The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-02 00:00:00

Duchess also ran.

Betting-7 to 4 agst Duchess (at first sto 4 on), 3to 1
each agst Ambition and Jenny Mills, and 4 to 1 agst Sal-
liet. Won cleverly by a neck.
The Gopsal Park Stakes of 10 sot's each, 3 ft, with 50
added, for two year olds; colts Bst 101 b, fillies Bst 71b.
Mr J. J. Drake's Lord of the Valley, by Mentmore—
Queen Bee, 9st llb (inc. 51b extra) (renyon) 1
Mr Humble's Festive, Bst 41b
Duke of Hamilton's Pladda, Bst 71b (Metcalfe) 3

Betting—Even on Lord of the Valley, 6 to 4 agst
Pladda, and 5 to 1 agst Festive. Won easily by four
lengths.
The County Cup Stakes, by subscription of 10 sovs each ;
three year olds 7st 21b, four Bst 51b, five 9st, six and

aged 9st 31b.
Mr Broad's Triana, by Lord of the Isles—Seville, 3 yrs,
6st 131 b .............................................(Jas. Clark) 1
Mr Lambourne's Court Card, 4 yrs, Bst 21b (Lynch) 2
Mr Ilarborough's Belle of Kars, Est 91b...(Wilberforce) 3
Betting-7 to 4on Court Card, sto 2 agst Triana, and
6to 1 agst Belle of Kars. Won cleverly by a neck.

LATEST BETTING ON THE COURSE.
CESAREWICH.
Bto 1 agst Lady Raglan (offered)

THE WESTERN MEETING, AYR.
THURSDAY.
The Western Meeting Plate of 50 sovs.
Mr Steele ns Rosebud, by Sacerdos, 3 yrs, sst 91b
(Gradwelli 1
Mr M'Niven's Miss Dayrell, 4 yrs, 6st 71b (Hudson 2
Lord Rendleshana's Royal Rake, 2 yrs, sst 71b (car sst 81b
(Cook) 3
The following also ran :—Mysterious Lady, Shamrock,
and Verulam.

Betting—Even on Miss Dayrell, 5 to 2 each agst Vern-
lam and Royal Rake, and sto 1 agst Rosebud. Won by
two lengths.
The Corinthian Plate of 25 sovs, added to a Handicap of

3 soya each, 1 ft.
Mr Moffatt's Lady Lyon, by Skirmisher, 3 yrs, lOst 81b
(Mr M'Niven) 1
Mr Arnold's Rabbit Trap, 4 yrs, llst
(Marquis of (,lueensbory) 2
Mr T. Cansh's Highland Duck, 3 yrs, list 31b
(Mr Stirling) 3

Tyke and Falls of Clyde also ran. ...,
Betting-6 to 2 agst Lady Lyon, 7to 2 agst Highland
Duck, ancl.4 to 1 agst Rabbit Trap. Won by a length.
The South-Western Sweepstakes of 3 sovs each, 2 ft, with

20 added.

-- -
Mr Easton ns Puritan, by Warlock, 6 yrs, Bst 51b (£2O
(Clarkson 1
Mr W. Cowen's De Clare, 6st 41b (X 30).. ... (Hudson) 2
Mr Johnstone's Holstein, 6 yrs, Bet 51b (.£2O) (Cameron) 3
Mr T. Cansh's Highland Duck, 4 yrs, Bst 51b (420)
(Snowden) 4
Betting-6 to son De Clare, sto 2 sgst Puritan. Won
by a head.

Tho Champagne Stakes (Handicap) of 5 sovs each, 2 ft,

;with 60 added.
Mr Johnstone's The Pries by Romulus, 4 yrs, list 131 b
(Marquis of Queensbery) 1
Mr W. Walker's King Hal, 5 yrs, lOst 81b (Mr. Stirling) 2
Lord Eglinton's Catalogue, 6 yrs, list 91b
(Hon. S. Montgomerie) 3
Betting-2 to lon The Priest, 3to 1 agst King Hal, 4
to 1 agst Catalogue. Won by a head.
The Eglinton Hunt Cup, value 30 guineas, added to a
Sweepstakes of 5 sovs each, 2 ft.
_ _ _

Mr R. Calder's Quack, by /1.D., aged, 13st (Owner) t
Capt. Hamilton's Cartoon, aged, 13st (Col. H. Boyd) 2
Betting-4 to lon Quack-. Won by four lengths.

A St. Sebastian letter, in the Ltherte says :
" The Duke de Montpensier has begged the King of Por-
tugal to allow him to embark for Seville. His Majesty
withholds compliance in the meantime. English and
French vessels are expected to arrive in
,support of the
Queen's Goverment."

711 E NEW MIDLAND RAILWAY

TERM /N US.

