Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 452 | Page 9

length start. Exterior to all
these are solitary lines, the pioneers of the new order of things, pointing
in directions which will one day come within the yellow covers of
Bradshaw. There is one line straggling out to Rostock; another to
Stettin and Bromberg, on its way to Danzig; another to Warsaw, on its
way to meet the czar at St Petersburg; another to Pesth, whence it will
be carried through the scenes of the late Hungarian war; another to the
neighbourhood of the Adriatic; others from Central Germany
southward to the Swiss highlands, which bar further progress; and a
very modest little group in North Italy.

It is instructive to mark the steps by which these continental railways
have been brought into existence. The English practice of undertaking
all such great works, is very little understood abroad; there is not
capital enough afloat, and the commercial audacity of the people has
not yet arrived at such a high-pressure point. Almost the whole of the
railways now under notice, have been constructed either by the
governments of the respective countries, or by companies which
require some sort of government guarantee before they can obtain their
capital.
Belgium was the first continental country to follow the railway
example of England. Very soon after King Leopold was seated securely
on his throne, he initiated measures for the construction of railways in
Belgium; and a law was passed in 1834, sanctioning that compact
system which, having Mechlin as a centre, branches out in four
directions--to Liege, Antwerp, Brussels, and Ostend; and there were
also lines sanctioned to the Prussian frontier, and the French
frontier--the whole giving a length of about 247 English miles. Three
years afterwards, a law was passed for the construction of 94 additional
miles of railway--to Courtrai, Tournay, Namur, and other towns. In the
western part of Belgium, the engineering difficulties were not of a
formidable character; but towards the Prussian frontier, the bridges,
cuttings, and embankments are so extensive, as to have rendered the
works far more costly than in the average of continental railways. The
Belgian Chambers provided the money, or rather authorised the
government to borrow it, year after year. The first portion of railway
was opened in 1835, and every year from thence till 1843, witnessed
the opening of additional portions; until at length, in this last-named
year, all the 341 miles mentioned above were opened for traffic. The
cost varied from L.6140 per mile (near Courtrai), to L.38,700 per mile
(near Liege); the entire cost of the whole, including working-plant, was
within L.17,000 per average mile. While these railways were
progressing, private companies were formed for the construction of
other lines, to the extent of about 200 additional miles, most of which
are now open--the Namur and Liege being opened in 1851. These
various railways are said to have yielded, on an average, about 3-1/2
per cent. on the outlay.

It was of course impossible for France to see its little neighbour,
Belgium, advancing in its railway course, without setting a similar
movement on foot; but various circumstances have given a lingering
character to French railway enterprise. It was in 1837 that the short
railway from Paris through Versailles to St Germain--the first
passenger line in France--was opened. In the next following year, two
companies, aided by the government in certain ways, undertook the
construction of the railways from Paris to Rouen, and from Paris to
Orleans. The French government, having a strong taste for
centralisation in national matters, formed in 1842 that plan which has
since, with some modifications, been carried into execution. The plan
consisted in causing the great lines of communication to be surveyed
and marked out by government engineers, and then to be ceded to
joint-stock companies, to be constructed on certain conditions. There
were to be seven such lines radiating from Paris: to the Belgian frontier;
to one or more ports on the Channel; to the Atlantic ports; to Bordeaux;
to the Spanish frontier; to Marseille; and to Rhenish Prussia. The
government has had to concede more favourable conditions to some of
these companies than were at first intended, to get the lines constructed
at all. The first and second of the above lines of communication are
now almost fully opened; the third is finished to Chartres; the fourth, to
Nantes and Poitiers; the fifth, to Chateauroux; the sixth, to Chalons,
with another portion from Avignon to Marseille; while the seventh, or
Paris and Strasbourg Railway, is that of which the final opening has
been recently celebrated with so much firing of guns, drinking of
healths, blessing of locomotives, and speechifyings of presidents. At
the close of 1851, the length of French railway opened was about 1800
miles; while the portion since opened, or now in progress or projected,
amounts to about