The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-23 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

SOUTH-EASTERN.
A special general meeting of this company was
held on Thursday at the Bridge-house Hotel, for
the purpose of obtaining the sanction of the pro-
prietor! to an application being made to Parlia-
ment in the ensuing session. for a bill to authorise
the construction of a railway from the Greenwich
Junction to Ttinbridge and to Dartford—the Hon.
J. Byng in the chair.

M. S. Sthiles,:the secretary, having read the
notice convening the meeting,
The CHAIRMAN said the meeting had been sum-
moned to consider the propriety of making an ap-
plication to Parliament for powers to construct a
direct line of rail Way from the Greenwich Junction
to Tunbridge and to Dartford. This was a mea-
sure which had been frequently discussed at past
meetings of the proprietors, and many schemes
had been projected for filling up that gap in the
system of lines. Previous to 1848 repeated applica
tions were made to Parliament, both by this com-
pany and the Brighton Company for powers to con-
struct a railway through Mid Kent, thus showing
the importance attached to such a scheme even at
that early period. The directors had no interest
in projecting extensions. It would have been more

gratifying +to them to have confined their attention

ito tho working of the existing lines. But there were
occasions when the consideration of such questions
could not possibly be avoided, and they must then
'be prepared to offer their best advice as 'I,

course which, under the circumstances, it was
most expedient to pursue. In the case of an ex-
tensive railway such, as theirs, occupying an im-
portant district of country, they must either under-
take to serve the public in the best manner, or the
:public would, in one way or another,,colitrive to be
served without them. In the first pl-ice; the whole
of their main line traffic was at present carried
south by the joint Brighton and South Eastern
Railway—over which both companies worked the
whole of their main line traffic—to Redl.ill, from

which point the South Eastern line proper diverged
at nearly a right angle, and then proceeded eastward
to Tunbridge, the distance between London and
Tunbridge by that route being 41 miles. By the
proposed new line, which would proceed from a
junction with the Greenwich Railway through Mid
Kent to Tunbridge the main line traffic would be
carried by a direct line, forming as it were the base
of a triangle, instead of, as at present, by the two
sides of the triangle via Redhill, the distanq t,l!y
the new route being 28 miles, instead of 41 mites.
They would observe, therefore, that a saving of 13
miles would be effected in the transit of all their
continental traffic, as well as of all traffic destir,3d
for Tunbridge, Tunbridge Wells, St. Leonard's.an.l
Hastings, Ashford, Folkestone, Dover, Canterbury,
Ramsgate, and Margate, and the other stations in
that direction, besides giving the South Eastern
Company a clear run for their trains into and
out of London without passing over the rails of
another company. The advantage to the public
of cutting off the angle referred to was so clear
that it was not necessary for him to do more
than point out the saving of mileage which would
be affected by the proposed line being carried out.
(Hear, hear.) It would bring all the stations he
had mentioned so much nearer to London and to
the company's new termini in Cannon-street and at
Charing-cross, and could not fail thereby largely to
increase the whole traffic of the railway. It would
render the company's line the shortest to Tunbridge
Wells, Hastings, and Dover, and thus give it a
command- of the traffic at those points which it
could not otherwise hope to obtain or secure. There
was another reason in favour of the proposed rail-
way,—he referred to the increasing traffic over the
line between Redhill and London, which rendered
it at times very difficult to arrange their trains,
especially the continental trains, without clashing
with those of the. Brighton Company. This was
becoming a very serious matter, and required an
immediate remedy. Even with the system of tele-
graph signals, as approved by the Board of Trade,
over the entire length of theioint line, and a perfect
system of semaphore signale, frequent delays and
inconvenience even now arose in working the traffic.
At the same time the management of the joint line
was becoming daily more complicated by the open-
ing of the West-end terminus of the Brighton
Company, and the various new junctions inter-
posed on their railway between London and Redhill.
This reason was one that was very strongly felt
by the directors, together with the responsibility
of arranging for the safe and punctual conduct of
a large traffic. The construction of the new line
would open up new residential districts in Mid
Kent of a highly attractive character. The open
ing of their new London termini would inevitably
cause a very large expansion of their residential and
other traffic, and it was, therefore, incumbent on
them to take steps in good time for opening up new
ground at as many points within easy reach of the
metropolis as possible. Past experience was quite
conclusive as to the ,advantages of constructing
suburban lines, possessed of convenient metropolitan
termini. The tendency of London was to spread
itself by means of the railways radiating from it,
over a large surface ; and those companies which
furnished the largest amount of accommodation of
that kind would certainly secure the largest and
' most productive traffic. (Hear, hear.) Beyond
Woolwich there was a heavy traffic, which it was
desirable to expedite and carry through without
the necessity of stopping the trains at the numerous
stations on the North Kent line. They therefore

proposed to carry a line out of the Tunbridge direct
railway on to Dartford, thus shortening the North
Kent line, opening a new district for residential
traffic, and providing the requisite accommodation
for districts beyond Dartford at a considerably less
cost than by duplicating the present lines. The
cost of the line from the Greenwich Junction to
Tunbridge, and of the branch to the North Kent
line at Dartford, would be about £1,000,000 for 34,1,-
miles. He concluded by moving a formal resolu-
tion authorizing the directors to make application
to Parliament in the ensuing session for powers to
construct a direct line of railway from the Green-
wich Junction to Tunbridge and to Dartford.
Mr. W. G. THOMSON second the motion.
Mr. BEVES moved an amendment to the effect
that the meeting stand adjourned to Dec. 12, in
order to give the proprietors time to consider the
proposed scheme, and that in the interim the direc-
tors furnish proper information for that purpose.
He contended that the proposed new lines would
cost nearer £2,000,000 than .£1,000,000. He was
opposed to any further outlay of capital.
Mr. SMITH seconded the amendment. He con-
sidered that the works would be of a most expensive
character, owing to the difficult nature of the
country through which the line would pass toTun-
bridge, He had no objection to the Dartford branch,
but considered the other lines unnecessary.
A long discussion ensued, in which Mr. Adams,
Mr. G. Smith, Mr. Dillon, Mr. Samuda, Mr. Mac-
laurin, and other shareholders took part ; but,
after explanations from Mr. Rich, M.P., Mr. Coles
Child, Mr. A. Beattie, and Mr. Teulon, directors of
the company, the amendment was negatived, and
the original motion was carried.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chaitmaa.