The number of passengers conveyed in the year 1883 per mile of the mean length of railway open during the year was, in England 46,340, in Scotland 17,550, and in Ireland 7710.

The receipts from passenger traffic in 1883 are given in Table XII. (see below). The decided preponderance of third-class traffic shown in this table is the outcome of the work of years. In 1854 upwards of 111 million passengers travelled by railway, of whom 13 per cent. travelled by first, 34 by second, and 53 by third class and parliamentary carriages. In 1873, the year before the Midland Railway Company ceased to carry second-class passengers, upwards of 455 million passengers travelled by railway, of whom only 8 per cent. travelled by first, 15 by second, and 76 by third class carriages. In 1881 upwards of 623 million passengers travelled by railway, nearly six times as many as in 1854. Of these only 6 per cent. were first and 10 second class passengers, whilst the third-class and parliamentary passengers rose to 834. Finally, in 1883 (as already stated in Table XI.), 85 per cent. of the passengers were third class. The same movement is exemplified in the receipts, the mass of receipts gravitating towards third class, as shown by the following abstract per mile open for the years already mentioned (Table XIII.) :

class carriages, at the same time readjusting and lowering the fares, -the revised rates being 1d. and 1d. respectively per mile for first and third class. The result was that in 1875 27 million passengers travelled on this railway,-nearly 5 millions more than in 1873, before the change was made; whilst in 1881 there were 29 million travellers, of whom 27 millions were third and only 2 millions first class passengers; and in 1883 upwards of 31 million passengers were carried, of whom 29 millions were of the third and a little over 13 millions of the first class. The gross receipts for passenger traffic on the Midland Railway were, in round numbers, £1,660,000 in 1873, £1,787,000 in 1881, and £1,904,000 in 1883, whilst the percentage of working expenditure remained the same. On the whole, it appears from the results of this grand experiment that the change has succeeded financially, whilst there is no doubt that it has stimulated the provision for and development of third-class travelling on other railways. The gravitation of traffic to the lowest level is unquestionable; and it is aided by the fact that third-class carriages have been (1885) for some years run with nearly all trains, fast as well as slow, and that the largeness of the number of third-class passengers has forced upon the management of the companies improvements in the popular class of carriage. As the downward movement of the classes continues the outcome will most likely be a general reduction of the number of classes to two,-nominally first and third, practically first and second. On 1st May 1885 second-class carriages were abolished on the branch lines of the Great Northern Railway; and, if the experiment answers expectations, second-class carriages will be abolished on the entire Great Northern system.

The returns to the Board of Trade do not supply material for Goods close analysis of goods traffic. The quantities of minerals and traffic. goods or general merchandise conveyed in 1883 were as follows (Table XIV.):—

These figures show that in 1854 first and second class receipts together made up two-thirds of the whole receipts from passengers, but that they steadily declined in succeeding years, not only proportionally but absolutely,-the third-class receipts, on the contrary, exhibiting a rapid increase, insomuch that, whereas in 1854 they were exactly one-third of the whole receipts, in 1883 they amounted to more than two-thirds of the whole receipts from passengers. The reaction in first-class receipts is all the more remarkable because the number of first-class passengers in 1854-14 millions-was nearly trebled in 1873; that of 1873 was almost exactly the same as in 1881,-about 38 millions; whilst in 1883 there were nearly 36 millions. The explanation is probably to be sought partly in the fact that first-class fares have been reduced in many cases and express fares have been almost entirely abolished, and partly to the increased habit of taking third class for long journeys, so that first-class journeys, being shorter on the average, have become less remunerative to the companies than before. The third class is by far the most remunerative portion of the passenger traffic of railways; and it is difficult to understand the policy still pursued by railway companies in France, of discouraging thirdclass traffic. On those railways where fast trains do not take thirdclass passengers, or third-class carriages are deterrently uncomfortable and repulsive, only those travel who travel by necessity, or to whom money is no object. On the contrary, low fares and comfortable carriages invite traffic; they may almost be said to create it, a fact which has long been recognized by the more intelligent of railway managers. The high speed of express trains from 45 to 50 miles and upwards per hour-is, of course, an additional inducement to travel. On certain lines there are only two classes of carriages,-first and third. The Caledonian Railway Company was the first to adopt, about thirty-five years ago, the system of two classes only for local main-line passenger traffic. The Great North of Scotland Railway Company opened its line in 1854 with only first and third class carriages. The Midland Railway Company, as already noticed, ceased in 1874 to run second

These statistics of merchandise and mineral traffic show that upwards of 266 million tons were conveyed in 1883 in the United Kingdom, seven-tenths of which were minerals. In 1857 71 million tons were conveyed, of which only two-thirds consisted of minerals; whence it appears that a more rapid development of mineral traffic than of general merchandise took place in the interval.