One of the largest railway stations ever built, and
the largest area in the world ever covered iu by one

single roof, was, though unfinished, opened to
the public yesterday. This gigantic structure is the
terminus of the great Midland Railway, the size of
which since its first conception has been the wonder
of modern engineers. They aro used to many didi
culties, but the idea of roofing in with a single
span more than 41 acres—the idea of building a
single roof nearly 700 feet long by nearly 250
feet wide—seemed exceedingly bold, yet this
feat has been brought
~to pass by Mr. W. 11.
Barlow, the engineer of the work ; and, more
than this, even the whole of this colossal structure
is reared upon what may be called a crypt beneath
it. It has been sail over and over again, and
always with most perfect truth, that London

above all other cities in the world abounds with
wonderful triumphs of engineering skill. This
praise, however, searciy dos London perfect jll3-
tice, for the groat mass of its chief engineering

works is bidden out of sight. No one sees or cares
to inquire as to the stupendous difficulties which
were overcome on the Underground Railway. .No
one knows of the labours of the Thames Embank-
ment, the greatest of which are buried beneath the
muddy tide. If a section of the Thames Embank-
ment were taken near Hungerforcl-bridge it would
show works before which even the most re-
nowned Continental engineers would hesitate.
For instance, the railway bridge at Hungerford
is in itself a wonderful specimen of engineer-
ing adaptation. But almost below its founda-
tions comes the Embankment, and within this,
again, come the subway and low-level sewer.
Within these, again, is to come the continuing link
of the Metropolitan Railway; and below all, at
at right angles, passes the tube of that abortive
scheme, the Pneumatic Railway between Whitehall
and Waterloo, which, though at a standstill, has
its wonderful engineering works underneath the
Thames, and serves still to point a moral alike as
to mechanical science and mercantile credulity. It
is, perhaps, curious to compare how we differ in,
engineering peculiarities from our great and most
inventive cousins in America. In the States they
realise to the utmost their aerial freehold, and carry
every structure to the highest point available either
for safety or convenience. We, on the other hand,
go underground, and so get the value of our free-
hold by digging deep instead of building high.
Each system, no doubt, has its peculiar advantages,
and each is forced upon the respective engineers by
the soil they have to deal with. In New York, deep
basements would mean quarrying through rock ; in
London, high buildings in narrow streets would
mean shutting out light from those other houses
beneath them. Thus we have to come to a sub-
terranean system of architecture. We have under-
ground railways, which now run almost all round
London. Beneath these again are sewers and sub-
ways. Even new Smithfield Market, the largest

and handsomest market of its kind in the world,
is built entirely on vaulted roofs and colutlins,
beneath which several railways meet, and feed by
means of lifts the market above with produce

from every part of the kingdom. The Midland
Railway Terminus at King's-cross is almost on the
same plan, but, instead of meat, bitter beer is the
staple which it has to accommodate and to diffuse.
Beer has been the exigency of the Great Midland
Railway, and the storage of the casks has for some

time been beyond its capacity. Some £60,000 a
year was paid to the Great Northern for the use of
its terminus fur this purpose, but at last the Mid-
land found it necessary and even profitable to build
a station of its own for beer. This has been done
close to King's-cross, and, as we have said, the
roof which covers it is the largest in the world.
That of the Riding School at Moscow, which has
hitherto been considered the largest, is really
smaller than the span of the Midland Terminus by
some feet. The Moscow roof, however, may be
considered out of the competition, as within the
last year or two it has been found necessary to
the stability of the structure to shore it up with
timber struts in order to prevent it coming in
altogether.

