Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/420

 terminates at the banks of the Ouse, about two hundred and forty yards south of the bridge, and about three hundred and thirty north of the place where the Selby Canal locks down into that river.

Its total length is nineteen miles and seven furlongs. Its commencement is at a point 38 feet 8 inches above the level of the surface water of the River Aire at Far Bank Ferry, from whence there is a gradual rise of 63 feet 4 inches in the first length of two miles, two furlongs and six chains; and in the next two miles, one furlong and nine chains there is a further rise of 76 feet; thence to its greatest elevation at the seven mile point, it is nearly level, there being in this length a rise of only 7 feet 6 inches.

From thence the railway descends, in one regular plane, 232 feet in a distance of six miles, four furlongs and six chains; and in the remainder of the railway there is a further descent of 10 feet only, although it is six miles, two furlongs and four chains to its termination.

When this railway was first projected, Mr. Stephenson was employed to lay out the line; but previous to an application to parliament, James Walker, Esq. F.R.S. L.&amp;E. was consulted, who designed the present course, and estimated its cost at £200,000, and of this sum £177,000 was subscribed at the time the bill was brought into parliament, though it is required that the whole sum shall be subscribed before any of the provisions of the act are put in execution.

The act received the royal sanction on the 29th May, 1830, and is entitled, 'An Act for making a Railway from the town of Leeds to the River Ouse, within the parish of Selby, in the West Riding of the county of York.' The act was obtained by a company consisting of one hundred and five persons, amongst whom we find the Earl of Mexborough, Lord Reay and the Honorable E. R. Petre, who were incorporated by the name of "The Leeds and Selby Railway Company," with power to raise amongst themselves the sum of £210,000, in two thousand one hundred shares of £100 each; and should not this prove sufficient, they may borrow, on mortgage of the undertaking, the further sum of £90,0O0.