The Railways.
The next branch of the transit by land appertains to the conveyance of persons and goods per rail. The railways of the United Kingdom open, in course of construction, or authorised to be constructed, extend over upwards of 12,000 miles, or four times the distance across the Atlantic. The following is the latest return on the subject, in a Report printed by order of the House of Commons, the 22nd of March last:—
| Miles. | Chains. | Persons employed. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total length of railway open on June 30, 1849, and persons employed thereon | 5447 | 10¾ | 55,968 |
| Total length of railway in course of construction on June 30, 1849, and persons employed thereon | 1504 | 20½ | 103,846 |
| Total length of railway neither open nor in course of construction on June 30, 1849 | 5132 | 38¾ | |
| Total length of railway authorised to be used for the conveyance of passengers on June 30, 1849, and the total number of persons employed thereon | 12,083 | 70 | 159,784 |
There are now upwards of 6000 miles of railroad open for traffic in the three kingdoms, 549 miles having been opened in the course of the half-year following the date of the above return. At that date 111 miles of railroad were open for traffic, irrespective of their several branches. 266 railways, including branches, were authorised to be constructed, but had not been commenced.
The growth of railways was slow, and not gradual. They were unknown as modes of public conveyance before the present century, but roads on a similar principle, irrespective of steam, were in use in the Northumberland and Durham collieries, somewhere about the year 1700. The rails were not made of iron but of wood, and, with a facility previously unknown, a small cart, or a series of small carts, was dragged along them by a pony or a horse, to any given point where the coal had to be deposited. In the lead mines of the North Riding of Yorkshire the same system was adopted, the more rapidly and with the less fatigue, to convey the ore to the mouth of the mine. Some of these “tramways,” as they are called, were and are a mile and more in length; and visitors who penetrate into the very bowels of the mine are conveyed along those tramways in carts, drawn generally by a pony, and driven by a boy (who has to duck his head every here and there to avoid collision) into the galleries and open spaces where the miners are at work.
In the year 1801, the first Act of Parliament authorising the construction of a railway was passed. This was the Surrey, between Wandsworth and Croydon, nine miles in length, and constructed at a cost, in round numbers, of 60,000l. In the following twenty years, sixteen such Acts were passed, authorising the construction of 124¾ miles of railway, the cost of which was 971,232l., or upwards of 7500l. a-mile. In 1822 no such Act was passed. In 1823, Parliament authorised the construction of the Stockton and Darlington; and on that short railway, originated and completed in a great measure through the exertions of the wealthy Quakers of the neighbourhood, and opened on the 27th of December, 1825, steam-power was first used as a means of propulsion and locomotion on a railway. It was some little time before this that grave senators and learned journalists laughed to scorn Mr. Stephenson’s assertion, that steam “could be made to do twenty miles an hour on a railway.” In the following ten years, thirty railway bills were passed by the legislature; and among these, in 1826, was the Liverpool and Manchester, which was opened on the 16th September, 1830—an opening rendered as lamentable as it is memorable by the death of Mr. Huskisson. In 1834, seven railway bills were passed; ten in 1835; twenty-six in 1836; eleven in 1837; one in 1838; three in 1839; none again till 1843, and then only one—the Northampton and Peterborough, which extends along 44½ miles, and which cost 429,409l. The mass of the other railways have been constructed, or authorised, and the Acts of Parliament authorising their construction shelved, since the close of 1843. I find no official returns of the dates of the several enactments.
The following statement, in averages of four years, shows the amount of the sums which Parliament authorised the various companies to raise from 1822 to 1845. Upwards of one-half of the amount of the aggregate sum expended in 1822-6 was spent on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, 1,832,375l. The cost of the Stockton and Darlington, (450,000l.), is also included:
| From | 1822 | to | 1825 | inclusive | £451,465 |
| „ | 1826 | „ | 1829 | „ | 816,846 |
| „ | 1830 | „ | 1833 | „ | 2,157,136 |
| „ | 1834 | „ | 1837 | „ | 10,880,431 |
| „ | 1838 | „ | 1841 | „ | 3,614,428 |
| „ | 1842 | „ | 1845 | „ | 20,895,128 |
Of these years, 1845 presents the era when the rage for railway speculation was most strongly manifested, as in that year the legislature sanctioned the raising, by new railway companies, of no less than 59,613,536l. more than the imperial taxes levied in the United Kingdom, while in 1844 the amount so sanctioned was 14,793,994l. The total sum to be raised for railway purposes for the last twenty years of the above dates was 153,455,837l., with a yearly average of 7,672,792l. For the four years preceding the yearly average was but 112,866l.
