^"% '■0^, •JiliJf-.ViUl-" UlN'liJi\>- ^■^c. ■■aujuvjjv) ' I® '^(i/ojiiv: ^.OFCAlIFOff/l^ ^OFCAIIF \l %\^i^3 I 'jjijjhViiUr- "^^^Aavaaiiv^ ^■^o-mm u.OFCAllF0/?/(/, ,<.OFCAIIFO% C-. aWEDNIVERS/a ^ f5» C3 vvlOSANCi ^^WE•UNIVER% o %13DNVS01^ ^ -^ %a3AiNn ^lOSANC o %a3AiNn ||\/Cpjy> ^- in<;-\vjrfi r, •s>U3/\l|ill 31< I nr «>.rri r„ "'^*"'0% ^OFCAIIf ■ i-' Al] \ li .11 I 3^ >&Aavaa vj^lOSANCElfX;^ /b^ ^^llIBRARY^k. ^lilBRARYOc l lJ /'T» >i •Aioxaq paduiBjs sjep jsci aip uo ana st >looq siqx fuoNvsm^ IEUNIVER5/4 .-LIBRARY. (0JilV3-JO' iFCAlIFO/?^;, < St % Aavaaii-v^ \EUNIVERS//i -•V k*.^ r^' .i^k^ , V (LCilaltrr Ininuil Ciubli0. ^< .>l)<.M\ii lo nil' o\\ tr^Tdiij. ll..M»S^').r iMi \ ki ill) III C^\'t N c — ( ' I -A. ^liUiuutii, ( II O^Miil II ClIUi II x.< THE MIDLAND RAILWAY ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. ^ Uarratibe of |floi)crn (L-utcrjjrise. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY: ITS RISE AND PROGRESS. % llarratibc d IHnbxnx (Bnkxi^mL FREDERICK S. WILLIAMS^ Author of " Our Iron Eoadii/' '■ Let the country make the railroads and the railroads will make the country. Edwahd Pbase. LONDON : STRAHAN & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW. BlTLEB 4 T*S>ER, The Sklwood Pbixting Workj, PbOMB, 15D IiO!«D0K. 30 '£0 M 5 ^aJ ^ TO EDWARD SHIPLEY ELLIS, ESQ., AND TO THE BOARD OF WHICH HE IS THE CHAIRMAN; AND TO I— ^ JAMES ALLPORT, ESQ., >^ <: QQ AND TO THE EXECUTIVE 9 C3i OF WHICH HE IS THE CHIEF; WHO, BY PROBITY, SAGACITY, AND ENTERPRISE, HAVE CONFERRED UNTOLD BENEFITS UPON THE MIDLANDS OF ENGLAND, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY THEIRS, OBLIGED AND FAITHFULLY, m)/ iutbor. 134142 PREFACE. Mr. Charles Dickens was accustomed to account for his fondness for books by the fact, that when he was a child a pile of ponderous and learned folios used, at dinner time, to be placed on the chair on which he was seated ; and it was thus that he contracted his early literary tastes. And if the Author were asked why he should write the present volume, he is prepared to assign reasons equally philosophical and profound. He has ascertained that both the Midland Railway and himself were born about the same time and near the same place ; and doubtless there thus arose, even in their tender years, certain occult but powerful affinities, which strengthened with advancing time, — affinities which the advances of biological science will before long satisfac- torily account for ! And if, unhappily, such an expla- nation should not, in the judgment of some, justify what they may deem an irrelevant predilection, the Author can only add, to borrow the humour of another, — Hie non meus sermo. The last forty years have witnessed a mighty and beneficent revolution in the midlands of England. A few men of enterprise have led others on to a work which has revived trade, created new industries, en- riched at once the landlord and the peasant, the manu- facturer and the merchant, and promoted the happiness VIU PEEFACE. and well-being of the nation. And in this service the Midland Railway has been especially concerned. How all this came to pass the Author has now to tell. How the Midland Railway originated at a village inn in the necessities of a few coal-owners ; how it has gradually spread its paths of iron, north and south and east and west, through half the counties of England, till they stretch from the Severn to the Humber, the Wash to the Mersey, and the Thames to the Sol way Firth ; how a property has been created that has cost £50,000,000 of money, and that l)rings in a revenue of £5,000,000 a year; and how there lies before it a limitless future of usefulness, — these are facts which, in the judgment of the Author, are worthy of record. Yet it so happens that tlie men who have been most deeply engaged in this work have been so busy with their work that they seem never to have thought of explaining why or how they did it; and so the Author has been led to try, before it is too late, to weave together, from the fragmentary records of the dead and from the fading recollections oP the living, a narrative of modern enterprise which has been honour- able to those engaged in it, and has been wide spread and beneficent in its results. Accordingly the first part of this book is historical. The second portion of the work is descriptive of the Midland Railway — of its engineering works, and of the country through which the line passes. The roads which Roman hands have made and Roman legions have trodden ; the ancient manor houses of Winsffield, HnrI- PREFACE. IX don, and Rowsley; the abbeys of St. Albans, Leicester, Newstead, Kirkstall, Beaucbief, and Evesliam; the castles of Someries, Skipton, Sandal, Berkeley, Tam- worth, Hay, Clifford, Codnor, Ashby, Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, and Newark ; the battlefields of Bos- worth, St. Albans, Wakefield, Tewkesbury, and Eves- ham, — these, and a thousand spots besides on the route of the Midland line, ought to be familiar to every Englishman. The third part is administrative. It endeavours to indicate the machinery — comprehensive, intricate, and exact — by which a great system of railway is kept in motion by day and by night, in summer and in winter. The Author begs to tender his grateful acknowledg- ments to the numerous officers of the Company, and other gentlemen, who have rendered him cordial and valuable aid in his work — aid to which the following pages bear testimony. To the Chairman, to Mr. Allport, and also to his able Chief Secretary, Mr. Robert Speight, he is under special obligation for the kind and courteous assistance they have frequently rendered him. It is right, however, to state that he is solely responsible for any statements of opinion or fact which this volume contains. He will only add the expression of his hope that the reader may find as much pleasure in following the thread of this remarkable narrative as the Author has had in unravelling it for himself. CONTENTS. I. The Midland Counties Railway ... 1 II. The North Midland Railway ... 39 III The Birmingham and UnRny Railwat ... 60 IV. The Birmingham and Biiistol Railways ... 72 V. Leicester to Swannington, Peterborocoh and Bedford 88 VI. Temporary Rise, Culmination, and Decline of Pros- perity 118 VII. Extensions to Manchester and Londo.v 152 VIII. New Lines to Sheffield, Bath, and Liverpool 180 IX. Settle and Carlisle Railway Projected . . 208 X. Amalgamation with Glasgow and Sooth Western Proposed 224 2.-i0 282 330 426 XI. Conflict with Great Northern Company . XII. Lines to Knottinglet, Wioan, and Swansea XIII. Line from L indon to Manchester Described XIV. Line krdm Trent to Barrow-in-Furness Described XV. Settle and Carlisle Line Described . 478 XVI. Line from Derby to Baih and Bristol Described 544- XVI T. Notts, Leicestershire, and We.stern Lines Described 575 XVIII. Shareholders, Directors, and Executive Establish- ments, ETC. ...... 607 CHAPTER I. village inn. — The Ei'ewash* Valley. — The coal owners of the Ere- ■wash. — N"avigable highways. — The river Soar. — An accident. — The Charnwood Forest Canal. — A new competitor. — Mr. John Ellis. — " Old George." — The Leicester and Swannington Railway. — Cheap coals at Leicester. — Conferences of the Canal Committees. — The Midland Counties Railway projected. — Earliest subscribers. — Meeting at Leicester. — Mr. Jessop's report. — Identity of the earliest scheme with that eventually carried out. — Mr. George Rennie's report. — Mr. Vignoles appointed engineer. — Excellence of the route. — Trent Bridge. — Proposals of Northampton people and others. — Financial arrangements of the Midland Counties Company. — Evidence submitted to Parliament concerning the trade and trad- ing facilities of the Midland counties. — Private Bill legislation of the time. — Objections to Railways. — Opposition to the Erewash Valley Railway project. — The North Midland. — " A slip 'twixt the cup and the lip." — Fii'st general meeting of Midland Counties share- holders. — Progress of the works. — A curious incident. — Opening of the Nottingham and Derby portion. — Opening of the whole line. — Prospects of the undertaking. — Threatened competition. — The Birmingham and Derby. — Mr. Hutchinson's protest. — Fierce contest. — Disappointment. — Reduction of expenditure. — After war, peace. — Amalga- mation proposed and effected. LITTLE group of plain practical men were, on the morning of the 16th of August, 1832, sitting round the parlour table of a village inn in Nottinghamshire. They were coal- masters — deep in mines, in counsel, and in pocket. Once a week they were wont to meet at " The Sun," at Eastwood, to ponder their dark * The initial letter represents the source of the Erewash, at Kirkby, in Nottinghamshire. B v'f^'^ 2 THE PINXTON TEAMWAY. designs; and, when business was over, they solaced themselves with the best fare the landlord could provide, and with wine from their private cellar, for the safe custody of which mine host levied a toll of half a crown for every cork he drew. From that hill-top could be seen the valley of the river Erewash, with its rich meadows and doddered willows by the water-courses, its grey uplands and scanty timber : that valley then, as now, one of the great highways of England, beneath which, centuries before, the lead-miners of Derbyshire had come to delve for coal, and where many a deep shaft had since been driven, and whence many a working ran. Five miles to the north of Eastwood, a tramway, worked by horses, had for twelve years or more wound its devious way among the hills, carrying coals and cotton PINXTON WnAUF. from the Piuxton wharf of the Ci'omford Canal up to jNIansfield, and bringing back stone, lime, and corn to the canal. And many a deeply-laden barge floated from thence down the broad coal valley of the Erewash, past the hills and pits of Eastwood, across the Trent, up the Soar, and on to Leicester and the south, bearing comfort to many a hearth, and bringing back gold in return. AN ACCIDENT. 6 The coal-owners of the Ere wash were a very prosperous race, and they won their prosperity by an accident. From time immemorial the coals that any district yielded had usually been consumed within that district ; for pack- horses and mules could not bear so heavy a commodity very far from home. Thus the pits of Nottinghamshire had supplied Nottinghamshire, and those of Leicester- shire, Leicestershire. But when the last century was drawing to a close, and inland navigation was spreading its watery highways far and wide through the land, canals were projected down the Erewash Valley to the Trent, and it was proposed to make the Soar navigable on to Leicester, so that the products of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire might be conveyed, not only into the town of Nottingham, but on to the Leicestershire markets and the south. The Leicestershire coal-owners were alarmed. They saw how, if these plans were carried out, it would soon be cheaper to bring coals by canal from the north- ward, than by road from the pits in their own county, and that their trade would be ruined. Resistance was organized. Nor was it stayed until the projectors of the Soar navigation undertook to make, not only their canal from the Trent to Leicester, but also a branch canal from Loughborough, across Charnwood Forest, to the Leices- tershire pits at Coleorton and Moira. Thus, it was thought, equal facilities would be secured for each com- petitor : there would henceforth be water-carriage for both counties and from both coal-fields. Events, however, issued otherwise. In the year 1798, the Loughborough Canal and the extension to Coleorton were made. But in the succeeding winter a very deep snow-fall was followed by a rapid and disastrous thaw, and the embankments of both the reservoir and the canal vv^ere broken down, and much property was destroyed. The works were never restored ; and, in 1838, an Act was 4 THE CHAENWOOD FOREST CAXAL. obtained to autliorize the abandoninent of the line and the sale of the land. And " The Charnwood Forest Canal " may still be traced among the wooded hills and dales of Leicestershire : anon a dry ditch, tangled over with briers and underwood, and then carried across massive bridges and along lofty embankments, the sides of which have been planted with saplings and burrowed by rabbits ; here it has been levelled down by the plough - TQK cnAr.NWOOI> FOnCST CANAL. share and is fruitful with grain, and there it is over- shadowed by trees half a century old. lyieanwhilo the Loughborough Canal prospered ; and well it might. " There was only one Soar to be had," as the ^lidland Chairman remarked to us the other day. " It had easily been turned into a canal; it obtained the monopoly, and kept it." The shares, on which £140 had been paid, rose to £4500 each, and were considered to be as safe as consols. And so matters continued for more than thirty years. But at length the monopoly even of canals began to be threatened. A new competitor was coming into the field. The Stockton and Darlington Railway had been completed, the Liverpool and Manchester line was in course of con- struction, and the idea was spreading that railways were " OLD GEORGE. 5 likely to succeed. Two or three enterprising men in Leicester shared these impressions, and they conferred on the subject with Mr. John Ellis, their townsman. He replied that he had no practical acquaintance with the making or working of railways ; but he did not dis- courage the project. At that time he was associated with some other gentlemen in the reclamation of a part of Chat Moss, — that vast morass over which George Stephenson was then carrying the Liverpool and Man- chester Railway ; and Mr. Ellis promised that he would ask the advice of his friend Stephenson. Accordingly, a week or two afterwards, Mr. Ellis went from Chat Moss in search of the great engineer, and found him very busyj and, we must add, very " cross," in Rainhill Cutting. " Old George," as he was familiarly called, refused to discuss the matter. Mr. Ellis for a while forebore with his friend's infirmity, and at length induced him to go to a village inn hard by, that they might have a beefsteak together for dinner. Here good humour soon returned ; Mr. Ellis explained his plans, and George Stephenson undertook to go over to Leicester and see the country. He did so ; and his report as to the practicability of a railway being carried through it was favourable. He was then requested to undertake the office of engineer. This he declined. " He had," he said, " thirty-one miles of railway to make, and that was enough for any man at a time." But, being asked if he could recommend any one for this service, he mentioned the name of his son Robert, who had recently returned from South America, and the father added that he would himself be respon- sible that the work should be well done. The matter was so arranged ; and when, not long afterwards, a diffi- culty arose in obtaining the requisite capital for the new undertaking, — in consequence of many of the well-to-do Leicester people being already interested in canals, — THE SWAXNINGTO:>f EAILWAT. GeorgG Stephenson further showed his practical interest in the work. *' Give me a sheet of paper," he said to his friend Ellis, " and I will raise the money for you in Liverpool." In a short time a complete list of sub- scribers was returned. Tlie Leicester and Swannington line was commenced about the latter end of the year 1830 ; and one spring morning in 1332 Mr. Ellis said to his son, then a lad of fifteen, "Edward, thou shalt go down with me, and sec the new engine get up its steam." The machinery had been conveyed by water from Stephenson's factory at New- castle-on-Tjme to the West Bridge Wharf at Leicester ; it had been put together in a little shed built for its accommodation; it was named *' Tlie Comet;" and it was the first locomotive that ever ran south of Manchester. Oil the 17th of July, 1832, amid great rejoicings, and the roar of cannon that had been cast for the occasion, the new line was opened — a line which brought the long neglected coalfields of Leicestershire almost to the doors of the growing population and thriving industries of the county town. These events could not but exercise a decisive in- fluence on the position and prospects of the Nottingham- shire and Derbyshire coal trade ; and when the coal- masters met at the *' Sun Inn" on the IGth of August, 1832, a shadow rested on their faces. The dry ditch in Charnwood Forest could no longer shut Leicestershire coal 'out of the Leicestershire market ; the Swannincrton line had been five weeks at work ; George Stephenson had opened his new pits at Snibston, and was delivering coal at Leicester at less than ten shillinjrs a ton ; and the people of Leicester would soon be saving £40,000 a year in fuel — enough to pay all the parochial and govern- ment taxes of the town. The Nottinghamshire coal trade had, of course, immediately suffered; and it was CONFERENCES OF CANAL COMMITTEES. 7 obvious that, unless the cost of carriage southward could be reduced, the coal masters of Eastwood and of all that country side would be excluded from their chief markets, and the mining population would be thrown out of employment. Conferences had already been held with the committees of the Erewash, the Soar, and the Leicester canals ; and the latter had admitted that they were " very desirous to endeavour to agree on such a reduc- tion of tonnage on coals as would enable the Derby- shire and Nottinghamshire coals to be sold in the Leicester market in fair competition with the coals brought by the Leicester and Swannington Railway." It was indispensable, however, that a reduction of 3s. 6d on every ton of coals delivered at Leicester should be obtained : the only question was whether the coal- owners or the canal proprietors were to make the sacri- fice. "After a consultation of two hours" the canal committees offered to lower their rates Is. Qd.; but they insisted that the coal-owners should consent to reduce their prices 2s. a ton. " To this proposition the coal- masters did not see right to agree;" and they contended that each of the three canals ought to lower their rates a shilling, and the coal-owners would reduce their coals a shilling; a reduction, they astutely suggested, " which would have the effect of not merely enabling the Derbyshire coals to compete on equal terms with the Bagworth and other coals brought by the railway, but would have a great effect in deterring persons from in- vesting capital in sinking to other and better beds of coal." In answer to this proposal, the canal committees gave in their ultimatum — that they would each allow a drawback of sixpence a ton "on such coals only as should be delivered at Leicester at 10s. a ton." This "extraordinary proposal" — as the coal-owners pro- 8 BIRTHPLACE OF THE MIDLAND RAILWAY. nounced it — was " at once rejected," and the meeting broke up. Such were the reports that were presented when the coal-masters met on the memorable 1 Oth of August, 1832. After anxious deliberation upon all the facts before them, they proceeded to enter on their minutes the declaration, that " iliere remains no oilier plan for their adoption thait to attempt to Jay a railway from these collieries to the to7cu of Leicester." A committee of seven gentlemen was ap- pointed to give effect to this decision l)y taking " such steps as they may deem expedient." Such was the origin of the Midland Counties Railway ; and the " Sun Inn," at Eastwood, was thus the birthplace of the earliest of those lines which afterwards became united into what i< now known as the Midland Railway. • IRTHI'LACE OF THE MII>I.\NI> KAILWAY. Further consideration served only to strengthen the resolution at which the coal-masters had arrived. MEETING AT LEICESTER. 9 Eleven days afterwards — August 27tli — at the neigli- bouring town of Alfreton, it was decided that the public should be invited to co-operate for a continuation of the Mansfield and Pinxton line from Pinxton to Leicester; and on the 4th of October, at a special meeting at the "Sun Inn" at Eastwood, it was unanimously decided, that a "railway be forthwith formed from Pinxton to Leicester, as essential to the interests of the coal-trade of this district." "Words were succeeded by deeds, and the following gentlemen put down their names and promises of subscriptions for the accomplishment of the object contemplated : Messrs. Barber and Walker £10,000 Mr. E. M. Mundy 5,000 Mr. John Wright 6,000 Mr. Francis Wright 5,000 Mr. James Oakes 2,500 Mr. Brittain 1,500 Messrs. Coupland and Goodwin .... 