Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 44

Autobiography of Sir John Rennie, F.R.S 44

Burge had invested a good deal of money at Herne Bay, and naturally

expected that one day a line of railway would be made to it, and that

the value of his property would be considerably increased thereby.

Morris, a very honest, painstaking, and industrious man, who had been

in my service many years, and afterwards became one of the contractors

of the South-Eastern Railway, and made a good deal of money there, had

the sagacity to purchase the old harbour of Folkestone, it is said for

10,000_l._, and sold it to the South-Eastern Railway Company, profiting

considerably by the transaction. Crampton had made some improvements in

the locomotive engine, and afterwards became the principal executive

engineer to Messrs. Samuda. At the time Crampton came into my employment

Messrs. Samuda had had a vessel constructed, and had made the engines for

propelling her upon a new principle. The vessel was called the ‘Gipsey

Queen,’ and a day was appointed for the trial. Whether Crampton had

some misgivings about the success of the experiment, or whether he was

tired of the employment, I do not know, but he was anxious to come under

me. Knowing him to be a clever, hard-working person, I took him, and

he continued serving me faithfully for four years. Crampton entered my

service four days before the experimental trial of the ‘Gipsey Queen,’

which took place, I think, in the year 1840. The result of the trial was

that the boiler blew up, Samuda’s brother and four men were killed, and

if Crampton had remained in their service, he would probably have been

killed also. During the time Crampton was in my service, he made the

acquaintance of my solicitors, the Messrs. Freshfield, who conceived a

high opinion of his talents and energy.

 

Morris, Crampton, and Burge, then, commenced the London, Chatham, and

Dover Railway with comparatively very little support for an undertaking

of the kind, and experienced very great uphill work; so much so, that

Burge got alarmed, and Morris and Crampton bought him out. Morris and

Crampton still struggled on with it, and then Morris went out, and

Crampton remained alone. At last he got Peto and Betts to join him, and

then the concern went ahead. Lord Sondes, a large proprietor in Norfolk

and in Kent, also joined them, and they completed the original line.

They then went to Parliament to extend their railway by an independent

line to London, and from Canterbury to Dover, and, subsequently, by lines

to the City, so as ultimately to join the Metropolitan Railway, and from

thence with the Great Northern Railway at King’s Cross. How they raised

the enormous amount of capital to execute these works was a miracle, but

the tale has at last been unfolded, and the unfortunate subscribers have

found it out, to their cost; the concern has become bankrupt, and the

great contracting firm of Peto and Betts, as well as Crampton, have ended

in the ‘Gazette,’ as a melancholy example of what energy and capital

will come to when pushed beyond their just limits. The original shares

of 100_l._ may now (at the time of writing) be bought at 18_l._, and the

South-Eastern Railway have been compelled to expend nearly 700,000_l._

to cut off the angle between London and Tunbridge; whereas, if they had

only adopted my line of the Central Kent Railway, as they agreed to do in

1838, all this would have been avoided; the London, Chatham, and Dover

would never have been made, the enormous losses would not have occurred,

thirty-two millions would not have been spent in railways for a single

county, and the South-Eastern shares would not (at the time of writing)

be at 65.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER VII.

 

Swedish Railways--Surveys in Holland and Portugal.

 

 

In 1844 Count Adolphe Rosen obtained a concession for making railways

in Sweden, and offered me half the concession, provided that I would

go over to Sweden, lay out the lines, and bring the matter before the

English public. I accordingly employed a Mr. Tottie, a Swede, who had

been employed by Mr. Rastrick, to make the surveys of the lines laid out

by me, which consisted of a main one from Gothenburg right through the

kingdom to Oxhoe, as the central portion for the iron trade; from thence

one branch went to the upper end of the Lake Wener, and the other to the

Lake Malar, to communicate with Stockholm; the line then proceeded north

by Westerâs to Upsala, and thence to Stockholm.

 

The same year I went from Hull with Count Rosen to Gothenburg by steam,

and spent two or three days there. The country through which I passed,

though not rich, was much more so and better cultivated than I expected

to find it, and the people honest, simple, and industrious, and extremely

civil. The general appearance rather picturesque, and in places wild,

being covered with dense forests of firs, larch, beech, &c.; large spaces

had been cleared of wood and brought under cultivation. The houses were

for the most part built of wood, in the Russian fashion, the logs being

laid close together, dovetailed at the ends, and the joints caulked with

moss, the inside being closely planked, and in every room was a stone or

porcelain stove; the windows were double, and in winter the outer and

inner were both shut up, and all the joints pasted with paper so as to

prevent the admission of the outer air. The houses were generally very

comfortable. In some of the larger towns, such as Orebro, many of the

houses were solidly built of stone, others had stone foundations and

wooden superstructure; most of the country churches were of stone, with

a detached building of wood for the bells, which were frequently of a

large size, with a very fine full melodious sound. Gothenburg is a very

well and regularly built town, chiefly of stone, in the Dutch style, with

canals running through the streets. Some of the houses of the principal

merchants, as well as public buildings, are spacious and handsome,

although the town generally has a heavy, dull, yet substantial appearance.

