Remarks on the Proposed Railway Between Birmingham and London

by Anonymous

It must not be forgotten, that the Liverpool and Manchester being the first line of the same magnitude that had ever been constructed, many expenses occurred, which are always attendant upon works of a new kind, and which are much reduced when the same kind of work has to be executed again. It was formerly the opinion of those who are best acquainted with these subjects, that railways might be constructed at as little expense as canals: and when we consider that a canal requires a perfect level; occupies an equal width of land with a railway; must have its embankments made of materials impervious to water;—and when, again, it is known that an expensive lock is required at almost every mile, as well as numerous drains and reservoirs to collect the water from the surrounding country, and powerful engines to raise the water from the lower to the summit levels;—it does appear a natural supposition, that such a work must require a greater outlay than a road, which, to a degree, has the inclination suited to the level of the country over which it passes; whose embankments, instead of being washed by a river, have only to carry two or four bars of iron; and, moreover, in whose banks no injury from leakage can arise to the country lying below it; which invariably happens to land at the foot of canal embankments.

That funds will be provided for the London and Birmingham Railway far beyond any amount expended in canals, will be seen by the following statement:—In 1825, it is stated, there were in England ninety-seven canals, the total extent of which was 2,471 miles, and the cost of which was 30,000,000l.; giving an average cost of about 12,500l. per mile. The railway from London to Birmingham will be 105 miles in length, and capital to the amount of 3,000,000l. will be provided for it: this gives an average of upwards of 28,000l. per mile. That the land in this direction is more favourable to works of this kind than that in many other parts of the country, is known by the canals that run in this district costing less per mile than the average rate of others. But even if the Railway costs twice or three times as much as a canal, the advantages that it has over a canal in its amount of traffic, and the economy attending it, are in a much greater proportion than the increase of its cost.

There are very few canals of any extent that can pass more than two hundred tons of goods per hour. The locks in general admit of but one boat passing at a time, carrying from twenty to twenty-five tons. Where the greatest despatch is used, the average is not more than eight boats passed per hour. Here at once is a limit to the despatch of canal conveyance. Eight boats per hour, at an average load of twenty tons, gives only 160 tons per hour as the greatest quantity that can be passed. The average load of a fly-boat is but sixteen tons.

Let us now inquire what might be conveyed along a single line of railway, on the supposition that a speed of ten miles per hour only may be performed upon it. The number of yards in a mile (1,760) multiplied by the speed, gives 17,600. A carriage for three tons of goods occupies a space of four yards and a half; but we will suppose a space of six yards is required, which gives two yards for each ton. Then 17,600 (the number of yards per mile multiplied by the velocity) divided by 2 yards, gives 8,800 tons per hour, on the supposition that the carriages moved in a continuous train; but with a space between each train of carriages equal in length to the train, we have half that amount, or 4,400 tons, that might if necessary be conveyed upon a single line of railway: or, what requires twenty-four hours to pass through the canal locks at Birmingham, might be sent along a railway in one hour. Thus it appears, that canals are limited, in respect of the quantity of goods that can be conveyed upon them, to less than 200 tons per hour; their greatest average speed is less than three miles per hour, and for the slow boats one mile and a half per hour; the general expense of haulage is 1d. per ton per mile; they are subject to stoppages averaging five weeks per annum, from frost, drought, and repairs. A railway, on the contrary, may convey 4,000 tons per hour, at a velocity of fifteen miles: steam propelling power costs only one farthing per ton per mile, exclusive of the waggons; and the stoppage that would arise from the breaking of a rail, would not be more than one of half an hour.

Does not this show, then, that an infinitely superior conveyance is now offered to the public, both for themselves and their goods? An instance of the support which the public give to quick conveyance, is afforded by the facts, that in 1800 there were seven coaches from Birmingham to London, and the average time was eighteen and twenty hours; that at present there are twenty-two coaches, and the average time is twelve hours.