The whole of the receipts directly earned on the railways in Receipts. 1883, with the miscellaneous receipts derived from rents, tolls, navigation, steamboats, &c., are brought together in Table XVI. (see below). The receipts per train mile from passengers and from goods and mineral traffic are reckoned exclusive of the receipts on railways working mixed trains; but all the receipts per train mile for passengers and goods together are divided by the total mileage run by all trains. In the last column the gross receipts, including miscellaneous receipts, are divided by the total train mileage.

1 Including £24,965 from goods-traffic receipts not classified.

Table XIX. (below) contains a summary of the expenditure of the Working railways of the United Kingdom for the year 1883, with the rate expenses. of expenditure of different kinds per mile open and per train mile run, and, in addition, the proportional expenditure of the different kinds in parts of the total working expenditure. The heads of expenditure are classified in this table in order to separate direct or really working expenditure from what may be called contingent or incidental expenditure not essential to the working of a railway, as rates, duty, compensation, &c. The direct or essential working expenditure is thus upwards of 32 millions sterling, or 86 per cent. of the whole expenditure. The amount and proportion of the net receipts are shown by deducting the total working expenditure from the total receipts, as under:

Per train mile.
Total receipts
.£71,062,270, or 5s. 3'4d. or 100 per cent.
Gross working expenditure.... 37,369,562
2s. 94d.,,
52 6

Net receipts

.£33,692,708 2s. 6d. The net receipts available for payment of dividend are equal to 4.29 per cent. on the paid-up capital, and they were disposed for 1883 in the following fashion:

In

the available net

explanation of the

Country.

England

Gross total Working

Expenditure.

Miles. 13,133

18,569

74,068 103,427 544,945 3,974,796 11,010 11,580 135,642 1,575,518

In 1857

Traffic expenses

General charges

Direct expenditure on working Contingent expenditure on working

Total working expenditure..

Payments of interest and dividends..

Gross receipts..

.13.1

4.6

.15.8

2.3

.45.3

7.3

52.6

47.4

100

In

The statistics of traffic returns of railways in the United Kingdom and dis- since 1842 indicate a remarkably steady and rapid increase of traffic. tribution In 1842 the total receipts amounted to upwards of £4,250,000. of traffic. 1852 they were nearly £16,000,000, and during the thirty-one years following they are given at intervals as in Table XX. :—

Thus the receipts were quadrupled during the thirty years from 1853 to 1883, whilst the mileage of railway open was increased by two and a half times. The receipts per mile increased notwithstanding their continual dilution by the accession of new lines. These results, taken together, indicate the inherent elasticity of the railway and its seemingly inexhaustible resources.

Of the main trunk-lines, which constitute the foundation of the railway system, those which converge towards and terminate in London-the metropolitan lines-are more important than the provincial lines. London is the great heart of the country and is the chief centre of commerce; moreover, the metropolitan railways, taken together, possess a greater variety of traffic than others; hence they are selected for discussion illustrative of the growing magnitude and distribution of traffic. On the nine metropolitan railways, including the London and Blackwall and the North London, in operation in 1854-57, Table XXI. shows the receipts for these four years; and the receipts for the year 1883 derived from the twelve metropolitan companies then in operation are added for comparison:

In the early years-1856, for instance-the metropolitan railway mileage open constituted one-third of the total mileage open, whilst it produced nearly one-half of the total traffic receipts of the United Kingdom, insomuch that the receipts per metropolitan mile were two-fifths more than the average total receipts per mile. Recently-in 1883-though the metropolitan mileage open was less than one-half of the total mileage open of the United Kingdom, it earned six-tenths of the total receipts; and the receipts per metropolitan mile were one-third more than the average total on the whole mileage of the country. Lastly, the increase of receipts of the metropolitan lines is greater than that of the entire system. Whether, therefore, the increase of receipts be compared with the total receipts or with the mileage open, the traffic of the metropolitan railways increases the most rapidly, and it is also of the greatest absolute magnitude. But, to bring out clearly the relative importance and progress of the traffic of different districts, let us separate what may be distinguished as the coast lines to the south and east of the metropolis-the Great Eastern, and the railways south of the Thames-from the interior lines to the north and west,

