Page:The Grand junction railway companion to Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham; (IA grandjunctionrai00free).pdf/37

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Before starting on our journey, it will be well to give an explanation of the various abbreviations used in the Work; and also a few preliminary observations.

Our readers will observe, that the embankments on the Grand Junction Line are thirty feet wide at the level of the rails, and that the slope towards the base is at the least in the ratio of 1 foot perpendicular to one foot horizontal; in some cases it is as 2 to 1; and that the inclination of the excavations are the same. The enormous labour that is expended upon these works may be imagined when we state, that in the present undertaking five millions five hundred thousand cubic yards of earth and rock have been cut and removed. It will easily be imagined that the embankments would not consume half this material; when an overplus was