1,500 Messrs. Haslam 1,500 £32,000 It was also directed that steps should be taken for giving the requisite notices preliminary to an appeal to Par- liament in the ensuing session. It was subsequently announced that the Duke of Portland, Mr. Morewood, and Mr. Coke had each subscribed £5000 ; and depu- tations were appointed to endeavour to secure the co- operation of the Dukes of Newcastle and Pichmond, of Lord Middleton, and Sir F. Freeling. It is significantly added in the Eastwood minutes that " a report on the subject of carriage by locomotive power was laid before the meeting :" no decision having then been arrived at on that essential matter. A meeting also was held in Leicester, October 4th, 1832, 10 THE MIDLAND COCXTIES KAIUYAY. of subscribers to tlie projected line; Mr. Mundy occupy- ing the chair. " The construction of a railway from Lei- cester to Swannington," said the local journal, " and the speculations in progress for bringing the coal of the con- tiguous district into the Leicester market, having threat- ened the collieries of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire with the loss of that portion of their trade which they have hitherto enjoyed along the navigation of the Soar, amounting to a quantity perhaps not less than 160,000 tons annually," an effort had been made to induce the canal proprietors so to lower their charges that " the trade, or at least a portion of it," might be retained in its "antient channells." These attempts, however, had failed, and the coal proprietors had adopted the only alternative left to them, of proposing the construction of a railway to Leicester; in which, on account of the benefits it would confer on the town, and also as a profitable investment of capital, the co-operation of the public was invited. It was added, that, ** in the approaching session of Parliament, the legislative sanction is confidently an- ticipated for the formation of a railway from London to Birmingham," which, " on the completion of the Midland Counties Railway, would admit of a grand central com- munication being eflfected from London to Mansfield." In February, 1833, Mr. Jessop, the engineer, reported to his friends at Eastwood that there had been " no possibility of bringing a bill into Parliament " during that session ; but that they " had met with much en- couragement in London to prosecute the measure before the next session." It has, indeed, been suggested that, at this period the original project of the Eastwood coal- masters was abandoned ; and that the scheme eventuall}' carried out was entirely new. " The former company," said Mr. J. Fox Bell, the secretary of the Midland Counties Railway, ** now wound up its affairs and died." EENNIe's EErORT. 11 " The first line failed," he added, " because it stopped at Leicester, and did not go on to join the London and Birmingham line of railway." But though, as Bishop Butler shows, it is sometimes difficult to apply the doctrine of personal identity, and though, for forensic reasons, it may have been convenient to separate in thought the original Pinxton and Leicester project from the Pinxton and Rugby line, yet it is unquestionable that the promoters of the former undertaking were the promoters and directors of the second ; that the route selected (with the exception of the extension fi^om Leicester to Rugby) was the same ; that the subscribers of capital were the same; that the solicitors were the same ; that the interests involved and the objects kept in view were the same ; and that nothing was done to disconnect in the public mind the scheme of the beginning of 1833 from that of the end of the same year. Moreover, we can find no trace in the minute-books of the Eastwood coal-masters of any indication of any break in their course of action : on the contrary, the continuity of the whole is plainly implied. In August, Mr. Jessop reports, in the same breath, the increase of the Swannington coal trade, the decrease of their own, the necessity for a re- duction of price, and the result of a meeting just held at Leicester in the interests of the intended railway ; and before the year had closed, the Eastwood coal-masters ex- pressly requested those of their number who had " sub- scribed for shares in the Midland Counties Railway," to enter their names in the subscription list, and " to pa}' their deposit money." Meanwhile, Mr. George Rennie, the civil engineer, was requested by the Provisional Committee to examine the line which Mr. Jessop had proposed, to report upon its eligibility, and to point out any improvements that could be efi*ected. Accordingly, Mr. Rennie accompanied Mr. 12 eennie's report. Jessop over the route, and minutely compared the plans and sections of the projected line with the natural fea- tures of the country. He at length reported that the district through which it was intended to carry tlie railway inchided " portions of the valleys of the rivers Soar, Derwent, Erewash, and Trent. These valleys converge together from almost opposite points of the compass, resembling in figure a bent cross." Three of them fall from three to five feet in a mile, and the Erewash descends twelve feet in a mile. " Their width," he continued, *' is sufficient to allow a line of railway to be carried in nearly a straight direction. In selecting a line, therefore, little else seemed to have been required than to preserve the natural inclination and direction of the country; but as, practically, there were obstacles to be overcome, it was found not only necessary to raise the surfiice of the line above the heights of the floods, but to regulate the levels by the existing bridges and roads. This Mr. Jessop has done very judiciously, and the line, though sufficiently elevated, still follows the natural in- clination of the country. From the direct course of the valleys, the length of the line in the distance of thirty- fiMir miles between Leicester and Pinxton is only two and a half miles more than a straight line from point to point. In like manner the line from Derby to Notting- h.am is only one mile longer than a straight line." The line from Leicester to Rugby, though passing through a more varied and irregular country, could be made with- out " any difficulty which could not be overcome at a comparatively moderate cost." Mr. Rennie concluded by saying that, " taking all these circumstances into consideration, its locality in an extensive and populous manufacturing and mining dis- trict, and the very important communications it would effect from its central position," he was of opinion that ME. YIGNOLES. 13 tlie project was one that " presented advantages wliicli seldom occurred in similar undertakings." In November, 1833, the parliamentary notices for the Midland Counties Railway were deposited, and the usual documents were lodged with the clerks of tlie peace of the counties through which the line was to run ; and shortly afterwards it was publicly announced that the projected line was "intended to connect the towns of Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby, with each other, and with Lon- don : a junction for this latter object being designed with the London and Birmingham Railway near Rugby. Abranch would also extend to the Derbyshire and Notting- hamshire collieries, and to the termination of the Mans- field Railway at Pinxton." It was added that, " from a very careful estimate of the sources and amount of in- come on this railway, it appears that a clear annual re- turn of twenty per cent, might be expected from the capital invested." The works north of Leicester might, it was thought, be completed within two years from the passing of the Act, and the portion between Leicester and Rugby would be ready by the time the London and Birmingham line was opened. But these encouraging anticipations were not realized. Though, by the March following (1834), application had been made for shares to the amount of more than£] 25,000, this was insufficient to justify an appeal to Parliament in the ensuing session. Accordingly, the notices previously given were repeated, the plans were again deposited, and several thousand additional prospectuses were issued; but the enterprise itself remained for another year in abeyance. The delay thus occasioned was not without advan- tages. Opportunities were secured for reconsidering some of the contemplated arrangements, and in the summer of 1835 it was suggested by certain of the 14 VJGNOLES' KErOKT. Lancashire sliarelioldcrs that the entire route should be re-surveyed, in order " to find out the very best line to join the London and Birmingham Railway ; combining as much as possible the communication to the west Avith the best line to London ; " and it was proposed that Mr. Charles B. Vignoles, now the President of the Institu- tion of Civil Engineers, should be employed in this ser- vice. That gentleman had acquired much experience as an engineer in the construction of the Kingstown and Dublin, and other public roads ; he had laid out several I'aihvays, and he was favourably known in the north when engaged under George Stephenson on the Liver- pool and Manchester line. Accordingly in August, 1835, ^fr. Babington, the chairman of the projected Mid- land Counties Railway, requested Mr. Vignoles to meet him in Liverpool to arrange the terms on which his professional services might be secured ; in the following month Mr. Vignoles became the responsible engineer of the line ; the apjiointment was officially confirnKMl about the close of the year; and he undertook, as he ex- pressed it, to prepare the line for Parliament " as thougli no other engineer liad been enfrawd on it." Mr. Vicfnoles had not been lon^: at work before he found that the estimates previously made would not, in his judgment, be suflicient for the proper completion of the undertaking ; and in the following January (183G) his official report confirmed this opinion. He accord- ingflv recommended that, at some additional cost, a tun- nel, which it had been intended to make between Rugby and Leicester, should be avoided, and that other material improvements should be effected ; and eventually it was decided that the capital previously estimated at £600,000 should be increased to £800,000. The line as thus planned was excellent. The quantity of materials required for embankments and cuttings ba- THE OLD MIDLAND COUNTIES LINE. 15 lanced eacli other. There was a uniform gradient falling from Leicester to the Trent of only 1 in 1000, which was practically equal to a level. There was no curve of less than a mile radius. The bridge over the Trent was pro- vided for at an estimated expense of £9000. The line from Derby to JSTottingham also was pronounced to be on a " remarkably favourable " gradient. There were no tunnels on the whole system except the archway near Leicester, and a short tunnel under Redhill, near the Trent. Embankments of sufficient but not serious •fe wii '-'•'Hi lifi">«Bfc^"''vi' ('•■:,«— «^ BRIDGE OVER THE TRENT.* elevation would raise the line above the flats and the floods of Lougliborough meadows, and of the valley of the Trent. In the month of November of the same year, an * The entrance to Eed Hill tunnel, and also the junction of the river Soar with the Trent, are seen on the right. 10 MEETING AT LEICESTER. important change was suggested in the policy of the pro- moters of the new line. The people of Northampton had begun to repent of the opposition they had previously given to the London and Birmingham Railway — an opposition which had driven that line four miles to the west of their town, and had compelled the construction at enormous cost of the Kilsby tunnel; and some in- fluential residents now addressed a letter to the com- mittee of the new undertaking inquiring whether it was "yet open for consideration" to alter the course of the projected Midland Counties line so as to pass through Northampton instead of to Rugby, '* if a certain num- ber of shares were subscribed for in some degree to meet the additional expense incurred." It was intimated that by crossing Northamptonshire a large trade, es- pecially in cattle, would be secured to the railway, and tliat it was " altogether a better route for traflBc than the one now selected." The re})ly was unequivocal. 1l had ))een " decided," said Mr. Bell, for the Midland Counties Railway to join tlie London and Birmingham Railway at Rugby ; the plans and other documents as required by Parliament had been prepared, and they would bo deposited on the following Monday, " the last day allowed for that pur- pose." But the advocates of the Northampton extension were not silenced by this rebuff"; and when, in the following February, 183G, a town's meeting was held at Leicester to support the Midland Counties project, a dej)utation from Northampton came upon the field. In fact, three opponents, in tliree different interests, appeared. One person moved a resolution condemning the line altogether. But he was soon disposed of, for " only one finger was held up for his motion." Others advocated a change in the route : that it should be carried to the west of Leicester PROPOSALS OF NOETHAMPTON PEOPLE. 17 instead of to the east, that it should have a junction, with the Swannington line, and then proceed northward through Wanlip and Quorndon. But this alteration was objectionable to the friends of the Midland Counties Hne for several reasons. The western route would have had inferior levels ; it would have entered the outskirts of the worst part of the town ; it would have been a mile from the market-place, and from the principal inns and warehouses; it would in its course have interfered some- what needlessly with private residences ; its cost would have been considerably greater because its embankments would have required 300,000 cubic yards, and its cuttings 500,000 cubic yards more material, and its masonry would have been much heavier than on the eastern route, besides leaving a deficiency of earth with which to make the embankment that must be carried across the Lough- borough meadows. In addition to all this, there was the fact that a junction with the Swannington line would have enabled the Leicestershire coal to compete with that from Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire wherever the Midland Counties line ran : and this was to its projectors a sufficient objection to the proposed change of route; though it was an argument which they, rather than the public, might be expected to appreciate. On this subject the Leicester meeting appears to have been agreed : only one hand was held up for the amendment. On the third point — the Northampton route — its advocates were allowed to say their say. But one fact outweighed all their arguments. It was, that the Leicester traders were anxious for an outlet not only to London and the south, but also to Birmingham and the west of England, and this the Northampton route would not have supplied. Though the proposed North- ampton line would have been more than t'svice as long as the extension to Rugby — and would have cost, accord- c 18 DIRECTORS AND SHAREHOLDECS. ing to tlie estimate of Mr. Vignoles, £500,000 addi- tional — it would, on a journey through Northampton to London, have been only four miles shorter than through Rugby ; while the distance from Leicester to Birmingham by way of Nortliarapton and Blisworth would have been so circuitous as in the opinion of Leicester men to have been practically valueless. In fact the feeling of the meeting was so decided that the amendment was witli- drawn without being put to the vote. " The proposal," said some who were present, *' was scouted by the meet- ing." After five hours' discussion the meeting drew to a close, the last speakers being interrupted by cries of "Question I question ! Dinner ! dinner ! " And eventually, as a local chronicler records, the " worthy ratepayers " of Leicester hurried home to their " beef over-roasted ami {)uddings overdone." The financial arrangements of the Midland Counties Railway project, were, when laid before Parliament, satis- factory. The proposed capital was £1,000,000, with borrowing powers for a third more; it being estimated, however, that the works could be completed for £S00,00< >. Of this amount £786,500 had been subscribed in shares of £100, on each of which a deposit had been paid of £2, and a call of £5. It is worthy of notice that the directors, — who included the names of T. E. Dicey, Matthew Babington, AVilliam Jessop, E. M. Mundy, and J. Oakes, — held more than £05,000 of shares ; and also that among the earliest supporters of railway enter- prise were the then Prime Minister, Viscount Melbourne. " Downing Street," whose name is on the shareholders" list for £5,000; John Cheetham of Staley Bridge. £10,000 ; and Thomas Houldsworth, Manchester. £15,000; while among those who were considered tc have had a local interest in the line were — THE FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS. 19 £ John Ellis, Beaumont Leys, Farmer 500 William Evans Hutchinson, Leicester, Druggist . . 1,000 Thomas Edward Dicey, Clayhrooke Hall .... 2,000 Josej)h Cripps, Leicester, Draper 2,000 George Walker, for Barber, Walker & Co., Eastwood 10,000 To aid in obtaining so large an amount of support, Mr. Bell, the Secretary, had visited several of the towns in the midland counties, and also in the north of England ; and partly as a result of these efforts, Manchester had subscribed no less than £356,200 ; Yorkshire had con- tributed £7,000 ; Bath, £500 ; and Cheltenham, £1000. Ireland also had taken £1,800 of capital ; South America, £2,000, and the West Indies, £2,000. On returning from this circuit Mr. Bell announced that the subscription list was full. , The shares, too, were at a premium. " Should you consider," — ingenuously suggested one of the counsel for the bill, when it was before Parliament, — "Should you consider it any objection to a scheme of this kind, that it has commanded the favour and support of the whole world ? " With equal naivete the witness replied, " Certainly not." It is due to these early friends of the Midland Counties Railway to add that " the railway mania " had not at this period begun to make the projection of new lines a fashion and a passion in the land. The benefits that were likely to be conferred by the contemplated railway, will, perhaps, be better under- stood, if we ascertain, from the evidence formally submitted to Parliament, the nature of the trade and of the trading facilities at that time possessed by the midland counties of England. Nottingham, Derby, and Leicester were then, as now, important 20 *' rr.Y WAGGONS " axd coachf.?. centres of industry, receiving and distributing large quantities both of the raw material and of the pro- ducts of their manufacturing skill, and holding constant communication with the metropolis, with Birmingham, with the West of England, and with each other. But the only modes of conveyance at that time were three: the canal, the fly waggon, and the coach; and the charges made were proportionate to the speed. Wool, for instance, required two days to travel the fifteen miles between Leicester and Market Harborough, and the ex- pense was sixpence a hundredweight, the distance being it was said " so short, and the traffic so unimportant that they are obliged to charge an extra price." Only three coaches ran daily each way from Leicester to Notting- ham, in addition to those that passed to and from more distant points, and on which little reliance could be placed by local travellers. Similarly many of the " fly waggons " were long stagers, and were of secondary benefit to the intermediate towns. Meanwhile the charge for haberdashery, from London to Leicester, was £2 156'. a ton by canal, 5.'?. a hundredweight by waggon, and a penny a pound by coach. Such means of communication and such prices could not but cripple a growing trade. Thus Mr. James Raw- son, of Leicester, stated that he employed from 1,000 to 1,400 people in the staple trade of that town — the manufac- ture of worsted andof stockings; that it was indispensable to obtain the wools of the West of England, " because th(i wool grown in Leicestershire would not supply a twentieth part of the quantity required ; " yet that the canal com- munication between Leicester and Birmingham was double the distance of a direct route ; and the land car- riage cost 30.*r. a ton. The respective conveyances, too, were often unable to carry the quantity of goods offered. Thus, a woolstaplcr TRADE OF THE MIDLAND COUNTIES. 