The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-29 00:00:00

GREAT WESTERN It AI L WAY

• Princes-street, 22(1 Julie, 1838.
The AireCtors having recently received from some of the pro-
prietors a request for information on a few points connected
with the general interests of the Company, to which public at-
tention appears to have been directed with More than 'ordinary
interest, and which base given rise to very unfounded rumours,
and to many exaggerated statements, I--aM requested by my
colleagues to. furnish as concisely as I can, the real facts of the
case, for the general information of all persons interested in the
undertaking, in order that as little mis-conception 'ak possible,
stay-prevail in the minds of tho4e *lto have embarked any pro-
perty in it.
The principal questions have reference tothe artnal Condition
of the rails since the traffic has passed upon them the causes
of an uneasy movement in the carriages observed under certain
circumstances, the mode of obviating it; the reknit of the new'
system of constructing the permanent way, the efficiency of the
engines, the general advantage of the increased via:re of rails,
and•lastly, the present condition of the bridge building over the
river Thames, at Maidenhead.
During the short period since the railway has been opened.
the directors have given their unceasing attention to the several
matters which may be said to comprise the working of the-per-
manent way. The general anxiety to watch the result of the
plan has 1e 1 the public to entertain premature doubts ak to the
success of jib without regarding the real circumstances,' or
knowing tlig7 facts, and judging merely froth some defects which
are temporary in their nature; and could not be 'foreseen or
provided against until the experiment had been tried.
In the first place, it may. he stated, that one essential part of
the operation in constructing the permanent way is a perfect
system of ramming -ballast or gravel under the longitudinal
timbers, as a means of steady support to them under the pressure
of passing trains.. It:.was always stateilithet-th*-ittccess-of the
plan depended entirely upon this piiiress of packing.
it is a matter,of g,etreral. observation.-shat on parts of some
lines the permanent way .firmly resiets the. pressure of the trains,
while on others an uneasy movement prevails. 'The director,
have ascertained beyond doubt that this difference is coincident
with those local circumstances which readily account for the
defect. Wherever the completion-of the rails had enabled the
engines to traverse them previously' to the opening of the line,
(upon which parts, of course, greater time and attention could
he bestowed.) the rails ansiser.all the expectations which could
reasonahiv be entertained. The -earth under them had been 're-
packed after th'e engines passed upon the fails; the screws had
been tightened with the compression upon them, and the direct-
ors consider. them to be in a satisfactory state, and the plan suc-
cessful.
In other places and principally between Southall and Lnn-
don, where no engines could run, from the line being only
completed just in time for the opening, the defective packing
could not be discovered, until the pressure of the trains mani-
fested it. A very uneasy movement in some of she carriages
has given rise to a rumour that-the plan had totally failed, Ind
the rails must be altered. The directors entertain no such.
opinion. 'they are convinced that, as far as the rails are con-
cerned, the remedy can and will be easily administered by a
thorough repacking tinder the timbers with coarse gravel, which
is now in progiess, and with a favorable result. .
it is evident that in places where sand or light gravel had
been used, as the material for packing, the resistance was not
adequate, and that the substitution of coarse stony gravel has'
hitherto answered the purpose The screws also in many plaCes
were deficient in number, which are now being supplied and
the tightening of those in place proceeding, meat satisfactorily.
To these .sources. of improvement. 'the Directors look with
confidence for producing the desired result, but they neverthe-
less apply themselves to-take .other means for giving a fair ex-
periinentto the system of longitudinal timber•bearings, divested
of the pail; which are supposed be some to have contributed to
the roughness of the motion, At is almost needless to state,
that the Directors.. 'Fineereiy desirous of attaining as much per-
fectinn as th-v can, will arrive at some definite re'tiit as to the-
Rails now laid, and the improvements which can lie introduced,
before they commit themselves to the future lirneeedings, with
the, permanent. way lwyund Maidenhead.- The nntnber of
Trains daily running upon the Lille,. particularly during
Whilstintide and the Ascot Races, with-the latter few days of
wet weather, have almost precluded tlesprissibility of carrying
any extent of good materials to form the repacking on the de-
fective parts of the line. What ha. been done. however, fully
answers the purpose, and after the next week by discontinu-
ance of two daily Trains for. as short period, the evil will be
'more qiiickly remedied, by diminishing the interruption to the
workmen.

