The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-13 00:00:00

GREAT WEz:ITERN, BRENTFORD,
AND CENTRAL lERIIINUS JUNCTION
R A I LW AY.
A eumerous and highly influential meeting of the inha-
bitants of Hounslow, Isleworth, Heston, &c., took place on
Saturday, at the George Tnn, Hounslow, for the purpose of
meeting a deputation from the Great Western, Brentford, and
entral Terminus Junction Railway Company (Page's direct
line), andlhearing from them the route they intendeeto pursue,
and to determine whether the support of the inhabitants
ought or ought not to be given to the line. The object of toe
deputation was also to ascertain the wishes of the inhabitants
of the town and neighbourhood of Hounslow as to the sites
for stations, &c., provided they came to the resolution of
supper-ling the line.
Among the influential gentlemen present, we noticed
Henry Pownall, Esq., of Spring-grove, Hounslow, Chairman
of the Middlesex Magistrates; Benjamin John Armstrong,
Esq., of Southall, a Middlesex Magistrate; Henry Webb
Smith, Esq.; James Stanborough, Esq., the incumbent of
Hounslow; sad several other gentlemen of influence, and pos-
sessing property in the neighbourhood. Mr. Page, the en-
gineer, was prevented from being present, in consequence of
engagements in another part of the country; but his absence
was supplied by Mr. Wilkinson, one of the solicitors of the
Company. The meeting, which was announced for twelve
o'clock, commenced its proceedings shortly after that hour.
The object the Company have in view will at once be seen
from the following prospectus ;
"At several large public meetings held in October last, at
Brentford, Isleworth, and Hounslow, resolutions were unani-
mously passed in favour of establishing a railway communi-
cation with the metropolis, but the difficulty of obtaining a
suitable terminus in London induced the principal promoters
of the undertaking to postpone bringing the scheme before
the public.
" Th is impediment has now been overcome, and by a proposed
junction with the Central Terminus and the Thames Embank-
ment Railway, parties travelling by this line will Le enabled
to proceed directly to the heart of the metropolis; and by
the united railways, which will ramify from this point, to
almost every part of the country without interruption.
"By the intended junction, also, with the Great Western
Railway, at or near West Drayton, and lay the intersection of
the Birmingham Railway at Kensington, these important
lines will be supplied with direct access to the Central Termi-
nus and thence to the City, or to the southern and eastern lines.
"The proposed line passes through or near Pimlico,Chelsea,
Brompton, Kensington, Hammeremith, Chiswick, and Turn-
ham-green, to the town of Brentford, and thence to lsleworth,
Hounslow, and West Drayton.
"'This line is singularly free from engineering difficulties ;
and, although there is almost a complete continuity of town
and village throughout the whole distance, yet, from the
care with which the line has been laid down, so as to avoid
property covered with buildings, and to take advantage of
open and unoccupied spaces, the value of the ground to be
purchased will not be nearly so great as, from the nature of
the localities, would be inferred. By the adoption of the
atmospheric principle, or some equally eligible mode of work-
ing, the annoyances, inseparable front the locomotive system,
will be obviated, and the advantage of almost constant
trains, so indispensable to this densely-populated district, will
ho secured.
" The population of the various places at which stations are
proposed to be erected on the present line is not less than
200,000, and to give some idea of the large amount of traffic
which may be calculated upon, it may be stated that the
present annual income derived from the carriage of pas-
sengers, by omnibuses alone, amounts to above 100,0001. ;
under these circumstances, no doubt can be entertained of a
very ample return for the capital required for this important
work."