21 stated tliat he frequently had from 200 to 500 bags of wool lying at Bristol which could not be brought forward by land, and he had to divide the bulk and send it by different routes; that which went by road occupied from seven to- ten days in the transit, and that by water from three weeks to a month. Further west, the difiBculties increased, so that goods for instance from Plymouth, had to come by sea to London, and were in consequence not unfre- quently a great length of time on the voyage and the land journey, and often arrived in a wet and damaged condition. Similar difficulties were experienced in the Nottingham lace trade. Many of the largest manufacturers of lace hved in Devon and Somerset, and they sent the products of their industry to Nottingham for sale, the costliest fabrics having to run all the risks by land or water. Leicester had also intimate business relations with the north. That town was a sort of depot for the wool trade of the adjoining counties, and to it Yorkshire dealers resorted. Their purchases had then to be conveyed northward, from whence machinery was brought in return. Yet the route by water from Leicester was first via Nottingham to Gainsborough, and thence to Leeds and the West Riding generally, the voyage occupying from twenty-four days to a month. Complaints of inadequate facilities came also from Derby and Macclesfield. " Our heavy goods," said a wit- ness, " must go through two or three different channels by water — the Trent, the Soar, and the Leicester Navi- gation, so that they cost nearly £1 a ton average from Derby to Leicester ;" while the expense of carriage of Mansfield stone, though it is of a remarkably fine quality, was such as " to amount almost to a prohibition" of trade. Such were some of the data laid before the Com- mittee of the House of Commons, when, with Mr. 22 PARLIAMENTARY DIKFICULTIKS. Gisborne as cliairman, it sat for some seventeen days to consider tlie claim of the Midland Counties Bill on the sanction of Parliament. Meanwhile the original pro- jectors of the undertaking had vigilantly regarded the great interests of their trade; for, in the minute-book of the Eastwood coal-masters, it is recorded that on February 4th, 1S3G, Mr. Tallents had engaged " tei watch the progress of the Midland Counties Railway Bill in Parliament, with a view of protecting the mineral property and rights of coal-owners and les- sees, and to attend generally to their interests ; " and on the 2Gth of the following April, " Messrs. Mundy and Potter reported to the meeting that they had suc- ceeded in their mission to London, and had procured insertion in the Midland Counties Railway Bill of every necessary clause for protecting and securing the rights of the owners of mineral property." And " the thanks of the meeting were given to those gentlemen." But the diihculties with which the friends of the Mid- hmd Counties Company had to contend, did not cease when the Bill entered Parliament. Railway enterprises at that time were novelties, not only to the counties, but to the legislature. Several important towns had resisted the intrusion of railways ; and many a member of either House regarded himself as bound by the most sacred obligations of patriotism to protect his innocent urban constituents against such wild innovations, and to defend the farmers against having their crops burned up and their cattle frightened to death by whistling engines and rushing and roaring trains. Instead, too, of railway bills being, as they were subsequently, relegated to the scrutiny of small but impartial bodies of members, the com- mittees were then open to the members of tlie bo- roughs and counties, and of adjoining counties througli or near which the projected line was to be carried, OPPOSITION TO EREWASH VALLEY PROJECT. 23 and members sometimes attended solely for the pur- pose of voting on tlie preamble, or on a particular clause, and in some instances, we are assured, "tlie whip applied was tremendous." The Midland Counties Bill survived the ordeal of the House of Commons, only, however, to encounter more searching hostility in " another place." The Erewash Valley projectors of the undertaking had, to their sorrow, to learn that for great coal-masters, as well as for common mortals, there is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip. Powerful foes were in the field. The Midland Counties line had been originated with the avowed intention of breaking up canal monopoly, and the local canal interests were not unready for any re- prisal. The North Midland Company had been formed to construct a line from Derby to Leeds, and had lent their influential patronage to a projected extension fi^om Derby and Birmingham, by means of which an additional and independent outlet could be obtained to the west and the south ; and the North Midland re- garded the Erewash Valley portion of the IMidland Counties line with special jealousy, because it ])ointed )iorth, and therefore looked suggestive of competition and aggression. The Midland Counties Company, too, had spoken of extending their Erewash line up the valley, over the ridge near Clay Cross, and on to Chesterfield ; and it was very doubtful whether Parliament, which at that time was scrupulous in its cession of railway powers, would sanction the construction of two parallel lines, one through the Erewash Valley towards Chesterfield, and the other from Derby to Chesterfield ; in which case the North Midland Company might be required to eff"ect its junction with the Erewash Extension of the Midland Counties near Clay Cross ; to lose some twenty miles of line, of rates, and of profits ; and to abandon its intended 24 FEESH PERILS. direct connection with Derb}^ with Birmingham, and the West. These were, to the North Midland, serious con- siderations. It has been suggested that George Stephen- son was also influenced by a desire that the products of his projected coal-works at Clay Cross should find their way direct to Derby and the West, rather than through the Erewash Valley ; but at this period Clay Cross was not in contemplation. Yet when he found opponents arise to advocate a plan which, on other accounts, he regarded as undesirable, he exclaimed, in his native Doric, " This warn't do." But in addition to powerful opponents who had to be resisted, the Midland Counties Company had entered into an alliance with powerful fi'iends whose judgment must be deferred to. It is true that the necessities of the Erewash Valley coal-masters had given birth to the Midland Counties Company; but the original subscribers to that undertaking had had, as we have seen, to call in the substantial assistance of moneyed men -of the North, whose oidy anxiety was to secure a great through route to the South, and who cared little for the solicitude of a few coal-owners in a remote Nottinghamshu'e valley. When, therefore, " the Liverpool party," as it was called, saw that, by the double pressure of the North Midland Company and of the canal interests, there was danger of the Midland Counties Bill being rejected ; when the alternative was, " Shall the Erewash Extension be sacrificed, or the bill be lost ?" — it was replied that the little coal line might be made at any time, or be made independently; and so it was abandoned. And thus it came to pass that the Midland Counties Bill became law, minus the portion that was most dear to the hearts of the original projectors of the Company ; minus that very part which they had fondly hoped would have restored their languishing fortunes by opening a cheap and ex- FIRST GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS. 25 peditious route from their pits to Leicester and the South. " Oakes and Jessop," as Mr. Yignoles remarked to us the other day, "were disgusted and angiy; but they could not help themselves. Their line and them- selves were left out in the cold." The first general annual meeting of the Midland Coun- ties Eailway was held at Loughborough, June 30, 1837, a httle more than a month after the first sod of the Derby and Nottingham line was^ turned. Mr. Thomas Edward Dicey occupied the chair. The directors " could not refrain from observing at the outset," that " the result of their exertions had been such as to afford them a sure and well-founded cause of congratulation to the shareholders," concerning the position and prospects of the Company. Action, it was stated, must now be taken to give effect to the parliamentary powers that had been obtained ; and this was done. The necessary arrange- ments for commencing^ the line were soon afterwards made by Mr. Vignoles, assisted on the Leicester and Trent portion by Mr. Woodhouse, the resident engineer ; and on the Nottingham and Derby line by Mr. William Mackenzie, who had been the confidential assistant of Telford; and so successfully were their labours prose- cuted, that, by the close of 1837, nearly all the contracts were let, and some of the works were in full operation. The contract for the Leicester and Rugby portion was confided to Mr. Mackintosh, who had been only a few years previously a ganger or sub-contractor in Scotland, but who was now " supposed to be worth £1,000,000 of money." Early in the year 1838, important negotiations arose between the boards of the Midland Counties and of the North Midland for a future interchange of traffic. The Midland Counties contended that their route, by 2G A CURIOUS INCIDENT. Rugby, to the Soutli, was nine miles shorter than that which the projected Birmingham and Derby line could offer; and they hoped that they should be able to secure almost a monopoly of the through traffic be- tween the great towns of Yorkshire and the metropolis. Eventually an agi'eement was made for seven years, and was unanimously ratified at a meeting of the Midland Counties proprietors, at Loughborough, in the following March (1838). On that occasion a favourable report of the financial prospects of the Company was presented, and Captain Huish, who had been residing at Notting- ham, stated that, whereas the directors had estimated that the probable traffic on the line would yield rather more than £99,000 a year, his calculation was £101,000. " I am inclined to believe," he adcled, " that the most sanguine expectations of the proprietors can scarcely tail to be realised." In the following month (April, 1838) the whole line- was under contract. Between Nottinj^ham and Derby 1 000 men were directed to press on with the work, be- cause that portion of the line was the easiest to complete, and because it would bring an immediate return for the cajMtal expended. In the course of the spring, nearly 3500 men and 328 horses were in full emj)loy- ment on various parts of the Midland Counties line. In carrying on these works, a curious incident occurred at Spondon, three miles from Derby. The railway had here to be conducted between the river Derwent and the Nottingham Canal, over a space so narrow that a diver- sion of the canal was necessary. I^ut tliis could not be effected without temporarily suspending tlie navigation, for which a penalty was demanded of £2 an hour. In the month of August, the contractor was preparing to under- take the work, and, of course, to pay the price, when suddenly the canal itself had to be stopped in order that A CURIOUS INCIDENT. 27 some indispensable repairs might be made. Mr. Macken- zie immediately mustered his men from various points of the railway, and while the repairs of the canal were being effected, he succeeded in effecting his diversion of the line, — to the great diversion of the neighbourhood, who came to watch the relays of 200 or 300 men, fed most bountifully, and labouring most energetically to complete, within the given time, the novel task. At the second annual meeting of the Midland Counties Railway, held at Loughborough, in June, 1838, Mr. T. E. Dicey, the chairman, stated that at that time 4000 men were employed on the works ; and that the agree- ment with the North Midland for the exchange of traffic had been ratified. He mentioned that as many stone sleepers and rails, and as much rolling stock, had been contracted for as would be required for the Derby and Nottingham portion of the new line ; the Nottingham station had been let; agreements had been made with the directors of the North ]\Iidland and Birmingham and Derby Companies for the erection of contiguous stations at Derby; and a station to be jointly used by the London and Birmingham and the Midland Counties, was to be proved at Rugby. It was also intended that a branch should be formed to connect the main line with the granite quarries of Mount Sorrel. The engineer expressed his belief that the permanent way between Nottingham and Derby would be better than any hitherto made. Some fourteen miles of it were to be laid on blocks of Derbyshire millstone grit, each of them containing five cubic feet, and the bearings being five feet in length ; the rest were to be on transverse larch sleepers, kyanized, and three feet nine inches apart. All the rails were to be seventy-seven pounds to the 3'ard, which was heavier than any previously employed. The ends of the rails were to be secured in " joint chairs," 28 WORKS IN rilOCxEESS. eacli weighing twenty-eiglit pounds. Nearly 550,000 cubic yards of earthwork was to be made ; the deepest cutting was to be thirty feet ; the highest embankment, twenty feet; and one, approaching JSTottingham, would be three miles in length. The cofferdam for the deepest pier of the bridge over the Trent was in course of construction, and as the bottom of the river was found to consist of strong red marl, it would furnish an excellent foundation for the masonry. A short tunnel, through the adjoining ridge, called Red Hill, had been commenced; and at several parts of the line, where the works were heavy, gangs of men were employed both day and night. The cutting at Leir Hill, between Leicester and Rugby, was the most serious earthwork on the line ; and here, to facilitate his operations, the contractor had erected a steam engine, and had made an inclined plane from the cutting to an embankment where the material was to be deposited, the plane descending in the direction of the embankment, at an angle just sufficient to enable the wagons to riin down with their burdens to the plane of their destination. The empties were drawn back by an engine. The building of the Avon Viaduct, consisting of eleven arches of fifty feet span had been commenced, and, despite unusual delays, arising from the severity of the weather in the early part of the year, would, it was anticipated, be com- pleted by the winter. And "it is somewhat remarkable," said Mr. Woodhouse, the engineer, "that in many con- tracts to the amount of nearly £500,000, they should have been let within less than £5000 of the estimates." About two years after the first sod of the Midland Counties line was turned, on Thursday, the 30th of Ma}^, 1839, the opening of the Railway took place. The occasion was celebrated with honour. The day was bright. The bells of St. Mary's Church, Nottingham, pealed merrily. OPENING OF NOTTINGHAM AND DERBr PORTION. 29 Thousands of people took their places on the eminences of the Park, on the tops of houses, or on the route of the line, to see the first train pass ; and even opposition coaches came into being under the inspiration of the event. Special privileges were provided for five hundred favoured guests. Each of them received a ticket of admission, emblazoned with gold, bearing the arms of the Company ; and each passenger found a card affixed over a seat specially reserved in the train for his accommoda- tion. " The busy hum of the assembly, the threading and bustling of railway-guards and policemen in their new uniforms, the several elegantly painted carriages, with the Company's arms richly emblazoned on the panels," each carriage mounted with a Union Jack or an ensign : and we have "a scene " which the modesty of a local chronicler compelled him to " confess his inability adequately to do justice to." At length the passengers were seated ; and then " amid the slamming of carriage- doors, the blowing of horns, and the roar of the steam," the signal was given to start, and "at no drawling pace either." At every station along the line, and on the roads that crossed it, were crowds of spectators, some of whom had climbed to dang-erous eminences in their love o of science or of curiosity. At Derby also, a wondering and cordial w^elcome was afforded. Here the train stayed an hour, and then re- turned to Nottingham, accomplishing the journey in forty-two minutes. And here, according to British usage, a sumptuous entertainment had been provided, to which all parties endeavoured to do justice ; and then, once more, the train returned to Derby, running the distance in thirty-one minutes, part of it at the rate of forty miles an hour. The festivities of this occasion were considered, we presume, to have lent a sort of an- ticipated lustre to the whole undertakiug ; for when, in ;o EENEFITS OF THE RAILWAY. the following summer, the remainder of the Midland Counties line was opened, the Directors merely made a private excursion over it the day before. The benefit conferred by the railway on both the tra- velling and trading classes were, however, none the less real. " For some time," remarked a Leicester journal, "we certainly had our doubts relative to the success of this great and expensive undertaking, but from daily increasing experience, we have no doubt of its paying the shareholders, judging as we do from the increase of Dassenofers and merchandise, too;ether with a laro^e con- cern shortly to be opened in the traffic of coal." A number of wharfs had already been built and let, and a large warehouse for corn was about to be erected ; while at Loughborough, Syston, AVigston, Crow Mill, Ullesthorpe, and Rugby, wharfs were being made near NOTTINGHAM (OLD) STATION. to the various stations for the purpose of selhng coal, and which would be found of great convenience to the farmers, many of whom had to send their teams to Leicester. Meanwhile the shares advanced from 77 to 80. PROSPECTS OF TEE UXDEKTAKIXG. 31 Tims, one of the earliest, and, as it proved, one of the most important lines of railways in the country, was com- pleted. Its cost fell within the amount of capital authorized by the Act; and the line was, as the Directors remarked, " one of the lowest per mile of any similar work of the same extent." But it soon began to be suggested that it would not " be matter of any surprise to those who are conversant w4tli what has occurred " elsewhere, that " additional require- ments for the accommodation and safety of the public, as well as for ultimate economy in the working of the railway," would have to be made at an expenditure of additional capital ; and before long it was announced that the amount needed would be £150,000. At the annual meeting in 1841, it was proposed that for the future, though not required by the charter of incorporation, the meetings of proprietors should be held half yearly, instead of annually; and a resolution to that effect having been carried in Feb. (1842), the prac- tice was established, and has since been continued. A copy of the balance-sheet also was now for the first time sent to each proprietor previously to the meeting. That document showed that the gross receipts of the Company were increasing ; that there had been a reduc- tion of about twelve per cent, in the working expenses ; and that the balance enabled the Directors to declare a dividend at the rate of four per cent, per annum, and to carry forward a surplus of £2000. In a discussion that followed, it was stated that " in a new line like the Mid- land Counties, the cost of maintenance was sure to be higher than on old lines, from slips and other repaii'S ; " an opinion somewhat at variance with that expressed about the same time by railway authorities elsewhere. But while the Midland Counties line was thus endea- 32 COXTEOVERSY AND COMI'ETITION. vouring to overcome the unavoidable difficulties, and to earn the reward, of its new position, it had been gradually- drifting into the midst of the anxieties and perils of that great enemy to the financial prosperity of all railways — competition. The alliance it had formed with the North Midland for the exclusive interchange of northern and southern traffic, had, from the outset, been regarded b}' the Birmingham and Derby Company, which had opened its line to Hampton-in-Arden, as a tocsin of war. It was of little avail that the Midland Counties Board uttered a disclaimer against any hostile intention. They alleged, what indeed was correct, that the standing orders of Parliament required a declaration whether any given line would be competitive or not ; that the projectors of the Birmingham and Derby had declared that their line was non-competitive, and only a link between East and West. But the Midland Board complained that, no sooner had the Birmingham and Derby obtained tlieir act, than they neglected their communications with Birmingham and the West; that they hastened to complete that portion of tlieir line which — bending southward from Whitacre — ])rought them at Hampton-in-Arden, ten miles south of Birmingham on the way to London ; and that they then commenced a competition with the Midland Counties for the traffic between the North and the Metropolis. This was, in the judgment of the Midland Counties Board, to act " evasively and delusively." But these arguments and appeals did not avail to check the asperity of controversy and competition. Before long the directors of the Birmingham and Derby began to proclaim that they had special facilities for carrying on the trade to the South ; an announcement which was energetically challenged on behalf of the ^lidland Coun- ties by ^Ir. W. E. Hutchinson. "Is it not," he said, "ab- solutely ludicrous for a Company whose line possesses so THE TOCSIN OF WAK. 33 small a population between its termini as tlie Birmingham and Derby, to talk of abstracting traffic from its direct channel by a ciixuitous route of ten or eleven miles, and conveying it 'at a remunerating charge very much less than that which the Midland Counties must make,' and because, forsooth, they have constructed their line * entirely for other purposes'!" The conflict, having thus commenced, waxed hotter and hotter, till at length it was conducted by both parties in a manner that showed they were regardless of any loss they suffered so long as greater loss was inflicted upon their opponents. The Midland Counties Directors complained that the Birmingham and Derby Company was attempting " to divert the traffic between London and Derby from the direct line, and to force it along an