Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/249

Rh RAILWAYS.] ENGLAND 237 than 95 miles, built at a cost of 840,925, but at the end of 1835 there were 293 miles, costing 5,6-48,531. Thus, in the first five years of railway construction, from 1835 to 1830, the mileage doubled ; while in the second five years, from 1830 to 1835, it trebled. It quintupled in the next five-yearly period, till the end of 1840, when the total length of miles of railway in the kingdom had come to be 1435, built at a cost of 41,391,634, as repre sented by the paid-up capital of the various companies. The next five years saw again nearly another doubling of length of lines, for at the end of 1845 there were 2441 miles of railway, created by a paid-up capital of 88,481,376. Not far from a fresh trebling took place in the course of the next quinquennial period, and at the end of 1850 there were 6621 miles of railways, constructed at the cost of 240,270,745. Nearly all the railways opened up to this date were main or &quot; trunk &quot; lines, con necting more or less busy centres of population, the traffic between which was so large as to require double lines. Unlike most European countries up to the present time, England began railway building on a scale commensurate with the importance of the new mode of intercommunica tion, the leaders of the great enterprise foreseeing clearly the ultimate requirements of their work. It thus came to pass that double lines were made the rule, and single lines the exception. More recently, however, an increase has taken place in the construction of the latter, owing to the extension of short branches from the main lines. The length of railways open for traffic in the United Kingdom, either with double or single lines, and the amount of authorized capital, were as follows at the end of each fifth year from 1856 to 1876 : Years. Double or more lines. Single lines. Total Miles. Miles. Miles. 1856 6,266 2,444 8,710 1861 6,893 3,972 10,865 1866 7,711 6,143 13,854 1871 8,338 7,038 15,376 1876 9,169 7,703 16.872 Years. Authorized Capital. Shares and Stock Loans and Debentures. Total. 1856 1861 1866 1871 1876

282,890,751 322,369,654 466,151,633 451.898,908 549,095,705

94,877,156 107,503,292 154,412,773 163,827,982 192,706,822

377,767,907 429,872,946 620,564,406 615,726.890 741,802,527 Distil- Nearly three-fourths of the railways of the United Imtion of Kingdom, and far more than three-fourths of the capital iu ways invested in them, fall to the share of England and Wales. over tliti United The length of lines open for traffic in each of the three King- divisions of the kingdom, and the amount of authorized dom. capital, was as follows on the 31st December 1876 : Distri bution of c .viital. Division. Double or more lines. Single l.nes. Total. Shares and Stock. By Loans and Deben tures. Total Authorized Capital.

England and ) Wales f 7,591 4,398 11,989 449,973,593 161,438,942 611,412,535 Scotland I. &quot;:-; 1,C63 2,726 71.595,107 21,130,250 92,725,357 Ireland 515 1,642 2,157 27,527,005 10,137,630 37,664,635 United ) Kingdom) y,169 7,703 16,872 549,0 J5,705 192,706,822 741,802,627 Among the most marvellous effects produced by railways was the incentive given by them to the population to move trom one place to another. Before the making of ordinary roads, that is, previous to the middle of the 17th century, and the old era of packhorses and bridle paths, there was scarcely any movement worth the name ; and the immense majority of people had to live and die in the places where they v, ere born, simply through not being able to transport themselves elsewhere, even for a short distance. A change took place when highways came to be made, with stage coaches rolling along them, at a rate of from six to ten miles an hour. But the accommodation afforded by these new means of travelling was necessarily limited, besides being costly, in time as well as money, and the mass of the people could not avail themselves of it. But what was impossible for &quot; the coach &quot; was the easiest achievement for &quot; the train &quot; of coaches. In &quot; the train,&quot; placed upon two longitudinal lines of iron rails, and propelled by steam, the whole nation for the first time obtained freedom of movement. The ancient packhorses carried their hundreds, and the stage-coaches their thousands ; but the railways carried their millions and more millions than ever stage coaches carried thousands. The railways carried their first million of passengers in 1833, the year in which Stephensou won his great parlia mentary battle in getting the bill for the London-Birming ham line passed. The number of passengers carried per mile in 1832 was 4860, but before other ten years were gone, the number of passengers had not only increased in pro portion with the opening of new lines, but more than doubled per mile, and, instead of being under 5000, had in 1842 come to be near 12,000. The following table ex hibits the growth of the passenger traffic on the railways of the United Kingdom, giving the length of lines open, the total number of passengers carried, and the number per mile, in every fifth year from 1846 to 1876 : Impulse to tra velling given liy railways. Passeu- ger traffic of railways 1832 to 1576. Years, Dec. SI. Length of Lines open for Traffic. Total Number of Passengers. Number of Passengers Per Mile. Miles. 1846 3,036 43,790,983 14,423 1851 6,890 85,391,095 12,309 1856 8,707 129,347,592 14,855 1861 10,869 173,773,218 15,988 1866 13,854 274,403,895 19,734 1871 15,376 375,409,146 24,415 1876 16,872 538,681,722 31,928 The table shows, more clearly than could be expressed by any description in words only, the striking changes effected by railways in the migratory habits of the people in the course of a generation. While the number of pas sengers was little above 14,000 per mile in 1846, it was nearly 32,000 in 1876. The number of passengers carried on the railways of the United Kingdom in the year 1876 was equal to four times the population of Europe, and more than half the estimated population of the globe. Considerably more than four-fifths of the passenger traffic Passen- on the railways of the United Kingdom is in England and gertrafl c Wales. The number of railway passengers in England and m 18 6 Wales, in Scotland, and in Ireland, and the numbers travelling by each class of railway, were as follows in the year 1876 : Divisions. 1st Class Passengers. 2nd Class Passengers. 3id Class Passengers. Total. England and Wales ) Scotland Ireland United ) Kingdom 38,302,841 4,693,843 1,862,382 58,949,892 3,319.741 4,208,562 383,686,658 31,978.057 11,285,319 480,939,391 39,991,641 17,356,263 H^.oee 66,478,195 426,950,034 538,287, 295