The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-23 00:00:00

RAIL WA

REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE ON SCHEMES
FOR EXTENDING RAILWAY COMMUNICA-
TION IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS.
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, April 16, 1845.
The Board constituted by the Lords of the Committee
of Privy Council for Trade for the transaction of Rail-
way Business, having had under consideration the fol-
lowing schemes for extending railway communication;
viz.:—

The Aberdare Railway;
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings (Keymer Branch);
Coventry, Bedworth, and Nuneaton;
Dunstable, London, and Birmingham;
Eastern Counties—Cambridge and Huntingdon;
Eastern Counties—Brandon and Peterborough Ex-
tension;
Eastern Counties—Finsbury Extension;
Et stern Counties—Cambridge and Bury St. Ed-
mund's Extension;
Eastern Counties—Dartford and Rumford Railway
and Steam Ferry;
Erew ash Valley Railway;
Epping Railway;
Eastern Counties— Thames Junction and North
Woolwich;
Lynn and Ely Railway, with a branch to Wisbeach;
London and Gravesend via North Woolwich
Railway;
Great North of England, Clarence and Hartlepool
Junction—Extension and Branches;
Kentish Coast Railway;
Launceston and South Devon;
South Devon Amendment and -Tavistock Branch
Railway; _ _ _

- -
rDarfield to Worsbrough;
Ditto to Eisecar;
tMidland Railway Chevet to Horbury;
Oakenshaw to Wakefield;
Ambergate to Crich;
Newcastle-upon-Tyne and North Shields Railway—
Tynemouth Extension and New Quay Branch;
North Union Railway—Branch to River Ribble;
Sheffield and Rotherham—Branch to Sheffield and
Manchester Railway;
West London Railway—Thames Extension ;
West London Railway—Knightsbridge Extension;
York and Scarborough Deviation;
have determined to submit the following report thereon,
for the consideration of Parliament.
The railway projects above enumerated are not so
connected with any particular district as to make it
necessary to class them with any of the groups or fami-
lies of schemes which have come under examina'ion.
They consist generally of lines either small in them-
selves, or of a local character, or they are minor exten-
sions and alterations of railways already executed.
THE ABERDARE RAILWAY,
About eight miles in length, is principally intended for
the conveyance of coal, iron, and other minerals, from
the Valley of Aberdare, in the county of Glamorgan, to
the port of Cardiff, for shipment. It branches from the
Taff Valley Railway, which connects Merthyr Tydvil
with that port. The present means of communication
with Cardiff is by canal, which, however, is alleged to
be quite inadequate to convey the traffic. We are of
opinion that there are no public reasons against this pro-
ject receiving the sanction of Parliament.
THE BRIGHTON, LEWES, AND HASTINGS—
KEYMER BRANCH.
This is a branch from the Brighton, Lewes, and Hast-
ings Railway, at Lewes, to the London and Brighton
Railway near Keymer, in length 9 miles and 12 chains.
Its object is to cut off the angle at Brighton and shorten
the railway distance between Lewes and London, and
consequently between Hastings and London, by eight or
nine miles. There are, in our opinion, no public rea-
sons against this project receiving the sanction of Par-

liament.

THE COVENTRY, BEDWORTH, AND NUN-

EATON RAILWAY.

This proposed line commences near the Coventry sta-
tion of the London and Birmingham Railway, and ter-
minates by forming a junction with the proposed Trent
Valley scheme near Nuneaton, in the parish of Bedworth,
its length being six miles fifty-three chains. It has for
its object to open direct communication between the im-
portant districts of Coventry, Leamington, and Warwick,
and the extensive collieries in Warwickshire and Lieces-
tershire.

The statement of traffic furnished by the promoters of
the scheme appears to justify the probable cost of its
construction. We are of opinion that there are no
public reasons against this project receiving the sanction
of Parliament.

THE DUNSTABLE, LONDON, AND BIRMING-

SIAM RAILWAY.

This railway is intended to commence at the Leighton
Buzzard station of the London and Birmingham Rail-
way, and to terminate at the entrance to the town of
Dunstable ; the length of the line being seven miles.
The line, when completed, is proposed to be leased and
worked by the London and Birmingham Railway Com-
pany. The traffic tables laid before this Board by the
projectors appear to justify the outlay of the capital ne-
cessary for the construction of the line. We are of
opinion that no public reasons exist against this pro•
ject receiving the sanction of Parliament.

-EASTERN-COUNTIES-CAMBRIDGE AND HUN-

TINGDON.

