The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

REPORT

TO THE SHAREHOLDERS INTHE CALEDONIAN

RAILWAY COMPANY,
By the PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE of
MANAGEMENT.

ARE-SURVEY of this Railway having now been com-
pleted by Mr. Locke, and several new features
having recently presented themselves in connexion with
the project, your Committee deem the present to be a
fitting opportunity for addressing you on the position
and prospects of the undertaking. This course is, more-
over, desirable, in consequence of the Company having
been organised in the early part of the year, and of an in-
terval of comparative inaction having necessarily inter-
vened between the completion of the subscription and the
preparations for applying to Parliament.
It is not necessary 'to inform you that the selection of
the Caledonian Line was based upon the decided prefer-
ence given to it by the Government Commissioners above
all other routes of Railway communication proposed for
connecting England and Scotland ; but it is desirable to,
advert, very briefly, to the nature of the Line to which
that preference was given, with a view to a proper under-
standing and due appreciation of circunastances which have
been developed since the Commissioners' Report was
made, and since the Prospectus of the undertaking was
published.
The Line preferred by the Commissioners, as combining
the greatest number of advantages in respect of " the
distances and gradients, the probable cost of construction
and working, the numerical and commercial importance
of the population to be accommodated, and the relative
traffic and other statistical properties, ' consated of a
Trunk Railway, extending from Carlisle to a point about
seventy miles northward, and diverging from that point to
Edinburgh on the east, and Glasgow on the west. That
was the proposition submitted to the Commissioners, and
adopted by them "as being the general route which would
fulfil the greater number of requisites in the railway com-
munication under consideration."
All the information which your committee have been
able to collect has confirmed the soundness of the opinion
pronounced by those impartial judges. It is an important
fact, that more than seven-eights of the whole population{
of Scotland are to be found to the north of the proposed
point of divergence to Edinburgh and Glasgow, compre-
hending very nearly the whole of the manufacturing classes
of that kingdom. Such being the rase, it scarcely admits
of dispute, that the shortest practicable route to the seat
of such a population must afford the greatest accommo-
dation to the greatest numbers. To divert that route
from the direct line, for the purpose of benefitting a rem-
nant of population, would be to sacrifice the interests of
the public at large to considerations of a comparatively
trivial description. The Caledonian Line posses-es the
advantages of affording accommodation by the shortest
route, and at the cost of one trunk line, to very nearly the
whole of the population of Scotland.
Such was the plan recommended by the Government
Commissioners and adopted by the Caledonian Railway
Company ; and, considering the importance, in every
point of view, of the districts immediately connected
with the Northern Termini of Edinburgh and Glasgow,
it was not surprising that the traffic of the Line should
show a return of 8 per cent. as anticipated in the pro-
spectus. The public responded to those anticipations,
and a short period sufficed to fill up the required sub-
scription, upon which a deposit of ten per cent. was im-
mediately paid. The original Provisional Directors
thereupon concluded their exertions; and the committee
who have now the honour of addressing you were ap-
pointed by the Subscribers' Agreement, and have the
satisfaction of bringing under your notice the following
circumstances of importance to this undertaking, which
have arisen or been developed since the prospectus was
issued :

First : The Act for the formation of the Lancaster and
Carlisle Railway has received the sanction of the Legisla-
ture, and that Line is already in course of
.being con-
structed.

Soconlly : A company has been organized for the es-
tablishment of a Railway, called the " Scottish Central,"
leading from Perth to Sterling, and thence, southward, to
Castlecary, where it is to be connected with the Caledo-
nian Line, by a short extension of the latter. The whole
capital required for the Scottish Central Railway has
been subscribed ; and a deposit of ten per cent. has been
paid thereon. It would he difficult to exaggerate the im-
portance of this new feature in the undertaking. It
forms a third Terminus to the Caledonian Railway no
less important than the cennexions with Edinburgh and
Glasgow ; and Mr. Locke has stated, that, in consequence
of saving on other parts of the Line, the Castlecary
Extension of the Caledonian Line can be constructed
without exceeding the capital upon which the prospectus
proceeded. This connexion will secure to the Caledo-
nian the traffic between the northern parts of Scotland,
(including the important towns of Stirling, Perth, Dun-
dee. and Aberdeen,) and the western and southern parts
of England.
Thirdly: by the extension of the Caledonian Line to
Castlecary a junction will be effected at that place with
the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, by which the towns
of Falkirk, Linlithgow, Kirkintilloch, and others will be
brought into direct communication with the Caledonian,
manifestly to the advantage of both undertakings.
Fourthly : By the prospectus it was contemplated that
the Caledonian Company should avail themselves of other
Railways in the neighbourhood of Glasgow as an access
to that city. Following out that intention, your Commit-
tee are upon the point of concluding arrangements with
the Proprietors of certain existing Railways of a satisfac-
tory nature both as regards the public and the Caledonian
Company. Among the advantages which will be thereby
secured is the use of an eligible terminus at Glasgow.
within a few yards of the Exchange of that city.
While your Committee have thus in view one connec-
tion with Glasgow, very advantageous in many respects,
they do not intend to pledge the Caledonian Company to
the exclusive use of the Railways alluded to. This.
freedom of action is reserved by your Committee with
reference to a proposed Line, called the " Clydesdale
Junction Railway," which will be of the greatest benefit
to this undertaking. The Clydesdale Junction will con-
nect the Caledonian Railway with Glasgow on the side of
the city opposite to the terminus already referred to,'
thereby affording to the Caledonian Company a double
communication with that city.
The Clydesdale also extends to the Harbour of Glatt-
gow, from which the other terminus is separated by the
intervention of a part of the town.
The Clydesdale line is moreover connected with existing
Railways leading from Glasgow to Paisley and other ma-
nufacturing towns of Renfrewshire, and to the Seaports of
Greenock and Port Glasgow.
Your Committee are happy to state, that they have con-
cluded arrangements with the Provisional Committee of
the Clydesdale Junction, of a description beneficial to
boili Companies, and on such terms as to enable the Cale-
donian Company to avail themselves, with advantage, of
that line to any extent which their traffic may require.
Under these favourable circumstances you will be at no
loss to attribute to its true cause the original determina-
tion of the promoters of the Caledonian line to trust to
other railways for their connexion with Glasgow rather
than to incur the large expense of forming an independent
line for themselves.
Lastly : Your Committee have much satisfartion in
stating Mr. Lecke's expressed opinion, that a large saving
in the construction of the works, will be effected upon the
estimate given in the prospeCtus, particularly upon that
portion of the line which diverges to Edinburgh, and
va:iich your Committee have always considered a most im-
portant part of the undertaking.
In aid of the foregoing explanation, your Committee
refer to the Map
which accompanies this report, It af-
fords convincing evidence of the judicious selection of the
Caledonian Line. It has seldom, if ever, happened that
any newly-projected Railway could beast tl,e possession
of so many contributing Lines already in existence or sure
to be immediately formed, The Map shows that the