The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-01 00:00:00

nopoly, or such conditions as at once place the public in a better
position than they could hope to obtain from competition, is that
from which the greatest amount of permanent public advantage is
likely to be derived.
" We by no means intend these principles to be considered as

_ .
rules of universal application, being satisfied that no abstract or in-
variable rule can be s .fely laid down by which to decide cases of
such complexity, and varying so greatly in detail ; but we have
thought it desirable to state thus generally the views which have
gu.di:d us isr cases like this of the southeastern district, and up ,n
which the soundness of the conclusions at which we have arrived
must mainly depend."

We now proceed to apply these principles to the case before us.
The question upon which we have had to decide virtually resolves
itself into one between the system of lines proposed by the Leeds
and Vest Riding Junction Company—a Company formed by an
alliance between the Manchester and Leeds Company and an inde-
pendent local party—and a system similar in its general objects,
proposed by two independent Companies, the West Yorkshire and
Leeds and Dewsbury, in competition with the former.

The lines proposed by the different parties are so nearly identical
in their general direction, that a reference to the accompanying
map, upon which they are traced In different colours, is necessary
in order to under►tand them fully.
The general objects proposed are :
Ist. To shorten the present extremely circuitous route from
Leeds to Manchester, by way of Normanton.

2d. To connect with each other, and with existing railways, the
populous and important towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire;
such as Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Dews-
bury, with their adjacent districts.
The immense population and resources of this district, which
may be described as one great hive of manufacturing industry,
render the Importance of extending to it a comprehensive system of
railway communication too obvious to require comment. There
, are several peculiarities, however, in the district, considered with
reference to such a system, to which it may be well to advert. It
is a district of singular engineering difficulty, presenting an almost
constant succession of irregular and abrupt elevations and valleys,
through which railways can only be carried at a great expense,
and by adopting gradients much less favourable than those usual
upon other lines. In fact, a great part of the country would have
been pronounced altogether impracticable, until the recent expe-
rience of the enlarged capabilities of the locomotive engine had
led engineers to modify the opinions formerly entertained.
The Manchester and Leeds Railway, although carried by a
eircui.ous route along the leading valley of the district, has cost
upwards of 50,000/. per mile in its construction. Owing partly
to these engineering difficulties, and partly to the depressed state
of the money market since 1836, this important district has re-
mained hitherto destitute of all railway accommodation, except
hat afforded by the trunk line of the Manchester and Leeds
Railway.
Another peculiarity in the district is the number of important
and populous towns and manufacturing villages scattered over it so
irregularly that their connexion cannot possibly be effected by any
one line of railway. This will be understood best by reference to
the map, from which it will be seen, that any line that connects
Leeds with Bradford and Halifax, and those places with Man-
chester, necessarily isolates Huddersfield and Dewsbury, while, on
the other hand, a Manchester and Leeds line, carried through
those places, would provide no accommodation for Bradford and
Halifax.

The traffic of the district is also such as to require a very corn.
p:ete communication of all these towns with one another, as well
as an outlet far each of them towards their great manufacturing
capitals, Leeds and Manchester, and towards their great shipping
ports, Liverpool and Hull. It consists in a great measure of what
may be called an "omnibus traffic," circulating from town to town
within the district, in the pursuits of manufacturing industry, and
to attend the cloth and other markets which are held weekly on
stated days in all the chief emporiums, and the traffic in goods
ind raw materials, owing to the Ettbdi vis on in the processes of ma-
nufacture throughout the district, will be of a very similar descrip-
tion. The great bulk of this local traffic will be of a character to
require for its proper development bo,h very cheap rates and very
numerous trains.