This comparative statement shows some strong contrasts. the densest traffic in England, averaging £86, 10s., over 1515 miles lay to the north and west of the metropolis; the railway traffic of the country was very partially distributed; and, taking London as the great focus, the traffic radiated and converged in all directions, with decreasing intensity as the distance from the centre increased. In the year 1883, on the contrary, whilst the metropolitan traffic continued to be the densest, the traffic of the metropolitan coast lines per mile open had advanced so rapidly as even to surpass that of the interior metropolitan lines, the receipts being £98 per mile per week against £96. The rapid development of the southern lines passenger traffic is, as will be shown, the cause of the great advance in receipts. Further insight into the comparative conditions of interior and coast lines may be got by taking four great inland lines (Great Northern, Great Western, Midland, and London and North-Western), which are lines of preponderating goods and mineral traffic, and contrasting them with four great coast lines of preponderating passenger traffic (South-Eastern; London, Brighton, and South Coast; London, Chatham, and Dover; and SouthWestern). In the annexed table (XXIII.) for 1883 the average fare per passenger is calculated on the assumption that the fares formed 80 per cent. of the whole receipts for passenger trains, and the average length of a passenger's journey is got by taking 85 per cent. of the passengers as third class at 1d. a mile and 15 per cent. as first and second class at 1d. a mile.

The coast lines, being freer from competition, get higher rates both for goods and passengers; but the inland lines have the advantage in direct working expenditure per train mile, and a still greater advantage in the much smaller capital raised per mile of line open, so that, in spite of competition and low rates, they earn 53 per cent. on their capital as against a little over 44 earned by the coast lines. The greater capital outlay on the coast railways seems to be due to the costliness of stations and carriage stock for a preponderating passenger traffic; and as this more than outweighs the gains from higher rates the statistics support the generally accepted opinion that goods and mineral traffic on railways is profitable and should be encouraged and developed. Mr R. Price Williams, an accepted authority on railway statistics, supports this conclusion. Mr F. R. Conder, on the contrary, who has deeply studied the question, maintains that the heavy mineral traffic of railways should be relegated to the canals, which, though slow, are low in their charges.

Employés.-In 1856 Robert Stephenson estimated that 1 per Emcent. of the population of the United Kingdom was maintained ployés.

Slope 1/2

Level of Rail

Telegraph

Canals, steamboats, docks, and piers

Hotels, refreshment-rooms, and sundries..

Total

222 3,754

•15

•20 8,004 *43 3,407 •18 367,793 19-69

From this table it may be estimated that there are now two drivers and two firemen for every 3 miles of line open. In 1857 there were only two drivers and two firemen for every 5 miles; and, though the train service has increased faster than the train mileage, the work of the drivers has sensibly diminished, each man on an average doing 20,950 miles as against 23,420 in 1857.

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

The selection of lines of railway is mainly governed by the same principles as hold good for roads, but the cost of the rails renders it of greater importance to shorten the length of the route than to make slight savings in embankments and cuttings. The first step in the survey is to ascertain the positions of the watercourse and watershed lines of the district to be passed through. The general direction having been selected by the help of an ordnance map, a sketch-map, or a special reconnaissance survey, the river-crossings are to be examined and decided upon, and the points determined at which the watersheds are to be crossed and the approaches to bridges set out. Trial lines should be run between the points thus fixed, and the country should be carefully examined on each side of these before the route is finally decided on. Sharp curves and steep gradients are in themselves evils, involving special cost for maintenance and for working, although original outlay may be economized by the adoption of them. A straight and horizontal surface is assumed as the standard of perfection; and the proper business of the engineer in laying out a railway is to harmonize the engineering and the financial conditions of the problem so as to yield the highest practicable return on the money expended, and to see that, whilst the railway may be neither quite straight nor quite level, it shall not be unduly costly in construction from excessive cutting, tunnelling, and making of embankments, in order to obviate severe curves and gradients, nor excessively cheap from following the surface of the ground too closely and incurring heavy gradients and severe curves, and as a consequence heavy working expenditure.

