Page:Walker (1888) The Severn Tunnel.djvu/291

178 To give some idea of this immense quantity of water: It is sufficient to supply a town about the size of Liverpool or Manchester, and is about one-sixth of the quantity daily consumed in London. In one year it would form a lake about 1000 acres in extent and 10 yards deep. The total pumping power provided—66 million gallons per day, about half the supply of London—would form in one year a lake nearly 3000 acres in extent and 10 yards deep.

All the water pumped from the Severn Tunnel during the time it was under construction would form a lake about 3 miles square and 10 yards deep.

The first passenger-train from London to South Wales passed through the Tunnel on July 1, 1887. Not the slightest hitch has occurred in the working, and the speed of the trains has often been as much as a mile a minute. The ventilation has been perfect, and the relief to the traffic between South Wales and the South-West of England has been very sensibly felt. No doubt this traffic—with the accommodation afforded by the Tunnel—will be greatly increased.

A considerable amount of the Severn Tunnel traffic for the south of England passes over the main line between Bath and Bristol, and thence on to the Salisbury line, which joins the main line at Bathampton. To provide for this traffic large sidings are being constructed near Bristol, and between Bristol and Bathampton a number of refuge