This line is intended to commence at Huntingdon and
to pass through St. Ives, to join the Eastern Counties
Extension a little to the north of Chesterton, near Cam-
bridge. Its length is 17 miles 35 chains, and it has a
branch of 1 miles 50 chains, for the accommodation of
Godmanchester. The object of this scheme is to con-
nect the town of Huntingdon and Godmanchester with
the Eastern Counties Railway, in case any of the great
trunk schemes between York and London passing in
that direction should not receive the sanction of the
Legislature. We have, however, already reported to
Parliament on the main question, and believe this scheme
to be incompatible with the establishment of a direct
main line, such as we have recommended in the report
alluded to. Between Cambridge and St. Ives it would,
in fact, be a competing line with the proposed Cam-
bridge and Lincoln Railway. Under these circum-
stances we think there are sufficient public reasons why
it should not receive the sanction of Parliament.
EASTERN COUNTIES—BRANDON AND
PETERBOROUGH EXTENSION.

In explanation of this scheme, it is necessary to
remark that the Eastern Counties Railway Company
obtained last year an Act for making a line from Ely to
pass midway between Chatteris and Doddington, by
Whittlesea to Peterborough. The object of the present
scheme is to make a deviation which, avoiding Chatteris,
may accommodate the town of March.

'lke length of the line would bo thus increased by
about three miles, but the promoters allege that the
outlay would not be augmented thereby, and that the
contractors who had agreed to make the original line
now undertake to construct the deviated and longer line
at the same cost as the shorter.

The first eight miles from Ely of the proposed devia-
tion are coincident with the same portion of the Ely
and Lincoln proposed Railway ; and if th© latter
scheme were carried into effect, a proportionate reduc-
tion in the expense would result. We must add, how-
ever, that we have reported our reasons why the Ely
and Lincoln proposed railway ought not to receive the
sanction of Parliament.

The project is objected to by the inhabitants of Chat-
teris, who will suffer inconvenience if the line, as it has
already been sanctioned by Parliament, should be re-
moved from them.

If the line could be considered as a main trunk line, a
deviation involving an increase of three miles in distance
might be considered to affect unreasonably the general
convenience of the public ; but the project in question
must be viewed more with regard to local accommoda-
tion than to through traffic.
March is a place of greater population than Chatte-
ris ; the former containing by the last census 5,706 per-
sons, and the latter 4,813. March also contains 1,163
inhabited houses, while Chatteris has but 956. Consi-
dering, therefore, that the new line may be made as
cheaply, that it will afford rather more local accommoda-
tion than the original line, and that the through traffic
is not likely to be very great, there are no public rea-
sons which, in our opinion, ought to be decisive
against it.
At the same time, we deem it our duty to suggest
whether, as the direct line has reeeived the sanction of
Parliament, the company should not be required so to
regulate their fares as to charge no more on the extra
distance, on the through traffic, than they were em-
powered to charge on the direct distance.

EASTERN COUNTIES-FINSBURY EX-
TENSION.

This is a prolongation of the Northern and Eastern
Railway, through the terminus near Shoreditch, across
that street and several others, to the City-road, near
the north side of Finsbury-square, in length 600 yards.
This scheme partakes something of the character of the
Tottenham and Farringdon extension project, which
has already been reported upon by this Board in con-
nexion with the London aad York schemes; that is to
say, the object of each is to obtain a more central me-
tropolitan terminus. The distance is only 800 yards be-
tween the present and the proposed terminus of the
Eastern Counties Railway; yet the cost of making the
extension will be considerable, and it may not, there-
fore, be to the interest of the Company to incur such an
expense, if the Tottenham and Farringdon-street projeot
should be carried out.

It is further very important that so essential a part of
the communication between London and York as is
afforded by the Tottenham and Farringdon-street
branch, should not be interfered with by any minor pro-
ject of this description.
On the other hand, it appears desirable, with regard
to the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, which
are supplied by the Eastern Counties Railway, that it
should have a more central terminus than that at present
in use at Shoreditch. _

Therefore, although we think that the Finsbury Ex-
tension is inferior to the Farringdon-street terminus as
regards the northern traffic, and that it should not by
any means be sanctioned in lieu thereof, we are of opi-
nion that, having respect to the eastern traffic, no public
reasons exist why it should not receive the sanction of
the Legislature.

EASTERN COUNTIES.—CAMBRIDGE AND
BURY ST. EDMUND'S EXTENSION.
This line would run in a direct course between the
towns of Cambridge and Bury, a distance of twenty-five
miles and chains,gaenndfiliflte3e,ringd
ifficuthroughlts of n
ie aleevoelscien
country, present-
ing no ;
but#
on
the other hand, offering very small inducement for the
outlay of capital on even the most economical scale.
terminal
.towns both of
the population of all the parishes
onw theroute. There is at present
,
lying between Cambridge and Bury, and which it
would traverse, being under 12,000, and Newmarket
tThhinely distirnihcatbtibterodufh which it would be carried is but
townneteen the
which will be amply supplied with railway acconamoda-
being
little
or the
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