Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1841-03-27

The British Parliament has, in the scss on just
commenced, taken the first step towards bring ng
the great lines OF railway in that country under ie-
gisa,ive control. 1t is difficult, by any analogy
supplied ty our railways, for an American to es,i-
mate the conditions under which these great are-
RIGS Of British intercourse are formed and maintain
cd in operation. The capital invested in the first
construction, the floating capital necessary 10 work
them, the quantity of traffic transported them,
and the speed with which that transport is effected
are sovcraliy elements, so fferent from what We
are accustomed 10 conempis,c, that the mere state
mcnt CT few of them must excite both interest and
surprizc.
The rcilway connecting Liverpool and Manches-
ter involved an outlay OF captll amounting 10 about
six millions Of dollars. 1t is thiry.one miles in
lenGth and cost therefore at the rate Of above two
bundled thousand dollars per mile. The current
traffic on this Inc is very nearly as fJlloss: or
passenger trains there are flrsnfy daily, and from
| fifteen to twenty trains of merchandise. The
rage number of passengers carried daily from ter
minus to terminus, is 1850, and The number Of tons
Of merchandise daily is abou, loco. To afford
space and time FOR the passenger trains most Of the
merchandise ls carried at night. The fIslcst pas
scnscr trains have recently made the trip in the
average time Of seventy minutes, including stop
page Of about fur minutes half way. The rate
when moving on level parts OF tie line, is genelsy
above thirty mics an hour.
The railway between Liverpool aud London is
uhou, cI0 miles in length, and exclusive Of the
soppage half way, at Birmingham the Trip is per-
formed by the rst class passenger trains in ten hours
This incl, dcs vast number OF s,oppa9es at inter
mediate stations; less, probably, than twenty
{ five in the above journey. The speed when mo.
wing is gene,olly cboui thirty miles an hour.
Tie railway between Birmingham and London
/, is net yet completed, though the rails are all laid
f and the line throughout has been for time at
f work. |, is computed tia, this line, when the de-
0 pots have been completed, will cost about thirty
: millions Of dollars, and it, total length being IL
:. miles, the cost will be nearly 250,0OO dollars PEI
IS mile The daily receipts for triic at present upon
the line, amount to above 10000 dollars. The de-
" pot Of this line a, London is not yet completed bu
U It's estimated cost was above million of dollars.
. The railway conaecling London with Bristol i
. not get completed. The expenditure of capital u
Of poE il already has been SO lavish. and the method
s. of road structure have been subjected 10 such capri
n. cious changes, that il difficult 10 say what will
IL its ultimate cost. Its length is about the same
3 that leading 10 Birmingham, ana is cost per mil
Of will probably he much more. The width of III
B.. rails on this line is seven feet the common siandaT
ir. being four feet eight inches. This augmenle
gauge necessarily inf,rs PToporonally increase
nd scale in all the works, and proportonaby tncre
- sed expense.
he The numerous accidents and great loss OF II
he which occur on the English railways, are owing
la the VS., amount Of The traffic carried on upon iher
is, and the enormous speed which it is ;Fansporc
ds, These accidents do not arise from the explosion
a.. engines or from any other cause Immediately CO
o.. neced with steam power, but ore due, almost 6
O. clusively, to the collision of trains. The ralwa
lis being ALL without exception double lines, trains n,
o. er move in contrary directions on the same rails,
consequently, collision never occurs from ira
ga. unexpectedly meeting eeh other. Such aeeide
slwsyssrise fIom one asin overlooking and rrnn'
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