 

I resolved to visit the celebrated iron mine of Daunemora, some miles

farther northward. I accordingly started off with Count Rosen, and

reached it the same evening, and visited the mine next day; it consisted

of a mass of rock, cropping out to the surface, of almost solid magnetic

iron, containing about 75 to 80 per cent. of the finest metal. There were

extensive forests round, so that there was no want of fuel; the wood was

converted into charcoal, and the finest iron was extracted, the best for

making steel; it fetched the highest price in the English market, where

there was a great demand for it. The machinery employed was very rude and

simple, the bellows for the forges being in some cases driven by manual

or horse labour, in others, where it was accessible, by water power. I

was anxious to go to the great mining district of Dalecarlia, about 100

miles farther north, but the season was getting late, and therefore I was

obliged to return to England.

 

When I had got all my surveys finished, I made a report upon the whole

line; but I found that the Swedish Government was not sufficiently alive

to the importance of railways at that time, or rather the Government did

not see its way to giving them encouragement by subscribing or rather

taking a pecuniary interest in them. Though by no means undervaluing the

importance of railways, yet, being naturally cautious and economical,

with only moderate funds at its command, the Government doubted much

whether a reasonable profit would be derived from them, but at the

same time wished us every success in obtaining the money in England. I

represented to them that people in England, knowing nothing of Sweden,

or her capabilities, would hesitate to subscribe their money without a

certain guarantee by the Government of interest of 4 or 5 per cent. upon

the amount of capital expended, and that as it was quite clear that the

railways would pay that, there could be no risk; in fact, the guarantee

would be merely nominal, but that it would have the effect of obtaining

the money in England, and thus conferring upon Sweden a great national

benefit, by saving their capital without running the least risk. I was

recommended to give a grand dinner, which several of the ministers and

all the other notables of Stockholm attended. Everybody was enthusiastic,

and a great number of speeches were made as to the importance of

railways, and the great national benefit they would confer, and my health

was proposed by the Minister of Commerce, Skogman, and was received with

the greatest enthusiasm, but the effect was nothing, for we neither got

private subscriptions nor public guarantee. However, after all we had

done something; we had introduced the subject of railways into Sweden,

we had shown the importance of them, and we had in some measure opened

their eyes, and we trusted that in time, when they had maturely reflected

upon the advantages, they would view them more favourably, and contribute

liberally towards them; but as there was no use in then pressing the

subject further, we returned at once to England.

 

In all fevers there is a climax; the railway fever had its climax like

the rest, and it was then upon the decline. The vast multitude who had

expected to make their fortunes found at last to their sorrow that

their money was gone; but that was not the worst, for they would have

been very happy if they had not had to pay more. As for any new railway

speculation, that was entirely out of the question, and therefore it

turned out that the Swedish railways were too late for the market; nobody

would entertain the subject; the very name of railway was sufficient to

drive everyone away, so that there was no help for it but to abide better

times. Accordingly the Swedish railways remained in abeyance until the

year 1852; by this time the Swedish Government had considered the subject

maturely, and felt that, as every other European nation had adopted them,

Sweden, if she desired to keep pace with other countries, must either

make the railways herself, for which at the time the Government had not

the money, or she must encourage others to make them by guaranteeing

a sufficient interest for the capital expended. Accordingly I went

there again, and was as usual very kindly received by the King and his

Ministers, and I saw that they were becoming more anxious than ever that

the railways should be made. I had been there in October, 1848, and had

the honour of being invited to dine at the palace in Stockholm, as I

had previously the honour of dining with their Majesties at the summer

palace of Hoga, near Stockholm. Upon arriving at the palace I was most

courteously received by King Oscar, who did me the honour of presenting

me to his handsome, graceful, and intelligent queen. When her Majesty

heard that the railways were to be commenced, she said that she had heard

so much talk about them and nothing had been done, that she feared they

never would be made, “therefore talk no more about them, but set to work

and make them.” The dinner party consisted of about thirty. I had the

honour of sitting next the Lord Chancellor, a very agreeable, intelligent

person, who sat next to the Royal Family. We had an excellent dinner,

without the least restraint, and the common topic of conversation seemed

to be, who would be elected President of the French Republic, Cavaignac

or Louis Napoleon, and everybody seemed in favour of Cavaignac as the

proper person; they all spoke very disparagingly of Louis Napoleon. It

seems curious to think how little the world knew of that extraordinary

man, and how completely he disappointed all previous expectations.

 

When at Stockholm I was presented to his present Majesty, King Charles

XV., then Prince Karl, a very handsome intelligent young man. Since his

accession to the throne he has done me the honour of conferring upon me

the order of Knight Commander of the Order of Wasa, for what his Majesty