The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-03 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE._

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GREAT EASTERN AND WESTERN RAILWAY.
WORCESTEIt, MONDAY EVENING.—An important
meeting, in connexion with the above undertaking, has
been held at the Guildhall in this city to-day, the chair
being taken by Alderman' G. Allies. It sheuld be ex,
plained that when this line of railway was first pro-
jected it was intended, by taking Birmingham as the.
manufacturing capital, as well as the centre of England,
to make a direct communicati,(n between it and Swansea
on the west, and Yarmouth on the east, thereby con-
necting the Irish Sea and Brist 1 Channel with the
German Ocean, embracing a population of three millions.
This gigantic project has now b&en c,.ns,derably modified,
tied in place of proceeding northwards from Worce•te,,
rid Stourbridge and Birining,Laun, to Leicester ant
thence to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, the line is now
proposed to diverge from Worcester, through the I)roit-
w•ich salt works, by Redditeh, Henley-on-Arden, War-
wick, and Leamington, to Rugby, where it meets the
Huntingdon line, and occuppying a course parallel with
that originally proposed, passes by Ely and Thetford to
Norwich and Great Yarmouth. The line of new rail-
way to be constructed, therefore. stops at Rugby. From
Worcester the line passes through the important agri-
cultural district of Worcestershire and Herefordshire, to
the immense ironworks of South Wales, embracing
Crickhowell, Abergavenny, Nantyglo, Tredegar, Ithym-
ney, Dowlais, Merthyr Tydvil, Cyfaxtha, Irwan, Neath,
and Swansea, branch lines extending to Pontypool and
Newport. It is to be constructed upon the broad gauge
—the gauge of the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhamp
ton line of railway just commenced, and which it meets
at Worcester.
At the meeting this afternoon the above notifica-
tion was fully explained by Mr. Ward, M.P., the Chair-
man of the Great Eastern and Western Company, who
was accompanied by other members of the Provisional
Committee, their engineer, and other officers. The Hon.
Member observed that the great difficulty which the
Company had bad to fight against was the mountainous
character of the country surrounding the most important
portion of the proposed line, viz., the South Wales iron
fields, and upon this part of the subject the opinion of
the chief engineer, Mr. Gravatt, was perfectly satisfac-
tory. After stating that nothing but a too confident
reliance in the mere judgment of the eye, unsupported
by any actual admeasurement, and without any regard
to the improved state of railway science, could have pre-
vented this railway being brought forward long ago, that
gentleman goes on to state that even on this, the most
'difficult part of the line, they had, at a fair cost, obtained
inclinations and curves as much as 50 per cent. easier
than those on some other lines in the kingdom now car-
rying on an immense traffic in both heavy goods and
passengers, with great advantage to the public and great
profit to themselves.
J. WHEELER LEA, Esq., the Chairman of the Com-
mission for the improvem..nt of the navigation of the
Severn, aIA) pointed out tke advantages offered by this
important line of railway, and especially the peculiar
advantages to be derived to the trade and commerce of
the city of Worcester.
On the motion of Mr. BENNET, seconded by J. M.
GUTCII, Esq., banker, an unanimous vote of thanks was
passed to Mr. Ward, and the gentleme❑ who accom-
panied him, for their atten farce here to-day, and the
satisfactory explanation made to the meeting.
Mr. WARD, having acknowledged the compliment in
a few brief remarks, moved a vote of thanks to the
chairman.
Alderman ALLIES, in his reply to this vote, observed
that he had entertained doubts about the feasibility of
this project, on account of the engineering difficulties
which it presented, but these were entirely remov2d.
The meeting then bra ke up.