The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-30 00:00:00

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THE METROPOLITAN SUBTERRAAEAAr
RAIL WAY.

A quick and safe means of communication beneath
he overcrowded streets of London has always been

,he great ideal of modern engineers.

The public,

however, have, perhaps not unnaturally, regarded
the scheme as little less than Utopian, and one
which, even if it could be accomplished, would cer-
tainly never pay. A subterranean railway under
London was awfully suggestive :of dark, noisome
tunnels, buried many fathoms deep beyond the
reach of light and life; passages inhabited by rats,
soaked with sewer drippings, and poisoned by the
escape of gas mains. It seemed an insult to common
sense to suppose that people who could travel as
cheaply to the city on the outside of a Paddington
'bus would ever prefer, as a merely quicker medium,
to be driven amid palpable darkness through the
foul subsoil of London. The pertinacity, too, with
which the scheme at first hung fire strengthened
not a little the incredulity of these who from the
beginning had disbelieved it altogether. The Sub-
terranean Railway has been talked about for years,
and nothing done, till the whole idea has been gra-
dually associated with the plans for flying machines,
warfare by balloons, tunnels under the Channel,
and other bold but somewhat hazardous propositions
of the same kind, Yet many enterprising men have
always adhered to the Subterranean Railway, have
advocated its feasibility, and supported its use, till
they at last brought about a result even mare diffi-
cult to accomplish, if possible, than that of con-
structing the line itself—they got the capital for it.
With the money for the undertaking, and with Mr.
John Fowler as engineer, the rest has been compa-
ratively easy. Working quietly under ground, only
stopping up a thoroughfare now and then, or mak-
ing am awful crack here and there in the walls of
some houses under which it passed, the line has
been slowly but very surely progressing from west
to east, till the greater part of it is now far ad-
vanced towards completion, and the first length will
actually be opened for public traffic, from Victoria-
street Station to Paddington, before the Ist of next
May—the date by which it is, of course, sought
to complete all our improvements in the means of
metropolitan communication. When it is opened,
we venture to think the public will be agreeably
surprised to find that this underground railway is
for nearly half its length not underground at all,
and that where it does pass for various lengths
beneath the streets, the tunnels, instead of being
close, dark, damp, and ill-smelling passages, are
wide, spacious, clean, and excellently well lit, re-
minding one in fact more of a well-kept street by
night than a subterranean passage through the very
heart of this dense metropolis. Whether the rail-
, way is one which will or will not remunerate the
shareholders we venture no opinion, but both as one
of the most novel and important works of the kind
that have yet entered the city, and as one which,
we think, mus t prove of the greatest convenience to
the public, it deserves full notice in our cplumns.
• The present powers of the company only allow
them to carry their line from Paddington to Fins-

bury-circus, a distance of four and a half miles, and
of this length, as we have said, more than three
miles, from Paddington to the Victoria-street sta-
tion, are in many parts quite complete, and in
others nearly so, with perfect working junctions
with the. Great Western and Northern Railways.
It commences at the Paddington Station, and is
continued thence, in an almost direct line, towards
the New-road, passing beneath the Edgeware-road
at right angles, and intersecting in the same man-
ner Lisson-grove-road and Upper Baker-street,
skirting along, beneath, and just outside the south-
ern extremity of Regent's Park. Thence it passes
under the houses at the eastern extremity of Park-
crescent (some three or four houses in which have
been by no means improved by its passage), con-

