LONDON & BLACKWALL Commercial ILit'Uuai*. REPORT OF Messrs. G E .° STEPHENSON, & G. P. BIDDER. F. MANSELL, PRINTER. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/londonblackwallcOOstep \_Sl-s LONDON AND BLACKWALL V9 < vn COMMERCIAL RAILWAY. The Directors have the pleasure to lay before the Proprietors a most important Report made by Messrs. Stephenson and Bidder relative to the mode of constructing and working the Commercial Blackwall Railway; and, in doing so, they think it right to state to the Proprietors the circumstances which have led them to obtain that Report. ^ The Proprietors are well aware, that it was U~ the intention of the Projectors of this Railway to work it by Locomotive Power ; and the Directors therefore looked with great solicitude and anxiety ^ J[pr the result of the first operations of the Greenwich Railway, which is worked in the same mode, considering that a good deal of o2 information might be derived from the practical experience of that undertaking. IV. It may be a matter of question and opinion, how far that Railway can be considered, as having fulfilled, or disappointed, the expecta- tions .of its Proprietors and the Public. But two points are clear : one, that the annual ex- pence of working it by Locomotive Engines, including incidental expences, amounts to <£21,000; and the other, that the intermediate station at Bermondsey leads to a delay of at least three minutes in the journey, in stop- ping and recovering the speed. The Directors have also had the benefit of i 5(il iO* HOJn v nt if n ? * witnessing the completion and working of the Euston Square termination of the London and Birmingham Railway by Stationary Engines. Having thus been able practically to ascertain the comparative advantages of two short lines of rail- way, one worked by locomotive, and the other by Stationary Engine Power; and having thereby received a strong impression, that this Railway, though originally intended to be worked by Loco- motive Engines, might be rendered susceptible of Stationary Engine Power with great advantage, the Directors applied to Messrs. Stephenson and Bidder, for their opinion upon the subject; V considering them peculiarly qualified to form a judgment, from their having employed both Stationary and Locomotive Power on the Railways which they had constructed. The Report which accompanies this, is the result of that application; and, while the Directors congratulate the Proprietors upon its very important and satisfactory contents, they are enabled to state, that no Report was ever prepared with greater consideration, anxiety, and labor, and they therefore confidently re- commend it to the adoption of the Proprietors. As a summary of the advantages which the Report holds out, it is sufficient to say, — first, that it promises a reduction of expenditure in the construction of the Railway amounting to £168,000. besides an expected saving in the purchase of land, which will enable the Company to complete the Railway to Fenchurch Street, without any extension of the capital, and secondly a reduction of the expenditure for working the line amounting to above £12,000 per annum. It will further be seen by the Report, and is in itself VI obvious, that the Railway may be completed upon the plan now proposed, in a much shorter space of time than was originally contemplated. It appears from this Report, taken in connection with the former Estimates, that the line from the Minories to Black w all may be constructed for about £440,000; and the estimate of gross traffic being £139,767, an interest of twenty-two per cent, may reasonably be calculated upon, after making a deduction of one-third of the gross return for the working expences, rates, and all other annual charges of management; and, in this estimate, no credit is taken either for rent of arches, for wharfage at Black wall. To the Directors of the London and Blackwall Commercial Railway Company. Gentlemen, In pursuance of your resolution, that we should furnish the Board with a written Report as to the best mode of working the Blackwall Railway, and point out any 'improve- ment that might occur to us in the construction thereof ; we have examined the Plans and Sections of the London and Blackwall Railway, and have also had various communications with Mr. Tite respecting the property on and ad- joining the Railway; and we avail ourselves of this opportunity of expressing our thanks for the obliging manner with which he has given us much useful information. With reference to the most important point on which you have done us the honor to request our opinion, viz. — the best mode of working your line of Railway, we have to observe, that 8 our attention has been devoted exclusively to the relative advantages of employing Stationary or Locomotive power ; deeming one or the other of those to be the only practicable and efficient mode of working this line. The Commercial Railway, as at present de- signed, is to extend from the Brunswick Wharf, Black wall, to a Depot adjoining Fenehurch Street, in London, a distance of about three and a half miles, to be built on arches, and having Gradients rising on an average twelve feet per mile: the line being tolerably direct, though there are in its course curves of about one thousand yards radius. By the Company ’s Prospectus, we find that the expected traffic is estimated at 13,500 Passengers . . j 480 Tons of Goods J ^ ei c ^ em * With the view, however, of keeping our conclusions upon the comparative powers of Stationary and Locomotive Engines on the safe side, we have assumed the traffic at 8,000 Passengers } 250 Tons of Goods i Per d,em ' It must not be inferred from this, that we imagine the former statement of traffic to be exaggerated; our intention in the reduction being solely to prove the superiority of the Stationary Engine System upon the lesser amount of traffic, and a fortiori, demonstrate its greater eligibility for the larger quantity. 