The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-04 00:00:00

LONDON AND YORK RAILWAY.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Six,—My attention has been called to a letter in
the Morning Herald of the Ist instant, signed "In-
vestigator," which purports to be a reply to my com-
munication to you of the 23d of January last. I
have read "Investigator's " letter with attention ; and
lam sure, if your readers will do the same, they
will agree with me, that though he sets out with the
admission that my view of the case is one of minutite
and detail, he studiously abstains from any attempt to
show either that the facts stated by me are incorrect,
or that the conclusions which I deduced from them
are erroneous.
"Investigator" has not ventured to state that a new
line of railway from London to Peterborough is called
for, or can be justified, in a national point of view,
or that if made, it will be other than a directly com-
peting line with an existing railway. More than
this—he does not deny that every town on its route
may be amply provided for by other lines of railway
now under the consideration of the Board of Trade,
not one of which will interfere with existing inte-
rests.

Neither does " Investigator" tell us in what re-
spects the metropolitan terminus of the London and
York line can be compared, in national importance,
or in its accommodation to the traffic from the manu-
facturing districts and from Lincolnshire, with the
existing and projected termini of the Eastern
Counties.
He observes the same politic silence also with re-
ference to the proposed communication between the
main line of the London and York, and the Man-
chester and Sheffield, and Manchester and Leeds
Railways ; not venturing to challenge my assertion,
that by the London and York scheme the connexion
of Lincolnshire with the manufacturing and mineral
districts involves 43 miles of new railway, whilst by
the Midland scheme the same object is as well, or
better attained, by the construction of 12 miles only.
Again, as regards the communication between
London and York, " Investigator" does not deny the
following facts : that the direct line involves the con-
struction of 185* miles of railway, whilst the exten-
sion of the existing line involves the construction of
132 miles only ; that there will be no saving in time,
by the more direct route over the other; that the
distance saved is chiefly, if not entirely, saved between
London and Peterborough; that from York the line
must be made to Lincoln and from the south to Pe-
terborough ; that to accommodate the heart of Lin-
colnshire, and the population collected in the nume-
rous towns and villages along the Car Dyke, the line
must be continued from Lincoln direct to Peterbo-
borough ; that the chain of railway communica-
tion will then be complete from York to London via
Lincoln and Cambridge ; that another new, expensive,
and entirely competing line from Bawtry to London
cannot be justified on anyground ofnational importance,
and cannot hold out any reasonable prospect of return
to the proprietors. " Investigator" has charged me
with having stated "that for the first thirty miles
from London the York line invades some of the finest
garden ground to be found in England." I made no
such statement; what I did state was, " the first thirty
miles from London will require an enormous outlay
of capital, then thelitie will pass through some of the
finest garden latiCtifEngland "—and this statement
is substantially j iialiterally correct, as at or near
Biggleswade the line will pass through some of the
finest garden land in England. I refer to this trivial
charge against my accuracy as showing that the
writer could not impugn or
-call in question the more
important statements which my letter embodied, in-
asmuch as it is the only instance of mis-statement or
misrepresentation which he has ventured to attribute
to me.

Mr. Herepath has published an excellent map of
the London and York line and its loop, as a supple-
ment to his last Saturday's paper ; if your readers
will refer to it, they will see how every statement
in my former letter is borne out. I could have
wished that Mr. Herepath had marked upon his map
the various competing lines ; but if your readers will
extend the Northern and Eastern line from Cam-
bridge, by St. Ives, Ramsey, Peterborough, Market
beeping, Bourn, &c., to Lincoln, and thence, as the
Midland propose to carry it, by Gainsborough and
Doncaster to the York and North Midland at Monk
Frystone, and will pencil out branches from Stamford to
Spalding, Heckington to Boston, Doncaster to Swinton,
and from the North Midland to the Manchester and
Leeds Railway, by Griggleston and Gomersall, they
will perceive how completely the objects of the London
and York line may be attained at one-third of the
outlay which the construction of that line and its
loop will require, and without injury to existing
interests.

If I understand the general reasoning of " Inves-
tigator" correctly, it comes to this—that if the Lin-
colnshire lines are made the distance between London
and York will be reduced eleven miles only, and the
through traffic be retained on the Midland lines.
Now, by the Northern and Eastern and Cambridge
and Lincoln lines, the distance to Lincoln will be

136 miles • if the line be carried on direct to York by
the Lincoln, York, and Leeds direct and independent
(through Snaith and Selby), the entire distance
from London to York will be 194 miles, or
only eight more than by the London
and York ; if the line be carried on
from Lincoln, by either the London and York, or
the Midland, the entire distance from London to York
would be about 200 miles ; so that " Investigator"
does not state the case fairly when he says that if the
Lincolnshire lines are made, the journey from London
to York would be 228 miles, or only 11. miles less
than by the present circuitous route.
With respect to the retention by the Midland of
the through traffic on their present lines "Investi-
gator" is equally wide of the mark ; it is clear that
the through traffic must be diverted from the
Midlands. When that Company found that the
public required, and would have a more direct
communication between London and York,
they proposed to make part of the chain,
and, at the same time, to connect Lincolnshire in the
most direct and cheapest way with the manufacturing
and mineral districts. The Cambridge and Lincoln,
and the Eastern Counties complete the chain, under
such arrangements with the Midlands as will secure
the quick and cheap transit of the traffic along the
entire line; in fact, the Midlands are bound by the
stongest of all inducements to a public company—
their pecuniary interest—to pass the through traffic
along the new line ; but, even if they were not so
bound, the Board of Trade would take care that the

public were neither retarded nor inconvenienced in
the use of any railway communication by the Midland

