ptain D. Galton, R.E.,[BE] "railways originated in England, and
therefore the experience which is always required to perfect a new
system has been chiefly acquired in this country, and has increased the
cost of our own railways for the benefit of our neighbours."--Some
conception may be formed of the irregular nature of the expense on the
lines in England from the statement subjoined, also taken from the same
paper, viz.:--

Name of Railway. Land and Total Cost
Compensation. Works. Rails. per Mile.
L L L L

London }
and } 113,500 98,000 1,000 253,000[BF]
Blackwall }

Leicester }
and } 1,000 5,700 700 8,700[BF]
Swannington }

From the table on the opposite page, it will be seen that the cost of
construction and engineering expenses amounted to 35,526,535l. out of
45,051,217l. Taking the railways quoted as representing a fair average
of the whole, we ascertain that more than one-fourth of the expense of
our railways is incurred for extras comparatively unknown in the United
States. At a general meeting of the London and North Western, in 1854,
Mr. Glyn mentioned as a fact, that a chairman of a certain line, in
giving evidence, had stated that a competition for the privilege of
making 28 miles of railway had cost 250,000l. Such an item of
expenditure can hardly enter into the cost of a railway in a country as
thinly populated as the Republic. There are also two other important
facts which are apt to be overlooked: first, that a great portion of the
railways in the United States are single lines; and secondly, that the
labour performed is of a far less solid and enduring character. A most
competent civil engineer told me that the slovenly and insecure nature
of many of the railway works in the United States was perfectly
inconceivable, and most unquestionably would not stand the inspection
required in England. A friend of mine has travelled upon a railway in
America, between Washington and Virginia, of which a great portion was
composed of merely a wooden rail with a bar of iron screwed on to the
surface.[BG] The carriages are also far less expensive and comfortable;
a carriage in the United States, which carries fifty people, weighs
twelve tons, and costs 450l.; in England it may be fairly asserted,
that f