CHEAP RAILWAYS.—THE PEEBLES LINE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1233, 10 May 1864, Page 3

CHEAP RAILWAYS.—THE PEEBLES LINE.

(From the Railway News). Aii inquiry was recently instituted by the French Government on the subject of cheap railways in rural districts, and reports have been made by French engineers as to lines oil this, description which they found in useful operationin Scotland. One of the lines more particularly referred to by M. Bergeron is the Peebles Railway, to which-we now propose briefly to direct attention.

In his report, entitled " Les Cheniins de Fer a bon Marche," M. Bergeron thus introduces the subject : —" In the summer of 1860," says he, " while making a tour in Scotland, I had occasion to notice a number of lines constructed and worked with very great economy. One, in particular, appeared to me worthy of attention. It is the branch which detaches itself at Eskbank from the main line from Edinburgh to Hawick, and ends, after a course of some nineteen miles, at the little town of Peebles, situated on the River Tweed. I had stopped at Roslin Station, for the purpose of visiting the celebrated ruins of the castle and chapel. The official who issued and collected the tickets explained to me that he was at once cash-taker, station-master, and keeper of the level crossing. He assured me that, for five years, without a single day's interruption—without counting Sundays, during which railwaj' travelling is, for the most part, suspended throughout Scotland—he had, single-handed, discharged the various duties entrusted to him, to the satisfaction of his employers.

On a siding adjoining the station were set two wagon loads of coal, consigned to a bleacher in the neighbourhood. On my remarking that he would be the better for some assistant to help him with the wagons, the station-master replied that their customers themselves furnished the necessary men to load or discharge trucks, and lend a hand to the agents of the railway. Thus, the public being themselves required, and willing to co-operate in the goods' train service, the Peebles Company was enabled to exhibit a remarkable economy in its working arrangements.

" I also learnt that, after the passage of the last train at 8 p.m., the station-master shut up his office and went home, the railway being closed for the night. Before leaving, he opened his level crossing, and the gates being shut across the rails, prevented animals straying along the road. He returned next morning at seven, and resumed the service of the day. Not being confined to his office by having any telegraph to watch, he found time to go to his meals in the intervals between the trains, the number of which is usually four both ways daily in autumn, and three in winter. Thus the Peebles Railway is exempt from night service, from cost of lighting, from night watching of crossings and station and train signals—ill short, from all that inevitable expense which night service involves.

" Impressed with the importance of the economical methods of working adopted by the Peebles Company, and the lessons which their example is calculated to teach to the inhabitants of districts similarly situated, I made it my object to collect the requisite facts as to its history, which seems to be well worthy of attention."

The history of the Peebles line may be briefly stated, Down to within the last few years the small country town of Peebles, with a population of about 2000 persons, though only twenty-two miles from the capital, was distant from it in point of time between three and four hours. Coals and merchandise were brought into the district by single horse carts, and the cost of transit was so dear that coal was almost placed beyond the reach of the poorer classes, who consequently suffered much from the cold in winter; while the freight of goods was so high that it cost more to cart a ton of goods from Edinburgh to Peebles, by road, than to transport it from Edinburgh to London by rail or water.

Such being the case, when railways came up and became an established means of conveyance, the inhabitants of Peebles naturally desired to share in their advantages. The district, however, was thinly populated and not rich; and attempts were accordingly made to induce the North British Company to project a branch into the neighbourhood. In 1846 a surveyed line on the usual grand scale, and a prospectus was issued; the line was to be double, and the capital £350,000. The railway panic put a stop to this project, and nothing was done until 1852, when some public-spirited gentlemen of the locality, headed, we believe, by the Messrs. Chambers, the well-known publishers, determined to get up the project of a cheap line, and carry it into effect. Mr. Thomas Boucli, C.E., undertook to lay it out with every regard to economy in construction. The line was single; care was taken to avoid the intersection of fields, gardens, and pleasure grounds; the designs of the bridges were of the simplest character; and no expense which was not absolutely necessary was lncurrea iipun~cUh««--intcrniT^tsroror wrrot-v-*.---lo-tions. The consequence was, that instead of a capital of £350,000, the new project came out with a capital of only £70,000, with borrowing powers amounting to £23,000, to which £27,000 of 5 per cent, preference share capital was subsequently added. The act was obtained in 1853, the first sod was cut on the 9th.of August in the same year, and the line was finished and opened for traffic on the 4tli July, 1855. The nineteen miles of single lineincluding stations and plant—were thus constructed at an average cost of about £6000 a mile; or, without the stations and plant, of about £5000 a mile. The line could not fail to prove of much advantage to the district through which it passed. At Peebles the price of coal was at once lowered from 20s to 9s 9d per ton. Various branches of industry sprang up along the line. A fresh impulse was given to the manufacture of paper and cloth. The timber of Peebleshire, before almost unsaleable, was readily got to market. Agriculture made rapid progress;- and at least 25 per cent was added to the value of land in the neighbourhood of the railways. The traffic conveyed upon it exceeded all expectations. Between 1856 (the third year of the traffic) and 1861, the receipts were doubled; and the net results were such as to enable a dividend of 5 per cent to be paid on the original capital. In 1861 the line was leased in perpetuity by the Ncith British Company at the same rate, any net receipts up to 6 per cent to belong to the Peebles Company, and any excess beyond 6 per cent to be divided equally. Under this arrangement the dividend paid to the proprietors of the Peebles line was 5£ per cent for the year ending 31st July, 1863; and the North British Company were reported as performing their obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Such is the brief history of the Peebles Railway. It appears to us to be eminently encouraging. Economy in the purchase of land, economy in construction, and economy in working—the results mainly of careful local administration and management —have proved the chief elements of its success. There is no reason why any district of like population, and offering like facilities for construction, should be without its railway. In olden times the man who built a bridge or made a road was regarded as a public benafactor. The constructors of the railways—whether they be individuals or companies—are entitled to be regarded in the same light at this day. But the work must be done with economy; for the railway must be made to pay. That is the indispensable condition of modern enterprise; and it is by no means an impossible condition, as the Peebles undertaking satisfactorily proves.