indirect and circuitous one, possessing no advantages whatever over that of the Midland Counties ; but, on the contrary, being about eleven miles farther round. It will suffice to sa}^," they continued, " that the Birming- ham and Derby Company, for the purpose of attracting to their line, and withdrawing from the natm^al and direct channel the London and Derby traffic, have adopted the altogether unprecedented course, of charging in respect of persons travelling between Derby and London only 2s. for a first class, and Is. 6d. for a second class passenger, for the whole distance of thirty-eight miles from Derby to Hampton; " while "they continue to exact from all other passengers, though in the same carriages and going exactly the same distance, their original fares of 8s. each for first class, and 6s. for second class passengers. To correct " this singular mode of charging," the Directors stated that they had applied to the Court of Chancery for an injunction ; and though this application had been unsuccessful, they believed that " a very different result would attend " an appeal to the Court of Queen's Bench. ^^4 " A SCANDALOUS REPEOACII." Meanwhile the Directors had resolved that their own fares between Derby and London should be " invariably charged at rates not exceeding those charged by the Birmingham and Derby Company." It was believed that very low fares might have the counterbalancing advantage of encouraging additional traffic ; and " even if the anxiety of the Birmingham and Derby Company to obtain business on any terms should lead them to make still further reductions, and to convey passengers over their line ivWiout any charge lohatever" yet, since the Midland Counties delivered its passengers to the London and Birmingham line at a point somewhat farther south than its competitor, it would have the advantage in the conflict. At one time apprehension was expressed lest the London and Birmingham Company should provide special faci- lities to Birmingham and Derby passengers for reaching the Metropolis ; but a Midland Counties proprietor stated that at a recent meeting of the London and Birmingham Company, he had himself put a question on this subject to the chairman, and that he had received " the distinct avowal of one of the most honourable men in existence that they would preserve a strict neutrality." Ungene- rous feeling towards the Birmingham and Derby Company was, by the Midland Counties Board, publicly disclaimed, and it was declared that the existing rivalry was *' a scandalous reproach to the railway system, and no less detrimental to the dignity and respectability of the re- spective Companies, than inimical to their real interests." At the half-yearly meeting, held August 13th, 1842, the chairman, ]\Ir. T. E. Dicey, stated that the bill for raising the new capital had received the Royal assent ; but that it was now for the first time required by Parlia- ment that the authorised amount of shares should be subscribed for before the power to borrow could be allowed to take effect. A diA-idend was proposed at the WAR. 60 rate of tliree per cent, per annum. A long and, even- tually, stormy debate followed. Mr. James Heywortli, whose family held about a twentieth part of the shares of the Company, stated that many of the shareholders were " disappointed, nay, irritated with, the position of the Company. They recommended the Directors to make a searching inquiry, and wherever curtailment could bo made, consistent with the safe working of the line, he hoped they would carry it out." He suggested that the number of the Directors might be reduced to twelve, with an allowance of £600 a year instead of £1200; and that, if the maintenance of the way were under- taken by contractors, some economy might be effected. The dissatisfaction thus expressed led to the summon- ing, in the following November (1842), of a special meeting of the shareholders — " one of the most memo- rable of railway meetings," as it was characterized at the time. It had been intended to hold it at the Derby station, but for more adequate accommodation it was adjourned to the Athengeum. In a lengthened speech, Mr. Hey worth contended that, without intending the slightest disrespect to the Directors, he thought that the time had come at which a Committee of Investigation should be appointed to examine into " the past, present, and probable future expenditure of the funds of the Company (both on the capital and interest account), also with reference to the rates and freights charged, and proper to be charged," for passengers and goods, and to the general management of the Company's affairs. He hoped that this resolution would not be regarded by the Board as any infringement of their rights. " The sooner," he said, " such a doctrine is repudiated, and the practice abolished, the better. By-and-by, should the doctrine of non-interference be sanctioned, it will lead to this, — that a mercantile man, on going into his count- 86 COMPETITION CONTINUED. ing-house, and wishing to inspect his ledger or Ms cash- book, will be told by some fastidious and upstart clerk, that he had no right to interfere with his department, that the books are his clerk's, and that any investigation of them would show want of confidence." An animated debate ensued. The Directors opposed the resolution ; but to show that they did not cling to office, stated that at the meeting of the Company in the following February, they would " place in the hands of the proprietors the free choice of a new Board, and that they would immediately after make such arrangements as would at once transfer the direction from their own hands into those of the persons chosen by the pro- prietors." In the course of the discussion, it transpired that the secretary, Mr. Bell, had voluntarily relinquished £200 a year out of his salary of £800, and that other economics had been practised. Eventually, the resolu- tion, appointing a committee, was carried by a majority of about three to one. Meanwhile, with only one brief interval, the competi- tion with the Birmingham and Derby Company continued. Amalgamation was indeed proposed ; but the Birmingham and Derby Company laid down the proviso that the market price of the stock of the two Companies should be taken as the value of the respective properties, — an arrangement that Avould give £40 to the Birmingham and Derby to each £60 of the Midland Counties. The latter, however, replied, that the then price of stock did not represent the intrinsic worth of the respective pro- perties ; and that it would be better that the amount should be determined by a year's independent working of the two lines, at the expiration of which tlieu' true value could be ascertained. These negotiations failed, and at the half-yearly meet- ing, in August, 1843, the Directors of the Midland PROPOSALS OP PEACE. 3? Counties Company stated that " the attempt to divert from the Midland Counties Hne, by a reduction of fares, the traffic which would naturally flow along it, was still carried on," by the Birmingham and Derby Company, " with unabated activity," even though " at prices which could yield no profit whatever." The Midland Counties Directors announced that they were advised, on eminent legal authority, that the mode of charging practised by the Birmingham and Derby Company was " as illegal as it was unfair and unreasonable." Acting upon these opinions, the Directors had made application to the Court of Queen's Bench for a mandamus to compel the Birmingham and Derby Company to equalize their fares. A rule nisi had been obtained, and subsequently a man- damus had been " served upon the Birmingham and Derby Company, requiring them to charge all persons equally who travel between Derby and Hampton." The Directors stated that they entertained the most perfect confidence in securing a decision which would render it " impossible for the Birmingham and Derby Company to persevere in their present mode of opposition." But as with kings and nations, so with railways, — after war comes peace ; after rivers of blood or of gold have been wasted, come negotiations, treaties, and alliances. So when the owners of both these two costly and valuable properties had exhausted one another and themselves with protracted conflicts, they began once more to think of rest and union. Amalgamation was again proposed, and wise counsels at last prevailed. But concerning these we shall have hereafter to speak. Such were the circumstances under which the ]\Iidland Counties Railway took its rise, and such were the cir- cumstances which gradually, but irresistibly, brought it to the eve of amalgamation — that amalgamation which 424142 38 AS AIR OF ROMAXCE. loci on to the formation of the jNIidland Railway Company of to-day. AYe retrace with interest and instruction the good example of " the difficulties, discouragements, and disasters encountered by the enterprising men who, at that date, undertook the arduous duty of constructing, from private capital, these great public works, unaided, even discountenanced, by the legislature and the govern- ment; regarded with hostility, and even with hatred, by the owners of the land they were destined so mate- rially to benefit ; and considered, even by juries of theii- own countrymen, as proper objects of unlimited and legitimate plunder. Yet did these brave men carry on their undertaking steadily, and stoutly, and manfully, with sagacity, tact, and courage of no common order, till they accomplished their great work." Such enterprises and such men confer honour and strength on a country, and they enlarge the sources of its wealth and the causes of its material and moral prosperity. And while to-day we watch the flood which pours its volume of beneficence and wealth through the midland counties of England, is there not an air of romance in the story that tells how we can retrace through upwards of forty years the course of the earliest of the tributary streams, and can discern how it took its rise at a little homely inn in a remote village among the hills of Nottinghamshire ? v But we must now go back mn\ see how other events, contemporaneous with some we have narrated, have been running their course. CHAPTER 11. The yellow post-chaise. — The Xortli Midland Railway.- -George" Stephenson's preference for the valley route.— Opposition from advocates of a high level line. — Surveying for the line. — Perils of engineers. — The engineer and the baronet. — Mr. Waterton's sanctum. — Amusing interview. — Battles in Parliament. — Opposi- tion by Messrs. Stiutt and the Aire and Calder Navigation. — Commencement of the works. — Bird's-eye view of the line. — Ambergate Tunnel. — Bull Bridge. — Opening of the North Midland. — The traffic then and now. — Additional capital required. — Re- duction of expenditure. — Generous offer of Mr. Robert Stephenson. — Improved arrangements. — Coal rates then and now. — Dis- appointment. — Committee of Inquiry. — ProjDosed amalgamation of North Midland with Midland Counties, and Birmingham and Derby Companies. On a beautiful morning in tlie autumn of 1835 (three years after the memorable meeting at The Sun Inn, at Eastwood), a yellow post-chaise might have been seen emerging from the New Inn, at Derby, and taking its way up the Duffield Road into the country. It contained two gentlemen : George Stephenson the engineer, who had come over from his residence at Alton Grange in Leicestershire, and his secretary Mr. Charles Binns. They had started on an enterprise of no common im- portance — to find the best route for a new line 72 miles in length, from Derby to Leeds. The project was, we believe, one of the fruits of George Stephenson's fertile brain ; but the responsibility of carrying out the w^ork had been undertaken chiefly by Leeds and London men. Mr. G. C. Glyn, the banker, Mr. Kirkman Hodgson, Mr. Frederick Huth, the German merchant, Mr. Josiah Lewis, of Derby, and others, were on the first directorate, and in such hands the work was likely to succeed. It is true that the inside of a post-chaise did not seem the likeliest place for surveying the hills and dales, the roads and rivers, of more than 70 miles of country, 40 " OLD GEORGE." and the lop of tlie vehicle might, on some accounts, have been prefei']-ed ; but it was the only means of conveyance then available for any such purpose. Ever and anon the travellers would alight, and walk for miles, surveying the various routes, examining the landscape from different points of view, recording the result of their observations on the old fashioned county map they carried, and storing away fragments of the stones that indicated the clianging geological formations over which they passed. And as the engineer and his secretary journeyed on together, many a problem would " Old George " curiously and laboriously solve, and many an anecdote would he tell of other days, — of the toils of his boyhood, of his tender love of all things living, fostered when, as a little lad, he was wont to take his father's dinner to the engine in the wood, where he lingered and watched birds and beasts and fishes ; tales of how he at one time had resolved to emigrate to America ; of how he narrowly escaped, as he playfully said, of being made a Methodist ; and of how he intended to carry on the vast and varied projects whicli he had then in hand on the Birmingham and Derby, tlie York and North Midland, and the Manchester and Leeds Railways. In determining the route which the North Midland line should follow, George Stephenson had to decide between strongly conflicting claims. From Derby to Leeds is a series of valleys, through which flow the rivers Derwent, Amber, Rother, Don, Dearne, Calder, and Aire, affording a route from south to north, available for the conveyance of the vast mineral traffic which the district would eventually yield. To the west of these valleys, among the great hills of Yorkshire, were the towns of Sheffield, Barnsley, and Wakefield, to approach which by the main line would involve enormous earthworks, bad gradients, and vast expenditure. The engineer made his choice: he THE NORTH MIDLAND. 41 preferred minerals to men : lie would take the lower or valley route ; the towns must be satisfied with branches. Having thus decided, another problem awaited solu- tion. Should he skirt the ranges of hills which on either hand closed in the valleys along which his line should run, and curve to the left or right according to the ground and the gradients ? But such a course would involve this serious inconvenience: that the collieries in the bottom of the valley, and those on the slopes of the opposite range of hills, would have to drag their heavy loads up to the level of the line ; whereas by placing the railway itself in the middle of the valley — raised only to the point necessary to avoid the floodings of the rivers, both sides of its course would be equally served, and the branches from the pits on the higher ground would all slope downwards to the line. Such an arrangement would obviously be the best for all mineral purposes, and would also supply a short and level course from south to north. To these opinions George Stephenson inclined, and the more so because he had laid it down as an axiom that no gradient on a mineral line ought to exceed 1 in 330, or 16 feet in a mile. Eventually the North Midland Kailway was laid out at that gradient, except for a short distance south of Clay Cross Tunnel, where the gradient is slightly increased. And George Stephenson always, and not unnaturally, regarded the North Midland as one of his favourite lines. The decision of the engineer, however, was not adopted without a fierce contest both within Parliament and without. Mr. Vignoles avowed his preference for a high level route ; and he proposed a line which should serve as a continuation of the Erewash portion of the Midland Counties, through the ridge up to Clay Cross and down to Sheffield. He also had surveys taken northwards to Leeds and southwards to London; for 42 MR, SWANWICK. as engineers were at tliat time tlie chief promoters of railway extension, it was expected that they should be prepared to justify to Parliament the comprehensiveness and practicability of their proposals. The arguments for and against the high and low levels were submitted to the committee, not on lodged plans for competing schemes, but on the Xorth ^lidland Bill proper. The views of Mr. Vignoles were supported by Lord AYlinrncliffe and by other influential persons interested in Sheflk'ld, some of whom announced their preference for a line to run from Cliesterfield direct tlirough Sheflield, and thence over the hills to the north ; but the plans proposed involved " excavations and embankments from 90 to 100 feet deep and high," from one end of the route to the other. Some engineers of less adventurous spirit urged that the line should, a few miles north of Chesterfield, bend westward, and, having touched Shef- field, should turn again eastward along the valley of the Don. Mr. Leather, the engineer, was a chief advocate of this scheme ; and the war of opinion thus waged, at length induced George Stephenson to reconsider whether some more adequate accommodation could not be pro- vided for Sheffield ; and ^Ir. Frederick Swanwick, " the resident," was instructed to endeavour to find an avail- able route to tliat town. A local committee also was appointed to promote the same object. But after once more trying tlie levels by way of Drou field, it was ascertained that the gradients would be so severe that, according to the power of locomotives in that day, the route would be impracticable. In fact, the tcnour of the engineer's report was — that to take the line througli Sheffield witli gradients equal to those of the valley route would necessitate the formation of 8 or 10 miles of tunnels. Since that decision was pronounced a third of a ceutury lins passed away: the impracticable has been THE EXGINEEE AND THE BARONET. 43 achieved, and a direct line runs to-day via Dronfield. over the high level route, into Sheffield. In making even the surveys for the new railway many difficulties and some adventures were encountered by the engineers. Thus when Mr. Swanwick was running his levels a few miles south-east of Wakefield, he learned that numerous watchers had been placed across his j^ath, and that other precautions had been adopted, to prevent his intrusion on the estates of Sir William Pilkington. But the inventive genius of the engineer was not unequal to the occasion. Kunning the risk of being brought before the magistrates, as Mr. Yignoles had been not long before, on a charge of night poaching and trespass- ing, the engineer gathered together a large staff of assistants, and made his survey while Sir William, his watchers, and all other honest folk were supposed to be safe asleep in bed. It subsequently happened that, in some negotiations that took place in the library of the unsuspecting baronet — who meanwhile had become more propitious to the undertaking — he opened a drawer for a plan of the part of his estate through which he under- stood the projected line was to pass, " and," he added, " no other survey has ever been made of it." His sur- prise may be imagined when the representatives of the Company, as blandly as they could, at the same time unrolled their own documents, and showed that they were perfectly familiar with every acre of the district which he had so jealously protected. On another occasion, when making their surveys in the same neighbourhood, the engineers found their course obstructed by a high wall. Over it Mr. Swanwick at once climbed, in order to ascertain his whereabouts, and he then saw a fine wooded park spreading out before him. This proved to be the sacredly-preserved domains of the cele- brated traveller and naturalist, Mr. Charles Waterton, 44 THE NATURALIST AND THE LAWYER. who prided himself that here he could give " a hearty welcome to every bird and beast that chose to avail itself of his hospitality ; and by affording them abundant food and a quiet retreat, induce them to frequent a spot where they would feel themselves secure from all ene- mies ; " a spot where the " shyest birds were so well aware of their security that they cared no more for spectators than the London sparrows for passengers." No wonder that instinctively the engineer shrank from the commission of so fragrant an impiety as even to linger there with thoughts of a railway in his breast, and ho at once decided to carry his line further to the west. He was fortunate, as events proved, in this determina- tion ; for Mr. Waterton was peculiarly susceptible on the matter of the inviolable sanctity of the homo he had provided for himself and his feathered friends, and he liad odd and energetic modes of expressing his wrath. ]\Ioreover his anger had been especially excited because the Barnsley Canal had dared to wind its way, and to climb up and down by sundry locks, almost at the very gates of Mr. AVaterton's park. One day, not very long after Mr. Swanwick had concluded his surveying expeditions, it devolved upon him and upon Mr. Hunt, tlie solicitor of the pro- jected line, to wait upon Mr. AVaterton, in order, if possible, to secure that gentleman's concurrence in t\w undertaking. On approaching the house by the draw- bridge over the moat, the visitors rang the bell ; Mr. "Waterton himself answered it, and curtly demanded their errand. The solicitor in his gentlest tones intimated its nature. " Come in," said Mr. AVaterton. The visitors obeyed ; and Mr. Hunt explained the object they had in view. Mr. AVaterton answerel only with a portentous grunt. " We are anxious," said Mr. Hunt, *' to ol)tain the favour of your assent to the Hue passing through MR. waterton's sanctujj. 