ARTICLE V.

(From the American Railway Times.) Railroads in Great Britain.-ANNUAL REPORT OF 1853.

The report of the proceedings of the railway department of the Board of Trade during the year 1853, by Captain Galton, R. E., has been issued.

The report states that the length of new lines of railway sanctioned by the Legislature in the United Kingdom during the year 1853 was 940 miles, which amount is very considerably greater than that sanctioned during any year since 1847. Of this amount 589 miles were in England, 80 miles in Scotland, and 271 miles in Ireland.

Among the most important of the new lines in England appear to be the following, viz: A line from Strood to Canterbury, by which the communication by railway along the south bank of the Thames will be rendered continuous as far as the North Foreland; the Portsmouth Railway, by which a direct communication will be afforded between Portsmouth and the metropolis; an extension of the Midland Railway from Leicester to Hitchin, on the Great Northern Railway, by which a second line of communication will be afforded from the midland districts to the metropolis; and the Worcester and Hereford Railway, by which a more direct route will be opened between the midland counties and South Wales.

In Ireland, the most important line would appear to be the Londonderry and Coleraine Railway, by which a direct route will be afforded between Belfast and Londonderry; and the Londonderry, Coleraine and Sligo Railway, which will afford a direct communication from Sligo to Londonderry, and to Dublin.

The total length of railway which has been authorised by Parliament to the end of 1853, is 12,688 miles. Of this number of miles, 7,686 have been opened for traffic, leaving 5,002 miles to be completed; but the compulsory powers of 2,888 miles have expired without being exercised, or the railways being opened to the end of 1853. The length of railways for the construction of which Parliamentary powers exist is 2,164 miles. The length of railway opened previously to December, 1843, was 2,036 miles. The length opened in the year 1844 was 204 miles; in 1845, 296 miles; in 1846, 606 miles; in 1847, 803 miles; in 1848, 1,182 miles; in 1849, 869 miles; in 1850, 625 miles; in 1851, 269 miles; in 1852, 446 miles; and in 1853, 350 miles, making the total length then opened 7,686 miles, of which 5,848 miles are in England, 995 in Scotland, and 843 miles in Ireland.

The length of the narrow gauge railway, including the Irish gauge of 5 feet, is 6,965 miles, of broad 626 miles, and of the mixed gauge 95 miles. The number of railway companies having

single lines of railway at the end of 1853 was 97, the length of single narrow gauge lines, including the Irish gauge, 1,543 miles, of broad gauge 112 miles, and of mixed gauge 53 miles - total 1,708 miles; of which 1,136 miles of single line are in England, 132 miles in Scotland, and 441 miles in Ireland.

Of the single line opened at the end of the year 1852, 32 miles 46 chains in England, and 51 miles 76 chains in Ireland, have been made double during the year 1853.

The total length of new line which was opened during the year 1853 amounted to 350 miles.

Of the lines opened in England, the principal ones are—the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton railway from Wolvercot to Evesham, by which the manufacturing districts near Birmingham, the town of Worcester, and the important agricultural districts between Worcester and Oxford are accommodated with a direct route to London; the Newport, Abergavenny, and Hereford railway, and the Shrewsbury and Hereford railway, by which a direct route is afforded from Birkenhead to South Wales; and the Thirsk and Malton, and Malton and Driffield railways by which railway communication is afforded to an important district in Yorkshire.

In Scotland, the only line of importance opened for traffic was the Deeside Railway. In Ireland, the most important lines are the Waterford and Kilkenny, and Waterford and Limerick Railways, by which Waterford has been connected with the Irish railway system; and the railway from Killarney to the Great Southern and Western Railway.

All these lines of railway were inspected previous to being opened for traffic by officers of this department, and your lordships required the opening to be postponed in twenty-eight instances. The total number of inspections which were required to be performed by the officers amounted to fifty-eight.