or any other company.
" investigator" assumes that it never was the dis-
position of the Northern and Eastern Company to go
northward beyond Peterborough; certainly they
would not do so if other companies would do it for
them, and so bring upon their line, already made, the
traffic which they relied on when their first Act was
obtained ; but if the London and 1 ork is granted,
the Northern and Eastern line will be robbed of its

just and legitimate traffic—all the district lying to the
north of Cambridge, round St. Ives, Ramsey, Hunt-
ingdoil, Peterborough, and the whole of Lincolnshire,
as well as the through traffic, would be taken from
them. I hold a large number of shares in the Eastern
Counties which I purchased, relying on their having
the traffic to which I have referred; and I do not
hesitate to say, that there is no existing line of railway
in the kingdom which will be more deeply, unfairly,
unnecessarily, and permanently injured by a com-
peting line, than the Northern and Eastern line will
be by the London and York, if that Company is
permitted to make a competing line from Peterborough
to London.

I am reminded by " Investigator" that Cam-
bridge is not on the direct route between Lon-
don and York, and " that the Cambridge and Lin-
coln line touches no great town on its route." In
return, I would remind " Investigator " that the
route from London to York, via Cambridge and
Lincoln, has been sanctioned by the Legislature, has
been selected and recommended by many eminent
engineers, at various times, since 1826, as the proper
trunk line for the country, and was, in fact, so se-
lected, in the the first instance, by the promoters of
the London and York, and that Cambridge, Peter-
borough, and Lincoln, all of which are touched by
the Cambridge and Lincoln line, and are directly and
best accommodated by it, are the largest and most
important towns on the route.
I will now briefly allude to the continuation
of Mr. Herepath's observations on the London
and York Railway, published in his journal of Satur-
day last. Mr. Herepath, like "Investigator," has not
attempted any reply to my letter, on the ground,
that he will not be drawn into a dispute on the merits
of the two lines. He has before frankly admitted
that, perfect as he conceives the London and York
scheme to be, be would rather the line had started
from Cambridge and gone into the York and North

Midland at Burton Salmon ; for this opinion, which
by his own statement, he has repeatedly expressed to
the promoters of the London and York line privately,
I have no doubt he could advance sound and conclu-

sive reasons, which it would be difficult to reconcile
with the support be is now giving to the London and I
York, and can only regret that the promoters of
that line have not paid more attention to his opinion.
Herepath has gone into an elaborate exposition
of the character of the works OR the London and
York line, from items supplied (as I gather from his
article) by the engineer of the line, and they are
matters for an engineer to deal with. As to the cost
of construction we are left to guess. Lr. Herepath
averages 330 miles of railway at 13,3301. per mile !!!
Now this is less per mile than the estimated cost of
the Cambridge and Lincoln, which has neither
tunnels nor viaducts, nor an expensive city terminus,
and over a large portion of which the works are of as
light and favourable a character as the hen and
.
chicken part of the London and York. It is nt
upon Queb gvesses as that the decision
Board of of the
'Trade and of rarliamelit b made. 1

FEBRIETARY 4, 1845.

am assured by engineers of great experience, who
have examined the plans and sections of the London
and York line and who are acquainted with the
country it will traverse, that it cannot be completed
under an average cost of 20,0001. a mile.
Many of the railway projects which have been re-
ferred to the Board of Trade have originated in a
spirit of aggression, or as defensive measures, on the
part of existing railway companies. I have on a
former occasion expressed my conviction of the ne-
cessity for a preliminary inquiry by Government into
the merits of competing lines, with the view to the se-
lection of such one line, or to the amalgamation of
such different lines, as may best provide for the ad
vantage and convenience of the public with the least I
detriment to existing interests. I cordially concur with
Mr. Herepath in the opinion, that the decisions which
the Board has already announced are just and proper,
and I look forward to its report on the Northern awl
Eastern lines, not only without anxiety, but with
perfect confidence that it will be in accordance with
the principles which have hitherto guided its deci-
sions. The Board of Trade is well aware that the
London and York is only another name for the Man-
chester and Leeds—and that the struggle for the dis-
trict north of Lincoln is, in fact, a struggle between
the Manchester and Leeds and the Midlands. The
Manchester and Leeds want to have the command of
the traffic between the manufacturing and mi-
neral districts and Lincolnshire. The Mid-
lands say, that is our district, and you have
no right to invade it. The Manchester and
Leeds reply, we will not only invade it, but we will
divert from your line all the through traffic north of
York. The London and York Company may assert
that they are independent of the Manchester and
Leeds, but it is notorious that they could not fill their
subscription list till they were taken up by the Man-
chester and Leeds Shareholders, and afterwards amal-
gamated with the Wakefield, Lincoln, and Boston
Company. • The London and York scheme does not
affect the Midlands only—if carried out in its inte-
grity, it will divert the traffic from another most im-
portant line of railway, one that for years yielded
scarcely any return to its proprietary, and has never
yet been able to pay more than 33- per cent., and
whose proprietary have clung to it through adverse
circumstances, in the reasonable expectation that
sooner or later their property would be improved by
the extension of the line north of Cambridge, either
by themselves or by an independent company.
Of all the schemes which the abundance of capital
has called into being, the London and York with its
loop, whether regarded as a means of shortening the
distance between London and the north, or as con-
necting the rich and productive county of Lincoln
with the ports of London, Ipswich, and Harwich ; or
with the manufacturing and mineral districts, is the
most uncalled-for and indefensible—uncalled-for, be-
cause it entirely disregards existing lines, by the aid
of which the same objects may be better attained, at
one-third of the outlay, and consequently to the much
greater advantage of the community—indefensible,
because it can only be supported by the diversion of
the traffic: from important existing railways with
which, moreover, it must always be a competing line
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,