Railway branch line

“ For it is very evident that nothing can be so beneficial to a railway already in operation as a branch line, by which a hitherto unopened district can be united to their stations. And the difference of expense between the two systems—namely, between an iron railway and a wooden pavement—is so great, that the latter is scarcely beyond the power of the poorest neighbourhood. ”

“ On a working railway, the train service must be kept going, irrespective of renewals, and very often the best that can be done is to reduce the double line to single line working at the site of the operations. It is not always expedient or possible to make a temporary bridge and diverted line for traffic purposes, as the expenditure to be incurred might be too great to warrant the outlay, or there may be local difficulties to effectually prevent the introduction of a provisional structure. ”

“ So far from exercising any monopoly, the railways here are subjected, even among themselves, to a fierce competition. Parliament has sanctioned a second railway to Dover; there are already two lines to Hastings; two are completed to Portsmouth, and a third is making; the Government has insisted upon the South-Western making a second line to Exeter; there are already three lines to Birmingham; there are three lines to Derby, three to Peterborough, three to York, two to Cambridge, two to Oxford, two to Norwich, two to Lincoln, two to Liverpool ”

“ The growth of the traffic on the principal railways has brought about the necessity of widening or laying down additional lines of rails upon the principal trunk railways, and as this usually involves the purchase of additional land, and more or less interference with public roads and bridges, the operation has to be sanctioned by Parliament very much in the same way as if an absolutely new line of railway were contemplated, although there is not, as a rule, so much serious opposition to be encountered. ”

“ Even the export trade alone in coals and iron could not be conducted with convenience upon the same line of rails as the passenger traffic, and would require a separate line of rails in order to allow the waggons passing and repassing from the different works within the district to reach without interruption some principal station at its extremity, where trains of the proper size could be formed and dispatched to distant points. ”

“ It is very doubtful how far the addition of a single rail only would be consistent with safety, as in this case the centre of gravity of the carriages of different gauge in the same train would not be in the same straight line. If a complete double set of rails were laid down the expense would be very considerable. ”

“ Block-Telegraph Signalling.—However complete the outdoor signals and interlocking at any station, they can only control the movement of trains within their range, and something more is requisite to ensure the safe working of the traffic over the long lengths of line between stations. For some years a time-interval was allowed for the working of trains following one another on the UP and DOWN lines of a double line railway, no train being allowed to leave a station sooner than a fixed number of minutes after a previous train had started in the same direction. ”

“ But gradually, as people began to return to their farms and sheep-runs, and the agricultural possibilities of the State again seemed worth considering, the numbers of railway-lines began to increase, and during the twenty years which followed 1874 no fewer than 2,498 miles of railway were constructed and opened for traffic, since which only 348 miles of line have been added, chiefly in the wheat-growing districts of the North-West. ”

“ Unquestionably many of the smaller railways to be amalgamated, though not light railways, need large expenditure for the purpose of duplication of running lines, straightening of curves, stations, stores, and conveniences, and many extensions and cross-lines will also be needed to connect them with the trunk lines, and to open out districts now unprovided with railway facilities. ”

“ The new railroad, the first public line, was opened in September, 1825. As its construction progressed, its engineer had become increasingly sanguine of success. He said to his son Robert at this time: "I venture to tell you that I think you will live to see the day when railways will supersede almost all other methods of conveyance in this country—when mail coaches will go by railway, and railroads will become the great highway for the King and all his subjects. The time is coming when it will be cheaper for a workingman to travel upon a railway than to walk on foot. ”

“ They are all mounted on carriage springs, and have grease boxes, spring buffers, and every other device in use on the London and North-Western Railway—from which they have been copied, like everything else on this Liliputian line. The greatest railway in the world took a friendly interest in the smallest, and supplied it with the drawings and models from which it and its rolling stock have been imitated. ”

“ This arrangement of the four lines has afforded great relief to the traffic of all kinds, and has enabled the service to be worked with much greater facility and punctuality. The goods trains being restricted to their own separate lines, can proceed regularly in their order, at their uniform working speed, without having to resort to the spasmodic fast running too often expected from them when passing over some parts of an ordinary double line. ”

“ They are apt to give orders for large entrainments and detrainments to be carried out at any part of the line, regardless of the railway facilities at that point, although perhaps a suitable place is within reasonable distance. Frequently they have been known to countermand their orders for entrainments, heedless of the fact that, once arrangements have been made to concentrate rolling stock on a certain place, it takes time to alter these arrangements, and is sure to cause confusion. ”

“ The company might be merely the owners of a highway and toll takers for the use of it by other people with their own carriages and locomotives. That state of things would be worked out by the railway company possessing the mere line of railway from end to end, and by the persons making use of it, buying or renting contiguous land whereon to keep their rolling stock, and have their offices, availing themselves of the powers of Section 76 of the Act of 1845, and getting on to the railway by means of sidings connected with the railway. ”

“ And thus, when a train starts on a journey of it may be hundreds of miles, it is signaled on from station to station, and "lives along the line," until at length it reaches its destination, and the last signal of "train in" is given. By this means an immense number of trains can be worked with regularity and safety. On the Southeastern Railway, where the system has been brought to a state of high efficiency, it is no unusual thing during Easter week to send 570,000 passengers through the London Bridge Station alone; and on some days as many as 1200 trains a day. ”