45 your property." Mr. Waterton gave another grant. 'MVliat reply may we return?" inquired Mr. Hunt, one of the blandest of men, in his blandest manner. " You may say," exclaimed Mr. Waterton, "that I am most confoundedly opposed." " May I be allowed to record that as your decision?" continued the solicitor. Mr. Waterton once more grunted. *' I trust that if you cannot give your assent to the bill you will be neutral?" ^' Well," replied Mr. Waterton, " I will be neutral on condition that you will faithfully promise me one thing." " Pray, sir, what is it?" " It is that you take care that your railway, when it is established, shall ruin those infernal canals." Mr. Hunt could only in his most winning accents assure the irate naturalist that, while he could perhaps scarcely pledge himself to the entire destruction of the canal property, yet that those whom he represented would, he had no doubt, be delighted to do their best for the attainment of so laudable an end." " And now," said Mr. Waterton, who had by this time aired his amiability, " come, gentlemen, and see my mu- seum." They did so ; and after examining a number of curiosities, which Mr. Waterton had brought from various parts of the world, the little party came to the top floor of the house, and there Mr. Waterton threw open a window, and looked out upon the grounds. " That," he said, " is a safe refuge for all the birds of the air. Everything is secure. No gun is ever fired here. I understand," he added somewhat abruptly, "that a fellow of the name of Swanwick, one of your engineers, once came into my park intending to bring the line this way. As sure as I am alive I would have shot him." " Allow me," gently interposed Mr. Hunt, " to introduce to you my friend Mr. Swanwick." " A good thing you didn't come," added Mr. Waterton, laughing ; " I should have shot you !" 46 OPPOSITION. The bill and tlie plans of the North Midland Railway were completed amid the intense excitement involved in the preparation of a vast number of other schemes. George Stephenson and his engineers had several impor- tant works on hand; 3'et everything had to be finished by the date so inexorably defined by Parliament. Early and late they laboured on, till flesh and blood could liardly bear the strain. But within six hours of the time at which the documents must be deposited, an experienced draughtsman might have been seen working upon North Midland plans with the most painstaking love of his task, adding foliage to the trees in the parks, and touches of beauty to his handiwork generally. Suddenly several post-chaises dashed up at the door. The engineer leaped out, snatched up the daintily finished plans, laid them on the gi'ound, remorselessly stitched them together, as quickly as possible corded them up in bundles, and then sent them flying away to Wakefield, Leeds, and other towns at which, before the clock struck twelve, they had all to be delivered. When the bill came before Parliament, serious difli- culties had to be encountered. It had originally been intended that the line should be carried up the valley to tlie left of Belper, and on through the village of Mil- ford ; but the ^fessrs. Strutt expressed apprehension lest the works should interfere with their supply of water from the river, and they succeeded in driving the line to the east of the town, through a long dismal cutting, where nothing can be seen either of the railway or from it. The Aire and Calder Navigation, too, was a formidable antagonist to the new undertaking. " That body," said Mr. G. C Glyn, " was perhaps the most 0})ulent and in- fluential of all that were connected with canals. They might be said to possess almost a monopoly of the traflic COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORKS. 47 of a great part of Yorkshire. They were naturally very unwining to encounter rivalry; and he did not blame them for it. They had accordingly met the Company with the most inveterate opposition from the very first, both in Parliament and elsewhere." Eventually, in the House of Commons, the North Mid- land Company carried its bill ; but in the House of Lords the canal interest so far prevailed as to secure the insertion of clauses which would have cramped the energies of the Company, and been seriously injurious to its prosperity. After the bill had passed, the Railway Company endea- voured to come to terms with the canal. But the latter insisted, at the outset of the negotiations, that they should be reimbursed all the expenses they had incurred in re- sisting the Railway Company in Parliament. "This," said Mr. Glyn, " was like the conduct of the schoolmasters who extracted from the pockets of the pupils the cost of the rod wherewith they themselves were to be flogged. The Directors did not feel themselves at liberty to accede to terms so unjust and so extravagant ; and, therefore, the negotiations were for the present in abeyance." The}' hoped, however, by deviation from the parliamentary- line in the neighbourhood of Leeds to overcome all difficulties, and an explanation of the course of action to be taken by the Company would hereafter be given, should the Navigation persist in its " extortionate de- mands." In the early part of the following year (Feb. 1837), it was announced that arrangements for the commence- ment of the North Midland Railway had been made. The Clay Cross Tunnel, and other heavy works, were let. A site had been obtained for the terminus at Derb}', which gave easy access to the Birmingham and Derby, and Midland Counties lines and station. Application was about to be made to Parliament for powers to effect some modi- 48 A bied's-eye view. fications of the line, at BeljDer, and elsewlicre, and to secure increased land for station purposes at Leeds. " The proprietary," said the report of the Directors, witli pardonable complacency, " is highly respectable, and affords an undoubted proof of the estimation in which this undertaking is held by the public." The executive engineer's office was established in Chesterfield; and arrangements were completed for the successful prosecu- tion of the work. In the summer of 1838 a bird's-eye view of the course of the North Midland line would have presented many a scene of interest. Thousands of men were at work ; nearly all the contracts were proceeding with energy ; and where it was otherwise, " steps had been taken to remove all cause of future complaint." The station at Derby had been marked out ; the embankment near it was coming into shape ; the Derb}' and Nottingham turn- pike was being lowered; the tunnel at Milford was being made. At Belper Pool, the temporary bridge over the Derwent was finished, and the masonry was proceeding rapidly. At Wingficld, the heavy earthworks, comprising 350,000 cubic yards, were being excavated ; and at Clay Cross 400 yards of tunnel had been completed, and six 15-horse whinseys were at work at the six shafts, from the bottom of which men were tunnelling at twelve different faces, besides the ends. To bore through a hill full of wet coal-measures was of course, in effect, to make a vast drain into which enormous volumes of water poured, which had to be pumped away ; while at night the hucfe fires that blazed on the summit of the ridofe lit up the rugged outline of the gangs of men, gave a strange and lurid colouring to the spectacle, and helped to make the spot the great wonder of that country side. In other parts of the line difficulties had to be encoun- tered, difficulties which have since become the common- places of the profession, but wliicli then taxed the inge- AMBEEGATE TUNNEL. 40 nuity of the engineer. Immediately to the nortli of what is now the Ambergate Station is a bold eminence, through which a cutting and a tunnel had to be carried. "While AilliEliOATE TUNNEL. making the excavations it was ascertained that the upper half of the hill rested on an inclined bed of wet shale, as slippery as soap. The mass was too lofty and too steep to allow of the removal of the whole ; yet the ordinary shape of a tunnel would not afford sufficient strength to resist the enormous pressure. Accordingly it was re- solved so to construct an elliptical tunnel of blocks of millstone grit that the flat arch of the ellipse should receive the weight. But the work had not been long completed when it was found that the solid stonework was splintered to such an extent as to endanger the safety of the structure. Fresh means had therefore to bo provided : first, by the removal of some of the super- 50 LULL BRIDGE. incumbent mass, and by the drainage of tlie shale bed, that the material should be in part deprived of its unctuous character; and then, by lining most of the tunnel with iron ribs, it became, in fact, a double tunnel, — of milestone and of iron. About a mile north of this work a perhaps more serious difficulty had to be overcome. xVcross the patli of the future railway lay the Amber River and the Cromford Canal, so near together but at such different levels that the line must pass over the one by an embankment and bridge, and almost at the same moment under the other ; and yet the works must be, if possible, so constructed as to avoid stop|)iug the navigation for more than a fow hours. As the line where it passes under the canal was itself to be an em- bankment, the foundations of the piers which were to carry the aqueduct overhead had necessarily to be laid at a considerable depth, and thence they must be raised to a sufficient height to support an iron trough BULL BBTDOS. wliich was to can-y the water. This trough was made OPENING OF THE NOliTH MIDLAND. 51 the exact shape of the bottom of the canal, was fitted together closely, was then floated to its destination, and was finally sunk on to its resting place without disturbing the navigation, or being thencefi^rth itself disturbed. At this point, known as Bull Bridge, we have, therefore, a remarkable series of works. At the bottom is a river, and over it there are in succession a bridge, a railway, and an aqueduct ; on the top ships are sailing, and under- neath trains are running. Among the heaviest earthworks on the line were the Oakenshaw cutting and embankment, which required the quarrying and tipping of some 600,000 yards of rock. There was also the Normanton cutting, from which 400,000 yards of stufi" had to be removed. Yet the whole line, with its 200 bridges and seven tunnels, was completed in about three years, at an outlay of about £1,000,000 a year. The North Midland line, as thus constructed, has two summit levels. It ascends nearly all the way from Derby, until, at the south end of Clay Cross tunnel, it is 360 feet above the sea. It then falls till it reaches Mas- borough, where it again begins to rise, and it continues to do so as far as Royston, from whence it slopes down- ward to Leeds, The opening of the North Midland Railway, which took place on the 11th of May, 1840, was celebrated in a manner similar to that adopted by the Midland Counties Directors. A train, consisting of thirty-four carriages, containing some 500 passengers, and drawn by two engines, left Leeds at eight o'clock in the morn- ing, was joined near Wakefield by a number of carriages from the York and North Midland line, and arrived at Derby at one o'clock. Here it was welcomed by the cheers of a crowd of spectators ; and here, on the station platform, two long lines of tables had been spread with 52 TniRTY YEARS AGO. ample provisions, at wliicli the visitors, solaced by music, stood to take their luncheon. After duly cele- brating the honours of the occasion they returned home, "well satisfied that they had witnessed the commencement of a new era in the history of English locomotion. Those who are familiar with the North Midland Rail- way as it is, and who see the enormous traffic that rolls through the busy and growing population that environ it, may have some difficulty in understanding what the district was only thirty years ago. When many of its largest and richest iron fields had been untouclied ; when the Ambergate lime-works, and the Clay Cross collieries were unknown ; when Staveley was only a name ; when Sheffield was but half the size it now is ; when neither South Yorkshire nor Derbyshire had sent, except by sea, a ton of coals to London ; and when the new Nortli Midland quietly ran over sixty miles of almost undisturbed coal-fields, — the line was but a pliantom of what it is to-day. Since then, slowly and painfully, often under the pressing needs of its own poverty, yet constantly inviting and rewarding the enterprise of others around, the new Company has had to live on from hand to mouth, and gradually to develop for others the wealth it might some day be permitted huml)ly to share. In the early part of 1841 the Directors were able to report that the traffic on their line was increasing. " The quantity of minerals conveyed along this railway," said one of the journals of the time, " is almost outstrij)- ping t]\Q accommodation at the disposal of the Company; but this inconvenience will easily be remedied. Very considerable additions to the traffic may be expected from the Clay Cross collieries and coke-works, which are on an extensive scale; the latter will, moreover, afl'ord the Company the means of obtaining coke at a much lower cost than heretofore, and so be ])roductive of a ADDITIONAL CAPITAL EEQUIRED. 53 material saving in the annual expenditure. Mr. Ste- phenson's lime-kilns also, at Ambergate, are likely to supply to a great extent the midland counties with an article of great value in agriculture, the lime which is found in those counties being inconsiderable and of in- ferior quality. The North Midland Eailway will also be used for conveying the produce of these kilns as far north as Barnsley." The increase of accommodation thus required of course involved an increase of capital. A new station was re- quired at Normanton, for the joint use of the Xortli Midland, Manchester and Leeds, and York and North Midland Companies, and additional appliances were needed in the locomotive and carrying departments of the North Midland. To meet this outlay the Directors now proposed that an amount of £300,000 should be raised by shares, and £100,000, if necessary, by the exercise of their borrowing powers. The new shares would be " offered to the present proprietary in equal proportion to the number of shares respectively held by them ;" and if they were not all accepted, the remainder would be dis- posed of to the public for the benefit of the Company. The new shares would be issued at 35 per cent, discount. Meanwhile strenuous efforts were made to diminish expenditure. It was reported by a committee which was entrusted with this special duty, that a considerable number of the Company's servants — some of whom had been engaged in a work the cost of which would be properly chargeable to capital — might be discharged without detriment to the service ; and that some of the salaries had been fixed at too hig^h a scale. The com- mittee therefore proposed that the allowance to the Directors be reduced one half; and that 10 per cent, be deducted from the salaries of all officers who had more than £110 per annum, the station-masters alone 54 ECONOMIES. excepted; and that 5 per cent, be taken from all salaries amounting to less than £110. It was also recommended that certain workpeople at the locomotive department at Derby should be discharged, so as to make a reduction of £3000 ; that the five superintendents of the Company's police should be dismissed, and the men be placed under the inspector of the line ; that sundry other officials should be dispensed with ; that the office of architect to the Company, which cost upwards of £1000 a year, should be abolished ; that £3343 paid for the engineers' sUiff should be reduced to the extent of £2000 or thereabouts ; that no assistant engineer should be retained on the staff of tlie executive engineer; and that the wages of porters, police, and " flagmen," should be slightly diminished. These reductions would amount to a total of £13,000. The committee added that they had been guided in the discharge of "a duty neither grateful to their feelings, nor light as to the time, anxiety, and labour expended," by the necessity that had arisen for " a strict observance of economy, so far as it could be secured without impairing either the efficient working of the line, or the convenience or safety of the public." The spirit in which some who were connected with the Company laboured to improve its position, may be illustrated by a fact that ought to be mentioned. When Mr. Robert Stephenson had retired from the general management of the North ^Midland, it was considered desirable that he should be retained as superintendent of the locomotive department, at a salary of £1000 a year — a sum which was secured to him by agreement. But when the committee, who proposed the reductions to which we have referred, hrld tlioir meeting, Mr. Stephenson not only gave valuable suggestions as to the best course that should be pursued, but, to set an example of the economy he wished to be practised, he wrote a IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS. 55 letter to the cliairman of the Company, requesting that half of a considerable balance due to him might be cancelled, and that £400 a year might be deducted from his salary. These sacrifices were the more to be com- mended, because Mr. Stephenson had recently incui^red losses to the amount of £10,000. At this meeting, held in August (1841), a motion was introduced, that proprietors should be permitted to travel free to the half-yearly meetings of the Company. The chairman replied, that it was most desirable that these meetings should be largely attended, but that there was no precedent for the course recommended; the matter, however, was one which the proprietors must decide for themselves. In a conversation that followed, some gentlemen suggested objections to the proposal, and requested that the motion might be withdrauTi; but Mr. Bradley insisted that it should be put to the vote, not as a matter of personal saving, but because it was likely to effect the end which he had in view — of endeavouring: to secure a larQ-e attendance at the meetings of the Company ; and he was satisfied that the more this was the case, the greater would be the in- terest, and the better the management of affairs. The motion, however, was rejected by a majority of about 100 to 17. During this year it was decided that for the future the report and accounts should be circulated a few hours before they were formally submitted to the proprietors. " There were, however," said the chairman, " strong objections to an earlier publication, principally as taking ofi" from the interest of the meetings." In those days it was also the practice for the shareholders to be sum- moned simply by advertisement; and when it was proposed that each proprietor should have a circular forwarded him, the chairman, Mr. G. C. Glyn, demurred. 