orth Midland Line, near Ambergate]

The Oakenshaw cutting near Wakefield was also of a very formidable
character. About 600,000 yards of rock shale and bind were quarried out
of it, and led to form the adjoining Oakenshaw embankment. The Normanton
cutting was almost as heavy, requiring the removal of 400,000 yards of
the same kind of excavation into embankment and spoil. But the progress
of the works on the line was so rapid in 1839, that not less than 450,000
cubic yards of excavation were removed monthly.

[Picture: Bullbridge, near Ambergate]

As a curiosity in construction, we may also mention a very delicate piece
of work executed on the same railway at Bullbridge in Derbyshire, where
the line at the same point passes _over_ a bridge which here spans the
river Amber, and _under_ the bed of the Cromford Canal. Water, bridge;
railway, and canal, were thus piled one above the other, four stories
high; such another curious complication probably not existing. In order
to prevent the possibility of the waters of the canal breaking in upon
the works of the railroad, Mr. Stephenson had an iron trough made, 150
feet long, of the width of the canal, and exactly fitting the bottom. It
was brought to the spot in three pieces, which were firmly welded
together, and the trough was then floated into its place and sunk; the
whole operation being completed without in the least interfering with the
navigation of the canal. The railway works underneath were then
proceeded with and finished.

Another line of the same series constructed by George Stephenson, was the
York and North Midland, extending from Normanton--a point on the Midland
Railway--to York; but it was a line of easy formation, traversing a
comparatively level country.

During the time that our engineer was engaged in superintending the
execution of these undertakings, he was occupied upon other projected
railways in various parts of the country. He surveyed several lines in
the neighbourhood of Glasgow, and afterwards routes along the east coast
from Newcastle to Edinburgh, with the view of completing the main line of
communication with London. When out on foot in the fields, on these
occasions, he was ever foremost in the march; and he delighted to test
the prowess of his companions by a good jump at any hedge or ditch that
lay in their way. His companions used to remark his singular quickness
of observation. Nothing escaped his attentio