It is important to keep these considerations in view, as they
must constitute the basis of any judgment upon the systems of
railway communication proposed fur the wants of the district.
Having regard to these objects, and referring to the lines of the
Leeds and West Riding Company, as laid down in the map, it will
be seen that they afford a very complete net-work of railway corn.
munication fur the district. They propose:—

-
I. A line from Leeds through Pudsey, Low Moor, and Halifax,
to join the Manchester and Leeds Railway, and form with it a new
trunk line between Leeds and Manchester, which reduces the dis-
tance from 61 miles to 47 miles 7 furlongs. _

2. A line from Bradford to the first line at Low Moor, and
thence by the Cleckheaton Valley to a junction with tke Man_
chester and Leeds Railway at Dewsbury.

3. A line from Leeds, by Wortley and Batley, to Dewsbury.

4. A line from the Manchester and Leeds Railway, at. Cooper's
Bridge, to Huddersfield.
5. A line across from the first-mentioned line, a little beyond
Lei? Moor, to Brighouse; and a short branch out of the Dewsbury
line to Birstal and Gomersal.

An inspection of the map will show how completely all the lead-
ing objects of railway communication of the district are attained
by this system. . .

The following towns, arranged according to the populations of
their respective parishes, are paced in direct railway communication
with one another, and, through the Manchester and Leeds Rail.
way, with Manchester, Liverpool, and Hull, via.:—
Leeds 152,054
Halifax
Bradford 105,257
Huddersfield
Wakefield
Dewsbury
Birstal
Batley
Pudsey 10,002
• " '

besides other populous villages and manufacturing establishments,
mid the important iron works of Low Moor. These places ap-
pear to be all placed by the above system on as favourable and di-
rect lines of communication wi h one another as the nature of the
country will admit of, and also as goof lines of communication to
Manchester, London, Hull, and other places beyond the district,
with the exception of Huddersfield, which is in a manner isolated,
and where more direct connexion with Manchester is left to :mo-
ther Company.
This comprehensive system of communication for the entire
\Vest Riding district was submitted to us, by its promoters, shortly
after the close of the last session of Parliament, accompanied by an
assurance, on their part, of their desire to render it in every re-
spect as complete as possible.
A line from Leeds to Dewsbury, promoted by an independent
party, was shot tly afterwards brought before us.
Subsequently another independent Company, the West Yorkshire,
was formed, for the purpose of promoting two lines, identical in
their 'general direction and objects with those of tire West Riding
Company, No. 1, Leeds by Low Moor and Halif and No. 2,
Bradford by Low Moor and Cleckheaton to Dewsbury.
The first of these lines might naturally be consiblered as a corn.
pcting line with the Leeds and Dewsbury, and its extension through
Huddersfield to Manchester; but the promoters being united in
opposition to the West Riding end Manchester and Leeds Com-
pany, may be considered for the present as in one interest. We
have, therefore, first, the comprehensive scheme above described
of the West Riding Company, and secondly, the same scheme,
promoted by different independent companies, viz., tire Halifax and
Bradford lines by the West Yorkshire, the Dewsbury line by the
Leeds and Dewsbury Company, and the Cooper's Bridge and find.
dersfield line by the Huddersfield and Manchester and Leeds and
Dewsbury Companies in conjunction.
In accordance with the principles stated at the outset of this
report, our inquiry was first directed to ascertain whether either of
these schemes presented a decided preference in itself over the
competing scheme. In respect of distance between the several
points where connexion is important, the following table will show
that there is nothing to give a decided preponderance:

By West Yolk.
By West
Riding Scheme. shireand Leeds
and Dewbbury.

Miles. Chains. Miles. Chains.
Leeds to Manchester via Halifax 47 60 43 25
Halifax to Leeds
Halifax to Bradford
Huddersfield to Bradford ......
Huddersfield to Leeds
Dewsbury to Leeds

A more important difference between the two schemes exists in
respect of gradients, engineering features, and cost of construction.
The two schemes have been laid out on very opposite principles.
The West Riding lines generally have been laid out on the prin.
ciple that the nature of the traffic would neither require nor jus-
tify the enormous outlay that would have been necessary in order
to obtain gradients equal to those which, in the infancy of railway
practice, were thought requisite, and that it was desirable to adopt
steeper gradients, in order to economise upon the first cost of con-
struction. The lines of the rival system, on the other hand, ap.
•sear to have been laid out with a view to attaining superior gra-
dients, at a much greater cost. The expense of this system is
further swelled by the construction of about seven miles of addl.
tional railway parallel with the existing line of the Manchester
and Leeds Railway.