Every new metropolitan terminus shows some
improvement, in the way of size and accommoda-
tion, on those which have gone before it. The pens
with which the public were coutentel on the Lon-
don anl Blackwall, or the semi-cattle sheds which
they still have to endure on the South- Western,
are things of the past. The travelling public, who
paY-So enormous a rental to the railways, now look
for better treatment, and the railway which best
accommodates them cleanly and comfortably, other
things being equal, gets the most traffic—that is, of
the passenger traffic, which is of all others the
easiest and the best. So, with the progress of rail
way travelling, the great termini have gradually
risen from little sheds to lofty buildings which, of
their kind, have not their equals in the world.
Charing-cross station, with its span of about 168 ft.,
was thought for the time an innovation ; but Can-
non-street at once followed suit with an arch of the
span of 188 ft. Now the new Midland station comes
upon us with a single roof of about 245 ft. span,
with a length from end to end of 690 ft. The huge
cellarage, if we may so term it, is of the same ex-
tent as the station above—that is to say, about 41
acres. Beneath this, again, at about 25ft. below
the floor of this great crypt, passes the Metropoli-
tan branch of the Midland Railway to King's-cross.
Thus we have a huge tunnel beneath the founda-
tions of more than four acres of cellarage. The
method of construction of this vast pile has been as
simple as it. has been efficacious. Cellarage was
wanted beneath the station, so the ground on the
allotted site was excavated out, the London clay
was reached, and this in most instances was at-
tained at a depth of about 20ft. In no case, however,
was the foundation laid before penetrating at least
2ft. into the clay; the usual foundation of con-
crete was then turned in, and on this the walls which
carry the great crypt or vault above the tunnel of
the Metropolitan Railway, and which support
the station above it all, were built. This crypt,
for that is really the proper term to designate
it by, is supported in the roof by about 1,100
cast-iron columns, each 13in. diameter. Across
these pass 50 main wrought-iron girders, which are
again relieved by a series of small but strong inter-
mediate longitudinal girders, about 2,000 in num-
ber, which distribute the strain and subdivide it
into the smallest amount of pressure upon any one
spot. Between these intermediate girders come
" buckle" plates of wrought iron.
The whole station from end to end is 690 ft., and
its breadth about 243 ft., less some fractions of
inches. This great covering is supported by 25
main ribs or arches, which are of a pointed or conical
Gothic shape, entirely the design of Mr. Barlow.
Each rib is double—that is to say, each has an
upper and lower flange, with wrought-iron lattice
work of 6ft. depth between. The girders or ribs,
if straightened out, would be nearly 400 ft. long,
and none weigh less than 50 tons. These are the
main ribs of the great semicircle and the roof, all
the ends of which are taken down into the earth
below the platform, and bolted to the transverse
beams of iron beneath the station. The method in
which this roof has been built involved the neces-
sity of using the largest travelling stage that has
ever been constructed, and to which those by means
of which the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 were
built were mere toys. This travelling stage, which
altogether contains more than eight milea length
of solid timber, is 100 ft. high, 210 ft. wide, and
90ft. deep, and weighs some 1,300 tons—about
double the size, in fact, of Apsley -house. It has
been built on an immense basis of timber, with
little wheels beneath to pass over ordinary tram-
ways. It has been moved by mere leverage under
the wheels, the gangs of :men employed in shift-
ing it being signalled by the sound of a gong, so
that all might use their efforts simultaneously.
In this manner the monstrous stage has been
pushed about at the rate of three inches in a minute,
as it has been wanted from day to day. With this
enormous pressure over a small surface no test was
required as to the • strength of the vaulted cellars
below the station, for in point of fact no strain as
great can ever again come upon them. Between
each of the main ribs of the station are 75 interrue-

diate ribs, all made of rolled iron, and about a foot
deep. These are transverse, but along all again
' come in a longitudinal direction 15 purlins, or
wrought-iron ribs, which extend from end to end of
the whole structure, and tie it together in a perfect
network of iron, which is further braced up by cross
bands within the roof. In fact, the whole struc-
ture is rigid from end to end, and there is actually
less vibration in this station than in those which
have been entirely built of brick or stone. The
great travelling stage, when moved from under
each rib as it was built, showed that the iron-
work when left to itself had a deflection of
less than a quarter of an inch. The side walls
in this case have, therefore, very little to do, and
are more for ornament and convenience than for
use. In the former particular, however, Mr. Gil-
bert Scott has made them as handsome 'as walls
ever can be. At each end of the station the
upper opening of the great arch is half covered
in by a wrought-iron screen. This screen in
itself weighs 200 tons, and hangs from the
main ribs, which at three places are made double
and strongly braced together with wrought-iron
Lattice-work. The screens are about 6 feet deep,
but divided into small panels, wLich are to be
glazed midway so as to break as much as possible
the force of the wind on so large a surface. The
roof halfway up its exterior circumference has been
stated, but the crown of the arch is all glass and
iron. Some idea of the extent of the building may
be guessed when we say that more than 21 acres of
glass have been thus used in lighting it completely
from end to end. At one• time there were upwards
of 6,000 men, more than 1,000 horses, and nearly
100 steam lifts of various kinds employed upon
these great works.
The railways of the United Kingdom carried
last year more than 250,000,000 passengers, who
paid in the shape of fares a sum of upwards of
£15,000,000. They were conveyed in 3,500,000
separate trains, and they travelled an aggregate
distance of 70,000,000 miles, or an average of about
20 miles per train. These millions of travellers
were upon the railways an average time of at
least one hour. Here is a vast field for enterprise
in the way of supplying refreshments to a moving
population equal to one-fourth of that of the
entire habitable globe, or ten times that of the
whole of Great Britain. It is this great want which
the Midland Railway at least intends to supply,
and if they only do it effectually they will give a
greater boon to travellers on all parts of their line
than has even been conferred by the erection of
their magnificent terminus which was opened yes-
terday.

THE FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.