SYNOP TICAI, GLANCE AT THE RAILWAY LABOURS
NOW IN HAND.
[From the .3forning Chronicle.]
Constructive operations on nearly all the new lines granted last session have been commenced, and will be in full operation before the close of the year; afford- ing to the working population of the kingdom permanent supplies of winter- work. The East Lancashire, comprehending an important group of lines in the North, is about to commence its works, extending from Colne to a junction with the Leeds and Bradford. The works in connexion with the South-eastern line at Canterbury, Ramsgate, and Margate, and those on the line from Brighton to Lewes and Hastings, are in active progress. The South Devon works are drawing to a close; and during the last fortnight the masonry composing the sea-wall has bad to undergo the severe test of a tremendous storm from the South-west. The extension-lines in connexion with the Midlands are proceeding, and the branches in connexion with the Birmingham are being land out. The whistle of the locomotive will soon be heard echoing over the Lakes ; whose popu- lation are now employed on the Kendal and Windermere and Lancaster and Car- lisle. The Richmond branch of the Great North of England will be commenced at the close of the month. The construction of eight miles of the Edinburgh and Northern is to be in the hands of the contractors by October. Five miles of the permanent way and works of the Exeter and Crediton will be in hand pro- bably before the termination of October, together with 1,000 tons instalment of the necessary iron rails. Engineers and navigators have made their appearance in seven or eight miles of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham, on which there is to be a viaduct of 1,000 yards. The Leeds, Dewsbury, and Man- chester, commence operations with a continuous contract of 22 miles, embracing a viaduct over Chunvell Valley; and the Newcastle and Berwick, one of Hudson $ lines, proposing to complete the international chain of railways between England and Scotland, in conjunction with the North British, takes a first stupendous step in its construction of 53 miles from Etherton to Tweedmouth' retaining for the purpose whole legions of labourers. The Manchester and Birmingham begin their tributary branches of four or five miles to Ashton and Macclesfield, in- cluding en route a tunnel of 330 yards. The Belfast and Ballymena, Cork and Bandon, Dundalk and Enniskillen, have also commenced operations, and will open up employment for a large section of the Irish population. A large portion of the hired labour of Wales will be called into requisition by the South Wales line from the Great Western to Fishguard and Pembroke, 182 miles; by the North Wales, from Porthdynnllaen to Bangor, 28 miles; by the Aberdare line, near the Taff Vale, 8 miles; by the North Wales Mineral, 12 miles; and by the Monmouth and Hereford, au miles; by which collectively between three and four million sterling will bc,expended in the district, The Wilts, Somerset, and Wey- mouth, one of the great arteries for travel through the West of England, 129 miles in length, branching off from the Great Western, with its termini at Salisbury and Weymouth, will place upwards of one million and a half at the disposal of the labour- market of that district; to which the Berks and Hants, also a Great Western off- shoot of 40 miles, will add 400,000/. more. The East. Anglian lines,-including the Eastern Counties extensions to Cambridge, Huntingdon' and Ely, 40 miles; the Eastern Union and Bury, 20; the Ely and Huntingdon, 22; the Lowestoft, 11i ; Lynn and Dereham, 26; Lynn and Ely, 37,-will contribute their quota to the total outlay of upwards of two millions, and 162 miles of newlocomotion for those districts. 'The Great Grimsby and Sheffield have commenced expending, between Gainsborough and Great Grimsby, 59 miles, 600,000/.; and the Huddersfield and Manchester, 22 miles, and Huddersfield and Sheffield, 15, between their termini, 1,162,0001.-the outlay of the former being 630,0001., and of the latter 532,000/. Leeds is to have laid out on it and the districts adjacent between two and three millions sterling, by the construction of the Leeds, Dewsbury, and Manchester, 20 miles; Leeds and Bradford, 31 I.eeds and Thirsk lines, 44; giving a total new route by railway to that district of nearly 100 miles. Liverpool is to be overlaid with is complete lattice-work of new lines; preparations for which have been commenced on the Liverpool and Bury, with extensions to Bolton, Wigan, and elsewhere, a length of 40 miles, at an outlay of nearly two millions. Upwards of thirty new miles of line radiating from Manchester to the manu- facturing districts of Bury, Rossenciale, Heywood, and Oldham, are to be com- menced, at a disbursement of one million of capital. The Nottingham and Lin- coln, 33 miles, and Syston and Peterborough, 47, are to be begun in the Midland districts; who open their constructive exchequer of one million and a half. Up- wards of 150 miles of line by the Oxford and Rugby, and Oxford and Worcester and Wolverhampton lines, are to be hewn out by the Great Western Railivay, who have already commenced the future highway to the districts of iron and hard- ware, and to a uniting-point with the Grand Junction at Wolverhampton; the total cost being calculated at two millions. The Great Western have bcen more suc- cessful than any other company in their Parliamentary diplomacy last session. They obtained no fewer than eight lines, the construction of which will soon be commenced,-narnely, the Bristol and Exeter Branches, 29 miles, capital 500,0001.; the Monmouth and Hereford, 36 miles, capital 550,0001.; the Newport and Ponty- pool, 13 miles, capital 119,0001.; the Oxford and Rugby, 50 miles, capital 600,0001.; the Oxtord, Worcester, and Wolverhampton, 103 miles, capital 1,500,0001.; the South Wales,182 miles, capital 2,800,01301.; the Berks and Hants, 39 miles, capital 400,0001.; and the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth line, 129 miles, capital 1,500,000/. This gives a total length of new lines to the Great Western to construct, of nearly 500 miles, and a total capital of between 7,000,0001. and 8,000,0001. If to this be added the present length the Great Western has in actual working-namely 220 miles, including Bristol and Exeter, and Cheltenham and Oxford branches, which with the main line have cost 7,717,0431.,-it appears that, with the amount of capital to be raised for the con- struction of the schemes sanctioned last session, the Great Western will have more than doubled both its capital and length; the former, which before the close of last session Was 7,717,0431.,being increased to nearly 16,000,0004 and the latter, which was 220 miles, being increased to 740; thus Placing the company in _possession of a prospective dominion exceeding by up- wards of 100 miles Mr. Hudson's amplitude of territory. The Shrewsbury, Os- westry, and Chester a:so commence their 23 miles into the mining districts, at d contemplated outlay of 410,0001.; and the South-western, their Southampton ana Dorchester 62 miles, at a cost of 500,0001. The Trent Valley line works, 49 nailes, will commence at the Birmingham line at Rugby, and ran into the Grand Junction at Stafford, at a cost of 1,250,0001. The Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole Will scatter its capital of half-a-million over 27 miles between its termini; and the extension-liner round York, of about 50 miles, will be the means of circu- lating amongst its labouring classes at least half-a million. In Scotland, the Caledonian, Aberdeen, Scottish Central, Clydesdale Junction, and other great routes, are already throwing labour into the hands of the Scottish population; the works on each of them having been vigorously commenced. The millions of British capital thus being expended are only the seeds of a great monetary har- vest, that must yield millions more. The total amount of money that will be set in circulation and expended on the construction of these projects is 29,000,000/. sterling ! The total -length of new railways to be constructed is 1,793 miles ; which, added to the 1,800 miles at present in operation, shows, that while the new lines of last session have just equalled the old ones in length, they have about half equalled them in capital; the cost of constructing the lines at present in ex- istence having amounted to 70,000,000/. There is every probability that the lines of the ensuing session will multiply the capital of those of the preceding one twice over; and it would almost weary arithmetic to calculate on the multitude of men to be employed in their formation."
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