The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-06-24 00:00:00

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THU RAILWAYS OF BELGium.—Belgium was the first

country of continental turope to avail itself of the advan-
tages of railway communication. The design was first
formed in 1833; and the first law for carrying it into ef-
fect passed the lesislature on the first of May, 1834. Un-
like our English railways the Belgian lines are all con-
structed at the public expense, and placed under the di-
rection of the government. The first project that re-
ceived the legislative sanction embraced the execution of
a railroad having Mechlin. or Malines, as its centre, and
extending on the east towards the frontiers of Prussia, by
Louvaine, Liege, and Verviers ; on the north towards
Antwerp, and on the west towards Ostend, by Dender-
mond. Ghent, and Bruges, and on the south towards
Brussels and the frontiers of France, by Hainault. In
1837 another law was passed, ordering the construction,
in addition to the project of 1834, of a line from Ghent to
the frontiers of France—towards Lille by Roubaix— :-
ing near to Courtray, with a transverse line to Tournay,
and providing also for connecting, with the system este
blished by the law of 1834. the provinces of Namur, Lim-
burg, and Luxembourg, by other lines. The first section
that was completed was the line from Brussels to Ma-
lines, which was opened in May, 1835; and the second
from Malenes to Antwerp, opened in the May following
thus, in two years from the passing of the law, opening
out a communication by railway between the two princi-
pal citit sof the kingdcm. The whole length of the lines
determined upon was about 137 leagues ; and of this up-
wards of 120 leagues have been opened, comprising the
entire of the Belgi fn territory, east and west, from the
Prussian frontier to Ostend. The lines are well laid out ;
the arches are admirably executed ; and the traffic through-
out is creditably managed. Some portions of the. line
eastward, particularly from Liege to Verviers, shew great
engineering skill, difficulties having been overcome appa-
rently quite as great as any that have had to be encoun-
tered in England. There were, at first, four descriptions
of vehicles employed by passengers—berlines, diligences,
chars-a-banes, and wagons; the berlines, however, have
been merged in the diligences. They now answer to our
first, second, and third-class carriages; and they are even
more complete and comfortable in their accommodations.
The diligences have a sort of vestibule, from which there
is ingress to separate and spacious apartments, handsomely
fitted up. The chars-a-bane consist principally of one
large apartment, entirely covered in, with comfortable and
well arranged seats ; and the wagons are open cars, quite
equal to the best of our third-class carriages. In th'
wagons smoking is permitted, and this privilege, v
found, induced many persons, in fine weather, to pre'
them to either the diligences or the chars-a-banes.
locomotive engines appeared to be well enough ce-
ted, though they did not give us the same degree.
that we have in England ; and in one or two instances the
sparks from the chimneys are excessive, and the source or
considerable annoyance.—Ransay's
Rhine.

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Belgians and the