Of the railways opened during 1853, twenty-five portions of railway, representing a total length of 298 miles, consisted of single line; and it would appear that the length of single line open at the end of 1853, viz: 1,708 miles, was between one-fourth and one-fifth of the whole amount of railways open. It is to be observed that the length of single line open at the end of 1852 was 1,485 miles, and at the end of 1851, 1,307 miles. A single line of railway cannot be worked with safety, except under special regulations, so framed as to prevent the possibility of engines or trains moving in opposite directions, from meeting on the single line; such regulations are, however, inconsistent with a large amount of traffic.

In all cases of single lines opened during 1853, your lordships required generally either that the trains should be worked by means of one engine moving backwards and forwards over the line, or over particular portions of it; or that some particular man should be appointed to accompany the trains moving over the portions of

single line. And in cases where the electric telegraph is in use, the regulations required were that the persons employed to start trains should be distinctly responsible for ascertaining, before starting the trains, that the line is clear as far as the next station.

The amount of capital invested in railways at the end of 1852, was £264,165,680, of which £161,400,256 consisted of ordinary capital, £38,700,755 of preference capital, and £64,064,658 of loans. The amount of capital raised for railway purposes in 1849 was £29,574,720; in 1850, £10,522,967; in 1851, £7,970,151, and in 1852, £16,398,993; thus increasing the amount invested in railways at the end of 1849 from £229,747,779 to £264,165,680 at the end of 1852. The amount of money which was raised by railway companies during 1853 has not yet been returned to Parliament; but it may be assumed not to have been less than that raised during 1852, and it is therefore probable that the whole sum raised by railway companies to the end of 1853 is not less than £281,000,000, of which about £42,000,000 may be assumed to have been preferential capital, and nearly £70,000,000 would appear to have been borrowed on the security of the undertakings.

The number of miles of railway in course of construction on the 30th June, 1853, was 682 miles, and the number of men employed on them was 37,764. The number of miles open for traffic at that date was 7,512, and the number of men employed 80,409. The number of men employed on railways open for traffic was 9.15 per mile in 1852, and 10.7 per mile in 1853.

The total number of passengers conveyed on railways in the United Kingdom in the year 1853 amounted to 102,286,660; the number in 1852 had been 89,135,729. The total receipts from all sources of traffic amounted in 1853 to $18,035,879, and in 1852 to £15,710,554.

In England the mean length of line open during the year has been increased from 4,355.5 miles in 1849 to 5.730.5 miles in 1853, and the total number of passengers conveyed has increased from 49,879,362 in 1849 to 84,212,961 in 1853, being an increase of from 11,450 per mile in 1849 to 14,695 per mile in 1853. The numbers conveyed of each class bear very nearly the same relative proportion to each other in each year. In 1853 the number of first class passengers was 12.71 per cent., the number of second class was 37.8 per cent., and the number of third class was 49.42 per cent. of the whole number carried.

The receipts from passengers have increased from £5,446,518 in 1849 to £7,326,106 in 1853, being an increase of from £1,255 per mile to £1,279 per mile (the amount received during 1851 having amounted to £1,330 per mile). The receipts per mile from each class in 1849 were first class, £406; second class, £518; third class, £331. In 1853 the receipts per mile had di

minished on the first and second class to £403 and £474 respectively, and had increased on the third class to £378.

But the most important feature is the steady progress made by the goods traffic of the country, and the apparent probability that in the course of a few years it will form a more important item in the income of railway companies than the passenger traffic.

The receipts from goods have increased from £4,750,504 in 1849, to £8,112,477 in 1853, being an increase of from £1,090 per mile in 1849 to £1,415 per mile in 1853; and whilst the receipts from passengers in 1849 were larger than the receipts from goods in the proportion of 53.42 to 46.58, in 1853 the contrary was the case, viz: the three per-centage of the passenger traffic was 47.45, and of the goods traffic 52.55.