0 For this amount of traffic, and to meet the public convenience, we assume that it will be necessary to have trains to start from each terminus every quarter of an hour, during the business part of the day; and that for the remainder, it will be sufficient to have half hour trains. We also assume the importance of the West India Dock traffic, both for passengers and goods, to be such, that it must be deemed a sine qua non , that the West India Dock passengers should be conve)^ed with the same regularity and speed as those passing from terminus to terminus. Rapidity of conveyance being the chief in- ducement for the use of Railways, we consider that the time occupied on this Railway, from terminus to terminus, should not exceed twelve minutes. This, if the Locomotive System be adopted, would require the engines and trains to travel with a minimum velocity of thirty miles per hour, when at full speed; otherwise the delay occasioned by the necessity of stopping at the West India Docks, would prevent the journey being performed within the above limit. At this great speed, it is highly desirable that no curve on the line should be of less than one mile radius. There can be but one opinion of the manifest advantages which would folio w r the enlargement of the curves on your line of Railway; and we are aware that they have been adopted for the purpose of avoiding greater interference with 10 valuable property : if, however, the width of the Railway be reduced to the extent we shall suggest these curves may be got rid of without rendering such interference necessary. We are aware that a highly respectable autho- rity has stated that three lines might be sufficient upon the locomotive system; but it was added that the width between the rails should be increased. We do not see how the increasing the width between the rails is to meet the necessities of the case; but are satisfied that it would then inevi- tably become still more desirable to have the curves of enlarged radii. Mr. Cubitt having, therefore, notwithstanding his proposal to reduce the number of lines, still recommended a width of forty-five feet for the Railway, being, in fact, the same as that chosen by Sir John Rennie, and estimated for by him, we have assumed this width in our estimates for the Locomotive System. * * On reference to Mr. Tite’s evidence, we find that his estimate of the proposed extension to Fenchurch Street ap- plies to a width of Viaduct of forty feet to include three lines of Rails only, and these of the width of five feet. On consideration, however, that the original estimates apply to that part of the line between the Minories and Blackwall, on which portion only we have estimated the saving effected by adopting the Stationary Engine System, and being of opinion that four lines of Railway would be found necessary were locomotive power resorted to, we do not think it would be fair to state the saving in the width of the Viaduct at less than sixteen feet. 11 If the Stationary Engine System be adopted, we should recommend that the Engines be placed at or near to the Minories in London, and at or near to Brunswick Street, at Poplar, with ropes extending between these two points; leaving the spaces included between the Minories and Fen- church Street, at one end, and between the Brunswick Wharf and Brunswick Street, at the other, (which are composed of curves of small radii,) to be worked in one direction by mo- mentum and in the other by gravity, as at present exemplified in the London and Birmingham Railway, at Euston Square. The ropes would be wound round drums of a large diameter; and we should propose to work this line by what is called a tail rope; that is, a rope attached to the train, by which it is drawn on the return journey; thus, in fact, a rope will be always extended the whole length of the line between the Minories and Brunswick Street, Poplar. By this arrangement carriages can be attached or detached, at any intermediate point of the line as well as at the terjmni, upon the same principle that the trains on the London and Birmingham Railway are attached to the rope on the ex- tension of that Railway to Euston Square. Capability would thus be afforded to the Com- pany of increasing their Intermediate Stations, when their depot Establishment is properly organized, and sufficient inducement in point of traffic has been ascertained to render it desirable. By means of the Stationary Engines and Ropes disposed in the way before specified, the taking on Carriages of Goods and Passengers at all such points as may hereafter be determined upon, can be effected without any stoppage of the intercourse between the extremities of the Railway; #nd the extreme velocity of the Rope, therefore, need not exceed twenty-five miles per hour, in order to perform the journey in twelve minutes. The practicability of attaining this velocity, is already proved by the experience of the London and Birmingham Stationary Engine Plane, where a gradient of eighty feet per mile, and with two Engines of only sixty horse power each, is travelled at a speed of twenty miles per hour; and, as the gradients on this Railway would be very considerably less, the speed could, as a matter of course, be proportionably increased. Upon this System there would be no necessity for more than two lines of rails ; and if the previously assumed space were taken for the lines, the width would not exceed twenty-two feet ; but we are of opinion that a greater width should be taken for two lines, and we have assumed twenty-nine feet to be essential, and have made our calculations thereon. 13 Having made these introductory remarks, we shall proceed to the comparison of the relative merits of the Stationary and Locomotive Systems as applied to this Railway. To render our observations the more distinct, we shall arrange them under the following heads: 1st. — Relative Speed. 