Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade on the - London Worcester and Wolverhampton and on the Birmingham and - Shrewsbury Districts
Laing Samuel
English
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Below is a summary of Report of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade on the - London Worcester and Wolverhampton and on the Birmingham and - Shrewsbury Districts
RAILWAYS.
REPORT of the RAILWAY DEPARTMENT of the BOARD of TRADE on the _London_,
_Worcester_, and _Wolverhampton_, and on the _Birmingham_ and _Shrewsbury
Districts_.
(_Presented to Parliament by Her Majesty's Command_.)
_Ordered_, _by_ The House of Commons, _to be Printed_,
28 _February_ 1845.
83--2.
_Under 2 oz._
Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, 28 February 1845.
The Board constituted by Minute of the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, for the transaction of Railway business, having had
under consideration the different schemes deposited with the Railway
Department for extending Railway communication between London, Worcester,
and Wolverhampton, and in the district intermediate between the London
and Birmingham and Great Western Railways, and also, in connexion with
the above, the schemes for extending Railway communication between
Birmingham and Shrewsbury, have determined on submitting the following
Report thereon for the consideration of Parliament.
The object of the first class of schemes in question is to supply Railway
communication to the great mining district of Staffordshire, lying south
of Wolverhampton, to the towns of Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Stourport,
Worcester, &c., and to the district north of Oxford, intermediate between
the Great Western and London and Birmingham Railways.
For this purpose two competing schemes are proposed; one, which is
promoted by the London and Birmingham Company, comprises a line from
Rugby to Oxford, and another from Wolverhampton, through Worcester and
Banbury, to join the London and Birmingham line at Tring; the other
scheme consists of a line from Oxford to Rugby, which is proposed to be
made by the Great Western Company; and of another line from Oxford to
Worcester and Wolverhampton, which is undertaken by an independent
Company, but in connexion with the Great Western Company, and which must
be considered as forming, with the Oxford and Rugby line, one scheme,
competing with the former.
For the sake of brevity we shall distinguish these as the "London and
Birmingham or Tring Scheme," and the "Great Western or Oxford Scheme."
Their general direction will be easily understood by reference to the
accompanying map.
In their general features and objects the two schemes are so nearly
identical that the two manifestly cannot stand together. A further
scheme for the accommodation of the country between Worcester and
Wolverhampton, was proposed by the Birmingham and Gloucester Company, but
it is understood that arrangements have been made by which this scheme is
withdrawn in favour of the London and Birmingham scheme, to which it was
moreover inferior in several important respects, so that we may consider
the question as reduced to one of competition between the schemes of the
two great Companies.
The first point is, whether a sufficient public case can be established
to justify the construction of any Railway at all throughout the
districts in question. As regards the South Staffordshire district, this
point has been disputed by various Canal interests, who urge that the
district is already sufficiently well supplied by water communication,
and that the introduction of Railways, by destroying the resources and
crippling the efficiency of such water communications, will be productive
of injury rather than of benefit to the Public. Various special reasons
have been urged in support of this view, more especially with reference
to the mineral district of which Dudley may be considered as the centre.
It is said that the Birmingham Canal Company have, at a great expense,
created a very complete and efficient system of water communication
throughout this district; that a right is reserved of making branch
Canals to all mines and works within certain limits, which right would be
to a certain extent defeated by running a Railway parallel to the
existing Canal, to the injury both of the Canal Company, and of the
owners of the mines and works so cut off; that the management and charges
of the Canal Company have always been of the most liberal description;
and finally, that owing to the peculiar nature of the district, in which
great excavations have been made for mining purposes, Railways cannot be
carried through it without danger.
It will be readily conceded that the importance of the district in
question is such as to entitle it to require the best means of
communication, whether by Canal or Railway. Between Wolverhampton and
Stourbridge there are at present about 100 blast furnaces in work,
producing about 468,000 tons of pig iron annually. In order to produce
this quantity, nearly 4,000,000 tons of coals, lime, ironstone, and other
raw materials are consumed, which are raised from the mines of the
district, and transported to the various furnaces, forges and founderies.
The export of iron from the district is about 240,000 tons annually, in
addition to large quantities of heavy hardwares, tin plates, glass, and
other goods. The export of coal is also very large, and might be greatly
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