Post by Nortube on Apr 5, 2013 1:32:51 GMT
From the past M1
METROPOLITAN SUBTERRANEAN RAILWAY.
(From the Times.)
The spring, when this line was to have been finished, and the summer, too, have come and gone, but the City is still in point of time just as far distant from the west as ever it was. All the little delays and all the great annoyances of overcrowded traffic which it was to mitigate, if not to do away with, are still as rampant and glaring as ever, and the public and the shareholders also seem to be getting impatient in their desire to know the reason of the long delay.
The varying rumours and constant speculations to which the postponement of the opening has given rise have been numerous enough, one would have thought, to enable some to come near the truth as to the real causes of the delay. The latter, however, have been so very simple that no one has guessed them. The breaking in of Fleet Ditch, though it in no way affected the line itself, caused serious loss of time in completing the main City terminus at Farringdon-street. From the time when that obstacle was removed, now more than a month past, the line could have been worked easily at its minimum rate of traffic, which is to be no less than ninety trains a day each way. The only reason against such working in October last was the wise determination of the directors - in which they have been heartily supported by their able engineer, Mr. Fowler - not to run a single passenger train until every minute detail in relation to their stations and signals was finished and arranged in the most perfect working order. The directors seem to be well aware that in a line on such a novel plan, and having so many peculiar features in its construction, it would be dangerous to open it to the public while still imperfect, or till they had so organised all their various departments as to give confidence by the customary appearances which on these works denote a well matured and deliberate system, Thus, even in such trifling matters as painting stations or papering and furnishing waiting-rooms, nothing has been left incomplete, and from Farringdon-street to Paddington the whole line is now absolutely perfected and ready in every branch, even down to the liveries of the guards and porters.
The usual ten days’ notice was given last Friday to the Board of Trade to inspect the mechanism of the signals, and when these have been examined the line will open, and, as we have said, with as much completeness of detail as if it had been twelve months in working order.
The importance of this new route, both for the relief it must afford our overcrowded streets and in diminishing in point of time the space between the various districts of this unwieldy city, makes it one of the most remarkable of all our many railway triumphs. It is for a London line the cheapest that has ever been constructed, though the engineering difficulties it presented at every hundred yards were the most formidable of their kind that have ever been encountered.
The present powers of the company only allow them to carry their line from Paddington to Finsbury-circus, a distance of about five miles, of which the first great length, from Paddington to Farringdon-street, is complete, with working junctions to the Great Western and Great Northern railways. The tunnel commences at the Paddington terminus, and continues in an almost direct line towards the New-road, passing beneath the Edgware-road at right angles, and intersecting in the same manner Lisson-grove-road and Upper Baker-street, skirting along beneath, and just outside the Southern extremity of Regent's Park. Thence it passes under the houses at the eastern extremity of Park-crescent, beneath Tottenham-court-road, into the New-road, and, passing close by Euston-square, turns at Kings-cross to effect a junction with the up and down lines of the Great Northern Railway. From King’s cross a great part of the line is an open cutting, except for a length of about 600 yards beneath Bagnigge-wells-road and Coppice-row, where again a short tunnel intervenes. From this to the Farringdon-street station it is nearly all a fair open cutting, and up to this point the line is perfectly ready.
From Farringdon-street station, on the waste ground beyond Holborn, which is still dignified with the name of a street, the line is soon to have two branches, one intersecting Holborn-hill, or rather Skinner-street, and continuing its course due south under the site of the old Fleet Prison, to effect a junction with the Chatham and Dover line, which is to cross the Thames at Blackfriars; the other and more important branch-in fact the main line-is to be continued under the ground north of Smithfield and south of Charterhouse-square, and will pass beneath Barbican into Finsbury-circus. At this terminus it is intended, for the present at least, to stop ; though, as the advantages which this mode of communication will accord become more generally known and appreciated, the shareholders, we believe, will find their account in extending their branches to the chief surburban districts of the metropolis.
From west to east the average slope downward of the whole line is one in 100ft. till it enters the City, when it rises slightly again, but there is no steeper gradient than this throughout. The rails vary from a depth of 26ft to 54ft, below the surface of the ground; the sharpest curve is one of 200 yards’ radius, and there is not more than 1,200 yards of perfectly straight line throughout. Such a line, passing through all the kinds of subsoil to be found in London, required certain adaptations in the form of the tunnel, according to the nature of the difficulties it had to surmount. Thus, in good and easy ground its general form is elliptical, the span of the arch of the tunnel being 28½ft and its height 17ft, The lengths of this description are built with no less than six rings of brickwork, though the Board of Trade do not require more than five rings in railway arches of 7ft greater span. In other portions where the line goes deeper, and there is great pressure to resist, the form of the arch is altered to give it greater strength, and the crown is taken to a height of 19ft. At no part are the foundations taken less than 5ft. into the solid ground beneath the rails, and wherever extra strength has been necessary the whole has been driven like a shaft, and is a solid ring of the most massive brickwork above and below. From end to end the whole work is set in a square bed of solid concrete, covered in on the top with asphalte to keep all watertight. Never, probably, has any tunnel been planned so greatly in excess of the strain it is required to bear.