The parliamentary expenses attending the incorporation of sixteen of the principal railway companies were 683,498l., or an average per railway of 42,718l. It will be seen from the following table, that the greatest amount thus expended was on the incorporation of the Great Western. On that undertaking an outlay not much short of 90,000l. was incurred, before a foot of sod could be raised by the spade of the “navvy.”
| Birmingham and Gloucester | £22,618 |
| Bristol and Gloucester | 25,589 |
| Bristol and Exeter | 18,592 |
| Eastern Counties | 39,171 |
| Great Western | 89,197 |
| Great North of England | 20,526 |
| Grand Junction | 22,757 |
| Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock | 23,481 |
| London and Birmingham | 72,868 |
| London and South-Western | 41,467 |
| Manchester and Leeds | 49,166 |
| Midland Counties | 28,776 |
| North Midland | 41,349 |
| Northern and Eastern | 74,166 |
| Sheffield, Ashton, and Manchester | 31,473 |
| South-Eastern | 82,292 |
It must be borne in mind that these large sums were all for parliamentary expenses alone, and were merely the disbursements of the railway proprietors, whose applications to Parliament were successful. Probably as large an amount was expended in opposition to the several bills, and in the fruitless advocacy of rival companies. Thus above a million and a-quarter of pounds sterling was spent as a preliminary outlay.
Of the railway lines, the construction of the Great Western, 117½ miles in length, was the most costly, entailing an expenditure of nearly eight millions; the London and Birmingham, 112½ miles, cost 6,073,114l.; the South-Eastern, 66 miles, 4,306,478l.; the Manchester and Leeds, 53 miles, 3,372,240l.; the Eastern Counties, 51 miles, 2,821,790l.; the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock, and Ayr, 57½ miles, 1,071,263l.; an amount which was exceeded by the outlay on only the 3½ miles of the London and Blackwall, first opened, which cost 1,078,851l. I ought to mention, that the lengths in miles are those of the portions first opened to the public in the respective lines, and first authorised by parliamentary enactments. “Junctions,” “continuations,” and the blending of companies, have been subsequent measures, entailing, of course, proportionate outlay. The length of line of the Great Western, for instance, with its immediate branches, opened on the 30th of June, 1849, was 225 miles; that of the South-Eastern, 144 miles; and that of the Eastern Counties, 309 miles. It is stated in Mr. Knight’s “British Almanac” for the current year, that the “London and North-Western is almost the only company which has maintained in 1849 the same dividend even as in the preceding year, viz. seven per cent. The Great Western, the Midland, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the York and Newcastle, the York and North Midland, the Eastern Counties, the South-Eastern, the South-Western, Brighton, the Manchester and Lincolnshire, all have suffered a decided diminution of dividend. These ten great companies, whose works up to the present time have cost over one hundred millions sterling, have on an average declared for the half year ending in the summer of 1849, a dividend on the regular non-guaranteed shares of between three and four per cent per annum. The remaining companies, about sixty in number, can hardly have reached an average of two per cent per annum in the same half year.”
The following Table gives the latest returns of railway traffic from 1845. Previous to that date no such returns were published in parliamentary papers:—
COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF THE TRAFFIC ON ALL THE RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM FOR THE FIVE YEARS ENDING JUNE 30, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, TOGETHER WITH THE LENGTH OF RAILWAY OPEN ON DECEMBER 31 AND JUNE 30 IN EACH YEAR.
| Length open on June 30 in each year. | Total Number of Passengers. | Total Receipts from Passengers. | Receipts from Goods, Cattle, Parcels, Mails, &c. | Total Receipts. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year ending | Miles. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | |
| June 30, 1845 | 2343 | 33,791,253 | 3,976,341 | 0 | 0 | 2,233,373 | 0 | 0 | 6,209,714 | 0 | 0 |
| „ 1846 | 2765 | 43,790,983 | 4,725,215 | 11 | 8½ | 2,840,353 | 16 | 6¼ | 7,565,569 | 8 | 2¾ |
| „ 1847 | 3603 | 51,352,163 | 5,148,002 | 5 | 0½ | 3,362,883 | 19 | 6¾ | 1,510,886 | 4 | 7¼ |
| „ 1848 | 4478 | 57,965,070 | 5,720,382 | 9 | 1¾ | 4,213,169 | 14 | 5½ | 9,933,552 | 3 | 7¼ |
| „ 1849 | 5447 | 60,398,159 | 6,105,975 | 7 | 7¾ | 5,094,025 | 18 | 11 | 11,200,901 | 6 | 6¾ |
This official table shows a conveyance for the year ending June, 1849, of 60,398,159 passengers. It may be as well to mention that every distinct trip is reckoned. Thus a gentleman travelling from and returning to Greenwich daily, figures in the return as 730 passengers. Of the number of individuals who travel in the United Kingdom I have no information. Thousands of the labouring classes travel very rarely, perhaps not more than once on some holiday trip in the course of a twelvemonth. But assuming every one to travel, and the population to be thirty millions, then we have two railway trips made by every man, woman, and child in the kingdom every year.
