: Remarks on the Proposed Railway Between Birmingham and London by Anonymous - Railroads England Cost effectiveness; Railroads Early works to 1850

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REMARKS ON THE PROPOSED RAILWAY BETWEEN BIRMINGHAM AND LONDON.

LONDON:

PUBLISHED BY EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE: SOLD ALSO BY R. WRIGHTSON, BIRMINGHAM; EBENEZER THOMPSON & SONS, MANCHESTER; AND G. & J. ROBINSON, LIVERPOOL.

PRINTED BY RICHARD TAYLOR, RED LION COURT, FLEET-STREET.

WITHOUT minutely inquiring into the origin of the different modes of conveyance at present existing in this country and others for passengers and goods, I shall content myself with asking, Why were canals first established? and What was the great benefit arising from them, which caused so much as fifteen hundred miles in extent to be executed in less than a quarter of a century, at a cost of nearly twenty millions of money, and for the most part during a time of war, when the highest rate of taxation prevailed?

As further instances of the effect produced by the same causes,--in 1740, before the establishment of canals, the iron manufactured in England and Scotland employed 59 furnaces, which produced annually 17,000 tons. In 1827 there were upwards of 280 furnaces, with an annual produce of 690,000 tons; during the intervening period canals were cut, connecting the iron districts with large towns and the ports. In 1750 there was but one smelting furnace in Staffordshire, making less than 2,000 tons of iron per annum. In 1827 there were 97 furnaces in that district only, making 216,000 tons per annum. The population of Staffordshire in 1750 was 160,000; it is now upwards of 350,000. In England in 1750 it was 6,017,000; it is now upwards of 13,000,000.

But notwithstanding the advantages that have attended upon the introduction of canals, there are limits within which their utility is confined, and, as regards despatch, much confined. The canals as they are now constructed are adapted only to horse power, and are subject to the inconvenience of that slowness of travelling which arises from the great increased resistance of fluids to bodies moving in them, with only a very slight increase of velocity. Two horses may take a loaded boat of twenty-five tons at the rate of four miles per hour; but to obtain a velocity of twelve miles per hour, it would require twenty-seven horses. It is found that with a velocity of six miles per hour so great a surge or swell is produced in the water as to hazard the sinking of any boats that are passing.

The stoppages arising at the locks is very considerable. In the canals between Birmingham and London, every means are used to effect despatch; but still the quickest passage for the fly-boats is sixty hours. The distance is 153 miles, and there are 142 locks; nearly one-third of the time is lost in passing them; and while this is being done, one horse and four men are comparatively idle; the expenses of wages and keep however are going on. These expenses are incurred more particularly by the haulage; but in addition to them the tonnages are very high, and of necessity so, since the repairs of so many locks, cleaning and repairing canal, and above all, the raising of water to the summit-levels by steam-engines, must incur a great expense. The cost of this last operation may be guessed at, when it is known that for every boat that passes from London to Birmingham, a body of water of 120 tons weight has to pass through a difference of level of 1,140 feet. And yet in dry summers, notwithstanding the pains thus bestowed, the boats are frequently detained, for want of water, twelve, eighteen, and twenty-four hours in one trip.

Much, then, as the canals surpass the common roads, it appears that much remains to be done, if their peculiar disadvantages can be got rid of.

The economy of steam compared with horse power is too well established to need many comments. The expense of working a twenty-horse power steam-engine is known to be less than one-sixth of the cost of twenty horses and men to attend them. I appeal to the proprietors of the thousands of steam-engines now in use for the truth of this statement. Does not, then, a question at once arise, Whether it is not possible to construct a road of some kind upon which this great and cheap power may be made to act, instead of horses, and with as great a degree of profit? We rejoice that the question has suggested itself, and that it has received an answer. The application of steam to the purpose of locomotion has been proved upon a rail-road between Manchester and Liverpool. Moreover, the economy of steam power when applied to rapid progression is found to be much greater than when it is employed to supersede the horse-mill. In this the animal is not driven beyond his speed, but is allowed to move at a rate of two miles and a half per hour,--a speed which he can continue to perform for eight or ten hours per day. A horse is found to perform the greatest quantum of work when moving at this rate, and to be employed most economically. But even compared with this, we have seen that an equal effect may be produced by steam power at one-sixth the cost. With how much greater advantage and profit, then, can steam be applied, where it is made to supersede the use of horses in rapid motion, of eight or ten miles per hour! at which work it is known they can continue but one hour per day, and even then they do not live to half the age of the horse employed at the slower speed. It is a fact, that horses employed in the fast coaches and for the fly-boats require renewing every four years. Can steam power, then, be used to produce this rapid motion? One hundred thousand persons that have passed from Liverpool to Manchester in less than two hours since September last, can answer this question in the affirmative.

for only a portion of the business; as in the above statement none of the coaching or posting that falls upon the Holyhead road, at Coventry, Northampton, and many of the towns nearer London, is taken into the account. The above amount is calculated from what passes through Birmingham only, and that exclusive of posting.

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