Last year the number of passengers from Liverpool to Manchester was 500 per day, and the time occupied by the journey four hours. Since the opening of the Railway in September last, the average number has been nearly 1,000 per day, and the time two hours. The increase of passing between the towns that have had steam communication has been in a much greater proportion than the above. Between London and Margate, Dover and Calais, Liverpool and Dublin, Liverpool and Greenock, Stockton and Darlington, the passing has increased nearly ten-fold since the establishment of such improved conveyance. It is calculated that the whole number of passengers by steam-boats is one million and a quarter per annum. Can it then be expected that a steam communication from Birmingham to London will be an exception? for there is not a line to be found of equal extent in the kingdom on which the population is so great, or on which the commercial and agricultural transactions are so important. As the utility of railroads may be considered established by the one now in operation, it must be evident how desirable it is to connect Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham, and ultimately other towns in the North, with the Metropolis. Supposing a railroad connecting these important towns to exist, which might be considered as the chief line of communication from the North to the South, there is a reasonable hope, that shortly other roads would be proposed and executed, connecting the remaining influential towns. An expeditious, cheap, and secure conveyance would thus be established throughout the country; so that in all probability, the business that would be brought upon the main line by these side channels would increase the whole traffic beyond what can now be calculated upon.

It may be objected, that railroads would throw out of employment a great number of people, who are now actively engaged, as coachmen, guards, horse-keepers, boatmen, waggoners, &c.: but as all improvements which tend to reduce the price of travelling and quick communication have led to a different result, we may infer that the number of cross coaches and short conveyances of all kinds that would be established to bring up passengers and goods to the railway, would at once give employment to these men. We may take as a proof the present posting and travelling upon the road from London to Dover, which was greater in 1829 than ever it was known to be before, although in the same year upwards of 1,000 passengers were conveyed weekly from London to Calais by steam. If indeed there are some persons that will be thrown out of employment for a short time, we must set against this the vast increase of labour that will be given to mechanics and others employed in manufacturing the engines and machines used on railways; for if these works go forward, there will be immediate employment for tens of thousands of labourers, and constant occupation in the workshop for double the number of hands that for a time may be thrown out of work upon the roads or canals. And I would ask, Which is the more important member of the community, the ingenious mechanic or the wandering boatman?

Let us again consider, that we are generating a new power, with the consumption only of a mineral drawn from the bowels of the earth, while we are saving the surface land to produce that sustenance which our increasing population requires. Every horse that is dispensed with, saves the produce that would support six men; and it is calculated that one-third of the grain consumed, is by horses [21]. The immense surface that is now required for the support of cattle may be conjectured, when it is known that in England and Wales alone we have upwards of thirty millions of acres in tillage, and that one acre may grow as much corn as is consumed by three men in a year. And yet we are in the habit of importing a considerable quantity of grain!

It is unnecessary to establish by reasoning what is borne out by facts; and I refer again to the railroad between Liverpool and Manchester, on which goods and merchandise are now taken in one-tenth of the time and at two-thirds of the former cost, and passengers in half the time and at half the former charges by coach. May not the same support be looked for between London, and Birmingham, when the same advantages are offered? May not also the support of Government be expected, when its sanction only is asked to establish such a communication from one side of the kingdom to the other, not a farthing to defray expenses being required from it; at the same time that the capability is offered it, of sending despatches from London to Liverpool in seven hours, or of transporting twenty thousand troops the same distance within twelve hours, in case of need?

Though the capital required is considerable, yet I think the public may be trusted in seeking out their own means of investment; they are in fact only carrying that principle to the establishment of an improved conveyance at the cost of an old one, (an improvement in which many of them are deeply interested,) upon which in their manufactories they constantly act, when a machine that costs 100l. is supplanted by one that may cost 500l., but which is found to perform ten times the work. Why, I ask, may not 3,000 individuals associate themselves together to apply to a public undertaking the mechanical power which they have found so advantageous in their private establishments? Why not extend to the purpose of locomotion the power which has raised the manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland to their present high state of improvement? I would ask those who oppose its extension to this new purpose, whether the mechanical agencies of this kingdom, now amounting to the physical force of ten times the population of England, would ever have been called into action if the application of known powers and principles to fresh purposes and uses had not at all times met with the fullest support of the Legislature and the Public?