GRADIENTS.—As the question of gradients and curves enters as
an important element into the consideration of these and many
other schemes, it may be well that we should here state the views
by which we have been guided in forming a judgment.
Discarding all merely theoretical considerations, we have ap-
proached the subject in a practical point of view, referring to the
actual experience of existing railways as the sole ttst of what is
admissible in regard to future ones.
And first in regard to gradients,
The lmptcvements that have taken place in the' construction of
the locomotive engine have greatly enlarged the standard of its
capabilities. Not many years ago, anything steeper than lin 200
was looked upon as a decidedly objectionable feature in a line, and
enormous expense was incurred in avoiding gradients of steeper
iodination.

The difference of expense in construction between a line with
first-class gradients, as it was called, i e. none steeper than 1 in
200, and one with second-class gradients ranging up to 1 in 100,
was frequently not less than 10,0001., 20,0001, or even 30,0001.
per mile. The London and Birmingham, Great Western, and
Brighton lines, for instance, averaging 50,0001. per mile, while
the Grand Junction and London and South-Western did not ex-
ceed from 20,000/. to 25,000/. Experience has fully ruoved
that no saving either in time or economy of working, has
been attained at all commensurate to this enormous
additions' outlay of capital. Indeed, in many cases, cheaply-con-
structed lines have been worked at au equal or less expenditure
for locomotive power, and at as high an average velocity as lines
constructed at twice the expense.

This is so universally admitted, that such gradients as were
formerly thought objectionable are now adopted every day as a
matter of course, and as the capabilities of the locomotive have been
enlarged, gradients of a class which would have been considered a
few years ago altogether impracticable, have come into general use.
It is important to ascertain, by reference to actual practice, the
results which have been already arrived at, and which must be taken
as starting points to guide us in the consideration of any new scheme.
The Lickey incline, on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway,
is a conclusive proof that a gradient of I in :37 ?2 for a length of too
miles three chains may be worked by the aid of an engine con-
structed for the purpose, without serious inconvenience to an ex-
tensive traffic. It is also a prod' that such an incline may be de-
scended without danger by the force of gravity, regulated by the
action of breaks.
The Sutton incline of 1 in SS, on the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, is surmounted by the ordinary trains of that railway,
whose traffic is of a very heavy description, with a single locomo-
tive engine.
On the Newcastle and Carlisle line, an incline of 1 in 106 for
four miles consecutively, is surmounted by the ordinary trains
without difficulty or delay.
The use of a stationary engine for ascending the incline on the
Manchester and Leeds Railway from the Victoria station, which is
I in 59 for 1,0 E) yards, and I in 49 for 640 yards, has been in a
great measure discontinued, the ordinary engines being found "ra_
ble of taking up it heavy passenger and goods trains of not less than
SO tons weight.
On the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway stationary power has
likewise been discontinued, the locomotive engine being found a
more efficient and economical substitute un the Glasgow incline of
in 42 for 11 miles ; and recently the locomotive engine has
been equally substituted for stationary power upon the inclined
s
plane of the London and Birmingham Railway, from the Euston.
square terminus to Camden.town, parts of which are at I in 66
and 1 in 75.

Many other facts of a similar nature might be quoted, but the
above seem quite suflicit tit to establish the general proposition,-
1. That gradients of from I in 50 to 1 in 100, are perfectly
practicable to the ordinary locomotive engine, with moderate loads.
2. That gradients up to 1 in 371 or higher, may be surmounted
by heavy trains, with the aid of an assistant engine of peculiar
construction.

The application of these facts requires much discrimination.
Nothing 011 he more fa!larious than a mere romptrisnn of gra.