NEW RAILWAY TO LONDON.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11400, 18 April 1899, Page 7

NEW RAILWAY TO LONDON.

1 OPENING OF THE "GREAT ! CENTRAL." \ I (From Our. Owf Correspondent.) ' LONDON, March 11. i { it is more than 30 years since a new main i ?lmc of railway made its entrance into LonI don. The last newcomer was the Midland jjuhuh opened the completion of its lino J{ fum Bedford to London and its magni- |' ficenfc terminus at St. Pancras in 1868. Tl* , Picsident of the Board of Trade yesterday I 1 expiessed the opinion that tlio days ceroS,'. mony would l»o t,ho last of its kind—that > no more new railways would be made into \ Li ndon. This was, perhaps, a somewhat hazardous ' prophecy, seeing that new lines into Londo i from South Wales, Dover, Brighton, \ \w\ Easlboiiruc have long been mooted. Ijj lhev may yet become accomplished facts. 1% 'Hi sooner 'the better! V 1 ester-day, through the courtesy of Lord ffi WlnvnclilFe and the other Groat Central |T chiefs, I had the privilege of representing *$ Nev Zealand at the inaugural ceremony Ir>1 r> winch took place in the new terminal 4) °i ition—only half of which is yet built— jf cU the Marylebone road, a- continuation ot jg th it main arterial thoroughfare along which ft no dotted the great London termini of the 1 Ore it Northern, Midland, and London and f Ivoith-Western railways, known as the H King's Cross, St. l'ancras, and fcustou ] stitions. The Marylebono terminus of the »** ' ie it Central" linn' stands about midway i I < "i ~Uio same arterial road, between the f 1 uslon"(London and North-Western), and M I'iddington (Great Western) termini. It 4 i by no means a pretentious building in { ippearanee. and bears no comparison in this , Kspect with the other stations mentioned; 3 but it is admirably planned ■in every way, i and has the special merit of being wonderf fully light and bright. The new railway % stock is quite in the. forefront of progress i under this head, and the through corridor 5 trains—even the -thirds," which are the •§ perfection of travelling luxury—have several 8 novel features, including a buffet where re- ! freshments can be.obtained at any time en route. What makes ilie completion of the. great enterprise so interesting is that this particular line into London formed part of perhaps" the biggest railway scheme ever 3 devised in tins' country. It had its origin 1 in the fertile brain of the .modern " BailI wav King," Sir Edward Watkin, who then § ruled the fortunes not only of the Mani Chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire (now f Great Central), but also of the Metropolitan (London) and South-Eastern lines, and was, moreover, the originator of the Channel [ tunnel scheme in its definite concrete I shape. ~ ; Sir Edward WbUuh conceived the idea r of extending the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire railway which then ran from Manchester through Sheffield across the centre of England, to Hull and Gnmsby, i crossing the Great Northern main line at I Betford, 138 i miles from London. His ■ plan was to push it southward from Sheffield toward Nottingham, Leicester, and London, at the same time .extending his Metropolitan line northward from Harrow to Aylesbury. and then on to meet the Sou tlicomer,'while from London his South Eastern line already stretched south-east-\vnvii to Dover, whence a tunnel under the Channel in the direction of the French coast was actually begun and carried on i'.ir some considerable distance. Thus ,ie would have had a huge trunk with arms stretched out at its northern end so as to embrace Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, Hull, and Grimsby. and leading right through London and Dover to the whole European Continent, and all the outside world. . It was a grand conception, but one not destined to be realised in full. Parliament very rightly prohibited the Channel tunnel, winch would have deprived England of her insular advantage for defensive purposes. However, the Metropolitan line did go as far north as Quainton road, 44 miles from London, and after many desperate and co3tly fights in Parliamentary, Committee Booms, the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire got its bill, made its main line from Sheffield to Quainton road, obtained " running power" thence for 40 miles on tlie Metropolitan, turned off a little way out of town, Tiassirtg by three separate tunnels under Lord's 'Cricket; Ground and St;-Johns Wood, to its new terminus off the Marylebone road, and became the " Great Central," the whole enterprise costing 12 , millions sterling, of which four millions had to be spent in London itself. A large order! . , Still, it has always been found in railway matters that supply creates demand, and so it will probably be in this case. One adverse element is that the distances to London are greater from each. of the chief cities and towns served than by any of ths competing routes. This is so alike in the cases of Manchester and Liverpool, of Sheffield and Nottingham, of Leicester and Rugby. But the Great Central will bid for public favour by all sorts of comforts and facilities, so it 'is to be hoped it will yet justify its existence and the huge outlay on its construction and its virtual destruction of the very charming sylvan residential suburb of St. John's Wood. About 800 invited guests assembled at the new, terminus yesterday afternoon, and many thousand uninvited spectators thiongld every wall and roof and housetop . and other vantage points in the vicinity. The weather was perfect, and the scene a very gay one ot the utmost animation. But some unlucky contretemps happened. Three special trains were to bring provincial' guests—including various gorgeous mayors and other functionaries—to the ceremony- Of these, one broke down through •tin 'axle heating, which compelled the vehicle to be cut off, and delayed the "special" nearly an hour. Further delay occurred through a landslip on the Metropolitan. So it was 2.30 when at last a decision was come to that the banquet shouk Drecede xho ceremony. After a capital luncheon and some good speeches—notably one from Mr Ritchie himself—we all moved to the-platform, where the first out train ■ stood ready, to start, with a highly decorated locomotive in front, while on the platform alongside, on a crimson-clad pedestal, was a silver-plated handle, which, when moved by the President of the Board of Trade, was to actuate a cord-connected valve in a small cylinder, which, by .means Of a little piston," opened the regulator of the engine and started the train. iviy friend, the chief mechanical engineer, Mr Harry Pollitt. had kindly explained, and showed the whole apparatus to me beforehand, and had placed me close by, where I could see it work. . Alas! '-The best laid plans," etc. Mr Ritchie with all solemnity duly pulled over the handle. But the train did not start! I shivered! . However, with admirable readiness. Mr Pollitt. who was on the footplate, quietly backed up te> the regulator handle, and, with his hands under his coat tails., covertly pulled it open, while bo calmly faced the assembled crowd, so that the engine moved ahead, and only the few initiated ones were aware of the misadventure. I am sure Mr Ritchie wasn't, for he looker! awfully pleased to have started the train without being on the engine—the first Git-rtt Central train from London ■ The regular running does not begin until Wednesday next, and for the first month or two the pace will be very moderate — i.e., London-Manchester in five hours, instead of four and a-quarter by all the other routes—but in the summer there will be acceleration. Meanwhile, the Groat Northern has running powers all the way to and from Manchester—part of its price for abandoning opposition to thn. Great Central's bill.-and on the same date will use them, going by way of Xottinjrham with some expresses, instead of via Bel ford, as now. Various other fresh developments are in contemplation, and TCesv Zealand visitors during the cnminij summer will find several now routes and novel trips available to them. They will also hare their choice of four direct express routes t-o Manchester or Liverpool, and three endi to Nottimrham, Leicester, and Sheffield. And some 'startling nrivclti"s in the wav of monster locomotives will bo ready for their inspection by the summer.

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