Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/331

Rh at Braunston to its termination at Brentford. There are two summit levels; one at Braunston, the other, and most considerable, at Tring. From the junction of the two canals, by Braunston Tunnel, which is two thousand and forty-five yards long, there is a rise of 40 feet, in a distance of five miles and a quarter, to Norton; from Norton to Blisworth Tunnel, (which is three thousand and eighty yards in length,) the distance is fourteen miles and a quarter, with a fall of 60 feet; from Blisworth Tunnel to the Stratford Branch, six miles, with a fall of 80 feet; from Stratford Branch to Fenny Stratford, ten miles and a half, with a fall of 10 feet; from Fenny Stratford to the Wendover Branch, in a distance of thirteen miles and a half, there is a rise towards the summit level in Tring parish, of 100 feet; from Wendover Branch to the principal summit at Tring aforesaid, a rise of 50 feet; the summit level here is nearly three miles and a half in length; the descent is then continued with little intermission by Hemel-Hempstead, Rickmansworth, and other places, to Harefield Park, a distance of twenty-one miles, with 300 feet fall; thence to Uxbridge, four miles, with 16 feet fall; from Uxbridge to its termination at Brentford, there is a level of seven miles, the elevation of the summit level at Tring being 380 feet above low-water-mark in the Thames at Limehouse. The Paddington Branch of fourteen miles, is 90 feet above low water.

The main line of the canal, as before stated, is upwards of ninety miles in length; its depth averages 5 feet, and its width 43; the Paddington Branch, which may in fact be considered a continuation of the main line, is of the same dimensions, and it is remarkable that for nearly twenty miles, reckoning from the wharf at Paddington to Uxbridge, the direction of the canal is so level, as to require only one lock. The branch to Old Stratford is also of the same depth as above, and has no lock in a distance of one mile and a half. The continuation of this branch to Buckingham has two locks in a distance of nine miles and a half, with a depth of 4 feet, and width of 28. The Bulbourne Branch is nearly seven miles long, without lock, 4½ feet deep, and 32 feet wide. The whole number of locks from the junction with the Oxford Canal at Braunston, to the termination of the Paddington Branch, is ninety-eight; their dimensions on the main line are, width 14½