Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade on the London, Worcester, and Wolverhampton, | Page 3

improvement
authorized by Parliament. From this difficulty, however, as well as
from the apprehension of that great improvement being impeded by the
introduction of Railways into the district, we are relieved by the offer
made by the Railway Company to whose scheme we recommend that a
preference should be given, to take upon themselves the burden of the
guarantee to the extent of any loss sustained in consequence of the
construction of the Railway, subject to any reasonable conditions and
arrangements.
With regard to the remaining point, that of safety, it is admitted that
portions of the soil being undermined, subsidences occasionally take
place; but there appears no reason to apprehend any peculiar degree of
danger to a Railway from this source, beyond what equally affects the
Canals, Roads, Tramroads, Founderies, Mills, and other buildings of
the district, and which has never been considered an impediment to the
introduction of Railways in other mining districts. Some of the most
eminent engineers of the day, among whom may be mentioned Sir J.
Rennie, Mr. Brunel, and Mr. R. Stephenson, have proposed the lines
which pass through the district in question, and are clearly of opinion
that they may be worked without any unusual degree of danger.

We are of opinion, therefore, that some one line of Railway is required,
and may be properly sanctioned, for the accommodation of the district
in question, between Wolverhampton and Worcester. This being
conceded, the sanction of a line in connexion with it, to connect
Worcester more directly with London, and to give communication to
the large intermediate district, appears to follow almost as a matter of
course. The supply of coals to this district, where a great reduction of
price will be effected, is alone an important object; and, on the other
hand, an outlet will be afforded for agricultural produce. A population
of about 128,000 between Worcester and Tring would be
accommodated by the line in that direction; and on the whole, taken in
connexion with the Worcester and Wolverhampton Junction, the traffic
seems sufficient to justify a fair expectation of return on the capital to
be invested, as also on the Rugby and Oxford portion of the line, which
will complete a chain of direct Railway communication from the
Northern and Midland to the Southern and South Western counties, and
will afford to those counties a valuable supply of coal from the
Derbyshire collieries.
We proceed, therefore, to investigate the subject, on the assumption
that one or other of the competing schemes promoted by the London
and Birmingham, and Great Western Companies, will be sanctioned,
and that the question is reduced to one of preference between them.
In regard to distance, the two schemes are as nearly as possible equal,
the distance from Worcester to London being 122 miles by the Tring
line, and 119 by the Oxford line; the former, however, terminating at
the Euston Square Station, and the latter at Paddington. The number of
miles of new Railway to be constructed in either case is also nearly the
same; nor does there appear to be anything in respect of gradients or
engineering character calculated to give one scheme a decided
preference over the other. The course of the Tring line accommodates a
larger population between Worcester and London than the Oxford line;
but the importance of the districts traversed by either line, and left out
by its competitor, is hardly sufficient to give a decided superiority on a
question of such magnitude.

A far more important feature of comparison is derived from a
consideration of the question of gauge.
The Great Western scheme is proposed to be constructed on the wide
gauge of seven feet, used upon the different Railways of the Great
Western system; while the scheme of the London and Birmingham
Company is proposed to be constructed on the narrow gauge of 4 feet
8.5 inches, common to all the other Railways of the kingdom.
In order to estimate fully the importance of this question, it must be
borne in mind that the Bristol and Gloucester Railway is on the wide,
while the Birmingham and Gloucester is on the narrow gauge, and that
the inconvenience resulting from the break of the two gauges at
Gloucester has been so great as to lead to an amalgamation of the two
Companies, with a view to obviate it, by introducing uniformity of
gauge throughout between Bristol and Birmingham. From the
arrangements which have been made with this view, it is perfectly
evident that upon the question of the Worcester lines depends whether
this uniformity will be proposed to be attained, by the Birmingham and
Gloucester Railway adopting the wide gauge, or the Bristol and
Gloucester adopting the narrow.
The question, therefore, upon which we have had to form an opinion is,
whether it is