Clock Face, is level; from this place there is a descent of 70 feet in one mile and five furlongs by a gradual inclination; and from thence to its termination there is a rise of 18 feet.
The Elton Head Branch rises 44 feet in one inclined plane to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. The branch to Dobson's Wood has three different inclinations, but altogether the rise from the Ravenhead Branch is 34 feet, and the last-mentioned branch rises 50 feet.
The Broad Oak Colliery Branch is nearly level; and the other remaining branches are of so little moment as scarcely to call for further description.
This work was designed by C. B. Vignoles, Esq. civil engineer, who estimated the cost at £119,980, which includes the sum of £31,620 for the wet dock, and £10,900 for contingencies.
The act authorizing the execution of the above works received the King's assent on the 29th May, 1830, and is entitled, 'An Act for making a Railway from the Cowley Hill Colliery, in the parish of Prescot, to Runcorn Gap, in the same parish, with several Branches therefrom, all in the county palatine of Lancaster, and for constructing a Wet Dock at the termination of the said Railway at Runcorn Gap aforesaid.' The subscribers, at the time the bill was in parliament, consisted of forty-one persons, who were incorporated as "The Saint Helen's and Runcorn Gap Railway Company," with power to raise amongst themselves, the sum of £120,000, (of which, £100,200 was subscribed before the act was obtained) in twelve hundred shares of £100 each; and the whole is directed to he subscribed before the work is commenced. If the above be insufficient, they may raise by mortgage of the undertaking the further sum of £30,000.
The act further directs that the inside edges of the rails shall be 4 feet 8 inches apart, and the outside edges 5 feet 1 inch; and that the railway shall not cross the Liverpool and Manchester Railway on the same level, but either by a tunnel or by a bridge to be constructed under the superintendence of the engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and that there shall be not less than three passing places in every mile.
