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CHAP. XXIX.]

NARROW AND BROAD GAUGE.

399

impracticable as he had so often been pronounced, had never dreamt of.

Another improvement which was much discussed for many years, and of which, unhappily, we have not yet heard the last, was the alteration of the gauge of railways from 4 feet 8 inches to a greater width.

As already stated, the original width of the coal tramroads in the North had virtually determined the British gauge. It was the width of the ordinary road-track,—not fixed after any scientific theory, but adopted simply from general use. Mr. Stephenson introduced it without alteration on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway; and the several lines subsequently formed in the same districts were laid down on the same system. Mr. Stephenson from the first anticipated the general adoption of railways throughout England; and one of the principles with which he started was, the essential importance of preserving such a uniformity as would admit of perfect communication between them. All the railways, therefore, laid down by himself and his assistants in the neighbourhood of Manchester, extending from thence to London on the south and to Leeds on the east, were constructed on the Liverpool and Manchester or narrow gauge. While others were declaring that railroads would be effective only for passenger traffic and for the local accommodation of the largest towns, Mr. Stephenson foresaw and foretold that universal adoption of them in all places for the conveyance both of goods and passengers which the iron-road system has since attained; and he accordingly prepared the railways under his control for the eventual receipt of traffic from the cross roads and the by roads, as well as from the main roads of the kingdom.

When Mr. Brunel projected the Great Western line, he fixed upon a broader gauge; but he adopted a narrower view

done. He assumed that the country would be divided into railway districts, under a sort of railway Heptarchy, each having little intercourse with the other, and adopting its own gauge according to circumstances. Mr. Brunel was an ingenious designer, and fond of doing things on a large scale, whether in forming railways or building a steam-ship. Unlike Mr. Stephenson, who, though no less bold in his original conceptions, adhered to opinions once formed with remarkable tenacity, and even seemed to acquire a certain fixity of ideas which precluded the consideration of plans at variance with his own,-Mr. Brunel was ever looking forward to indefinite and continual improvement; he was restive under any restraint on invention, and could brook no limit to change. His railways were to be broader, his locomotives larger, and the speeds to be attained by them were to surpass those on all other railways. But even the speed of locomotives would not satisfy his ambition; and in their stead he would have a system of gigantic pneumatic tubes, along which trains of travellers were to be flashed with the speed of lightning. Mr. Stephenson was not so venturous, but, as events proved, he was wiser. His locomotives and his railways had alike been carefully designed; and he had so well adapted them to the practical purposes for which they were intended, that they held their ground amidst the brilliant inventions and improvements of the new school of engineers; and to this day they remain in all respects very much as he left them.

Mr. Stephenson was examined as a witness in favour of the Great Western Railway Bill; but the subject of an alteration in the gauge of the line had not then been mooted. It was in preparing the working plans, that Mr. Brunel conceived the idea of increasing the width of his gauge to seven feet. At that time, the directors of the London and Birmingham Railway had under their consideration a plan for

CHAP. XXIX.]

ALTERATION OF THE GAUGE.

401

joining the Great Western line at Oxford, and uniting with them in a joint metropolitan terminus. The proposed alteration of the gauge was referred by them to their engineer, Mr. Robert Stephenson, who reported decidedly against it. The Great Western directors, however, supported their own engineer; and the broad gauge was eventually adopted by them, but not without a lengthened discussion. In his report of 1838, Mr. Brunel represented to the proprietors, that the position of the Great Western line was such, that it could have no connection with any other of the main lines of railway, now that the London and Birmingham had obtained an independent access to the metropolis; that it held the exclusive command of its special district; that no inconvenience would result from the diversity of gauge, as that district was entirely isolated from the others; and, further, that no extension of the line towards the north would be required. It was even anticipated by Mr. Brunel that if other railways were formed, their exclusion from a connection with the Great Western line by the difference of gauge would be of advantage to the company, by securing for it a monopoly of the traffic to and from South Wales and the West of England for all time to come. The Great Western Railway was thus to be independent of all other railways, and to stand apart from them in solitary grandeur. The engineer received the warm encomiums of the directors and proprietors, who considered it a bold and original thing to plan a railway which was to be more than two feet broader than any other, requiring works and plant on a corresponding scale, without regard to past example and experience. Provincial patriotism was also evoked in favour of the measure; and it was anticipated that Bristol would rival, if not far outstrip Liverpool, in its railway accommodation and facilities.

Mr. Stephenson was, from the first, opposed to the adoption of the broad gauge. He held that the gauge which had

already been adopted on the northern lines was amply sufficient for the public accommodation; that it was wide enough to admit of the most effective arrangement of the machinery of the locomotive; that it was much safer to work over where the curves of the railway were at all sharp; that it was far more economical, taking into consideration the paying weight carried, in proportion to the dead weight in the shape of rolling stock; that it would cost considerably less to maintain, in consequence of the less weight to bear, and the smaller tear and wear of materials not to mention the much smaller capital that was required to form a line upon the narrow gauge than upon the broad the latter requiring more land, wider bridges and tunnels, broader embankments and viaducts, heavier rails, chairs, and sleepers, and more expensive engines and carriages. But his principal objection was, that by forming the Great Western line on an exceptional gauge, the proprietors of the undertaking were virtually closing it against the public traffic from other parts of the kingdom, and rendering it a mere provincial railway or byway, instead of part of a great national system. He would not believe, with Mr. Brunel, that railways were to be confined to particular districts, but he held that, before long, they must become the universal high roads as well as by roads for both goods and passengers; and that any break in the continuity of the system by a difference of gauge, would seriously detract from those great public advantages which their general adoption might reasonably be expected to confer. The contrary views, advocated with so much persuasiveness by Mr. Brunel, unhappily prevailed with his directors; and a subject fruitful in contentions and controversies was thus introduced into the railway world.

When the proprietors, however, observed the enormous expense that was involved in carrying out Mr. Brunel's designs, they became alarmed, and at length dissatisfied; and they invited Mr. Robert Stephenson to examine and report

CHAP. XXIX.]

INCONVENIENCE OF THE NEW GAUGE. 403

upon the new gauge. He declined, on the ground that his opinion was already known to be strongly unfavourable, on which Mr. Nicholas Wood and Mr. Hawkshaw were called upon to make an investigation into the subject. This they did in a very able manner, Mr. Hawkshaw's report being particularly clear and decisive. Their opinion was against the new gauge. Nevertheless the majority of the proprietors determined to support Mr. Brunel, and to carry out his experiment to an issue. The Great Western road was formed, and set to work with the aid of George Stephenson's locomotives; and the public waited the result of the new system.

Its inconvenience was not felt so long as the Great Western line remained in the position anticipated by Mr. Brunel; but when, after the lapse of a few years, railways on the narrow gauge met it at various points, and a break of continuity occurred, involving the change of carriages both for passengers and goods, it was felt to be a great public nuisance, loudly calling for a remedy.

The same mistake was committed on the Eastern Counties Railway, on which a gauge of five feet had been adopted, Mr. Braithwaite, the engineer, being of opinion that an increase of three and a half inches in the width of his line, would give him better space for the machinery of his locomotive. But when the northern and eastern extension of the same line was formed, which was to work into the narrow gauge system of the Midland Railway, Mr. Robert Stephenson, its new engineer, strongly recommended the directors of the Eastern Counties line to alter their gauge accordingly, for the purpose of securing uniformity; and they wisely adopted his recommendation. Mr. Braithwaite himself afterwards justified the wisdom of this step, and stated that he considered the narrow gauge "infinitely superior to any other,” more especially for passenger traffic.

* Evidence before the Gauge Commission, 1845.

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