Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/494

  ', to the city of Carlisle, in the county of Cumberland, with a Branch thereout.' Commencing in a street called the Close, in the parish of St. Nicholas, Newcastle, this railroad proceeds in a winding course, occasionally bending to the north and south, but mainly westward by the side of the turnpike-road from Newcastle to Hexham, and nearly parallel to the River Tyne, passing on its way many collieries and mines with which the district abounds. At Hexham it makes a curve to the north to a little beyond Acomb Hermitage, still continuing near and parallel to the Tyne, which river it follows in its westerly direction to Thropwood House; here it crosses the turnpike-road and runs close to the southern side thereof as far as Haltwhistle; it then diverges to the south-west for a short distance, when turning again towards Green Head on the north of the turnpike-road, which it again crosses, it leaves the Tyne. From Green Head the direction is south-west, again crossing the turnpike-road at Naworth Castle; this direction it keeps to the town of Carlisle, where it terminates in the Carlisle Canal, 75 feet above the level of the sea. The branch is from Elswick Dean in the township of the same name, in the parochial chapelry of St. John and that part of the parish of St. Nicholas terminating at the west side of Thornton Street, in Westgate, in the county of Northumberland.

The extent of the undertaking may be estimated from the circumstance of having authority to raise £300,000, in shares of £100 each; and in case this should not prove sufficient to meet the expenses, £100,000 may be raised in addition by way of mortgage on the works. The main line of this intended railway is sixty-two miles, one furlong; the Thornton Street Branch is near a mile in length, with a rise of 114 feet 6 inches. From Newcastle the main line proceeds in nearly one regular inclination for forty-two miles and three quarters, rising 437 feet 6 inches. From the summit level there is a fall of only feet 6 inches, in six miles and a quarter; the remaining distance of thirteen miles and one furlong is divided into several planes of various inclinations, and altogether descending to the London Road at Carlisle, which is 45 feet higher than the commencement at Newcastle, 392 feet 6 inches. At thirteen miles from Carlisle the line crosses a private colliery railway belonging to the Earl of Carlisle. The survey