“ Louis, and three to Cincinnati, and with almost every one of these roads trying to maintain a service as good as its competitors, if not better, there was and is a vast preponderance of through passenger-trains, many times to the cost of weaker or branch lines, even of well-to-do-systems. It is not at all uncommon for a branch line, particularly if it passes through a non-competitive district, to be paying with its all-too-few and overcrowded local trains for the extravagances of the underfilled through ones upon the main line. ”

“ The greater width would not only provide more clearance in case of breakdowns, but would afford increased safety to the platelayers and other workmen engaged on the line. The permanent-way men have to be very watchful to keep out of danger on an ordinary busy double line, but they must be very much more on the alert where there are four lines of way close together side by side. ”

“ The next nearest railway line was forty-five miles away, and two years after the Wheat Belt Line began operations, it was proposed to organise a local company to construct a railway from Slocum, through Bunkerville to Jamestown, on the other line. Bonuses were granted all along the route, and besides this the State legislature gave a subsidy, and, furthermore, passed a Bill to prevent competition, prohibiting any railway to parallel the Farmers' Road for sixty miles on either side. ”

“ This arrangement avoids the necessity of any switches, and prevents any accidents which would arise from a misplaced switch. Each set of trains is effectually kept to its own line of rails. With proper signalling or pilot working, the double-line traffic can be worked over the single-line bridge without difficulty. The writer has adopted the above arrangement in many cases when renewing double-line bridges or viaducts where the width for traffic working has been restricted to half of the bridge. ”

“ Cloud and Crow Wing, TO THE NAVIGABLE WATERS OF THE RED RIVEr of the north, at such point as The legislature of the territory might determine. By the change effected this branch was to be constructed north only to the intersection designated, and a direct line via St. Cloud and Crow Wing to that point would also be a long way from the lands in controversy. When the termini of a railroad are mentioned, for whose construction a grant is made, the extent of which is dependent upon the distance between those points, the road should be constructed upon the most direct and practicable line. ”

“ While the history of the railway dates back far beyond the nineteenth century, yet the railway, as we know it to-day, is essentially a product of this century. It dates, in fact, from England in 1830, when the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, 31 miles long, was opened, and was operated from the beginning by steam locomotives. The Stockton & Darlington Railway, 37 miles, was opened in 1825, but this line was intended only for private coal traffic, while the other line was built for general passenger and freight service, and for the use and benefit of the public. ”

“ The balance is built and operated on private right of way, and goes around, rather than through, the cities. The tracks are standard gauge and of standard railroad construction, were, at the time they were laid, of higher class than those of the Southern Railway Company in the same territory, were intended for handling substantial interchange freight traffic in connection with steam railroads, have the same ruling grades as the latter in the same territory, and are of 80-pound rail. ”

“ The capital of these railways, with the sums which the proprietors were authorized to borrow, cannot be taken at less than Sixty Millions Sterling.
Now, it is very instructive to remark, that until the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester line in September 1830, not one single railway was constructed with a view to the conveyance of passengers. The first intention of the railway was to provide for the carriage of goods at a cheaper rate than could be effected by means of the canals, and for the accommodation of the great coal-fields and mineral districts of England. ”

“ This was no easy task to accomplish in so short a time as a week, but by arranging for the diminution of the number of trains, and through the sympathy of the public, which in the first instance had been altogether with the men, but was totally changed when the real facts became known, the service of the line was continued, and within nine days from that on which the old hands had given notice of retirement, almost all the usual trains were restored to the time table. The anxieties of a strike on a great leading railway are of a fearful character ”

“ An Act, however, was passed in 1845 for the establishment of at least one third class train a day in each direction, in accordance with a time bill to be previously approved by the Board of Trade, the speed to be not less than twelve miles an hour, and the fare for conveyance—in carriages, the dimensions, seating accommodation, and size of windows of which must be sanctioned by the Board of Trade—not to exceed a penny a mile. Without such approval and sanction, a train is not considered, what is known in railway language, as a “parliamentary train” within the meaning of the Act. ”

“ The Transportation Directorate was, so to speak, a sub-branch of the Staff. It had a great standard-gauge railway system which kept 900 locomotives running, which in one day could send 196 trains from the Bases to railheads (this irrespective of trains on lateral lines) and in one week once moved 439,801 troops and in one month 1,539,410 troops. Its railway system was constantly being pushed forward, being duplicated, and being furnished with "avoiding lines." Further, Transportation had a light railway system which carried 174,923 tons a week. ”

“ Considering, therefore, that not only the ability necessary for the general management of a railway, but the intelligence and vigilance requisite at every station and on every portion of the line are found practically to increase according to the demand, and vice versâ, it is evident that nothing would prove more fatal to the public as well as ruinous to proprietors than to split an efficient remunerating great railway into two or more inefficient and unremunerating small ones. ”

“ In time of war the Central Commission was to be supplemented by Line Commissions formed by military officers and railway officers in combination, and operating each in a leading centre of railway traffic. Their function it would be—with the assistance of District Line Commissions—not only to communicate to the line or lines of railway in their district such orders as might be necessary for the transport of troops, guns, ammunition, horses, and supplies, but, also, to draw up or make the final arrangements in connection with the time-tables for the running of military trains ”