The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-16 00:00:00

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE.

REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE ON SCHEMES
FOR EXTENDING RAILWAY COMMUNICA-
TION IN VARIOUS DISTRICTS.
Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed,
May 8,
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, May 8, 1845.
The Board constituted by the minute of the Lords
of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade, for the
transaction of railway business, having had the fol-
lowing railway schemes, viz. :
Porthdynllaen and Bangor;
Chester and Holyhead ;
Ditto—Mold Branch ;
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings—Rye and Ash-
ford Branch ;
have decided on submitting the following report
thei-eon, for the consideraticn of Parliament :
The Porthdynllaen and Bangor (or North Wales
Railway), commences at the port of Porthdynllaen,
runs along the coast of the Irish Channel, by Clynog
and Caernarvon, to Bangor; its length being 28 miles
56 chains. The earth-works on the whole will ex-
ceed an average, and a tunnel occurs of 704 yards in
length. At the 6th mile is an embankment 118 feet
high, and at the 11th mile a cutting 71 feet deep
and several run from 40 to 50 feet.
The promoters of the scheme state, that by bring-
ing into close connexion the city and port of Bangor
and the town of Caernarvon, the line would confer
important commercial advantages upon the interests
of North Wales ; and that its further course through
the mineral and agricultural districts will throw
open additional supplies of copper, lead, slates, grain,
and provisions, to new and extended markets. Es-
pecially they lay stress on the advantages to be de-
rived from opening out the extensive slate quarries in
the district.
With regard to passengers, they reckon upon a
considerable number going along the proposed line,
particularly in summer and autumn, and the traffic
tables, which have been submitted with the statement
of the promoters' case, seem to justify, so far as it is
in our power to form an opinion from the data which
they contain, their assumption that the line will be
remunerative.
We have stated that the earth-works on the whole
will exceed an average, and that a tunnel occurs 704
yards in length; consequently the line will be of an
expensive description. The promoters of the scheme,
however, while they estimate the cost at 300,0001., state
that arrangements have been made with responsible
contractors to complete the Railway within the engi-
neer's estimate, both as to time and amount.
The projectors are particular in their statement,
that their scheme is not intended to rival the Chester
and Holyhead Railway, nor to disturb any existing
arrangements between that Company and the Govern-
ment; their line is for local purposes, and it appears
to have received very general local support.
No statement has been made to the Board of Trade
in opposition to this scheme, and we are not aware
of any circumstances tending to invalidate the case '
of the promoters.
In these circumstances it becomes our duty to re-
port, in conformity with the Fifth Report of the
Select Committee of the House of Commons, that
" there are no public reasons which ought, in the
opinion of this department, to be decisive against it.
The object of the Chester and Holyhead Railway
Bill is to complete the continuous communication
from Chester to Holyhead by the passage of the
Menai Strait=, by means of one of two alternative
lines, the first of which, 4 miles 63 chains in length,
passes over the town of Bangor by a viaduct bridge ;
the other, 4 miles 26 chains in length, passes about
half a mile south of Bangor, and effects a saving of
37 chains in distance. The gradients on both lines
are good.
The point selected for the passage of the Menai is
at the Britannia Rock, in the centre of the Strait,
which affords a convenient position for the central
pier of a bridge of two arches; but as an objection
was taken to the bridge proposed to be constructed,
the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty directed a
local examination to be made by Sir John Rennie and
Mr. Rer:del, civil engineers, in company with Capt.
Vida!, Royal Nary. We beg to refer the Committee
on the Bill to the reports of Sir John Rennie and Mr.
Rendel, in which the Inspector-General of Railways
concurs.
The Mold Branch of the Chester and Holyhead
Railway has been formally withdrawn by the projec-
tors, with the intention of bringing it forward in an
improved form at a future period.
The Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings (Rye and
Ashford Branch) is 29 miles 27 chains in length, with
a subsidiary branch to Hastings, 1 mile 21 chains in
length.
The main branch commences at a point on the
Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Railway, about two
mils westward of the St. Leonard's terminus, and
about thirty one miles from Brighton ; and, sweeping
round to the north of Hastings, to which it throws
off the subsidiary branch which we have mentioned,
passes by Winchelsea and Rye to Ashford, where it
terminates at the station of the South-Eastern Rail-
way.
In the report from the Board of Trade on the
Kentish and South-Eastern Railways, we stated,
with regard to the South-Eastern Company's scheme
(Ashford to Hastings), which is an important link in
the coast line of communication, that we were aware
of no public grounds why it should not receive the
sanction of the Legislature; and we omitted to notice
expressly the scheme which is now before us, in con-
sequence of the Directors of the Brighton, Lewes,
red Hastings Railway having, in a memorial re-
vved at the Board of Trade on the 7th of January,
made the following statement :
" The extension of the coast line to a point on the
Dover Railway which would complete the chain of
communication along the coast, between Dover
and Portsmouth, at the eastern end
of the chain, is an
object which has been viewed byDirectors to be
of great public importance, and the
was much their interest anddesire to
one which it
o promote, and
for such purpose they have caused surveys to be made
and the country in that direction thoroughly
explored ; but they feel bound to say, that any in-
terference with the prospects of their' Railway, bythe adoption of any line having for its object theab-
straction of the Hastings and London traffic, will
probably be fatal to such an undertaking, and that,
pending a state of uncertainty and doubt as to the
decision which may be arrived at, all efforts towards
its accomplishment on their part must be suspended,
although of course they could not object to its ac-
complishment by any other parties."
Considering, therefore, that the Hastings and Ash-
ford project was withdrawn, we omitted all notice of
it from the Report on the Kentish schemes ; but as
the Brighton, Lewes, and Hastings Company have
since requested us to report specially upon the
project, we beg to state, with reference to that
scheme, that inasmuch as a line of railway from
Hastings to Ashford will be an important link in tle
chain of the south coast communication, we think it
ought to be made; and that, having regard to all the
circumstances of the case, as set forth in our report
on the Kentish schemes, we are of opinion that the
branch will be best constructed by the South-Eastern
Railway Company.
In conclusion, we beg to draw attention to the

passage of the Fifth Report of the Select Committee
of last year, in which it is stated, in recommending that
reports should be made to Parliament by this depart-
ment upon railway schemes, " That no such report
should be held to prejudice the claims of private
persons, the examination of which should be alto-
gether reserved to the Houses of the Legislature."
In submitting to Parliament, in conformity with the
recommendation of that Committee, the results at
which we have arrived, with a view to the information
and assistance of Parliament in forming a judgment
upon the schemes in question, in so far as our re-
port may be available for that purpose, we are anxious
that it should be distinctly understood that we have ar-
rived at these results solely upon public grouads, and to
the exclusion of all considerations how far such results
might require to be modified by a due regard for private
rights and interests.
DALHOUSIE.
C. W. PASLEY. G. R. PORTER.
D. O'BRIEN. S. LAING.