The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-28 00:00:00

LAMBETH

QOUTH-WESTERN EXTENSION
RAILWAY.

At a very numerous MEETING of the TRUSTEES appointed
under the Act of Parliament for Watching, Lighting, Cleansing, and
otherwise Improving the Roads, Streets, and other public Passages
and Places in this Parish, held by adjournment on the 26th instant
for the express purpose of taking into consideration the probable
effect of the above Extension Railway,
JOHN HUNT, Esq., in the Chair,
It was Resolved,—That in the opinion of this Board the proposed
Extension of- the South-Western Railway through this parish will
be highly beneficial to the parishioners, as a measure of general con-
venience and fiscal amelioration ; that it will clear off a number of
tenements of an inferior description, hitherto the periodical re-
ceptacle of infectious disease, and will greatly conduce to the health
and comfort of the locality, by the erection of a class of building
conformable to the provisions of the Metropolitan Building Act.
That Petitions from this Board to the Houses of Parliament be
presented, embodying the above resolution.
By order of the Chairman.

STAFFORDSHIRE POTTERIES
RAILWAY.
Capital 1,200,0001., in Shares of 251. each.
Deposit 1/. 7s. 6d, per Share.
Registered Provisionally purnint to 7. and 8 Victoria, c. 110.
PROVISIONAL COMMITTLE.
W. T. Copeland, Esq. M.P. - • Robert Williamson, Esq.
J. L. Ricardo; ESq., Job Sleigh, Esq.
W. It. Collett, Esq (71larks Harvey, Esq.
John Masterman, jun.,•Esq. William Baker. Esq.
Thomas Kinnersly, Esq, C.. 1. Mason, Esq.
H. 11. Wiliamson, Esq. R. 11. Haywood, Esq.
Edward Kinnersly, Esq. J. J. Capper, Esq.
F. W. Tomlinson, Esq. John Ridgway, Esq.
With power to acid to their number.
Beivaxas—Thomas Kinncrsly, Esq., Newcastle-under-Lyme; Messrs.
Masterman and Co., London.
SOLICITOR—WiIIiam Keary, Eaq., Stoke-upon-Trent.
This line is projected to afford adequate railway accommodation to
the Staffordshire Potteries. Proc‘eding along the Pottery Valley in
a northwardly direction, the line will form a junction at Crewe with
the three Railways that diverge from that point; whilst an arm to be
extended from the principal line after it has passed through Hare-
castle Hill, and to be carried by' way of Congleton to Macclesfield,
will connectit with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway at that
place. Thus to the North it will present the best and most direct
communication, in connexion with railways now established or in
course of construction, with Manchester and the manufacturing towns
of Lanca, hire and Yorkshire ; with the Port of Liverpool and the
North of England and Scotland ; and through Chester with the in-
tended new Docks at Birkenhead, and also with the Port of Holyhead
and the mineral district of North Wales. At its Southern extremity
the line will unite at or near Colwieh with the Trent Valley Rail-
way, for which (having received tile sanction of the Board of Trade)
application is being made to Parliament in the present session, and
thus afford the best access by that line and the London and Birming-
ham Railway to the Metropolis and all the South of England ; and
likewise by the intended Alrewas Branch of the Trent Valley Rail-
way to Derby and the agricultural counties to the eastward. A short
branch out of the main line at Stone will he carried into the Grand
Junction Railway at Norton Bridge, which will maintain the com-
munication with the county town of Stafford, with Birmingham and
the I:options mining district in its neighbourhood, and with the Ports
of Gloucester and Bristol as well as the south-west of England.
By the projected line, then, it is obvious that the Potteries will be
placed in a position the moat favourable as regards the advantages
of railway communication. The distance from thence to London
will be reduced to 145 miles (less than by the. old coach road) ;
whilst Birmingham will be brought within 45 miles, Liverpool via
Warrington within 58 miles, Birkenhead within 49 miles, and Man-
chester within 37 miles of the Potteries.
The claim of this district to improved railway accommodation has
long been recognised, and is now pretty generally admitted ; and
various schemes have been brought forward from time to time with
the view of affording it.
In 1837 two rival Manchester companies each projected and ap-
plied to Parliament to construct a line of railway through the Pot-
teries, which would afford the best and most direct communication
between Manchester and London. In the Committee of the House
of Commons the two companies were amalgamated, and an Act was
passed authorising the Manchester and Birmingham Railway Com-
pany to construct a line from Manchester through the Potteries to
join the Grand Junction at Chebsey, near Stafford, with a-branch to
Crewe. The main line, after being marked out and the works actu-
ally commenced, was finally abandoned ; and the result was the con-
struction merely of the existing line from Manchester to Crewe.
In consequence of the powers conferred by that Act not having
been carried out, the Potteries have been left in their present (lest'•
tute condition in regard to railway accommodation; and it is to
supply this deficiency, so grievously felt and lamented, that the line
now submitted to the public is brought forward.
The r theme embraces altogether about fifty miles of railway, and
the proposed capital is amply sufficient for its construction.
The Valley of the Trent, which the line will pursue for the entire
distance between Colwich and the Potteries, it is well known presents
unusual facilities for the formation of a railway; and the nature of
that part of the country is such as not to require, in any instance, a
gradient exceeding sixteen feet in a mile. -On the portion of the line
between Hare Castle and Crewe, although the gradients will be less
favourable, they are not of a character to offer any impediment to
the economical and efficient working of the line.
Before the Parliamentary Committee, which inquired into the alle-
gations of the petitioners for the Bill in 1837, it was proved that the
exports and imports from and into the Potteries in earthenware and
its raw materials, coals, ironstone, and other met% handise, amounted
to 328,000 tons per annum, or after tho rate of nearly 1,000 tons
daily. Since that time the mines of ironstone, which abound in the
Pottery districts, have been more extensively worked, a large quan-
tity of which is calcined on the spot, and then transported elsewhere
to be smelted, whilst several furnaces have been established in the
district for the smelting of iron, and thus a considerable increase has
taken place in that source of traffic. In respect to coals and earthen-
ware also, an increased and increasing traffic may fairly be calcu-
lated upon.
As regards passenger traffic, from the inconvenience and obstruc-
tion to which it has been subject, in consequence of having to travel
by a hilly road a mean distance of eight miles to the nearest station
on the Grand Junction Railway, it is difficult to form any correct
estimate ; but it may suffice for the present to state, that the district
which the projected line will traverse between Colwich and Crewe
and Hare Castle and Macclesfield, comprising the towns of Stone,
Newcastle-under-Lyme, the Potteries, and Congleton, embraces a
population Of upwards of 160,000.
Independently, however, of any local traffic, it may confidently be
anticipated that a large proportion of the traffic from London and
the South to Liverpool and Hob head will flow in the channel which
this line will provide for it ; and it must necessarily command the
great hulk of the Manchester traffic, inasmuch as it will place that
capital of the cotton district within 181 miles of London; and,
taking gradients and distances both into comparison, will constitute
in every way the most perfect communication between those all-
important places.
The projected line therefore, whether it is regarded as a link in the
great chain of railways which will connect the Metropolis by the best
and shortest route with Manchester, as well as with Liverpool and
Holyhead ; or as offering the fullest measure of railway accommoda-
tion to a populous district, entitled thereto, no less from being the
principal seat of the earthenware manufacture, than from the valu-
able mineral products with which it abounds, and now destitute of
the advantages of that rapid means of transport which railways sup-
ply—is manifestly one of great national importance, and cannot fail to
afford an ample return on the capital invested.
Due notice will be given when and where applications are to be
made for shares