There are no data from which to deduce a precisely accurate calculation of the number of miles travelled by the 60,398,159 passengers who availed themselves of railway facilities in the year cited. Official lists show that seventy-eight railways comprise the extent of mileage given, but these railways vary in extent. The shortest of them open for the conveyance of passengers is the Belfast and County Down, which is only 4 miles 35 chains in length, and the number of passengers travelling on it 81,441. The Midland and the London and North-Western, on the other hand, are respectively 465 and 477 miles in length, and their complement of passengers is respectively 2,252,984 and 2,750,541½. The average length of the 78 railways is 70 miles, but as the stream of travel flows more from intermediate station to station along the course of the line, than from one extremity to the other, it may be reasonable to compute that each individual passenger has travelled one-fourth of the entire distance, or 17½ miles—a calculation confirmed by the amount paid by each individual, which is something short of 2s., or rather more than 1¼d. per mile.
Thus we may conclude that each passenger has journeyed 17½ miles, and that the grand aggregate of travel by all the railway passengers of the kingdom will be 1,052,327,632½ miles, or nearly eleven times the distance between the earth and the sun every year.
The Government returns present some curious results. The passengers by the second-class carriages have been more numerous every year than those by any other class, and for the year last returned were more than three times the number of those who indulged in the comforts of first-class vehicles. Notwithstanding nearly 1000 new miles of railway were opened for the public transit and traffic between June 1848-9, still the number of first-class passengers decreased no fewer than 112,000 and odd, while those who resorted to the humbler accommodation of the second class increased upwards of 170,000. The numerical majority of the second-class passengers over the first was:—
| Year ending | June, | 1845 | 8,851,662 |
| „ | „ | 1846 | 10,770,712 |
| „ | „ | 1847 | 12,126,574 |
| „ | „ | 1848 | 14,499,730 |
| „ | „ | 1849 | 16,313,760 |
These figures afford some criterion as to the class or character of the travelling millions who are the supporters of the railways.
The official table presents another curious characteristic. The originators of railways, prior to the era of the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool, depended for their dividends far more upon the profits they might receive in the capacity of common carriers, upon the conveyance of manufactured goods, minerals, or merchandise, than upon the transit of passengers. It was the property in canals and in heavy carriage that would be depreciated, it was believed, rather than that in the stage-coaches. Even on the Manchester and Liverpool, the projectors did not expect to realise more than 20,000l. a-year by the conveyance of passengers. The result shows the fallacy of these computations, as the receipts for passengers for the year ending June, 1849, exceeded the receipts from “cattle, goods, parcels, and mails,” by 1,011,050l. In districts, however, which are at once agricultural and mineral, the amount realised from passengers falls short of that derived from other sources. Two instances will suffice to show this: The Stockton and Darlington is in immediate connexion with the district where the famous short-horn cattle were first bred by Mr. Collins, and where they are still bred in high perfection by eminent agriculturists. It is in connexion, moreover, with the coal and lead-mining districts of South Durham and North Yorkshire, the produce being conveyed to Stockton to be shipped. For the last year, the receipts from passengers were 8000l. and odd, while for the conveyance of cattle, coal, &c., no less than 62,000l. was paid. From their passengers the Taff Vale, including the Aberdale Railway Company, derived, for the same period, in round numbers, an increase of 6500l., and from their “goods” conveyance, 45,941l. In neither instance did the passengers pay one-seventh as much as the “goods.”
I now present the reader with two “summaries” from returns made to Parliament. The first relates to the number and description of persons employed on railways in the United Kingdom, and the second to the number and character of railway accidents.
Concerning the individuals employed upon the railways, the Table on the opposite page contains the latest official information.
