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Letter from Robert Stephenson of 24 Great George Street, [London] to Edward Ackroyd, 28 Jun 1845. Concerning the importance of good gradients and the 'engineering of the West Yorkshire [railways]'.

Letter from Charles Alexander Saunders of 17 Cornhill, London [to Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer to the Great Western Railway], 28 Sep 1833. Requesting on behalf of the committee [of the Great Western Railway] that [Brunel's] surveyors should 'furnish as full a list of the land owners in the line of our railway as possible ... with any general information they can furnish as to the opinions and wishes either of them - or of the occupiers of property ... There are several points of great interest about the railway depending at this moment and your opinion will be required on them ... The negotiations with the influential landowners near London should be quickly proceeded with, as we cannot be blind to the obstacles of a competition with a company asking only for £200,000 or £250,000 of subscription against our own demand in millions ...'

Autograph, with signature. Marked 'private'.

Estimates in John Urpeth Rastrick's and another hand, usually endorsed and corrected by Rastrick, Dec 1843-Jul 1844.

Papers of John Urpeth Rastrick, 1800-1855, comprising a miscellany of correspondence (including drafts of copies of outgoing letters), with notes, engineering drawings, etc. Many of the notes and calculations are written in Rastrick's private cipher. Major correspondents include the London shipping iron merchants Henckell and Du Buisson; the 2nd Earl of Powis; John (later Sir John) Gladstone [father of W E Gladstone]; the lawyer, estate manager and politician James Loch and [?his son] George Loch; and Rastrick's sons and employees. Topics covered include the canal and railway interests of Rastrick and the other correspondents, as well as the iron industry. Most of the letters were dispatched to or from London or the industrial areas of South Wales and the West Midlands.

Papers and drawings relating to the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway, c1842-1867, namely:

1. Lithograph of Nottingham contract specification for execution of the works, to be completed before 1st June, 1846, with a list of 12 drawings to which the specification refers. (These do not, in most cases, correspond with the 12 numbered drawings that now accompany this document). (47 leaves. 12½" x 8").
2. Three lists of equipment and materials, compiled for comparison of the total weights various types of lifting gear will bear, c 1845. (2 leaves. 13" x 8").
3. Printed testimonials of Charles Kinder, railway engineer, 1851-1867, who was trained in the Newcastle works of Robert Stephenson, under whom he prepared the contract plans for and superintended the works on the Nottingham and Lincoln railway. (2 leaves. 9¼" x 7½").
4. 12 engineering drawings, c 1842-1845, comprising a section and plan of the railway through Belper, 1842 (27½" x 51"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 5a and 6a, incomplete (19½" x 23¼"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 7a and 8a (19½" x 27½"); drawings and sections of a mile and ½-and ¼-mile posts (13" x 14¼"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge for the Flood Road, numbered 10 (this corresponds with drawing No.10 listed in the contract, p.2.); tracing on linen (24" x 72"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge over the branch of the River Trent near the 18th mile, numbered 8; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevations and sections of a bridge over the River Witham at Lincoln, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan, drawings and section for a lifting gear to the bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan and sections for a bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevation, plan and section of a bridge for the footway of Queens Road, numbered 8 (this corresponds with drawing No.8 listed in the contract, pp.1-2); tracing on linen (24" x 36"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet, numbered 1, shows the town of Nottingham and 1 mile East - i.e. to the parish boundary), surveyed by J.G.Binns in 1844 (19½" x 27"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet is unnumbered but is the final one of a set; it shows the city of Lincoln and 1 mile West), endorsed 'Nottingham and Lincoln Railway. The ends of the working plans and sections' (19½" x 26½").