The easier portions were constructed in 12ft lengths at the rate of 72ft, a week-quicker than any work of the kind has ever been accomplished; but when passing near churches or other heavy buildings, a regular shaft had, us we have said, to be driven by skilled miners in 4ft. lengths, and from the great care requisite at these parts the works advanced but slowly.
Along the whole line all the stations are open to the air, except two-that at Gower-Street and that at Baker-street, which are underground. One of these, however by a series of most ingeniously contrived openings in the sides of the tunnel, communicating with the forecourts or front gardens of the houses above, is almost as well lighted by daylight as those open to the air. The Portland-road station is lighted by domes above the tunnel itself. The King’s-cross station is as large, as lofty, and as well lighted as any of the best metropolitan termini; so also is that at Farringdon-street. The Paddington station is, as a piece of construction, marvellous for the skill with which a small but most convenient terminus is made out of an odd corner of the Great Western Company’s ground.
At present it is arranged to commence running with no less than ninety trains a day each way, from 6 a. m. to 10 30 or 11 p.m, the trains starting at 10-minute intervals during the busy hours. These facilities will soon be further increased to trains at five-minute intervals, with express trains going through without stopping from terminus to terminus. The fares even by first class will be lower than the present omnibus rates, and twice in the morning and evening, each way, working men’s trains will run taking passengers the whole distance for 1d per head.
As soon as possible after the opening, it is intended to proceed with the construction of the main line to Finsbury. The cost of the whole undertaking is estimated at less than £1,300,000. Had it been taken on a viaduct it would have cost nearly four times this amount, and absolutely spoilt some of the finest streets in the metropolis. Whether or not it will be remunerative as a speculation has yet to be seen; but paying or not paying, it must be a great convenience to the public.
from The Engineer 12.12.1862 at [ Grace's Guide ]
METROPOLITAN SUBTERRANEAN RAILWAY.
(From the Times.)
The spring, when this line was to have been finished, and the summer, too, have come and gone, but the City is still in point of time just as far distant from the west as ever it was. All the little delays and all the great annoyances of overcrowded traffic which it was to mitigate, if not to do away with, are still as rampant and glaring as ever, and the public and the shareholders also seem to be getting impatient in their desire to know the reason of the long delay.
The varying rumours and constant speculations to which the postponement of the opening has given rise have been numerous enough, one would have thought, to enable some to come near the truth as to the real causes of the delay. The latter, however, have been so very simple that no one has guessed them. The breaking in of Fleet Ditch, though it in no way affected the line itself, caused serious loss of time in completing the main City terminus at Farringdon-street. From the time when that obstacle was removed, now more than a month past, the line could have been worked easily at its minimum rate of traffic, which is to be no less than ninety trains a day each way. The only reason against such working in October last was the wise determination of the directors - in which they have been heartily supported by their able engineer, Mr. Fowler - not to run a single passenger train until every minute detail in relation to their stations and signals was finished and arranged in the most perfect working order. The directors seem to be well aware that in a line on such a novel plan, and having so many peculiar features in its construction, it would be dangerous to open it to the public while still imperfect, or till they had so organised all their various departments as to give confidence by the customary appearances which on these works denote a well matured and deliberate system, Thus, even in such trifling matters as painting stations or papering and furnishing waiting-rooms, nothing has been left incomplete, and from Farringdon-street to Paddington the whole line is now absolutely perfected and ready in every branch, even down to the liveries of the guards and porters.
The usual ten days’ notice was given last Friday to the Board of Trade to inspect the mechanism of the signals, and when these have been examined the line will open, and, as we have said, with as much completeness of detail as if it had been twelve months in working order.
The importance of this new route, both for the relief it must afford our overcrowded streets and in diminishing in point of time the space between the various districts of this unwieldy city, makes it one of the most remarkable of all our many railway triumphs. It is for a London line the cheapest that has ever been constructed, though the engineering difficulties it presented at every hundred yards were the most formidable of their kind that have ever been encountered.
