Morning journal and courier., 1882-12-16
An Iron-Clad Turnpike

Manchester is not alone in possessing 8 scheme for reducing the cost of t. insport in Lancashire. A more ambitious project even than the ship canal has been hatchcd in Liv- erpool and presented for public admiration under the name of tho Lancashire Plate Way company" The prom oters of this af- fair claim that it will cheapen the cost of transport wherever it runs, because. being a plate instead of a rail way, 1t will enable the same wagon in which the goods hauled from, say, Liverpool to Oldham, to take them right into the mils &c, without break of bulk. At present the goods have to be taken from the docks in lorrlss and carts to the goods termini of the railways of Liver pool. and there loaded on railway trucks When the trucks arrive at their destination the goods have to be again unloaded aud put upon carts and lorries in order to be conveyed to their ultimate destination. All this load ing and unloading will it is claimed, be done away with when the Plate railway comes into operation, because the same truck which gets filled at the docks will be emptied at the ulti- mate destination of the goods. Horses will take the trucks across streets wherever want ed, in short, and thus great expense will be saved By such an old and simple contri- vance it is contended that not only double or triple handling of goods may be dispensed with, but also large and expensive stations and goods termini with their warehouses, loading sheds. and on. All this saving, this better treatment and cheaper handling of goods is to be accomplished by the mere substitution of flat plate of iron and a broad-rimmed wheel for the familiar rail and guard-edged tire.
 It is quite possible that this project, like that of the Manchester ship canal, is but a mode by which the people express their dis satisfaction at the treatment accorded them by the railway companies. But for causes like this it would be very difficult to believe that persons calling themselves sane would hox,a ko 1o xyith xuh hInhJ JS so patentIy nonsensical. Had the plate been able to supersede the rail it would have been tried long ago, but apart from that could anything be more absurd than the assump- tion that the business of goods carrying by railways is capable of being condensed into a string of horse wagons hauled along a road by traction engine, and detached singly or by the half dozen and sent to the persons who own the goods? Or suppose such a plan actually practicable, what is there to hinder the railway companies from adopting it?
 The most conspicuous proof, however, of the folly which characterizes the promoters of this strange cure for the Lancashire man ufacturers' grievances is to be found in the estimated cost of constructing and equipping the plate way. It is stated in the preliminary prospectus that great saving of capital would be effected through the absence of stations above mentioned and of expensive termini in towns. Nevertheless, the Approximate" estimate of the cost of the undertaking, with full equipment of rolling stock,'' is about G35, ,OOO per mile-that is to say, only S GOO or so per mile less than the present average cost of the railways Of the United Kingdom, with all their stations, warehouses, passenger coaches, and termini included. That is not promising beginning surely, for the plate way is to carry goods alone. As matter of fact, moreover, the state ments about dispensing with costly termini are so inexact to lead to the belief that this estimate of cost would be much ex- ceeded. At the very time when these pre- cious statements are being put before the public the promoters of the undertaking are negotiating for the purchase of great block of land in Liverpool, which, if bought, will make their terminus there far more expen sive than those of the existing railways, whose lands were bought cheap. Some of | them, for example. got land at 5s 5d 8 yard which could not now be bought under G1o. The plate-way people are, therefore, not acting in accordance with their profes sions. For this very reason, however. il may be possible to give another explanation of their enthusiasm. They may have nc ] more real belief in their fat plate than ir 1 the capacity of msn to work goods traffic without either stations or terminal The plate way may be only 8 Lancashire | railway in disguise It's promoters may have adopted the notion of plates versus rails so to graft upon it spacious professions ot reform and public benefcence. with the view 1 to the easier passage of their bill through Par 1 lament. In that case we should expect to sec | the plates incontinently abandoned as soon a.
 ever the roadway was ready for them.