nowledge, could scarcely have foreseen the serious
obstacles which he was called upon to encounter in executing the
formidable cuttings, embankments, and tunnels of the London and
Birmingham Railway. It would be an uninteresting, as it would be a
fruitless task, to attempt to describe the works in detail; but a general
outline of their extraordinary character and extent may not be out of
place.

[Picture: Rugby to Watford]

The length of railway to be constructed between London and Birmingham was
112.5 miles. The line crossed a series of low-lying districts separated
from each other by considerable ridges of hills; and it was the object of
the engineer to cross the valleys at as high, and the hills at as low,
elevations as possible. The high ground was therefore cut down and the
"stuff" led into embankments, in some places of great height and extent,
so as to form a road upon as level a plane as was considered practicable
for the working of the locomotive engine. In some places, the high
grounds were passed in open cuttings, whilst in others it was necessary
to bore through them in tunnels with deep cuttings at each end.

The most formidable excavations on the line are those at Tring, Denbigh
Hall, and Blisworth. The Tring cutting is an immense chasm across the
great chalk ridge of Ivinghoe. It is 2.5 miles long, and for 0.25 of a
mile is 57 feet deep. A million and a half cubic yards of chalk and
earth were taken out of this cutting by means of horse-runs and deposited
in spoil banks; besides the immense quantity run into the embankment
north of the cutting, forming a solid mound nearly 6 miles long and about
30 feet high. Passing over the Denbigh Hall cutting, and the Wolverton
embankment of 1.5 mile in length across the valley of the Ouse, we come
to the excavation at Blisworth, a brief description of which will give
the reader an idea of one of the most difficult kinds of railway work.

[Picture: Blisworth Cutting]

The Blisworth Cutting is one of the longest and deepest grooves cut in
the solid earth. It is 1.5 mile long, in some places 65 feet deep,
passing through earth, stiff clay, and hard rock. Not less than a
million cubic yards of these materials were dug, quarried, and blasted
out of it. One-third of the cutting was stone, and beneath the stone lay
a thick bed of clay, under which were found beds of loose shale so full
of water that almost constan