56 CARRIAGE OF COAL. on the ground tliat such an arrangement would be "unusual." We advert to these subjects to show how much more satisfactorily these matters are now arranged. At the spring meeting, in 1842, the Directors were able to report "a continued increase in every branch of the revenue," notwithstanding " the unexampled distress which still pervaded the commercial world." They recommended that £3000 should be set aside from profits to provide for the renewal of locomotive and other stock ; but they stated that a larger sum would hereafter be required. The dividend declared was at the rate of 3 per cent, per annum. It was stated that the manage- ment of the Company would for the future be carried on at Derby, instead of being conducted also in Leeds and London, ^fr. CJ. C. Glyn now retired from the office of cliairinan, and was succeeded by Mr. Newton. At this meeting an important debate took place on the subject of mineral trafl^c. A memorial had been presented by certain coal-owners and others, asking for a reduction of the rate from three halfpence to a penny a ton a mile, as an experiment for a year, from November, 1841 ; and this had been acceded to. M i-. Alston, one of the auditors, now expressed grave doubts whether the new rate yielded any profit whatever to the Company. lie stated that the (print ity carried during the previous six months had increased but little ; and he believed that " the whoh* emolument from this coal traffic was a very bagatelle." ^[r. Hranker supported this opinion by saying that he had the authority of Mr. Booth, the secretary of the Liverpool and Manchester line, a gentleman of great practical experience, to the effect that unless coal paid twopence a ton a mile, *' it was not worth having, and even at that it was very questionable." Of a penny rate Mr. Booth had declared that if " you take the wear and tear into consideration, you have nothing h^ft ; in fact, COAL BATES THEN AND NOW. 57 you do not get your own money back again." The chairman rephed, that though the Directors had made no contract, they were, he thought, bound in honour to continue the experiment for the year. Thereupon a resohition was proposed, that at the expiration of that period the charge for coals should be'increased to three halfpence a ton ; but the meeting considered it unadvis- able to forestall the future action either of the Board or of the Company ; and the motion was withdrawn. It is interesting, however, to recall these discussions, now that the Midland Company has so large a mineral traffic, and earns a profit at even a greatly reduced rate. They serve also to account for the fact that an important suggestion, oiffered about this time, was disregarded. It was made by Mr. Swanwick, the engineer, and was to the effect that extensions should be made from the North Midland to the vast coal districts lying to the west of Swinton and Wath ; in fact, to the great South Yorkshire fields that have of late years fed the Great Northern system with mineral and profit. Had the advice been followed the destinies of both the Midland Company and the Great Northern would doubtless have been powerfully aff*ected ; but the North Midland Directors did not at that period consider the coal traffic of any special value, and did not deem themselves in a financial position sufficiently favourable to justify any large ad- ditional expenditure of capital. The early part of 1842 was a time of disappointment to the shareholders. Complaint was made of extravagant outlay in the erection of unnecessary premises, and in the furnishing of refreshment and waiting rooms, some of which, it was declared, with the hyperbole of dis- appointed proprietors, were " more like drawing-rooms in palaces, than places of comfortable accommodation ;" and chagrin was expressed that, notwithstanding much 58 A COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. retrencliment of expenditure, the dividend was at the rate of only two per cent, per annum. The board could only share these regrets, and consent, however reluctantly, to the appointment of a committee of seven shareholders to examine "the position and future management" of the Company. The report of this committee was presented in the following November (1342). It stated that delay in its presentation had originated from the fact that, though it had been forwarded to the chairman of the Directors two months previously, with a request for its immediate publication, the Board had declined to comply until they had prepared an answer which could be circulated at the same time. A lengthened debate followed, in which it was insisted upon that, as the Committee of Investigation had recommended deductions to the amount of nearly £18,000 a year, and the Du-ectors had since admitted that £11,000 might be saved, the case of the committee was substantially proved, and that the administration of the Board was not deserving of confidence. This view of the matter was generally accepted ; but Mr. Newton replied, that his colleagues were unanimously of opinion tliat the recommendations of the committee could not be carried out witli safety to the public. " Then, may I ask," said a shareholder, "the intentions of the Directors?" The chairman answered that he really could not tell; aiul ill tlie midst of confusion he declared tlie meeting dissolved, and vacated the chair. The Directors ap})ear however to have done their best to carry into effect the wishes of the proprietors. Six of the old Directors resigned their seats, and were replaced by the members of the late committee of inquiry ; and the new Board endeavoured to accomplish various reduc- tions of expenditure which had been previously proposed. But these efforts were resisted at the outset by the PROPOSED AMALGAMATION. 59 engine-drivers and firemen refusing to consent to any diminution of their numbers. This emergency was promptly met by the substitution of another set of men, who, with some exceptions, proved efficient. One serious accident, however, occurred, which created much public alarm. Further reforms were reported at the autumnal meeting of the year (1843). A reduction of one per cent, on loans falling due also relieved the finances of interest to the amount of £5000 a year. But the independent existence of the Company was now drawing to a close. Proposals were made, and not long afterwards negotiations were opened, for the amalgamation of the North Midland with the Midland Counties and Birmingham and Derby lines. To the precise nature of these arrangements we shall have hereafter to advert. CLAY CROSS. CHAPTER III. Influence of the Erewash Valley project on tlie politics of railway enterprise. — Origin of Birmingham and Derby scheme. — Meeting of " the inhabitants of Derby." — Sir Robert Peel's speech at Tamworth. — " Peel's Railway." — Cordial support of the new undertaking. — The Stonebridge branch. — Curious episode. — Abandonment of proposed Stitchford junction with London and Birmingham line. — Commencement of the works. — Course of the line. — Opening of the line to Hampton-in-Ardcn. — Discouragement. — Committee of investigation. — Completion of direct line to Birmingham. — Competition with Midland Counties Railway. — Proposals for amalgamation with Midland Counties and North- umberland Companies. — Terms proposed. — Objections. — Share- holders' meetings of the several Companies. — Final adjustment of terms. — First meeting of the Midland Railway Company. — !Mr. Hudson's speech. — Resolutions for consolidating the three proper- ties. — Fii'st General Meeting of Shareholders, July 16th, 1844. — Hopefulness of October Meeting. — Large increase of capital sanctioned. The coal-owners of the Valley of the Erewash were destined to exercise a powerful influence on the politics of railway enterprise in the Midland counties of Enghmd. It is true that their own pecuHar project, which would have brought a line to their pit mouths, was, to their infinite chagrin, placed for years in abeyance ; but the very fact that that Pinxton branch was projected, was sufficient, as we have seen, to arouse the jealousy of the North Midland Company, and even led to the construc- tion of yet a third line, — the Birmingham and Derby. In September, 1835, — the same autumn that Stephenson and his secretary went in the yellow post-chaise on their surveying expedition to Leeds, — "Old George" came over to Birmingham, and took up his quarters at the Hen and Chickens, in order to make arrangements for commencing his new undertaking, by which to con- nect the centre of the hardware district of England with Derby and the North. Here he found no difficulty in "the inhabitants of deeby." 61 associating with liiinself a number of influential persons who showed a practical interest in the enterprise. Mr. Henry Smith, — a manufacturer, of high social standing, who might have represented Birmingham in parhament, had he been so disposed, consented to be the first chair- man of the Company. Mr. Wilham Beale, — one of the oldest and most respected inhabitants of the town, — whose son Mr. Samuel Beale subsequently became chah^man of the Midland Eailvvay Company, — and other gentlemen of similar position became directors, and they constituted, as was lately remarked by one who knew them well, "a first-rate board." But the circumstances under which the undertakino- o was first publicly submitted to the consideration of the people of Derby, were more amusing than encouraging. An announcement had been made, in terms of befitting dignity, that a deputation from the promoters of this great enterprise were about to confer with " the inhabit- ants of Derby," and to seek the support of the said " inhabitants " in carrying it out. The deputation ac- cordingly, at the appointed time, arrived at the hotel, and proceeded to prepare for the duties that lay before them, by dining together. This important part of the pro- gramme being concluded, a messenger was despatched to the room, to ascertain in what number " the inhabitants of Derby" had responded to the invitation; and he re- turned with the intelligence that only three persons were present : three persons, out of a population of many thousands, were all who had thought it worth their while to ascertain on what terms direct railway communication might be obtained with Birmingham and the West of England. The deputation waited half an hour; and then another messenger was despatched, who reported that now twelve people in all had arrived of " the inhabitants of Derby." The folding doors that separated the dining- 62 SIR ROBERT PEEl's SPEECH. room and the liall were now withdrawn. The deputation, with all the dignity they could muster, advanced to the platform, and proceeded to unfold their budget to the twelve men of Derby. Fortunately there were some in that audience who were able as well as willing^ to render efficient assistance in starting so great an enterprise. At Tamworth a more fitting assembly was convened to express their interest in the project. Sir Robert Peel, one of the members for the borough, spoke in warm approbation of it, and took a comprehensive view of the various similar undertakings then in contemplation. "At the close of the next session," he said, "we shall probably start them. Besides the lines of railway from London to Liverpool, through Birmingham, there will be a line between Birmingliam and Gloucester, effecting a direct communication with the port of Bristol, and, tlirougli it, to the West Indies. We shall also find a line connecting Derby ^nth Leeds. Supposing this to be the case, I thiuk, under such circumstances, 3'"0u cannot entertain a doubt, when you consider the wealth, intel- ligence, and commercial enterprise of the people of Yorkshire and the North, that they will, by some means or other, effect a communication with Birmingham and its important adjacent districts, as well as the other parts of the kingdom, by an union of these great lines." He then expressed his approval of the route that had been selected ; his belief that " on account of the valleys and the natural levels of the country, it will be found that the line could be executed at considerably less ex- pense than any other ; " and concluded by saying, — " I most cordially hope this project will succeed ; I shall give it my assent as a landed proprietor, and I shall support it in my place in parliament." We need scarcely add that at that time the name of Sir Robert Peel was itself a tower of strength ; and so much interest did he mani- A CURIODS EPISODE. 63 fest in tlie undertaking, tliat it was come to be familiarly designated " Peel's Railway." The project had also substantial support from other quarters. The great landowners — the Marquis of Anglesea, Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart., and others, also gave in their hearty adhesion ; and the brewers at Burton-on- Trent, and the towns and the population on the line of road, cordially supported the undertaking. So popular did it become, that as soon as the £100 shares were issued, they rose to 19 premium. " The thing," said one who was connected with it, " took fire like a match." The Birmingham and Derby line was, as we have seen, originally projected in the interest of the North Midland, and avowedly to connect Derby and the manufacturing districts of Yorkshire with Birmingham and the West. Such an undertaking was of course a serious discourage- ment to the hopes that had been cherished by the Mid- land Counties that their connection with the London and Birmingham at Rugby would secure the western trade for themselves; but probably they would have borne their disappointment with tolerable composure had not the other proposed branch line from Whitacre junction to Hampton-in-Arden — the Stonebridge branch, as it was called — of the Birmingham and Derby Company threatened the Midland Counties with direct competition for the traffic with London and the South. Before any of the three Companies had obtained the sanction of parliament to their projects, a curious episode occurred. The Midland Counties board Avas urged by the Birmingham and Derby to abandon their Pinxton branch on condition that the Stonebridge branch also was with- drawn. These negotiations were carried so far that they were regarded by the representatives of the Birmingham and Derby Company as concluded ; and on the last day on which the advertisements required by parliament could 64 THE STONEBRIDGE JUNCTION. be issued, the Stonebridge branch was omitted from the BirmiDgham and Derby project. To the chagrin of the latter, however, they found that the Midland Counties Company had retained the Pinxton branch in the an nouncement of their undertaking. What was to be doner Country newspapers were then published only once a week, and it was now too late to amend the advertisement of the Birmingham and Derby line in all the newspapers of the district through which the rail way was to run. Fortunately for themselves — though not for their rivals — the acute- nessof the solicitors was sufficient for the emergency. They suggested that another company might yet be projected. Another line might be proposed from Whitacre to Hamp- ton-in-Arden, along the precise route of the proposed Stonebridge branch, and this might be afterwards incor- porated with the Birmingham and Derby. Their plan was adopted. Three days afterwards, a Birmingham paper contained an announcement that a new Company was about to be formed to make a line, to be called " The Stonebridge Junction Railway ; " and eventually, when the projects were before parliament, this undertaking was united with that from which it had been temporarily severed, and the consolidated body was entitled " The Birmingham and Derby Junction " Railway Company. Thusdid these two little branch lines — the Pinxton and the Stonebridge — vitally affect the position, the policy, and the fate of the three great Companies with which they were connected. Had the Pinxton branch been un- attempted, the North Midland would not, at any rate at that period, have thought of urging the formation of the Stonebridge branch, and even of the Birmingham and Derby itself ; yet, eventually, as we shall find, it was the Stonebridge branch that enal)led the Birmingham and Derby to carry on a fierce and effective competition with the Midland Counties, and finally to insist on terms of PEOGRESS OF THE WORKS. 65 amaloraraation that otlierwise would uover have been conceded. In the original bill it Avas provided that the new line should join the London and Birmingham Railway at a place three or four miles south of Birmingham, called Stichford. Subsequently it was determined to secure an independent entrance to Birmingham, and powers were accordingly obtained for the line to follow the course of the Yalley of the Tame, to a separate terminus at Lawley Street — now the low level goods station of the Midland Company. In August, 1837, it was announced to the share- holders that the work of constructing the line had been commenced. The land had been taken; the bridges at Derby over the canal, and the Derwent, and the viaduct over the Anker, had been commenced ; and the important works at Tamworth had been let to an ex- perienced contractor. Mr. Henry Smith, the chairman,, also stated that the Company had endeavoured to obtain an amendment of the Act to authorize them to make a line from Tamworth to Rugby, but that the proposal had encountered such severe opposition that it had been with- drawn. Failing in this, the directors had decided to begin without delay the Hampton branch of their line, by means of which they would be brought near to Rugby and have their course opened to the South ; and it was estimated that this part of their works might be completed within twelve months of the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway. By Midsummer, 1838, the whole of the land required between Derby and Hampton had been purchased, and at a cost in excess of the grant by estimate of only about £10,000. The cuttings and embankments were found to be nearly equal in amount, and only about 55,000 cubic yards to the mile ; and most of the excavations being in 66 THE ANKER VIADUCT. red marl or gravel, abundance of excellent material was supplied for the formation of the permanent way. Each of the three Companies had bought ground near to Derby for a general station ; on this subject all had agreed, and we may add — they agreed on nothing else. The contractors undertook that the line should be ready to receive the trains as early as the 30th of June, 1839, and it was opened from Derby to Hampton-in- Arden in an unusually early period for so considerable an undertaking. The line of country is however very favourable for a railway. No tunnel was required ; the only important embankment is that in the neighbourhood of Tamworth, and the gradients of half the lines are slight, and on the other half are level. The chief works of the <»/. --'4: THE ANKEU VIAI>1 ( 1 . engineer were at the Anker viaduct, near Tamworth, formed of eighteen arches at 30 feet span, and one oblique arch of 60 feet span. There was a viaduct of neq,rly a quarter of a mile in length, which rested on 1000 piles, near Walton. The period that followed the opening of the line was COMMITTEE OF IXVESTIGATIOX. 67 however discouragfino*. Coaclies were still runnino^ be- tween Birmingham and Derby. Additional capital had also been spent. Only a small dividend was paid, and the hope of future prosperity was dependent on the completion of the North Midland and other lines, which miofht brinof an accession of traffic. Thus thingfs dra2:2:ed their slow leno^th along: till, at the general meeting* held at Birmingham in August, 1841, the chairman stated that, though the receipts had im- proved, and the prospects of the undertaking were encouraging, he thought that it would be desirable for the shareholders to appoint a committee to investigate the condition of the Company. The suggestion was adopted, and the report was shortly afterwards pre- sented. This document indicated several methods in which the administration of affairs might be improved ; and with regard to the future the committee expressed themselves hopefully. They stated that Mr. Robert Stephenson agreed with them that the local traffic would increase ; that the opening of three new stations on the direct line between Whitacre and Birmingham would produce at least £20 a week each additional ; that the traffic of Tam- worth, Atherstone, Coleshill, and the adjoining districts, when brought by the new route nearer to Birmingham, would be considerably augmented ; and that the opening of the direct route to Birmino-ham would relieve the Company from the toll paid to the London and Birming- ham, — an amount equal to one per cent, on the whole capital, — and would provide improved facilities for the transmission of goods and minerals. Every effort was now made to press forward the completion of the main line into Birmingham. Pas- senger stations also were established at Castle Bromwicli, Water Orton, and Forge Mills (for Coleshill), and it was 08 COMPKTITlOxX. intended to add one or two more. The traffic, too, in- creased 16 or 1 7 per cent. The total expenditure at Christ- mas, 1841, amounted to rather more than £1,000,000; the cost, including two terminal stations and rolling stock, averaging £24,000 a mile. In the following June, £100,000 additional capital, besides the usual proportion by means of borrowing powers was raised by the allotment of new shares pro rata among the shareholders at a heavy discount. The events that followed the separate history of this company were of little moment. Some economies were made ; expectations were raised with regard to the effects of a proposed connection with the Birmingham and Gloucester line so soon as it should be finished, and with other railways to the north, and the discussions with tlie ]\lidland Counties Company on the subject of the mandamus dragged their slow length along. The contention of the Birmingham and Derby was, that their line was the first opened ; that it conveyed pas- sengers from Derby to London for a year before the Midland Counties was able to do so ; that it had then carried 200,000 passengers in perfect safety ; that previous to the opening of i\\Q Midland Counties the directors of the Birmingham and Derby had commenced negotiations for an " equitable division " of the traffic to the south; that the first reduction of fares had been made by the Midland Counties ; and that the Birmingham and Derby board had offered to refer the whole question to the arbitration of Mr. George Carr Glyn, the chair- man of the London and Birmingham and North Midland railways. " Our line, too," said Mr. Kahrs, " is incapa- ble of being interfered with by new lines, except for its benefit. Not so the others. He had been for some time expecting the announcement of a more direct line between London and York, by way of Peterborough and Tiiiicoln ; amalga:mation phoposed. 