tinues beneath Tottenham-court-road into the New-
road, and, passing close by Euston-square, turns at
King's-cross to effect a junction with the up and
down lines of the Great Northern Railway. From
King's-cross a great part of the line is an open
cutting, except for a length of about 600 yards
beneath Bagnige-wells-road and Coppice-row, where
again, for the length we have said, a tunnel inter-
venes. From this to the Victoria-street Station it is
nearly all a fair open cutting, and up to this point
the line is nearly ready. From the Victoria-street
Station, to be erected on the dirty waste ground, be-
yond Holborn, which is now dignified with the
name of Victoria-street, the line is soon to have two
branches, one intersecting Holborn-hill, or rather
Skinner-street, and continuing its course due south
under the site of the old Fleet Prison, effecting a
junction with the Chatham and Dover line, which
is to cross the Thames at Blaekfriars. The other
and more important branch—in fact, the main line
is to be continued under the ground north of Smith-
field and south of Charterhouse-square, and will pass
beneath Barbican into Finsbury-circus. At this
terminus it is intended, for the present at least, to
stop ; though there is not the least doubt but, as the
advantages which this quick mode of communica-
tion will afford, and the relief it must give to the
enormously overcrowded traffic of our streets become
more generally known and appreciated, the share-
holders themselves will find their own account in
extending their branches to all the chief suburban
districts of the metropolis. As it is, even completed
to the Victoria-street station, and communicating
with the Chatham and Dover-bridge when finished,
the facilities which it will offer to rapid travelling
will be immense. A person starting from Brighton
or Dover will be put down almost at his own door I
at Bayswater, instead of, as now, taking almost as
much time to travel from London-bridge to Bays-
water
as to perform a long journey by rail. In like
manner, those coming from the North—from Edin-
burgh, Liverpool, or Manchester, will be able to
book direct through to Dover or Southampton
without the loss of a minute on their journey. It
is not too much to say that for passengers pressed
for time the two or three miles interval between
the northern and southern stations of the metro-
polis are equal in actual delay to 200 or 300 miles
distance on an unbroken journey. But though
most of our readers know the fact of the delay,
many of them may ask, why was it necessary to
take the line underground ? To this we can only
reply, in the words of the company, that it was not
necessary at all, but that as by so doing they
could effect a very great saving in the cost of the
undertaking, it was thought to be most desirable.
Sewers were not to be interfered with, gas-pipes
were to be regarded as sacred, water-pipes not to
be touched, churches to be avoided, and houses to
be left secure. With these trifling drawbacks, Mr.
Fowler was at liberty to take his tunnel through a
labyrinth of sewers and gas and water mains if he
could. At every step vestries, gas and water com-
panies, and the Board of Works had to be consulted,
and but for the kind and liberal spirit in which the
company was met, and the fair efforts which were
everywhere made by the bodies to help them over
their great difficulties, the railway could never
have been made at all. Perhaps, however, a short
rough outline of the portion of the line now nearly
completed will give our readers the best idea of
what these difficulties were. To the Victoria-street
Station the line is nearly 34 miles long, having
stations at Paddington, Edgware-road, Baker-
street, Portland-road, Euston-square, King's-cross,
and Victoria-street. From west to east the average
slops downwards of the whole line is about 1 in
300 feet, though after entering the city it again
rises, but there is no steeper gradient throughout
than 1 in 100. Its greatest curve is of 200 yards
radius, and its greatest depth from the ground
above to the rails not less than 54 feet, and there are
not more than 1,200 yards of straight line through-
out. The span of the arch of the tunnel is 281 feet,
its form is elliptical, and its height 17 feet, except
in the parts where there is great superincumbent
pressure, when the form of the arch is altered to
give it greater strength and to take the crown to a
height of 19 feet. The foundations of the tunnel go
from four to five feet into the solid ground on each
side below the rails, except in some few places,
where the close vicinity of very heavy buildings
rendered extra strength necessary, and here the
tunnel has been driven like a shaft, and is a solid
ring of massive brickwork above and below ; in
fact, in all parts of the tunnel itself the most
zealous care has been taken to insure the structure
being everywhere greatly in excess of the strength