In Scotland the progress of traffic on railways has been similar. The mean length of railway open during the year has increased from 795.5 miles, open in 1849, to 987 miles open in 1853. The number of passengers conveyed in 1849 amounted to 7,902,228, and in 1853 to 10,999,224, which represents 9.993 per mile in 1849 against 11,246 per mile in 1858. The relative number of passengers of each class conveyed would appear to have slightly varied, the number of first and third class passengers having increased, and the number of second class passengers having diminished, the number in 1849 being 729 first class passengers per mile, 2,035 second class passengers per mile, and 6,997 third class passengers per mile, against 1,107 first class, 1,971 second class, 8,165 third class passengers per mile in 1853. The receipts from passengers having increased from £540,770 to £697,712; or from £680 per mile in 1849 to £713 per mile in 1853; and the proportion of receipts from each class conveyed having been, in 1849, £149 per mile for first class, £196 per mile for second class, and £331 per mile for third class passengers, against £181 per mile from first class, £179 per mile from second class, and £345 per mile from third class passengers in 1853.

It would, therefore, appear that in Scotland the third class traffic preponderates considerably; both as regards numbers and receipts. There is also in the Scotch lines a preponderance in the receipts from goods traffic over the receipts from passenger traffic.

The amount received from goods in 1849 was £650,640, and in 1853 it was £1,068,016, representing £818 per mile in 1849, against £1,075 per mile in 1853. The relative proportions of the two descriptions of traffic were, in 1849, passenger traffic 45.38, and goods traffic 54.62; and in 1853 the receipts from goods traffic amounted to 60.48 per cent. of the whole traffic.

In Ireland the progress has also been marked, but a considerable increase has taken place in the number of miles open for traffic, which increase, (as was the case in this country a few years ago,) has been at a greater rate than the increase of the traffic, and hence the receipts per mile do not exhibit a similar progress.

The mean length of railway opened in the year 1849 was 428 miles, and in the year 1853 it was 771 miles.

The total number of passengers conveyed in 1849 amounted to 6,059,947, or 14,142 per mile; and in 1853 it amounted to 7,074,475, or 9,175 per mile. The increase in the number of passangers has taken place chiefly in the first and third classes, the number of second class passengers having diminished. The number of passengers of different classes per mile in 1849:-First class, 1,226; second class, 7,138, and third class, 5,776. The receipts from passengers have increased from £290,604 in 1849, to £537,259 in 1853; the receipts per mile having been £678 in 1849, and £696 in 1853, divided between the different classes in the following proportion in 1849:-First class, £150 per mile; second class, £273, and third class, £255; and in 1853, first class, £168; second class, £264, and third class, £251. The receipts for goods amounted, in 1849, to £127,462, and in 1853, to £294,810, equivalent to £297 per mile in 1853. The relative proportion of receipts from the two classes of traffic was, in 1849, 69.51 from passengers, and 30.49 from goods, and in 1853 it was 64.62 from passengers, and 35.38 from goods.

The general summary of the result is, that since the year 1849, whilst the number of miles over which the traffic is conveyed has increased 34 per cent., the number of passengers has increased 60 per cent., the receipts from passergers 36 per cent., or from £1,125 per mile in 1849 to £1,143 per mile in 1853; the receipts from goods have increased 71 per cent., or from £990 per mile in 1849 to £1,265 per mile in 1853; and the total receipts have increased nearly 53 per cent., or from £2,115 per mile in 1849, to £2,408 per mile in 1853. And the proportionate increase of the traffic of 1853 over that of 1852 was greater than that of 1850 over 1849.

It is worthy of remark, that as regards the passenger traffic, the proportionate increase in the number of the lower class of passengers conveyed by railway is greater than that of other classes, and the proportion which the receipts from that class bear to the receipts from other classes is greater for 1853 than it was for 1849. The receipts from goods are also largely increasing, and they bear every year an increasing proportion to passenger traffic.

With respect to accidents, it appears that in 1852, 216 persons were killed and 486 injured on the railways in the United Kingdom out of a gross total of 89,135,729 passengers; of these persons 181 were killed and 413 were injured in England; 24 were killed and 71 injured in Scotland; and 11 were killed and 2 injured in Ireland. In the year 1853, out of a gross total of 102,286,660 passengers conveyed by the railways of the United Kingdom, 305 were killed and 449 injured; of these 243 were killed and 369 injured in England; 37 were killed and 68 injured in Scotland; and 25 were killed and 12 injured in Ireland.