60 and that morning's post brought news that this was already talked of on the Stock Exchange. And what," lie asked, " would then be the position of the Midland Counties and North Midland lines ?" At length, however, this controversy drew towards a close ; and the directors of the Birmingham and Derby Company announced that with an earnest desire to develop the resources, and to reduce the cost of working the line, they had " approved of a proposition of the directors of the North Midland Railway for an amalgamation of the three lines of railway which centre in Derby, as a measure that would be highly beneficial to them all ; " and event- ually it was decided that the proprietors should be urged to sanction such an arrangement. The chief feature of it, so far as the Birmingham and Derby Company was affected, was, that its shareholders should receive a smaller dividend on each £100 share than those of the other Companies. To this it was replied that inasmuch as the Birmingham Company and also the Midland Company were suffering from the effects of competition, they ought first to have the opportunity of testing the value of their property when freed from such influences, and that then, and not till then, the relative worth of each could be fairlv ascertained. This opinion was supported by Mr. Dicey, the chairman of the Midland Counties meeting, held September 21st, 1843. The proposal for amalgamation having been moved by Mr. John Ellis and seconded by Mr. William Hannay, the Chairman stated that he had " the misfortune to differ from the plan which had been proposed," on the ground that while the chief, if not the whole, benefit in the economy of expenditure and the increase of re- ceipts would be secured by the cessation of hostilities between the two lines south of Derby, yet the North Midland would secure for itself thousands a year of addi- 70 THE MIDLAND EAILWAT COMPANY. tional revenue, of which it would not "earn one penny." Mr. Dicey contended that the profits of the two southern lines, freed from competition, ought to be divided between them ; and that when the two properties had thus risen to their fair market value, an equitable basis would be supplied on which to form more intimate relations with the North Midland. These objections were, however, after protracted discussion, overruled, and the majority in favour of amalgamation was found to be overwhelming. A joint committee was now arranged — consisting of members from each board — to complete the details of the amalgamation, and to secure the general and final sanction of the several bodies of proprietoj-s. In the course of these negotiations it was determined that Birmingham and Derby shareholders should receive 27 d. Gd. per annum less dividend per £100 share than the proprietors of the other two Companies. These and (jther terms were approved at meetings of the three Com- panies held on the IGth and 17th of April, IS 11-. The first general meetinti. t»i. ,;,jaS»T'iiJ;5--"^- -r-^^-fT-- -"^i:^?^ - OLOCCESTER. sleepers on which the rails rested, the engine went off the rails, and dragged several of the carriages after it. The train was proceeding slowly; the passengers alighted uninjured, and were able to reach the terminus on foot. Here a large party partook of a late breakfast, and speeches were delivered in honour of the occasion. In the year 1845 the negotiations for a union of the Birmincrham and Gloucester and Bristol and Gloucester lines, Avhich had previously been unsuccessful, were resumed. It had been found that the meeting of two independent lines with different gauges had involved serious disadvantages and losses to both companies ; and with a view of introducing uniformity of system and of THE BATTLE OF THE GAUGES. 8o gauge, it was resolved that there ought to be identity of interest. At present, however, it was undetermined whether the broad gauge should be carried through to Birmingham, or the narrow gauge be continued to Bristol : an issue which might appear of secondary moment, but which really involved the question whether the Great Western system was to surround the mid- land counties of England, and whether it was to ^"'"'^"'- perpetuate a conflict of gauge between the north and the west. This was a rivalry, too, in which — though the Midland and the Great Western Companies were the chief competitors — all existing railways were concerned. And thus it came to pass that the two western lines which had been struggling for existence found that they were engaging national attention, the objects of national interest, a prize to be contended for by eager rivals. All this was very flattering to a hitherto unappreciated western belle, who 86 AMALGAMATION WITH MIDLAND. began to feel liow pleasant it was to flirt now witli one admirer and anon with another, to weigh their respective claims, and eventually to secure for the honour of her alliance a very substantial settlement. The rivalry was close and keen. The endowment offered by the Great Western was in share capital ; that of the Midland was in cash — a guaranteed six per cent, dividend. The terms proposed by Mr. Saunders for the Great Western would have been accepted had not Mr. Ellis, on the very same day, submitted his offer on ])ehalf of the Midland, and carried off the palm. The narrow gauge lookers-on were delighted. The London and North AVestern Company had been es- pecially anxious to keep the broad gauge in the west ; and, with the view of backing up the Midland Company in its conflict, undertook for a time to share in any loss the Midland might incur by its somewhat onerous terms of purchase. The aid thus promised by the London and North Western was subsequently altered, by arrange- ment, into permission for the Midland to use the New Street Station at Birmingham, which had cost an enor- mous sum of money, for the nominal rent, besides charges for porters, of £100 a year. The terms of agreement were sanctioned by the different companies in the usual manner. At the Mid- land meeting, August 12th, 1845, Mr. Hudson, in com- mending the lease to the adoption of the shareholders, said : " I take no credit to myself, gentlemen, for having originated this arrangement. My friend, Mr. Ellis, to whom I wish to give all the credit which is so justly his due, suQforested to the board this bold course ; and I candidly confess that, at first, I shrank from incurring further liabilities on the part of the Midland Company. On looking, however, more closely into the matter, and reflecting on the greater accommodation which by means BENEFITS OF AMALGAMATION. 87 of this arrangement we could offer to tlie public, feeling, too, that small and independent companies could not supply such advantages, and having examined carefully the accounts, I concurred most cordially in the views of mj excellent colleague, Mr. Ellis, and I am here to-day to take whatever share of the responsibility may attach to me." On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Ellis remarked that when, by force of circumstances, it had devolved upon him to negotiate the arrangements with the Birmingham and Bristol Company, he had not the opportunities he could have desired of consulting his colleagues ; " but having since deliberated on the matter for weeks and months, he was more firmly convinced than ever of the wisdom of the step which had been taken, and which it would have been a dereliction of duty on his part to have neglected." We may add that at the time these negotiations were concluded, the two western lines were not earning so much as the Midland Company agreed to give for them, and in the first eighteen months there was a deficit of £27,500. Subsequently the accounts of the several lines were not kept separately, and therefore the loss or gain could not be exactly determined ; but by a special exam- ination it was ascertained that by the end of 1848 the Western lines had paid their way, or nearly so. From that time to the present the financial advantages of the amalgamation to the Midland Company have been un- doubted; to say nothing of the indirect benefits that have been derived from securing an unbroken uniformity of gauge in the midland districts of England. CHAPTER V. The Leicester and Swannington Railway. — The Leicesterhhire coal fields. — Coal below granite. — "Old George's" sagacity. — Metal tickets. — The first steam whistle. — West Bridge station, Leicester. — Amal- o-amation of Swannington line with Midland. — Proposed Erewash Valley Railway. — Line from Syston to Peterborough — The battle of Saxby Bridge. — "The Railway Mania." — Competition. — A rival line proposed from London to York. — Mr. Hudson's indig- nation. — " Unusual expedients." — Parliamentary battle. — Pro- posed line from Matlock to the Midland system. — Remarkable special general meeting. — Countless new projects. — Enthusiasm of the shareholders. — The South Midland and Leicester and Bedford schemes. — Animated meeting at Bedford. — Proposed lease of Leeds and Bradford line. — Protracted debate. The Leicester and Swannington, as we have already remarked, was the first railway made in the midland counties of England. While it was in course of con- struction, George Stephenson entered into an arrange- ment with Mr. Joseph Sanders, the " father " of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and Sir Joshua "Walmesley, for the purchase of a colliery estate at Snibston, near what is now the Coalville station, and not far from the extinct volcano of Bardon Hill. Here a shaft was sunk, and coal was got. Stephenson, however, arrived at the conclusion that, by going deeper, he should reach a better seam than any heretofore dis- covered in that district. He set to work accordingly. But suddenly, his sinkers, to their dismay, touched the granite. " Granite," every one said, " was the earliest of all the formations ; coal could never be below granite." "You're w^rong," replied old George, in homely words and Doric accent, but with the insight of genius, " you're wrong. When Bardon hill was on fire, the pot boiled over, and this granite is only the scum. It is no great thickness. We shall go through it, and find the best coal below." He was right. After proceeding down- WAY-BILLS AND WULSTLES. 91 instance, to the then Ashby Road station, " perhaps No. 22 " would be issued to him, and the circumstance would be duly recorded by the clerk in a book kept for that purpose, the page of which resembled the "way-bills " of coaching days. When the passenger arrived at his desti- nation, the guard would place the ticket in a leathern pouch he carried at his side, which looked like a modern collecting box, and take them back to be used again. For six or eight months from the opening of the Leicester and Swannington line it was in the charge of Mr. George Yaughan, who was also manager of the Snibston collieries. Soon after the appointment of his successor, Mr. Ashlen Bagster, a locomotive, while cross- ing a level road near Thornton, ran against a horse and cart. At that time the drivers and guards of trains were able to give the signal of alarm only by means of a horn ; and when Mr. Bagster heard of the misadventure he went over to Alton Grange, and mentioned the circumstances to Stephenson. " Is it not possible," he suggested, " to have a whistle fitted on the engine, which the steam can blow?" "A very good thought," replied Stephenson. "You go to Mr. So-and-So, a musical-instrument maker, and get a model made, and we will have a steam whistle, and put it on the next engine that comes on the line." This was accordingly done. The model was sent to Newcastle ; and all future engines that arrived in Leices- tershire were thus equipped. It is interesting to visit the spot, by the broad canal and wharf, where once stood the only railway station in the midland counties of England. What are now the homely waiting room and entrance passage of the book- ing offices, was then the board-room in which the fifteen railway magnates met to deliberate on the affairs of a line sixteen miles in length — a director to a mile ; yet those men were then solving practical problems with 92 SWANNIXGTON AMALGAMATED WITH MIDLAND. astuteness and enterprise which has since enriched the land and benefited the world. LEICESTEK bXATlON (WEST BUIDOE), 1832. The Leicester and Swannington line continued its in- dependent existence for some years, when rumours from various quarters of threatened schemes of competition made tlie Midland board anxious to consolidate tlieir position in the districts they occupied, A Leicester and Tamworth Company endeavoured to obtain possession of the Swannington ; but the Midland Company promptly concluded their negotiations, and bought the line. In this transaction the directors of the Swannington were not unwilling to give a preference to the Midhmd com- pany, which they regarded in the light of a natural ally. The dividend at one time had been about eight per cent.; but, latterly, in order to defray the expense of relaying the line, the shareholders had received only five. The Midland Company guaranteed a dividend of eight per cent, on a capital of £140,000, and consented to take over a debt of £10,000 : these terms not being higher than those proposed by other parties. On coming into possession of the Swannington line, the Midland Company found it necessary to make several important improvements. Near Bardon Hill the line ran up a steep " self-acting incline," along which passengers EREWASH VALLEY LINE. 93 were required to trudge, whatever might be the incle- mency of the weather. Two sets of passenger trains and engines were kept in use, one on the higher and the other on the lower levels, and worked in correspondence with each other. But such an arrangement would no longer suffice, and a deviation of the railway was now ordered to be made, along which locomotives could freely pass. As, too, the old line was only a single line, and passed as such through a tunnel a mile long which could not easily be widened, it was resolved to construct another — a loop or deviation — line, which instead of starting from the West Bridge station, should commence at the Midland main line, about a mile south of the London Road station, and should join the old Swannington at some point north of the tunnel. The old West Bridge line would still be used, but could be relieved of much of its former traffic. The practical sagacity which had led to the consolida- tion into one property and under one administration of what had previously been a number of isolated if not rival interests, was now developed into a policy of exten- sion. In 1844, a company was formed for the purpose of constructing the long delayed Ere wash Valley line ; but in the following February, before the Act could be ob- tained, the Midland Company agreed to take up the project, the price being a minimum guarantee of six per cent, per annum on a capital not exceeding £145,000. The line, however, was not opened till 1847, and the traffic for some time afterwards was small — a circum- stance accounted for by the fact that a canal runs parallel with it for its entire length, and that the canal, unlike the railway, had no outlet to the north. The im- portance of making it a thoroughfare was however early recognised ; and when the amalgamation was effected, -Mr. Dicey drew attention to the fact that, by continuing the line northward, a saving^ of six miles would be 94 SYSTON AND PETEEBOKOUGH. effected hj trains tliat avoided tlie detour by Derby ; and a rich mineral district would also be opened up. He fur- ther contended that the Midland would thus secure the benefit of a through relief line for their main traffic to and from the north, similar to that enjoyed by the London and North Western by their Trent Valley scheme. The force of Mr. Dicey' s remarks would perhaps have been at once allowed ; but the minds of the directors were pre- occupied by extensions which they deemed essential in order to protect themselves from intended aggressions on their eastern frontier. One of these projects, immediately contemplated, was for a line to run from Syston, a station about five miles north of Leicester, to the city of Peterborough. It was laid out by George Stephenson, — its winding course being necessary to catch the towns and their tolls, to avoid the uplands and wolds of Leicestershire, and to prevent encroachment on Lord Harborough's park at Stapleford. " I have always held," said Mr. Hudson, in referring to this project, " that a line should bend to the population, and not leave the towns ; " and this line had to be bent, in order to satisfy these varied and inexorable conditions, to nearly half a circle, and then to run through the middle of Stamford to Peterborough." It was esti- mated to cost £700,000, or £15,000 a mile. The towns along its course pronounced in its favour ; and their in- terest in the matter is not surprising, when it is mentioned that during a then recent frost, the price of coals at Stam- ford had risen to forty shillings a ton, and that there had been a famine of fuel in the neighbourhood. The greatest hostility to the undertaking was, however, shown by the clientele of Lord Harborough ; and in one of the attempts made near Saxby to survey the line, a conflict took place, subsequently humorously entitled, " the battle of Saxby Bridge," which led to the incarceration THE LONDON AND YORK. 95 of some of the surveyors in Leicester gaol some weeks as " first-class misdemeanants." But while the Midland Company board was thus con- templating measures for the consolidation and enlarge- ment of its influence, other minds were equally fertile in devising projects for new railways — some of which might invade the territory which hitherto the Midland Com- pany had regarded as its own. In 1843, twenty-four railway Acts had been passed by Parliament ; in 1844, thirty-seven more were added ; in 1845, the railway mania reached its height, and in that November no fewer than 1428 railway schemes had been authorised, or were projected — 1428 lines, with an estimated capital of more than £700,000,000! But amid the bubbles that came so swiftly to the surface of that strange and, in many respects, disastrous time, there were some solid and honest enterprises, one of which was destined decisively to tell on the fortunes of the Midland Railway. This was the London and York — a line intended to flank the Midland system from south to north, and to " tap " its traffic at almost every vital point. It is not surprising that such a project was resisted with no common determination. Mr. Hudson poured upon it vials of his hottest indignation, and he declared tliat if there had been added to the scheme " the humbug of the atmospheric principle, it would have been the most complete thing ever brought before the public." After referring to the heavy earthworks, the gradients, and tunnels of the proposed line, he declared that he had no hesitation in giving a challenge to leave London with twenty carriages by the London and Birmingham and ]\Iidland railways, and that he would beat his rival at York ; " and more than that, he questioned whether, in foggy weather, they would ever get there at all." The London and North Western Company united with 96 KING HUDSON. the Midland in resisting the proposed undertaking, and the legal battle that was waged proved to be one of the greatest of the kind in the annals of Parliament. Two competitive lines to the London and York — the Direct Northern and the Cambridge and Lincoln — were in the field. No fewer than twenty counsel appeared daily in the committee rooms ; and the Commons' Committee sat six days through the quieter part of two sessions of Parliament, the standing orders being suspended to enable them to complete so colossal an investigation. It was even alleged that Mr. Hudson adopted unusual expedients to obstruct the progress of legislation, so that the bill might not pass during that session. Lord Brougham, remarked the Morning Herald, "adverted to the manner in which money and time were consumed in the conflicting schemes before Parliament, and said that Mr. Hudson — Kino? Hudson — was workinof with a twelve-counsel power before the Committee on the Lon- don and York line. The object of Mr. Hudson was delay, in order that a report might not be made in the present session, and of course counsel would talk just as long as Mr. Hudson was disposed to spend money. He was, in f\ict, just as well pleased with a six or eight hours' speech from the counsel opposed to him, as with a speech of six hours from his own counsel. He hoped, however, that the committee would disappoint Mr. Hudson, by reporting during the present session." . Lord Faversham said that Mr. Hudson, who was pre- sent, and had heard Lord Brougham's speech — cries of "Order" — had authorised him to say that it was in- correct that he had interfered with the committee ; whereupon Lord Brougham observed, that " the only sovereign entitled to be present at their debate was Her Majesty. The railway potentate had no right to lie there.'' GREAT XORTIIERX BILL PASSED. 