The chief cause, however, 'for the ronghness complained of
dv passengers, undoubtedly arises from the construction of
the springs in the carriages, and from a defect in the misition.
of the axles in the bodies. , This has been quite established try
the comparative easiness of inntinn in other carriages on the
line running in the -.same train, which have different springs,
with a greater -space between the wheels. It may be also
stated as the observation of very experienced coach builders,
who have been consulted upon it, that the movement might he
fairly ascribed to the construction of the springs alone, which
are too rigid, and in many instances cannot have any play, a
fault capable of very easy and unexpensive remedy, which is
already in course of application.
Wh'en these two improvements can he introduced. the Di-
rectors have no apprehension:4 to the result, judging from the
experience they have had that stain portions of the line care-
" .

fully packed and well screwed,- firmly stand against any pres-
sure of the. passing loads, and that some of the carriages are
found to be easy on every part of the line, even under the ad-
verse circumstances referred to.
With regard to the efficiency of the enaines and the in-
creased gauge of the Railway, although snhjectsd to a very se-
vere trial, I am happy to say the advantages in lateral steadi-
ness, and, also generally in speed, have been realized without
experiencing any difficulties alleged against them by the chief
objectors to the system. •
The Loentnotive Engines, which have been in good work-
ing order, under all the disadvantages which naturally attend
the first ripening-nf a line, have been daily performing, whe-
ther as regards speed, nr load, or consumption of fuel, fully as
well as they were intended or expected to perform. Trains
containing from 300, to 400 passengers, making a gross
,if 80 tons and upwards, have been taken at speeds of 38 to 40
miles an hour.

The present arrangements of the stopping places, which have
been made with the view of affording great accommodation to the
public, prevent the full benefit of this speed being derived on
the whole distance. In the first nine and a half miles from

Maidenhead the trains stop twice. and, consequently, no great
speed can be obtained between these, points : great care being
requisite in stopping the. trains. p.adictilarly at Slough, where
there is no station-house...causes also. a loss of .time whirl, can-
not'be recovered by any reasonable increase of speed in the re-
maining thirteen and a half miles: hut, with• prTper allowance
for this delay, the actual running of the engines Is, in evert, re- •
spect, satisfaetory. The peculiar construction of those adapted
for high speeds, is undoubtedly less calculated for frequent
stoppages,and,.for rapidly acquiring velocity at starting, but on
the distance of 13.1 miles between Drayton and London the
speed before referred to is easily attained, which, if kept up
over the whole distance, or even interrupted by only one stop-
paim, would he all that was ever contemplated from them.
On the subject of Maidenhead Bridge, I cannot do better'

than give an extract from the Engineer's Report to the Board,
which is confirmed to the directors by every circumstance
within their personal knowledge. and must at once relieve the
minds of the proprietors from any apprehensien of increased
expenre upon the company to remedy the partial injury to one
arch from the premature lowering of the centering►.
I am, your very faithful servant,
W. U. SIMS, Chairman.
EXTRACT OF ENGINEER'S REP-ORT RI,FERIIED TO.
"The Contractor is now anxious to remove the eenteringß,
as he feels confident that the arches have reached their maxi-
mum settlement, and proposes to remove and alter the exter-
nal surface only of the distorted part, and thus prevent its
being apparent to the eye. To this I have objected. I can-
not say that I think the work unsafe, or that the Bridge would
not stand very well in its present state, but the defect 'has been
caused entirely by the fault of the Contractoi, and while the
centerings are in place he has still the means of removing this
defective portion, and rendering the eastern arch as perfect as
the western. now is, and such •as he contracted to make, I
propose, therefore, to direct Mr. Chadwick to tighten up the
centres of both arches and to improve and replace so much of
the eastern arch as upon close examination during the progregs
of this work I may consider defective, but it wnuld be more •
convenient to -us that he should postpone this opeeatianfnr a
time, until we shall have completed sn much of the embank-
ment to the west as will enable Mr. Oldham to meet it within

the -iectitire4 time, Aril we ran then remove entirely our teinpo-
rary roads which would interfere with the works of the Bridge."

. , .
A Brussels paper shies that M Van de Weyer, 8.-IL:inn am-
bassador at London, is about to he ma rrien to, the dandoer o;-.
Nlr. Betfg, a partner in the house of Baring and Co, :fir lady,„
it is said., will have a fortune -uf .E34_,,0u0. •