it actually requires. Thus, even the lightest
parts of the tunnel have six rings of brickwork,
though railway arches of seven feet greater span
are never built with more than five. The outer
sides of the arches also are filled in with solid beds
of concrete, and the whole covered over with a
layer of asphalte to keep it water-tight. In fact,
the tunnel has been formed on what engineers call
the " cut and cover" principle ; that is, the ground
has been opened to the base of the intended tunnel,
the tunnel built, covered with concrete, and
asphalte and filled in again with earth and the
roadway paved over as before. On this plan and
working in 12ft. lengths the tunnel has actually
been constructed at the rate of 72ft. a week, quicker
than any work of the kind has ever yet been ac-
complished. It has not all, however, been knocked
off at this rapid rate. Passing near churches and
heavy buildings the tunnel has been regularly
driven in four feet lengths by skilled miners ; and
such portions, being conducted with the most zea-
lous care, have advanced but slowly. At the
western extremity, where the soil was a fine gravel,
the works were at one time greatly impeded by the
water, which in that district is abundant every-
where at about 14ft. from the surface. This it was
useless to try pumping out, as the pumps brought
up sand and gravel as well as water, and would,
had the attempt been persevered in, have
brought up the very foundation of the surround-
ing houses also. It was necessary at last to
make regular drains into the low-level sewers in
order to keep the works free. Through the gravel
and throagh the London clay the labour has been
very easy, but in parts where there was light loose,
sandy soil a great deal of difficulty was experienced.
All the really difficult parts have now, however, been
surmounted, and the tunnel built in the most solid
manner. The lines of rails are laid through
many lengths, each line being double gauge, in-
tended for both the broad and narrow traffic. Where
the junctions have been effected at Paddington
and King's-cross it was necessary at the point where
the switch rails joined to widen the tunnel, and at
these parts make it in fact like the mouth of a
trumpet. This was the most difficult operation ever
attempted in either tunnelling or brickwork, but
Mr. Fowler has surmounted all the obstacles in a
masterly manner. What made the work at King's-
cross more difficult than all was that at precisely
the most difficult part of all the junctions the great
Fleet Ditch sewer crossed it right through the crown
of the tunnel arch. As the sewer of course could
not be disturbed, the obstacle was met by carrying
it across, slung, as it were, in a powerful cast-iron
trough, and there it now hangs, peering throii-in
the brickwork like a colossal main, and 'with all
beneath it as dry and sweet-smelling as if Fleet
Ditch—that fullest and foulest of all London's
sewers—were 100 miles away. It is but justice to
Mr. Jay, the contractor for all this end of the
works from Euston-square, to say that he has
accomplished all the designs in the most massive
and careful manner, and that in fact the works here
are regarded among engineers as positive models
of what contract labour should be. The stations
along the line which we have already enumerated
will, all but two, be open-air stations, and even those
that are to be underground will be amply lit by
daylight coming through apertures in the roof of
the arch. But one of the greatest difficulties of all
the many that had to be overcome consisted in con-
structing an engine that should be at once of great
power and speed, capable of consuming its own
smoke, and above all to give off no steam. Ordinary
engines passing through tunnels so completely en-
closed would in a very short time fill them with
such a mixture of steam and smoke as would be
very nearly suffocating, would make signals almost
useless, and in short render the traffic not only dis-
agreeable but dangerous. To avoid all these com-
plicated evils Mr. Fowler has invented an engine
which, while in the open air, works like a common
locomotive, but when in the tunnel consumras its
own smoke, or rather makes none, and. by condens-
ing its own steam gives off not a particle of vapour.
On Thursday last Mr. Wilkinson, the chairman
of the company, with Mr. Alderman Rose, Mr.
Pearson, and a number of gentlemen connected
with the company, the City Corporation, and the
Board of Works, were invited to Paddington to
witness a trial of this engine. They were received
by Mr. T. M. Johnson, the resident engineer, under
whose personal superintendence all the works of the
line have been effected. The engine (which was of
the broad gauge) was duly examined and admired,
though, truth to say, there is nothing particularly
attractive in its external appearance. The whole
party then mounted trucks provided for the occa-
sion, and the engine took the train along the first
tunnel to the open station in course of building in
the Edgware-road. As long as the engine remained
in the open air at Paddington it had fizzed and sim-
mered like any other locomotive ; but the instant it
entered the tunnel it condensed its steam, and
scarcely a mark of vapour was perceptible, while
from the flues into the smoke box being damped,
not the least smell of smoke was given off. As upon
the success of this engine the successful working of
the line depends, the result of the experiment was
watched with a good deal of anxiety. It, however,
was perfectly satisfactory, and not even the most
distant lamps in the long vista down the sides Of the
tunnel were dimmed in the slightest de'gree—in
short, nothing could have been more entirely com-
plete and satisfactory. Having gone through the
tunnel the engine returned down the same track,
and when in the centre of the tunnel, to show the
difference, the engine was allowed to work upon the
usual plan, and in a few instants the whole place
was full of vapour, which was so thick that even
when the visitors returned through for the third
time the lamps were still scarcely visible.
The party were then invited to leave the train
and to walk along the line as far as the Great
Northern station at King's-cross. In some parts of
this route, where the tunnelling is still going on,
the way was dark, sometimes difficult, and always
dirty. Where the works were complete and the rails
laid, the whole aspect of the tunnel lit with gas
was light, warm, and cheerful. In at most three or
four months more our readers will have an oppor-
tunity of judging of this wonderful work for them-
selves, and we think a single trip will suffice, even
with the most fastidious, to upset all preconceived
ideas as to the discomforts of subterranean railways
in London. The through trains from east to west,
and vice versa, will, we believe, be arranged to start
every 10 minutes, to accomplish the distance from
end to end in 13 minutes, at a rate of fares which it
is said will compete with those of the cheapest
omnibuses. If this is so the line ought to prove
remunerative to the shareholders, though whether
it is so or not it must he an immense convenience to
the public.