Cuttings and Embankments.—Engineers endeavour so to plan the works of a railway that the quantity of earth to be excavated shall be equal to the quantity that goes to form the embankments. The earthwork is the foundation and support of the superstructure, and as such it must be uniformly firm, of liberal width, easy slopes, thorough drainage. Figs. 10 and 11 are type-sections of cuttings and embankments for a double line of way on the national gauge, showing the "formation" surface and the ballast on which the permanent way is supported, with the slopes, the side drains, and the fencing. Fig. 12 is a type-section of the permanent way on the national gauge, settled by Mr John Fowler for the South Wales Railway. Upon the formation level the ballast is deposited, 2 feet

FIG. 12.-Type section of permanent way. ballast is 22 feet wide at the upper surface, it extends to nearly 1 foot beyond the ends of the sleeper at each side and about 3 feet beyond the outer rails at each side.

The slopes of cuttings vary according to stratification, soil, direc- Cuttings. tion of the vein, moisture. In gravel, sand, or common earth the slopes rise 1 foot for 1 to 1 or 2 feet of base; in solid rock the slopes are nearly vertical. Cuttings are as deep as from 50 to 100 feet below the surface, and embankments as high above. The London and Birmingham Railway had upwards of 12 million cubic yards of excavation, and 10 millions of excavation in the original estimates, or above 100,000 cubic yards of earthwork per mile. The heaviest cutting on the line is at Tring, 23 miles long, averaging 40 feet deep, the greatest depth being 60. In the case of the great Blisworth cutting the strata were unequal in consistency. About halfway up the face of the cutting a stratum of limestone rock, 25 feet in thickness, was found, with loose strata below and above it, and it was necessary to prevent the lower stratum, consisting of wet clay, from being forced out under the superincumbent mass by undersetting. A rubble wall, averaging 20 feet in height, was built on each side underneath the rock, strengthened by buttresses at intervals of 20 feet, resting on inverted arches carried across underneath the line. A puddle-drain was formed

Tunnels.

about two years, when, after continued bad weather, the slopes commenced slipping to such an extent that the line was rendered impassable for some weeks, and parts of the slopes were reduced to an inclination of 4 to 1. The Winchburgh cutting, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, is 4 miles long and from 25 to 60 feet deep, through solid rock. It is succeeded by an embankment 13 miles long and 60 feet high, followed in immediate succession by a stone viaduct half a mile long and 80 feet high. The Olive Mount cutting of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway is 2 miles long and at some places 100 feet deep.

Perhaps the most interesting case of embankment and cutting in combination is that of the crossing of Chat Moss, on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The moss was 4 miles across, and it varied in depth from 10 to 30 feet. Its general character was such that cattle could not stand on it, and a piece of iron would sink in it. The subsoil was composed principally of clay and sand, and the railway had to be carried over the moss on the level, requiring cutting and embanking for upwards of 4 miles. In forming 277,000 cubic yards of embankment 670,000 yards of raw peat were consumed, the difference being occasioned by the squeezing out of the water. Large quantities of embanking were sunk in the moss, and, when the engineer, Stephenson, after a month's vigorous operations, had made up his estimates, the apparent work done was sometimes less than at the beginning of the month. railway ultimately was made to float on the bog. Where embankment was required drains about 5 yards apart were cut, and when the moss between them was dry it was used to form the embankment. Where the way was formed on the level drains were cut on each side of the intended line, and were intersected here and there by cross drains, by which the upper part of the moss became dry and firm. On this surface hurdles were placed, 4 feet broad and 9 long, covered with heath, upon which the ballast was laid.

The

Tunnels. The relative costs of rock-cuttings and cuttings in clay do not greatly differ; for, not only does the vertical rockcutting require less excavation than the wide yawning earthcutting of the same depth, with extended slopes, but, when it is executed, the rock-cutting is not liable to the expensive slips which sometimes overtake the other. For depths exceeding 60 feet it is usually cheaper to tunnel.

The tunnel (see fig. 16) under Callander ridge near Falkirk station, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, is a fair representation of

from end to end. The construction of the tunnel was let for the sum of £99,000, but, owing chiefly to the existence of unseen quicksands, the tunnel is stated to have actually cost nearly £300,000, or £125 per lineal yard.

