JAN. 31, 1846
THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS
69
The completion of a line of Railway from Kingston to Spanish Town, in Jamaica, is a most gratifying instance of colonial enterprise; and proves that the energies of the people have not been repressed even by the sweeping calamities of fire and tempest, incident to their country. Somewhat more than two years since we had to record the burning of a great part of the city of Kingston; and, it is with very different feelings that we now call attention to this town as a terminus of the newly completed Railway.
The opening took place on Friday, the 21st of November last. The event had been long and anxiously anticipated ; and, in order to invest it with the just degree of importance, his Excellency the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the several heads of departments civil and mili- tary, the hon. Members of the Council and Assembly, and a large num- ber of the more wealthy and influential members of the community, were invited to attend the ceremony; and a most propitious day ren- dered this attendance very general and numerous. An enormous crowd of spectators was collected all around the stations, and several very ex- tensive booths were filled with well-dressed females. His Excellency the Earl of Elgin arrived at a little after eleven o’clock, attended by his brother, Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Robert Bruce, and accompanied by the Receiver General. He was received by a guard of honour from the 1st West India Regiment, the band of that regiment playing the national anthem. After a short conversation with Mr. William Smith, the Projector and Resident Director of the Company, and a recognition of the numerous gentlemen who were collected on the occasion, his Ex- cellency was conducted at about half-past eleven o’clock to the hand- some state carriage provided by the Company for the accommodation of her Majesty’s representative, and the Company’s new engine “The Projector” having been attached, the train, consisting of some eight or ten well filled carriages, started on the first railway excursion in the British West Indies; the excellent band of the 1st West India Regiment taking its stand in the last, third class, carriage, and playing lively airs.
The train passed at a slow pace through the suburban portions of the line, which were densely thronged on both sides with crowds of won- dering citizens, who loudly cheered the novel exhibition as it passed before them. These crowds were more or less to be seen along the whole line of railway. At the embankment through the morass, beyond Hunt’s Bay, generally known as “The Islands,” the trains stopped, and his Excellency alighted, and walked forward with Lieut.-Col. Bruce, Mr. Smith, and the Engineer, Mr. Miller, in order to examine this diffi-
cult work. At the new bridge over the Rio Cobre, the train made a second stoppage, in order to water the engine, and arrived at the Spanish Town terminus at about half-past twelve; the speed being kept very low the whole distance, for the double purpose of allowing to the passengers a view of the works, and of preventing the possibility of accident amongst the crowd of spectators collected at both termini, as well as along the road.
At Spanish Town, the Governor descended, and proceeded to examine the stations in course of erection, and the other works and designs of the Company at that terminus. Meanwhile, the engine was adjusted to the other end of the train, and his Excellency and the other passengers having taken their seats, the train started on its return at one o’clock, reaching the Kingston station in about 40 minutes. The speed on the return was, during a portion of the distance, considerably increased, a maximum speed of 30 miles an hour having been attained ; but on nearing Kingston, the rapidity was very greatly diminished, with the same objects as those already stated. A second trip was shortly afterwards made, when a large number of other persons who had been favoured with tickets took their seats, and were similarly taken along the line and back, the return train on this occasion performing the distance (nearly 12 miles) in 25 minutes.
At a little after two o’clock, his Excellency the Governor and his dis- tinguished party, and about 120 of the civil and military authorities, and influential gentlemen of the city, sat down to a superb dèjeuner, provided at the expense of the Company, at the Victoria Rooms, in Duke-street. William Smith, Esq., the Resident Director, took the President’s chair, being supported on his right by the Earl of Elgin, the Vice-Chancellor, Lieut.-Colonel Bush, 1st West India Regiment and the Hon. Duncan Robertson; and on his left by Lieut.-Col. the Hon. Robert Bruce, the Attorney-General, the Hon. Thos. James Bernard, and the Hon. Alexandre Bravo : opposite to Mr. Smith, and at the same table, sat the Speaker of the Assembly, with Lieut-Colonel Warren, Adjutant- General, on his right, and Captain Darling on his left. John Nethersole, Esq., and David Smith, Esq., the manager, acted as Vice-Presidents. Several well-timed speeches were made; and the company did not sepa- rate till a late hour.
We perceive that the spirit of Railway enterprise is rife in Jamaica; in the Despatch, whence we have abridged the preceding Report, we find advertised as Atmospheric line (Pilbrow’s) from Milk River to Montego Bay (Westerly.)