2nd. — Relative Working Expences. 3rd. — Relative Cost of Construction. FIRST. Relative Speed. As an abstract question, each system can give any velocity which the public wants can demand . In the present instance, we have assumed that it is essential that the trip from Blackwall to London should be performed in twelve minutes, and that the trips should be repeated every quarter of an hour from each end. By the Stationary Engine System, with engines of two hundred and fifty horse power at the Minories, and of two hundred horse power at Blackwall, this can be accomplished with a train of one hundred and thirty tons gross load, or with a train of one thousand passengers: and this load might be materially increased, without prolong- ing the journey more than one or two minutes at most. 14 Upon the Locomotive System, (supposing that, to ensure regularity, the same speed and punctuality will he demanded in each direction,) the capability of the engines is necessarily limited to the loads they can draw from Blackwall to London ; which it is to be observed is against an inclination of twelve feet per mile: and our opinion is, that the extreme load to be attached to the Locomotive Engine to admit of its per- forming the trip in twelve minutes, should not exceed thirty-five tons gross, or two hundred and fifty passengers. To provide, therefore, as well for those cases, when so many as one thousand or more passen- gers will have to be conveyed on one journey, as for the accommodation of passengers requiring to be taken up and set down at intermediate parts of the line, (which could only be accom- plished by separate sets of rails devoted to that traffic and the carriage of goods,) it would, in our opinion, be absolutely necessary, that if it is to be worked by Locomotive Power, the Railway should be constructed with four lines of rails; whereas, by the use of Stationary Engines, two lines would be amply sufficient to meet all possible exigencies. Undoubtedly there may be occasions when a variety of favourable circum- stances will combine to permit the above load for Locomotive Engines to be slightly increased: but * on the other hand, it will more frequently happen That it will require to be reduced in a much greater 15 degree. From such fluctuations the Stationary Engine System is almost, if not wholly, free. Neither system is exposed to serious derange- ments; though even on this head, in our opinion, the advantage, slight as it is, will remain with the Stationary Engines. SECOND. Relative Working Expences , and Primary Cost of Establishment. With a view to determine this important question, we have made use of the experience afforded by Railways in operation wherever such information is available: and though there is not any Railway strictly analagous to the London and Black wall, we have applied the results of such experience, allowing for variation of circum- stances, and the peculiarities of the case under consideration. The calculations made upon these data, have satisfactorily proved, that the annual expence of maintaining and repairing the Locomotive Engines required for this line and keepingthem at work, would amount to £ 23 , 000 . per annum; whilst the Stationary Engines would be worked and maintained for £11,000; to which must be added £1000. per annum, for replacing the ropes. / To uphold the Railway, and to keep the per- I / manent way in repair for the use of Stationary ! JTSf 'cJ o Engines, would cost £ 1500 . per annum less than \ 2.3 if Locomotive Engines were used, making a total / 16 difference in favor of Stationary Engines, of £12,500. per annum. To establish the Stationary Engines with the requisiteBuildings and Duplicates would require £ 25,000; and to purchase ten powerful Loco- motive Engines, with the requisite Water Stations, repairing Sheds, &c. would cost £20,000.: to which latter sum should be added the expence of erecting the Hoisting Machinery at the West India Docks: and the annual cost of working the same should also be added to the difference in favor of the Stationary Engine System, under the head of Working Expences. THIRD. Relative Cost of Construction of Viaduct and Railway required by the respective Systems. Prior to entering on the investigation of this head of comparison, we shall allude briefly to the peculiarities of each system which affect the costs of construction. The Locomotive Engines require that, whatever may be the attendant expense, the Gradients should be so modified and reduced as to admit of their efficient operation, otherwise, the utility IT of these machines must be greatly diminished, and their Working Expences augmented: whereas the Stationary Engine System admits of the gradients being modified toa considerable extent, without affecting its useful and efficient operation. As an instance, we may again refer to the London and Birmingham Railway Extension, on which there is a gradient of eighty feet per mile. In the present case, the only limit to the most economical modification of the levels of the Railway for adaptation to the Stationary Engine System, is the prescribed mode of crossing streets and roads. But even within this limit, the saving would be most important, and would be accompanied by other advantages hereafter adverted to: this saving would be increased, if permission could be obtained to cross under instead of over (as at present proposed) Brunswick Street, Poplar, and the Road East of the West India Dock Company^ Reservoir. A most important saving in the cost of con- struction will attend that system which requires fewest lines of Rails, and consequently the least width of Viaduct: and assuming that the views previously taken in this Report are correct, it would appear