In England, at all the coal and manufacturing districts, railways are employed for facilitating and economising the operations. In the counties of Northumberland and Durham alone, the coal.workings and railways re quire a separate map (Aikenhead's map) to show their position. Here the system of was first intro duced, a source of revenue in the form of a tonnage, paid to landed proprietors for liberty to pass through their grounds with a line of railway to the shipping port. In Durham, a public railway is now construct ing between the coal-works in the neighbourhood of Bishop Aukland, the town of Darlington, and its port of Stockton. In Cumberland, perhaps the most in teresting railways are those of the underground works of Lord Lonsdale at \Vhitehaven. In the great manu facturing and commercial county of Lancashire, rail ways are very numerous; near Preston, the valley of the Ribble is crossed by two inclined planes of consi derable extent, along which the wagons are transported by means of stationary or fixed steam engines. A high ly interesting work also occurs at the Duke of Bridge water's under-ground works at \Vorsley, about seven miles from Manchester. Here the works are so accommo dated, that boats containing about ten tons of coal are let down upon an inclined plane fitted with cast-iron plate ' rails, measuring eight inches broad, and an inch and a salt In thickness, laid with a uniform bearing upon solid rock from one canal to another, the empty boats being at the same time passed upwards. This inclined plane is 150 yards in length, having a•declivity at the rate of one perpendicular to four horizontal. In Derby, Stafford, and Warwickshires, railways are numerous, some of which are connected with inclined planes, and are works of considerable extent, as those of little Eaton and Butterly. At Mansfield, in Nottingham, there is a public railway nine miles in length, which was designed and executed by Mr. Josias Jessop. The labour and materials of this work are understood to have cost about 22,0001. ; but including compensation for lands, and the erection of wharves and warehouses, the expense of the whole operation amounted to about 32,0001. In Shropshire, and indeed along the whole course of the Severn, railways have been introduced with the best effects. Those of Coalbrookdale and its neighbourhood, where Reynolds, the famous ironmaster, first introduced the use of cast iron for railways and bridges, are highly interesting. It was also in this School of Arts upon the great scale that loaded boats were first transported upon inclined planes, between higher and lower lines of canal, by means of steam engines, instead of locking with water in the usual manner. At Cheltenham in Glouces tershire, Loughborough in Leicestershire, and Wands worth in Surry, and in other situations, there are public railways varying in extent from seven to twenty-six miles, and differing in their lines of draught, according to the situation of the country.
South Wales, perhaps more than any other country of similar extent, abounds with valuable minerals, which, from the inaccessible nature of the country, must have been in a great measure shut up, but for the introduc tion of the railway system. Here a large uninhabited district of sterile mountains may be said all at once to have become the seat of populous towns and villages. Such, for example, is Mcrthyr•tydvil, of which the Marquis of Bute is Lord of the Manor. When the late Mr. Crashcy, the great ironmaster of this district established himself here about the year 1765, the parish of Mcrthyr-tydvil contained a very scanty popu lation ; but at the census of 1811, it had increased to 11,104 inhabitants; and in that of 1821, it has mount ed up to 17,404. The railways of this district are nu
merous and many of them extensive, particularly in Glamorgan, Monmouth, Caermarthen, and Breck nockshires. Among these may be mentioned the Sirhowy railway, which, with its branches and colla teral lines, extends upwards of 35 miles. It crosses the Ebbwy by a bridge of 16 arches, forms a con nexion with the Wye, and has had the effect of re ducing the price of coal throughout the higher parts of Radnor and Herefordshires. The Cardiff and Mer thyr-tydvil railway is about 27 miles in length; and it is worthy of remark, that both a common road and a navigable canal arc established between those places. An experiment was made on this line of rail way in the year 1804, when one of Trevethic's high pressure-engines was set upon a wagon as a loco-mo tive engine , when 10 tons of iron and about 70 persons were drawn along a distance of nine miles. At the great iron works of Merthyr-tydvil, Dowlais, Penyclarran, and others in that neighbourhood, much use is made of railways. Here wagons, loaded with minerals, are transported upon inclined plane upon a horizontal platform by steam, a very simple and expeditious manlier. Connected with the Ncath canal, there are se veral railways with inclined planes of considerable mag nitude ; and at Swansea, one is laid to the t illage of Oys termouth, a (lista; ce of seven miles ; but its usefulness is nearly lost, owing to its vicinity to a blowing drift-sand. On this line a stage-coach plies daily with passengers, which indeed appears to be its chief trade. In Caer marthenshire, there is a railway to the harbour of La nelly, which extends about 15 miles into the interior coal country.
In the mineral districts of North Wales, connected with the shires of Caernarvon, Denbigh, and Merioneth, there are several extensive railway works. That be longing to the slate-quarries of Penrhyn, is about six miles in extent, and is laid out in four successive hori zontal tracks, which communicate with each other by means of three inclined planes, varying in length from 130 to 300 yards. On these the work is so arranged, that in passing down the loaded wagons, the empty ones arc taken up by a track-rope, which winds round the axle of a brake-wheel. On the more level parts of the road, the wagons are drawn by horses. The Pcnrhyn rail way may now be considered a pretty old establishment ; and its good condition affords an example of the stability of the edge-railway, having been in (1824) use for seven teen or eighteen years. This neighbourhood we may mention as not less interesting to the engineer, from its public works, including the stupendous bridge now stretching across the Straits of Menai, the slate-quarries of Penhryn, and the copper mines of Anglesea, than to the man of taste, for the beauties of its scenery, includ ing the magnificent ruins of the castles of Caernarvon, Beaumaris, and Conway.
In Ireland there are yet but few railways, excepting those of the Harbour-works of Dublin, and at quarries and other works of that description, which, from their temporary nature, are not generally calculated to afford good specimens of the art ; but in the progress of the improvement of that fine country, we may look for ward to the period, when such works will be more gene rally established, and conducted with all the improve ment and systematic precision of the sister kingdom.