The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-10 00:00:00

SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.

REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE ON THE
EPSOM AND SOUTH-WESTERN AND CROY-

DON AND EPSOM RAILWAY BILLS.

Viscount Howick reported from the Select Committee
on the Epsom and South-Western and Croydon and
Epsom Railway Bills (competing lines), to whom several
petitions against the said Bills were referred—

That th-e Conimittee had carefully cO;silered'the two
Bills which had been referred to them, with regard as
well to the question whether it is desirable to have any
railway communication to Epsom, as to the comparative
advantages of the two lines which have been submitted
to them.

Upon the first point, the Committee are satisfied that
an amount of traffic may fairly be calculated upon, be-
tween London and Epsom, sufficient to justify the forma-
tion of one line of railway, connecting that town with one
of the existing lines- of railway from the metropolis,
but not such as to make it proper that two different and
independent lines should be made : it has therefore been
the duty of the Committee to consider which of the two
lines ought to be preferred. Both lines were equally
unopposed by the owners of the property through which
they respectively proposed to pass, the opposition which
was offered by the land-owners to the Croydon line
having been withdrawn in the course of the proceedings.
In favour of the South-WeStern line, it has been
shown that the length of railway to be constructed, and
the amount of capital to be expended, would be very
2reatly less than in the competing line • but on the
other hand, the promoters of the Croydon line have un-
dertaken to
,afford the public very greatly superior ac-
commodation to that which would be given by the com-
peting line. It has been shown in evidence that, if the
Croydon line should be adopted, it is intended that there
should be thirteen trains a day each way ; while the
promoters of the South-Western line have stated that
they only contemplate running four trains a day each
way, under ordinary circumstances, two only of which
would provide conveyance for third-class passengers.
This limited number of .trains by the latter line could
not, as it appears to the Committee, be increased without
very great inconvenience to the long traffic of the Com-
pany to Southampton and Gosport.
Both Companies also have handed in to the Committee
clauses, by which they were prepared to bind themselves
not to exceed certain rates of charge for passengers and
goods • and upon comparing these rates, the Committee
find the charges proposed by the Croydon line to be
very much the lowest, and therefore the best for the pub-
lic. The Croydon line also, by passing near the large
villages of Cheam, Sutton, and Carshalton, will provide
accommodation for a much larger population than the
competing line, which, after leaving Epsom and Ewell,
passes through a very thinly inhabited country. These,
as it appears to the Committee, are sufficient grounds for
giving the preference to the Croydon line ; but further,
it was urged in favour of the Croydon line, that the pro-
moters of that line intend to work it not by the ordinary
method of locomotive engines, but by stationary engines,
and on the principle of atmospheric traction. Much
evidence was adduced in favour of this system of work-
ing railways ; and on the other side Mr. Robert Ste-
phenson was examined, in order to show that it was not
likely to answer. The Committee do not feel them-
selves competent to pronounce any opinion on the com-
parative merits of the two methods of working railways,
but they think it right to observe, that the objections of
Mr. Stephenson do not go to impugn either the practi
bility or the safety of this mode of conveyance ; all that
he contends for is, that it is not likely to answer as a
commercial speculation. Upon this point it has appeared
to the Committee, that they are not called upon to form
any opinion ; but it is an obvious public advantage, in
their judgment, that a very important experiment should
be tried, without any cost to the public, by private indi-
viduals, who are prepared to risk a large sum of money
by laying down a railway upon this principle, and for
conveyance upon which they are willing to restrict them-
selves to a rate of' charge very advantageous to the
That for these reasons the Committee had no hesita-
tion in giving the preference to the Croydon and Epsom
line, -and they had therefore negatived the preamble of
the South-Western and Epsom Railway Bill.
That they had examined the allegations of the Croydon
and Epsom Railway Bill, and had found the same to be
true . and had gone through the Bill, and made several
amendments thereufito.

Viscount Howick further reported, that in the case of