The Box tunnel, on the Great Western Railway, between Bath and Chippenham, was another difficult and expensive work. It is about 70 feet below the surface, and is 3123 yards in length, or rather more than 12 miles; the width is 30 and the height 25 feet. Where bricked, the sides are constructed of seven and the arch of six rings of brick, and there is an invert of four rings. There are eleven air-shafts to this tunnel, generally 25 feet in diameter. The tunnel under the Mound at Edinburgh (see fig. 17), on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, supplies an excellent illustration of tunnels formed with inverts,that is to say, inverted arches built under the rails. The figure is a transverse section, showing the truly circular arch of the tunnel, 28 feet in diameter and 20 high above the rails, built of brick 3 feet thick, stiffened with counterforts externally, and with ribs of masonry internally, founded on a solid bed of mason-work, with an inverted Fia. 17.-Tunnel under the Mound, arch to distribute the weight. The at Edinburgh. Mound was a mass of loose earth and rubbish on a boggy soil, hence the necessity for the invert arch, on which the tunnel may be conceived to float.

The Shakespeare tunnel, or, more correctly, double tunnel, driven through the Shakespeare Cliff near Dover, on the South-Eastern Railway, is in fact two narrow tunnels, carrying each one line of rails (see fig. 18), 12 feet wide and 30 in extreme height, through

Fro. 16-Tunnel under Callander ridge, on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. tunnels as usually constructed. It is lined with brick 18 inches thick, founded on stone footings of greater breadth, in order to throw the load securely upon the subsoil, as shown in the transverse section. The sides and roof of the tunnel are curved from footing to footing, so as effectually to resist the inevitable external pressure of the earth, to a span of 26 feet in width and a height of 22. The sectional view shows also the centering or timber framing employed in the building of the tunnel, which was braced diagonally and transversely to resist the unavoidable inequalities of pressure without alteration of form whilst the arch was in course of construction. Externally the entrances are built of stone, and the flank walls are 3 feet in thickness, with counterforts at intervals. This tunnel is not straight, but is formed on a curve of 1 mile radius, and is 830 yards, or nearly half a mile in length. The Kilsby tunnel, on the London and Birmingham Railway, was rendered necessary by the opposition raised to the line passing through Northampton. It is driven 160 feet below the surface and is 2398 yards in length, 30 feet in width, and 30 feet high, constructed with two wide air-shafts 60 feet in diameter, not only to give air and ventilation but to admit light enough to enable the engine-driver in passing through it with a train to see the rails

FIG. 18. The Shakespeare tunnel, on the South-Eastern Railway. the chalk, separated by a solid pier or wall of chalk 10 feet thick. The chalk is of variable quality, and the greater part of the tunnel is lined with brick, strengthened by counterforts at 12 feet intervals, which carry the weight of doubtful beds of chalk. The tunnel is 1430 yards, or upwards of three-quarters of a mile in length, rising westward with an inclination of 1 in 264. The tunnel being within a short distance of the face of the cliff, the material excavated was discharged through galleries about 400 feet long, driven in from the face of the cliff, into the sea,-the first operation being to run a bench or roadway along the face of the cliff. There are seven vertical shafts from the surface, averaging 180 feet deep.

There were in 1857 about 70 miles of railway tunnelling in Great Britain, or 1 mile of tunnel for 130 miles of railway. There are now (1885) probably at least 100 miles of tunnelling. The cost of tunnelling has averaged £102 per mile. The longest tunnel is the Woodhead, at the summit of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway, being 3 miles and 60 feet long. The tunnelling on the Metropolitan Railway is noticed below, p. 239.

Bridges and Viaducts.-There are very few level crossings on Bridges. English railways—that is, the crossing of one railway with another, or with a common road, at the same level-the chances of accidents having demanded, in general, the construction of bridges over or under the railway. The general appearance of an ordinary stone or brick bridge is represented by fig. 19, showing in elevation a bridge over or under the railway. The minimum height of a bridge over the railway is ruled by the elevation necessary to clear the top of the chimney of the locomotive. An excellent method of carrying roads over railways, where the height is limited and the span is moderate, consists in erecting flat-arched cast-iron beams over the railway, and throwing brick arches of small span between the beams upon their lower flanges, to carry the roadway. Thus the vertical depth from the soffit or crown of the main arch to the roadway above may but very little exceed the depth of the beam, which is apparent in the sectional view. This method of construction is, moreover, well adapted for skew-bridges. Cast-iron XX.

30