Evening star., 1912-07-18
INTEREST IN SCHEME
FOR CHANNEL FERRY
Talk of Better Communication
Between England and
France Revived.
pect.l Correspondence Of The Star

Special correspondence OF The Star.
LONDON, July g. 1912.
The declaration of Lord Weardale at
the British Chamber Of Commerce IN
Paris the other day that it would be pos
sible in a few years to travel in the same
carriage from London to Paris has
aroused interest in the proposed channel
ferry scheme. 1t Is now more than q
century since the first channel tunnel
scheme was put forward, and these were
the days when railways were undreamed
Of. and such things as gas and electricity
were unknown.
Since then many schemes have been ad-
vanced for improving the means of COM
munication between Great Britain and
France-tunnels, tubes. submarine boats,
bridges, ferries, moving platforms and,
in these later days, aeroplane services.
1t will be interesting to see what will be
the outcome of the negotiations at pres
ent proceeding between the representa-
tives Of the French state railway and the
directors of the London, Brighton and
South Coast Railway Company.
The first channel tunnel scheme was
evolved in the active brain of NJ Matthew.
a brilliant French engineer. who lived at
the dawn Of the last century. NJ. Ma
thieuS tunnel was to be sort of coach
route. Illuminated by oil lamps. and ven
tilated by means of shafts which rose
to a height above the sea level, where
they would have the appearance OF tall
lighthouses extending in a chain from
shore to shore.
M. Matthew however, seems to have
overlooked one or two points in connec-
tion with his scheme. First, the danger
which these structures would prove to
navigation in foggy and stormy weather,
and, second, the possibility of the sub
merged tunnel being flooded in the event
of any of the towers being demolished
in rough weather or If struck by pass
ing vessel Whatever may have been the
opinion regarding this project at the time,
1t came to naught.
Proposed a Bridge.
The idea of bridging the channel has
been considered by more than one famous
engineer In 1S49 Mr.. Combe and NJ. de
Beaumont designed structure which.
they held, would Withstand the ravages
Of any storm. 1t took these gentlemen
thirty years, however. to convince the
public that there was something in their
scheme; and although a company was
ultimately formed to build the bridge.
nothing was ever done. The second
bridge scheme was put forward in 1889,
and this project advanced as far as the
model stage, the model being shown at
year. This channel bridge was to ex-
tend from Folkstone to Cape Grisnez, be-
ing supported by no less than 12O piers.
A million tons was it's estimated weight,
at thirty-four and one-half millions ster-
ling 1t was. calculated that the work
would take ten years to complete. The
model stage, however. was all the length
this. project got. There were many serf-
Gus objections to it. One was its tremen-
ho made half
the price and in a much shorter time.
Another was the serious menace which
piers would be to shipping 1t was con-
sidered that other continental powers
would demand voice in the scheme.
Before the days of the ''tupenny' tube
the idea of laying a tubular railway on
the bed of the straits had been carefully
thought out and advanced by a couple OF
English engineers. This tube was to en-
| ter the water at Dover, and the exit was
to be at Cape Grisnez The tube was to
| be cylindrical in form. and was to be
made of cast-iron rings, each of an inside
| diameter of thirteen feet, with a length
Of ten feet, but it was only to be four
inches in thickness. The tube was to be
| built out ring by ring by a diving bell,
and to be held in immOable position on
| the bed of the sea by screw piles, and.
as it was recognized that ordinary loco
| the question, they were to be pushed
through by compressed air. 1t was an
| ticipated that the tube would only cost
aboLt eight millions. s.
1t was from Castanier a French engi-
I neer, that the next idea for AN under.
water tubular railway emanated Casta-
nier's plan was to run two iron tubes
from shore to shore, running side by side.
and joined together at short distances by
| transverse tubes, and all the tubing was
| to be protected in a casing of cement.
| He had a fancy idea Of erecting a station
| in mid-channel on the Varne bank-a
bank which at certain points is not COW
cred by more than a dozen feet of water.
Here Castanier thought passengers could
alight and breathe deeply of the sea
breezes. This Varne hank station was to
| be protected from the sea by high, thick
stone walls, and was to be quite a large,
elaborate structure.
Submarine Railway.
Submarine railways and submarine boat
services have been outlined to the minut
&oll a. h~JA - ~ -