HENRY POW ALL, Esq., Deputy Chairman, was unani-
mously called to the chair, upon taking which, he said, that,
in obeying the call of so respectable and influential a meet-
ing of the inhabitants of Hounslow and its neighbourhood,
lie thought he could not do better than commerce the few
observations he felt it bis duty to make, by congratulating
them upon the altered state of public feeling from what it
Ni as when they met that time last year, in that very house,
to suggest the propriety of establishing a railway from
Hounslow and its neighbourhood to London, and thereby to
raise Hounslow to its former position. At that time it was
considered by some to be a visionary scheme; by others it
was thought impossible for any man, or any body of men, to
call for that degree of inquiry upon which might be founded
the basis of the future regeneration of Hounslow, and the
establishment of her pristine youth. Hounslow was con-
sidered a worn-out town. She was forgotten as one of the
piincipal places at which the proprietors of coaches, in their
palmy days, delighted to honour; and herdecay in age caused
her former admirers to desert her. Happily, however, things
were changed. Her youthful charms must be considered as
having been restored, for she had now no less than nine
suitors for her favour.—(Laughter). Gentlemen were now
beginning to anticipate success to the scheme of bringing a
railway to Hounslow.— (Cheers). It would be an anomaly
on his part to occupy the attention of the meeting by
debating the benefits of railroad communication—those
advantages were already well known and admitted ;
neither was it necessary for him to call the attention of those
present to the depressed state of Hounslow and its neighbour-
hood since the great traffic on railroads had been established.
—(Hear, hear.) That was sufficiently apparent in the decay
of their town. They had witnessed since that event how
much private property had been depressed, and how trade
had become stagnant in Hounslow and its neighbourhood;
in short, they were half a century behind the age in which
they lived, from not having that means of communication
with the metropolis which many other towns possessed.—
(Hear, hear.) They all knew that it was much easier to go
from London-bridge to Brighton than from the Bank to
Hounslow.—(Hear, hear.) Houses now would not let in a
district where a railway, did not traverse—(Hear)—but where
one did, the value of property was increased, trade flourished,
and enterprise and industry met with its reward.—(Hear,
hear.) Was that the case in Hounslow? (No, no.) Aa a
proof that it was only necessary for those present to take a
glance at the situation of the district now and formerly—
(Hear, hear)—the very inn in which they were that
day assembled formerly employed no less than
25 pair of post horses daily—(Hear)—to say nothing of
stage coach traffic, and more than 1,0001. a-year was paid
by the proprietor for post-horse duty alone ; but now, if they
took the whole road to Bagshot, they would not probably
find 15 horses kept, where formerly there was 1,500.—( Hear,
hear.) Now, what was the cause of that ?—the establish-
ment of railroads. And was Hounslow and Brentford, formerly
places of so much traffic, to be prevented from having a rail-
road, also, to place them in the position they once held?—
(Hear, hear.) The fact of there being so many competitors
clearly established the value of a line through Hounslow and
Brenttord, and showed what the feeling of the public was
upon the subject. No doubt the inhabitants of such locality
would prefer a line of railroad best calculated to suit their
own purposes, but it must be remembered that railroads
were public undertakings, established for the good, the con-
venience, and the interest of the public at large, and that it
would be unwise and impossible to lay them down upon the
consideration of individual interests alone.—( Hear, hear )
They were to be established for the interest of
the community at large, and that alone.—(Hear, hear.) Now,
lie believed that the line it was his pleasure to advocate (and
this was the first railway he had ever been connected with)
was Page's direct line. lie supported it because he considered
it the best that had been yet submitted to the public, both for
their convenience, and also for the benefit of the neighbour-
hood through which it passed.—(Hear, hear.) He believed
that it combined so many advantages over the other proposed
lines, that there was no doubt, when it came before Parlia-
ment, what the result would be.—(Hear, hear.) The pro-
posed line commenced at or near the station of the Great
Western Railway Company at West Drayton, travelling
through Harlington and Cranford to Hounslow, Brentford,
Hammersmith, Kensington, Chelsea, and Westminster, and
ultimately terminating near Hungerford-bridge and Charing-
cross. It was intended that it should be on the atmospheric
principle, the practicability of which had been tested and
proved beyond a doubt, both on the Dublin and the Croydon
Railway, where it had been found to be highly advantageous,
and there could be little doubt of its coming shortly into
general operation.—(Hear, hear.) On the latter railway a
speed of upwards of sixty miles an hour had been obtained,
and, on one occasion, such was the rapidity with which it
passed a train going to Brighton, that the persons who were
in the carriages upon the atmospheric line thought that the
Brighton train had stopped.—(Hear, hear.) The atmospheric
principle, also, was more app icable, perhaps, to the present,
than many other lines, because the traffic was short, and the
stations near each other; and the cheapness and the conve-
nience rendered it desirable in every locality.—(Hear, hear.)
