliptical wrought iron ribs
2 feet 6 inches deep, cross girders between them, and iron
plating over the whole, is one of the grandest engineering
pictures which we have for a long time seen. Lit up by
the several jets of gas, it has a very fine effect. The girders
rest on stone templates, projecting forwards from, and let
into the brickwork, and spring over the two tunnel mouths
to the extent of 58 feet 6 inches. There ara fifteen of these
girders, 7 feet 6 inches apart. They diminish gradually in
width to 35 feet, where they are joined with the brick
arches, which again are gradually diminished till the ordi-
nary width of the tunnel is attained. A layer of asphalte is
laid on the top of the iron plates over the girders, the
haunches are filled in with concrete, and on this the road-
stuff is laid. It forms a work of extraordinary strength
and solidity, as well as beauty. The line then runs directly
eastward under Praed-street, and crosses under Edgware-
road at right angles. Here special provision had to be made
for the gas and water pipes, which are carried on either
side of the roadway, above transversely through the rail-
way arch, in troughs of ca• t-iron, 7 feet wide and 25 feet
long. The soffit of them is 2 feet below the soffit of the
underside of the arch, The tunnel terminates on the east
side of Burne-street, where, as well as in Chapel -street, a
portion of the houses had to be demolished. Between the
tunnel-mouth and Lisson- street the first station will be
situated. The booking-office will be at the corner of Chapel
and2Burne-streets. The space here will be 49 feet wide and
and 180 feet long to L'sson-street-bridge. It will be suf-
ficient for platforms and for flights of stairs, and will
be covered by a cast-iron roof. .Thence we pass un-
der Lisson-Etreet•bridge, a segmental skew bridge 50
feet thick, with a span of 42 feet, and a rise of 5 feet
six inches. It is faced with white brick capitally executed.
A similar expedient to that which we mentioned at Praed-
street had here to be resorted to, in order to convey the gas
and water pipes across. After passing the bridge there is a
vast open space, 500 ft long, with an average width of i4O ft,
which will be used as a depot for engines and carriages,
and will be provided with appropriate sidings. The retain.
ing walls are built in a very economical manner, with con-
crete and white brick, from Arsley, near Hitchin ; the long
ranges of arched recesses built on the latter afford an agree-
.able
play of light and shade, besides being a fine specimen
of brickwork. This space is bounded by Mitcham-street on
the north, and by Chapel street and Marylebone-road on the
south. It gets narrower towards the eastern end by Har-
court-street, where a series of vaults have been constructed
under the roadway. The tunnel then recommences by a
bell-month 36ft. wide, diminishing gradually to the ordi-
nary width of 28ft. Gin. Our coarse is soon checked by the
masses of wooden framework, muck waggons, lifts, piles of
bricks, navvies, bricklayers, and labourers, all busily at their
work. We ascend into the Marylebone-road, and find a per-
fect labyrinth of pipes, all of which have to be tenderly cared
for until such time as they can be quietly stowed away in
the haunches of the tunnel vault. A syphon 3ft. in diame-
ter to be carried under the railway with flashing gates in
Stafford-street, by means of which-the sewage can be sent
down Harcourt-street westwards, or down a new egg-
shaped sewer which the railway has had to construct by
the side of the tunnel on the north side of Marylebone-road
as far as Baker-street, where it is connected with the
King's Scholars' Pond sewer, which there crosses the road.
This reminds us that the company have had to build a sewer
4ft. by 2ft. 9in., egg• shaped, to drain all the houses which
they have passed, and to take in all the sewers and drains
which they have intercepted in their course h ther from the
Great Western Railway, and that they had even to corn-
mence a considerable distance westwards of their work so
as to obtain the necessary fall.
The sewer which we have just mentioned in the Maryle-
bone-road is Eft. by 3ft. bin. They have likewise had to
divert 1,500 ft. of 21-inch main between Stafford street and
Gloucester- place in addition to gas-pipes and water- pipes
innumerable.

At Baker-street, the King's Scholars' Pond sewer has to
be carried transversly through the tunnel arch by a large
enclosure of iron plates, supported by two cast-iron girders,
only 13ft. Gin. above the line of rails. Here the second
station will be situated, The arch will be extended to 45ft
in width—to embrace the platforms on either side; the sta-
tion and stairs leading downwards will be built in the front
gardens of the two corner houses. After passing Baker-
street, we commence with another sewer which is carried
beneath the railway into the Regent-street sewer at the top
of Harley-street.

The line is complete, with the exception of the permanent