The present powers of the company only allow them to carry their line from Paddington to Finsbury-circus, a distance of about five miles, of which the first great length, from Paddington to Farringdon-street, is complete, with working junctions to the Great Western and Great Northern railways. The tunnel commences at the Paddington terminus, and continues in an almost direct line towards the New-road, passing beneath the Edgware-road at right angles, and intersecting in the same manner Lisson-grove-road and Upper Baker-street, skirting along beneath, and just outside the Southern extremity of Regent's Park. Thence it passes under the houses at the eastern extremity of Park-crescent, beneath Tottenham-court-road, into the New-road, and, passing close by Euston-square, turns at Kings-cross to effect a junction with the up and down lines of the Great Northern Railway. From King’s cross a great part of the line is an open cutting, except for a length of about 600 yards beneath Bagnigge-wells-road and Coppice-row, where again a short tunnel intervenes. From this to the Farringdon-street station it is nearly all a fair open cutting, and up to this point the line is perfectly ready.
From Farringdon-street station, on the waste ground beyond Holborn, which is still dignified with the name of a street, the line is soon to have two branches, one intersecting Holborn-hill, or rather Skinner-street, and continuing its course due south under the site of the old Fleet Prison, to effect a junction with the Chatham and Dover line, which is to cross the Thames at Blackfriars; the other and more important branch-in fact the main line-is to be continued under the ground north of Smithfield and south of Charterhouse-square, and will pass beneath Barbican into Finsbury-circus. At this terminus it is intended, for the present at least, to stop ; though, as the advantages which this mode of communication will accord become more generally known and appreciated, the shareholders, we believe, will find their account in extending their branches to the chief surburban districts of the metropolis.
From west to east the average slope downward of the whole line is one in 100ft. till it enters the City, when it rises slightly again, but there is no steeper gradient than this throughout. The rails vary from a depth of 26ft to 54ft, below the surface of the ground; the sharpest curve is one of 200 yards’ radius, and there is not more than 1,200 yards of perfectly straight line throughout. Such a line, passing through all the kinds of subsoil to be found in London, required certain adaptations in the form of the tunnel, according to the nature of the difficulties it had to surmount. Thus, in good and easy ground its general form is elliptical, the span of the arch of the tunnel being 28½ft and its height 17ft, The lengths of this description are built with no less than six rings of brickwork, though the Board of Trade do not require more than five rings in railway arches of 7ft greater span. In other portions where the line goes deeper, and there is great pressure to resist, the form of the arch is altered to give it greater strength, and the crown is taken to a height of 19ft. At no part are the foundations taken less than 5ft. into the solid ground beneath the rails, and wherever extra strength has been necessary the whole has been driven like a shaft, and is a solid ring of the most massive brickwork above and below. From end to end the whole work is set in a square bed of solid concrete, covered in on the top with asphalte to keep all watertight. Never, probably, has any tunnel been planned so greatly in excess of the strain it is required to bear.
The easier portions were constructed in 12ft lengths at the rate of 72ft, a week-quicker than any work of the kind has ever been accomplished; but when passing near churches or other heavy buildings, a regular shaft had, us we have said, to be driven by skilled miners in 4ft. lengths, and from the great care requisite at these parts the works advanced but slowly.
Along the whole line all the stations are open to the air, except two-that at Gower-Street and that at Baker-street, which are underground. One of these, however by a series of most ingeniously contrived openings in the sides of the tunnel, communicating with the forecourts or front gardens of the houses above, is almost as well lighted by daylight as those open to the air. The Portland-road station is lighted by domes above the tunnel itself. The King’s-cross station is as large, as lofty, and as well lighted as any of the best metropolitan termini; so also is that at Farringdon-street. The Paddington station is, as a piece of construction, marvellous for the skill with which a small but most convenient terminus is made out of an odd corner of the Great Western Company’s ground.
At present it is arranged to commence running with no less than ninety trains a day each way, from 6 a. m. to 10 30 or 11 p.m, the trains starting at 10-minute intervals during the busy hours. These facilities will soon be further increased to trains at five-minute intervals, with express trains going through without stopping from terminus to terminus. The fares even by first class will be lower than the present omnibus rates, and twice in the morning and evening, each way, working men’s trains will run taking passengers the whole distance for 1d per head.
As soon as possible after the opening, it is intended to proceed with the construction of the main line to Finsbury. The cost of the whole undertaking is estimated at less than £1,300,000. Had it been taken on a viaduct it would have cost nearly four times this amount, and absolutely spoilt some of the finest streets in the metropolis. Whether or not it will be remunerative as a speculation has yet to be seen; but paying or not paying, it must be a great convenience to the public.
from The Engineer 12.12.1862 at [ Grace's Guide ]