Of the railways in full operation, the London and North-Western employs the greatest number of persons, in its long and branching extent of 477 miles, 35¼ chains, with 153 stations. The total number employed is 6194, and they are thus classified:—
| Secretaries or managers | 8 |
| Engineers | 5 |
| Superintendents | 40 |
| Storekeepers | 8 |
| Accountants or cashiers | 4 |
| Inspectors or timekeepers | 83 |
| Draughtsmen | 11 |
| Clerks | 775 |
| Foremen | 130 |
| Engine-drivers | 334 |
| Assistant-drivers or firemen | 318 |
| Guards or breaksmen | 207 |
| Artificers | 1891 |
| Switchmen | 363 |
| Gatekeepers | 76 |
| Policemen or watchmen | 241 |
| Porters or messengers | 1456 |
| Platelayers | 14 |
| Labourers | 30 |
On the Midland there were employed 4898 persons; on the Lancashire and Yorkshire, 3971; Great Western, 2997; Eastern Counties, 2939; Caledonian, 2409; York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 2731; London and South-Western, 2118; London, Brighton, and South-Coast, 2053; York and North Midland, 1614; North British, 1535; and South-Eastern, 1527. Thus the twelve leading companies retain permanently in their service 35,735 men, supplying the means of maintenance, (reckoning that a family of three is supported by each man employed) to 122,940 individuals. Pursuing the same calculation, as 159,784 men were employed on all the railways “open and unopen,” we may conclude that 739,136 individuals were dependent, more or less, upon railway traffic for their subsistence.
TOTAL NUMBER AND DESCRIPTION OF PERSONS EMPLOYED ON RAILWAYS.
| Total number of persons employed upon railways open for traffic on the 30th June, 1849 | Total number of persons employed upon railways not open for traffic on the 30th June, 1849 | Total number and description of persons employed on all railways (open and unopen) authorised to be used for the conveyance of passengers | |
| Secretaries and Managers. | 156 | 142 | 298 |
| Treasurers. | 32 | 7 | 39 |
| Engineers. | 107 | 269 | 376 |
| Superintendents. | 314 | 419 | 733 |
| Storekeepers. | 120 | 182 | 302 |
| Accountants and Cashiers. | 138 | 144 | 282 |
| Inspectors and Timekeepers. | 490 | 821 | 1311 |
| Station Masters. | 1300 | — | 1300 |
| Draughtsmen. | 103 | 153 | 256 |
| Clerks. | 4021 | 421 | 4442 |
| Foremen. | 709 | 1421 | 2130 |
| Engine Drivers. | 1839 | — | 1839 |
| Assistant Engine Drivers and Firemen. | 1871 | — | 1871 |
| Guardsmen and Breaksmen. | 1631 | — | 1631 |
| Switchmen. | 1540 | — | 1540 |
| Gatekeepers. | 1361 | — | 1361 |
| Policemen or Watchmen. | 1508 | 481 | 1989 |
| Porters and Messengers. | 8238 | 118 | 8356 |
| Platelayers. | 5508 | — | 5508 |
| Artificers. | 10,809 | 16,144 | 26,953 |
| Labourers. | 14,829 | 83,052 | 97,081 |
| Miscellaneous employment. | 144 | 42 | 186 |
| Total. | 55,968 | 103,816 | 159,784 |
The other summary to which I have alluded is one derived from a return which the House of Commons ordered to be printed on the 8th of April last. It is relative to the railway accidents that occurred in the United Kingdom during the half-year ending the 31st December, 1849, and supplies the following analysis:—
“54 passengers injured from causes beyond their own control.
11 passengers killed and 10 injured, owing to their own misconduct or want of caution.
2 servants of companies or of contractors killed, and 3 injured, from causes beyond their own control.
62 servants of companies or of contractors killed, and 37 injured, owing to their own misconduct or want of caution.
28 trespassers and other persons, neither passengers nor servants of the company, killed, and 7 injured, by improperly crossing or standing on the railway.
1 child killed and 1 injured, by an engine running off the rails and entering a house.
2 suicide.
Total, 106 killed and 112 injured.
The total number of passengers conveyed during the half-year amounted to 34,924,469.”
The greatest number of accidents was on the Lancashire and Yorkshire: 2,793,764 passengers were conveyed in the term specified, and 17 individuals were killed and 24 injured. On the York, Newcastle, and Berwick, 15 were killed and injured, 1,613,123 passengers having been conveyed. On the Midland, 2,658,903 having been the number of passengers, 9 persons were killed and 7 injured. On the Great Western, conveying 1,220,507½ passengers, 2 individuals were killed and 1 injured. On the London and Blackwall, with 1,200,514 passengers, there was 1 man killed and 16 injured. The London and Greenwich supplied the means of locomotion to 1,126,237 persons, and none were killed and none were injured. These deaths on the railway, for the half-year cited above, are in the proportion of 106 to 34,924,469, or 1 person killed to every 329,476; and the 106 killed include 2 suicides and the deaths of 28 trespassers and others. The total number of persons who suffered from accidents was 218, which is in the proportion of 1 accident to every 160,203 persons travelling; and when the injuries arising from this mode of conveyance are contrasted with the loss of life by shipwreck, which, as before stated, amounts to 1 in every 203 individuals, the comparative safety of railway over marine travelling must appear most extraordinary. Mr. Porter’s calculation as to the number of stage-coach travellers (which I cite under that head) shows that my estimates are far from extravagant.