that two lines are all that are required by the Stationary Engine System ; whilst the Locomotive System renders four lines essential; and 18 and that therefore a saving of at least sixteen feet in the width of the Viaduct would be effected by the use of Stationary Engines. The saving thus attained, by narrowing the width of the Viaduct, and lowering it as far as the powers of your Act of Parliament permit, would amount to £ 150,000 ; to which, if the before-mentioned thoroughfares are permitted to be slightly raised, would be added £23,000, making a total saving of £173,000, exclusive of that effected in the cost of the property to be purchased. We would further observe, that if the works were so materially reduced, the whole could be completed in eighteen months. SUMMARY. We thus collect that, under the three important heads of Speed, Working Expences, and Cost of Construction, the Stationary Engine system is capable of producing equal speed with the Loco- motive; whilst the Stationary Engine System ad" mits of being worked at a charge of £12,500 less, per annum, than the Locomotive, and in construc- tion a saving of £145, 000 would be effected within 19 the powers conferred by your Act of Parliament, besides the saving in the cost of the property to be purchased, and also exclusive of the expence of erecting and working the Hoisting Machinery at the West India Docks; and, that, provided the Company obtain the privilege of passing under the West India Dock Road, East, and Brunswick Street, Poplar, a total saving of £168,000 would be effected, exclusive of the expence of erecting and working additional Hoisting Apparatus at Black wall, as well as of the less cost of property required. Next, that* in addition to the decided advan- tages attending the Stationary Engine System on the above important heads of comparison, it would also afford the means of providing as many intermediate stations as might be found requisite, and thus occasion an increase of traffic to the Railway, and consequently an increase of ac- commodation to the public. That, moreover, by being on a lower level at the West India Docks and Black wall, it admits of a readier communication with the Warehouses of the former, as well as with any additional wharfs which may be constructed towards the West India Dock entrance at the latter. In fact, it admits of goods being placed into waggons at the West India Docks, and removed to London, nay, to the Warehouses of this Dock Company, in London, without transhipment, and without the in- tervention of any cumbrous machinery whatever. 20 Before concluding this Report, we would add a few general observations, with a view of dispelling some misapprehensions which may exist respect- ing the introduction of Stationary Power. It has been supposed by many, that great speed is incompatible with Stationary Engines and Ropes. To this we would reply, that it is impos- sible to adduce a single fact or reason for this sup- position ; and, as conclusive testimony, we would once more refer to the Stationary Engines on the London and Birmingham Railway, which, with the unfavorable gradient of 80 feet per mile, yet produce a velocity of twenty miles per hour; and had the Engines been of greater power, this speed would be proportionably increased. It has been stated, that the noise attending Sta- tionary Engines is greater than that of Loco- motives; because whilst in operation, the noise is maintained constantly throughout the whole line as far as the ropes extend: whereas, it is alleged, that the Locomotives are only heard whilst passing. In reply to this, we can only express our decided conviction ,that when it shall become an object, as it would in this case, to obviate all just cause of complaint, the pullies for carrying the ropes admit of being constructed so that all inconvenience from this source would be entirely obviated ; so that, indeed, the inhabitants adjoining the line would be utterly unconscious of their action. On 21 the other hand, it is clear that the occasional nuisance arising from the expulsion of steam and ashes from the Locomotive Engine Funnel would be totally avoided. But we must go further and observe, that the greatest com- plaints occur against Railways when their stations are situated m a crowded neighbourhood, and are produced by the steam blowing off whilst the Engines are waiting for the trains, and from the whistles they blow as signals of their approach : whilst the Stationary Engines cannot be heard out of the Building wherein they are erected. As an instance, at Camden Town Station, you may actually stand imme- diately over the Engines while in full work, and yet be ignorant of their vicinity. Looking to these circumstances, and collecting that by the plan proposed, there will not be any of the Machinery or Ropes nearer the London Terminus than the Minories, it seems clear that the clause in your Act of Parliament requiring you to buy all property lying within fifty feet of your line, if injury can be proved, could never come into operation, as there would not exist any just cause for complaint. In conclusion, Gentlemen, we beg to recom- mend for your adoption the Stationary Engine System; under the certain conviction, that you would thereby accomplish your object in the 22 most efficient manner, and with the utmost economy, both as respects cost of construction and working expences. We have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Y our most obedient Servants, GEO STEPHENSON, G P. BIDDER. January §th, 1838 . • 5fit / 'v l>ae &nmm : tebffh ' gscwisqx? wtiilioyv /^HKSJT ¥■ S ■ : " ?;{,'£'*•& £ aHT f /■■ w JT IA'ffl - tMTI Mtf ,8$&P>GH<1 KT .ClHraGSDOI . > KTHOVT & gSBET^UCV.) -a^AJCU •.T^S'trfgaTOI' 8A- M3HT ^OTO KOIKHO g’JIOUTU/. g<1Aflft HT1W d3TAWT2UJJi MOQMOil CM'A ,*33510 ,*7/0513 ,3M5lO JJ3V?VtA K ) .3 .1: J00 ( DI3V1J .8Wf .