He had now pointed out many of the advantages that be-
longed to the proposed line; but, added to this, they had at'
the proposed stations along the line a far greater population
than any of the stations hitherto fixed around the metro-
polis.—Clear, hear.) At Greenwich they had about 42,000,
at Wackwall, 21,000, Croydon, 26,000, Eastern Counties,
44,000, London and Birmingham, 90,000, South Western,
20,000; while within the fifteen miles which the proposed
railroad was intended to travel, they had a population of
upwards of 100,000.—( Hear.) 'Within that range at present
a great number of omnibuses were employed, the income from
which during the last year was between 50,000/. to 60,000/.
Then they must take into consideration the wealth of the
different districts through which the line was proposed to
.paes. Look at Brentford. One distillery there paid more than
half a million a year for Excise.—(Cheers.) There were also
large soap manufactories there. There were large flour mills at
Isleworth, and coals that were now brought by an expen-
sive rate would, when the railroad was established, be con-
at a much cheaper rate. The trade of the market
would be greatly improved by the line, as it would
74,0, the izerth to them.—(Hear.) There was another ad-
vantas,e, too, ii; .a moral point of view, that would be obtained.
Hounslow and its Leighbourhood was a peculiarly heal,tilty,
district; it was blown with a good soil, highav
nh(eindrt3h'e
plenty of water, and there could be no doubt, l
rail-
road was established, that the
would avail themselves of it, houses for their calves
mechanics of the' m. etronolis
and havei
and returning
and families in the neighbourhood, they'frismiliad been done
at a cheap rate night and mornin
in the neighbourhood of Leeds with the best results. He be.-
lieved that the effect of railroads l ale theimmense morals of
fpnthrtne pnocepun-f
lation would be great indeed, th, im
such cominunication was only just beginning to show itself,
1 nt-cipated a panic from
and he was not one of thoksen
np- lane ea with respect to them.—
tt:e movement that hadt
(Hear, hear.) He consideredne. that the period in which they
lived pointed out the necessity for laying down fresh roads
and modes of communication throughout the kingdom, and
there could be no doubt that the greatest possible advan-
tages would accrue from rapid communication between town
and town, and kingdom and kingdom.—(Hear, hear.) It
would increase the civilization of mankind, extend the bene-
fits of commerce, and diffuse happiness and prosperity over
the habitable globe.—(Hear, hear.) If any one doubted
that, let them look not only to their own country, but to the
Continent, where the establishment of railroads was forming
communications between towns and places that had compa-
ratively no communication before.—(Hear.) For his own part,
he believed that the peace and prosperity of any coun,t,aryswure
greatly promoted by the success of railroads; he s s
that they were highly beneficial for that part of the county
in which they lived, and although he halt
nhe had interested
any part with respect to any railroad
3h.eat it would benefit
ot hitherto take
himself in this because he believed t fear,
hear.) The
the neighbourl • 'd and himself alscot;llent)
speech by calling
worthy g ,ntleman c included an ex
1.1)011 No, Esq., of Southall, to move
BENJAMIN <MIDI- ARMST,r "shTohnaldt
the first resolution,•wh iichti,
at troaitil::
igutetflica.ecttio:";
it was highly
t • will permit, and following the
he established dbees.tlirta-eiretei Hounslow and London as direct as
nature of the court
the tta ldcoach thoroughfare." He thought it most
cow's') 3 °I
I CI
• I Ines of railway had been diverging
adaarsa aia. w e
extraor •
•ll
le,s populated districts, that that ne!gli-
,sis every directten
'hourhood. had for so long gone on without one, and been
almost forgotten.—( Hear, hear.) The line they had met that
day to advocate appeared to hits to be the best that hadhither-
to iaeen put forward ; that it was extremely needed; and that
it deserved the attentive consideration and support of the in-
halAtants, not only of Hounslow and Brentford, but
‘of every
part; through which it was proposed to pass.—(Hear, hear.)
He congratulated the inhabitants of those districts in the re-
spectability of the Provisional Committee—(Hear, hear.)
That body was not formed of high-sounding names, meaning
nothing, but of all the talent and property in that part of
the cottaty.—(Hear.) They hail the Earl of Devon as their
chairmart—a uoblemau,hewashappy to say, of businessliabits,
and who r ould support the undertaking in the House of
Lords.—(Dear, hear.) It would be idle to say they bad not