Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-07-31
price Two Cents.
Gbe 9aitllpg Spy.
MoNpAY. july 81, 1854. /.
EngIish RaiIwnys, sc.

From a letter OF correspondent % tHo
Sorinqfeld Republican, we take the following
graphic sketch of some of the Railways and
manufactures of England, which came under
the observation of the writer, during lying
tour across the country,
The depots, on all the railways in England,
are stupendous monuments of architecture;
and would give the stock holders of American
railways some adequate idea of what depot
should be-. Nearly all of theM are construct
ed of iron, and have beautifully arched glass
roofs. Several that | have seen are each over
a thousand feet in length, and look more like
Crystal Palaces thanRailway stations.
From Liverpool, we descended tunnel one
mile and half in length running under the
very heart of the city: burrowing beneath
streets and dwellings, where the suburban
population are busy at their various trades and
traffic. Besides this tunnel which conveys
passengers only, there are two others for mer-
chandise, leading to the principal docks, at a
distance of nearly two miles! The engineer
ing skill here displayed is a fair type of En-
glish enterprise, and shows what John Bull
does to facilitate his inland trade and COM
merce. Enormously expensive as these exca-
vations have been, the railway business, 1t is
said, fully iustiies the outlay.
Long before had done contemplating the
beautiful station, and the tunnel, the train
was flying past villages, over tree tops, through
the hills, and leaving the noisy metropolis of
Liverpool, shrouded in its canopy of smoke,
far behind. The velocity of the train exceed
ed 40 miles an hour, and in looking out of
the car windows, the farm-houses seemed to
march out Of the fields with lightning rapid
ity, and the hills and valleys to open and shut
like iaclx-knife. In fact, could hardly
guess how the country looked, and the only
sound heard was the throb Of the engine,
and its shrill whistle, echoing wildly in our
track. believe there are no railways in the
world that ''annihilate time and distance
like those of England. Express trains make
60 miles an hour, and engines have run from
Liverpool to London, 200 miles, in less than
three hoursl l
Manchester, the great cotton metropolis of
England, is 80 miles from Liverpool, located
on the river Irwel1, and has population of
100000. On entering the town, the railway
passes over the tops of the houses, and nothing
is visible but a forest of ehimneys, pouring
forth volumes of steam and smoke. Looking
down from the cars, I could barely see the
streets, peopled with busy citizens, and walled
in with colossal factories and ware houses
1t is said that the first steam engine in Man
chester was exhibited in 1880, as curiosity;
while now, half-century later, two thousand
of them darken the air with their breathings.
The number of factories is over 2200, and the
merchandise made in them finds its way all
over Europe, China, Africa, and nearly all the
inhabitable world. Sir Robert Peel was a
native of this town. and in 1851 Queen Victo-
ria and Lord Wellington visited him, and
were surrounded by $4,000 Sunday school
children.
My next sojourn was at Macclesfeld in
the county of Cheshire, place celebrated for
its manufactures of silk, a branch of industry
began. here more than century ago, under
the patronage Of James the First. The town
is of great antiquity, very irregularly built, ON
a hillside, with streets terraced one above
another. The population is upwards Of 40,-
900, and are mostly employed in the silk
mills which enumerate nearly hundred
| Sewing silks, ribbons, velvets, dress goods,
buttons, fringes, and nearly all descriptions of
| silk wares, are manufactured here, and the
annual consumption of raw stock is over five
hundred thousand pounds sterling. | had
the pleasure of inspecting several mills, but
| cannot say much of their machinery. Most
of it is very venerable, and far behind the
age. An American manufacturer would con-
slider it a negative compliment to own all that
/ have seen. Still it does very tolerable
work, and manufacturers here look more to
profit than to the superiority of their mills:-
American silk machinery is far in advance Of
anything in England and our old friend, Nat
Rixford, of Connecticut, enjoys reputation
as a silk machinist that no Brton has vet
attained. Tell Rixford to smoke over this
fact, on the 4th of July, and will join him in
the luxury, on the Alps, at day break.