97 Mr. Hudson, however, availed himself of another opportunity to deny the charge ; and he stated that instead of employing" twelve counsel, there were only five who, during the progress of the London and York, at- tended on his behalf to watch the course of the business. " "When the Cambridofe and Lincoln came under the consideration of the committee," he said, " our counsel did not attend, because we did not feel ourselves in a position to oppose that Company. We therefore took no part whatever then in the proceedings. Then came on the Direct Northern, in which we were interested, and then our counsel did attend. To say that we were the means of obstructing the business of the committee, was a most unfair and unjust accusation, not only upon you but upon me individually." Meanwhile the two competitive schemes were merged into the London and York; and, as the proceedings drew to a close, the final decision was awaited with intense interest. The committee room was thronged. Amid breathless silence the chairman announced that the preamble of the bill (with the exception of the pro- posed Sheffield and Wakefield branches) was proved. Loud applause broke instantly and irresistibly forth, and then the audience rushed helter skelter out of the room to bear near and afar the tidings in which so many, for good or for ill, were deeply concerned. Mr. Hudson did not fail to avail himself of the earliest opportunity of again expressing his indignation at the injury and injustice that had been done to the interests of the Midland. " I should be unworthy," he exclaimed, " of the position I hold, and of the confidence with which you are pleased to honour me, if 1 were to shrink from telling you plainly the position in which this Company is placed by the proceedings of the House of Commons, in deciding a question in wliich we are so deeply interested, u 98 MR. Hudson's ixdigxatiox. without allowing us to adduce one tittle of evidence in the matter." He declared that " the committee had come to a decision on the main question, without knowing anything whatever of the matter submitted to their judg- ment. (Loud cries of ' Shame, shame.') The com- mittee retired to consider what reason they should give — I will not say what expedient they should devise — to sanction the opposition of the London and York Com- pany to the Doncaster bill ; and the reason they alleged was, that it was a competing line with the Wakefield^ branch of the London and York. How the ingenuity of man, how fruitful soever, could bring forward such an expedient, is to me most marvellous. " Shut out as we were from all opportunity of being heard, we thought the most dignified course — the course most befitting you and ourselves — would be to retire altogether from the committee, and to take no part in opposition to the clauses of the London and York bill, though I fear the public safety is deeply involved in passing our station at York, and in the interference with our traffic. We felt, however, that before such a com- mittee, we had no chance of being fairly treated, and therefore it was that we requested Mr. Austin, as ap- pearing for the Midland and the York and North Midland Companies, to state that as we could not be heard, we sliould at once retire from the committee and appeal to the House. (Boisterous applause.) Those who have heard Mr. Austin before parliamentary committees, and know how respectfully he expresses his views, will at once admit that nothing could be said by him unbecom- ing a gentleman ; and yet, no sooner had Mr. Austin opened his mouth, and merely uttered the words, ' we protest,' than the committee rushed from the room, and on their return announced that he could not be heard. (Hisses, and cries of ' Shame.') MR. Hudson's speech. 99 " Thus, gentlemen, we have been shut out from a hearing before the committee ; but I look to the House for that justice whicli is the right of the humblest indivi- dual, — and certainly not less the right of those who have embarked nearly thirty millions of money in this and other undertakings which are affected — the justice of not having their claims thus summarily disposed of with- out even the courtesy of a hearing. (Loud applause.) I feel it difficult, as an Englishman, to restrain my feel- ings when speaking of such proceedings, but I have endeavoured not to exaggerate the facts ; and I leave to yourselves to give an opinion thereon. (Renewed ap- plause.) Such a decision cannot possibly stand, and I am satisfied that even those members of the House who are pleased with this triumph — if triumph it may be called — of the London and York, will, when the ques- tion is brought before the House, give their vote that at least we shall be heard. " Had an opportunity been allowed, we should have shown that while the London and York proposed to save by their new line about three quarters of a mile in dis- tance, we should have saved a million and a half of money, and given the public equal, if not greater facili- ties. Nothing, however, of this kind was permitted. With breathless haste the committee were resolved to pass the preamble of the bill — with breathless haste they are resolved to report upon it ; but I hope and believe that our appeal to the House will result in sending back the bill to the committee, so that its opponents may at least bring forward their case. If, after that examina- tion, our schemes are found defective, of course we must submit ; but it is one of the most cruel inflictions that could be imposed on the owners of so large a property, that our claims should be rejected unheard. (Hear, hear.) How can the decision of this committee stand if it be 100 " A HURRICANE OF APrLAUSE." true, as rumourecl, tliat it was settled by two individuals, one member of the committee not voting at all, and ano- ther voting directly against it ! " Gentlemen, I have little more to say of the London and York scheme. On a previous occasion, some eight or ten months ago, I fully explained my views as to its merits, and that estimate has not only been tacitly admitted by the parties themselves, but has been almost literally borne out by the evidence adduced before the committee. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, on the principle that we have not been heard, we take our stand ; and it is the anxious wish of my colleagues and myself to fortify our position during the short interval ere the prorogation of Parliament by any means that may be pointed out. I am not an alarmist, nor in the habit of giving way to difficulties ; but on the other hand, whilst I would not encourage the notions of the over-sanguine, I believe that this Company is destined to maintain a high position, and that there is nothing either present or in prospect at all tending to interfere with its ultimate and permanent success. (Applause.) I have nothing to add. It may be that I have expressed myself somewhat too strongly — loud cries of ' No, no,' from the entire meeting — but I feel that we have been hardly dealt with — I feel that we have done nothing to forfeit our rights as Englishmen, and I trust that some means may yet be devised of not deciding against us unheard." (Much applause.) The Chairman resumed his seat amid " a hurricane of applause." The motion having been seconded, was carried unanimously. At this meeting, July 25th, 1845, it was mentioned that the merchandise and mineral receipts had increased at the rate of more than 27 per cent, on the corresponding lial^^ vear ; and that the directors had arranofed for the mOPOSED EXTENSION TO BUXTON. 101 lease of the Birmingham and Grloucester, and Bristol and Gloucester Railways ; of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, and of the Ashby and Oakham Canals. The chairman also proposed that the Midland Company should join certain other companies in subscribing for a piece of plate to be presented to George Stephenson, and for a statue to be erected on the bridge at Newcastle — the quota of the Midland Company to be £2000. Mr. Ellis, the deputy chairman, said that though he was a member of the Society of Friends, he should, " with all his heart," second the motion. One shareholder demurred to the application to any such purpose of the shareholders' money, money he said, that belonged in part to " orphans and widows ; " whereupon the chairman declared that if any proprietor objected to the vote " his quota should be calculated, and he (the chairman) would repay the amount out of his own pocket ; " a remark, which, we are in- formed, drew forth " boisterous applause, which lasted for several minutes." Reference was made at this meeting to a line which had been proposed to connect the Midland system with Matlock, Buxton, and Manchester. Thirty coaches passed along that route every day through the summer months, and the visitors to Chatsworth alone amounted to sixty or seventy thousand a year. The Hon. George Cavendish was one of the earliest supporters of the pro- ject, and took in it 520 shares, which, he said, " I do not intend to sell." George Stephenson, too, at a meeting of the new company, stated that though he was about to retire from a profession in which he had spent a long and arduous life, he had come forward to support this line. He recollected well liow the York and North Midland had been forsaken notwithstanding his favourable predictions. He had bought shares in it for £1, on which £6 had been paid ; and he had had the satis- 102 ^'EW SCFIEMES. faction of holding these shares till he made £250 for every £50 he had laid out. The development of this Buxton and Manchester scheme, was naturally watched by the Midland Company with interest ; and in order to secure some measure of influence in controllins: its destinies the Midland board purchased nearly 10,000 shares, and placed them in trust, and this number was subsequently largely increased. We may add that the London and North Western Company, because they did not want a line in this direction, pursued a similar course. The year 1846 was an important epoch in the history of the Midland Company. At the January meeting, the chairman announced varied projects of extension ; and in the following May he stated that the bills had passed the Commons, and had to be submitted for the sanction of the proprietors. It is true that the difficulties that had latterly arisen in the railway world had somewhat abated the ardour of railway enterprise, but the eloquence of the chairman and the ambition of the shareholders gave such enthusiasm to the scene, and reflected so remarkably the temper of the times, that we must dwell somewhat mi- initely upon it. We may premise that with the proxies that had been sent in, and the shares that were held by proprietors present, there was not less than £6,000,000 of Midland capital represented in the meeting. The first bill was for a deviation of the Syston and Peterborough line. Its provisions were said to be necessary to meet some objections made by Lord Har- borough ; and it contained powers for the construction of a small deviation that would improve the communication with Stamford. The chairman admitted that some of the new projects might not be paying lines if they stood alone ; but that in hostile hands the}' would be sources of injury to the Midland Railway, while as parts of a NEW SCHEMES. lOo great system tliey would be remunerative. The resolution was put, and agreed to unanimously. The next bill was to aathorise the construction of an extension of the Leicester and Swanuington Railway to Burton-on-Trent, there again to join the Midland. The cost would be £140,000. The next bill was for making a line from Burton-on- Trent to Nuneaton, with branches, and to authorise the Midland Company to purchase the Ashby-de-la-Zouch Canal, at a total cost of from £70,000 to £80,000. Mr. Franklin objected to proceeding with these schemes on the ground that the shareholders had already incurred sufficient responsibilities. Why not let other parties have a chance as well as themselves. (Hear, and laughter.) But the resolution was agreed to. The next bill related to the Ere wash Yalley line, sanc- tioned last year. It was to authorise the construction of branches to neighbouring coalfields, and also to the town of Chesterfield, and to Clay Cross, in order to shorten the distance between the south and the north. The estimate was £230,000; but the Chairman said that this bill could not be objected to, since the undertakings were likely to prove highly remunerative to the share- holders. Mr. Hudson assured Mr. Franklin that he was by no means desirous of monopolising any districts which if in other hands would be more advantageous to the public. But that objection did not apply to the case be- fore them ; for these lines would not remunerate an inde- ])endent company, though they would pay the Midland. (Hear, hear.) A shareholder here suggested that these lines could not be made for their estimates, for that the price of labour and materials had considerably increased. But the chairman assured the honourable proprietor that he was mistaken. Both materials and labour were as cheap now as they were when he first joined the 104 NEW SCHEMES. Midland, nay, in the case of sleepers which formerly cost 7s. each, they now cost only 4s. 6d. (Hear, hear.) The resolution was then agreed to. The next bill was for powers to construct a branch from Nottingham to Mansfield, involving an expenditure of £270,000. The line would considerably shorten the distance between these places and the south of England. The resolution was agreed to. The next bill was to authorise the construction of a line from Clay Cross to join the Nottingham and Lincoln brancli, and it also was agreed to. The next bill was for making^ a lino from Swinton to Lincoln, to connect the West Ridinsf with Gainsborouo^h and Doncaster. Mr. Franklin : " AYhat is the estimate? " The Chairman : " £140,000." Mr. Franklin : *' This will never do. Our liabilities are already heavy enough without adding to them." The Chairman : " I am one of those who think the business of a railway cannot be carried on successfully on a small scale." Mr. Franklin : " So it seems." (Laughter.) Tlie resolution was agfreed to. The Chairman said, the next was a little bill to improve their communication with London and Birmingham, and Bristol and Gloucester, and Midland lines at Birmingham. The estimate was £80,000. Mv. Franklin : " There you go again." (Laughter.) The Chairman: '* AVell, the public experience con- siderable inconvenience from the want of this communi- cation, and could you remove it for a less sum ?" (No, no). The bill was approved of. The Chairman said, the next bill was for connecting the Birmingham and Gloucester line with the docks at Gloucester. Gloucester was a rising port, and the pro- NEW SCUEMES. 105 posed improvements could be accomplished for £150,000. The bill was agreed to. The Chairman said the next bill was for making a branch from the Birmingham and Gloucester to the rising watering place of Malvern. The line was much wanted, and likely to prove highly remunerative. The estimate for it was £180,000. Mr. Thompson said there was only one coach running to Malvern. The Chairman said that was no criterion to go by, and they had an extraordinary proof of this in the Scar- borouQ-h line. Before that line was made there was onlv one coach, and it was therefore predicted that a railway would be a ruinous undertaking. What, however, had been the result ? The line was already paying 7 per cent. (Cheers.) The bill was approved of. The Chairman said that the next bill was for power to complete the narrow gauge down to Bristol, which could be accomplished for £100,000, including an extension of eight miles to Stonehouse. A passenger would then be able to travel from Edinburgh to Bristol without change of carriage. (Applause.) The bill was unanimously approved of. The Chairman said tlic next bill was for making a communication between Bath and Mangotsfield, and for the shortening of the communication between Gloucester and Bath. Mr. Frankhn. " You will only gain eight minutes by it. How many more irons are you going to put in the fire ? " Mr. Hudson could assure the honourable proprietor that he should be the last man to support a line on the ground of its saving a few minutes' time ; but although this line, in point of time, would only save a few minutes, it would afford great local accommodation, and open up to their main line vast coal and mineral fields. The bill was approved of. 106 NEW SCHEMES. The Chairman said that the next bill was for carrying out the agreement for leasing the Bristol and Gloucester, and Birmingham and Grloucester lines. He was perfectly satisfied that in the end they would have no cause to regret their approval of this agreement. The bill was approved of. The Chairman said that the next was the Bedford and Northampton bill. The Huntingdon brancli bad al- ready passed tbrougb the committee of the House of Commons, and the South Midland would be brought on very shortly. They held £600,000 worth of stock in the scheme ; but if they thougbt proper they could dispose of it at a future period. In a similar manner he had induced some York shareholders to subscribe to the North Britisli Railwa}^, and cleared by it something like £25,000. (Cheers.) It was necessary that they should continue to have an interest in this undertaking. (Hear, liear.) It would give them another communication with London, independent of the one by way of Rugb}^, and enable them to have an entrance into the metropolis by the east as well as the ^est. (Hear, hear.) The bill was approved of. The Chairman said, the next bill was for a line to con- nect the Midland sj^stcm with Manchester, Buxton, and Matlock, which could be effected at a cost of £270,000. He had no doubt that the line would be found to be as good as any in this part of the country. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Wellington : " What will the cost per mile be ? " The Chairman said he was not in a position to give a positive answer to that question, but probably it would be about £30,000 per mile. The bill was approved of. The Chairman said that he had now to call their at- tention to three bills, prosecuted in conjunction with the London and Birmingham Company. The first was the NEW SCHEMES. 107 "Worcester and Weedon, the second the Hampton and Banbury, and the thh'd was the Hampton and Ashchurch, These bills would, in a great measure, do away with the heavy expense attendant on the Lickey incline. Mr. Williams : "What amount do we subscribe?" The Chairman: " £000,000." Mr. Franklin: "There you go again." (Loud laughter). The Chairman said he had no doubt that if the pro- prietors were hereafter dissatisfied wdth this arrangement, the London and Birmingham Company would be glad to relieve them from their liability. (Hear, hear.) The di- rectors themselves felt that all these bills were left in their hands to be dealt with as they should think fit. after a careful and minute review of their objects ; and the meeting might depend upon it the best interests of the company was the lever which would guide their minds. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Ellis said the meeting might take his word for it these bills would prove of considerable service to them. The bill w^as agreed to. The Chairman said, the next bill was for making the Trent Valley Midland ; but he might state that a negotia- tion w^as going on which w^ould no doubt result in the withdrawal of this project. The amount subscribed to- wards this undertakino^ was £120,000. The bill was ao^recd to. The Chairman said he now came to the last bill on the list which was for makinof the Manchester and South- ampton line. He believed the country through which the line passed would furnish considerable traffic; but, as he said before, he was not there to pledge himself as to the future success of these bills, and he would abstain from going into the merits of the present one. He only asked the proprietary to leave the matter in the hands of the directors, and their interests would not be neglected. 108 MG. HDDSOX. (Hear, hear.) The capital to be subscribed to it was £400,000. Mr. Franklin said in giving his opposition to the last bill, he wished the directors to understand that he was actuated by no feeling of hostility towards them ; but he was induced to dissent from these measures by a sincere conviction that they were incurring too heavy liabilities. (Hear, hear.) They were now rendering themselves liable for between three and four millions of money; and he could not help thinking that they were overshooting their mark. (Laughter.) The Chairman again told the honourable proprietor that railway business could not be carried on with any chance of success, unless it were upon a large scale. It was true they would require some two or three millions to carry out these projects, but it must be remembered that they had a large surplus capital at their disposal. (Hear, hear.) The bill was agreed to. The position occupied by Mr. Hudson at this period was remarkable, and we may pause for a moment in our narrative to notice it. '' At the beginning of the railway system," said the Newcastle Chronicle many years after- wards, " we find him a modest draper, doing a quiet business in the cathedral city of York, with nothing to distinguish him from the rank and file of shopkeepers. Railways became the passion of the hour, and the York draper was bitten by the mania. Mr. Hudson risked all and was successful. Stimulated by success, he played again, again fortune proved propitious. His name be- came an authority on railway speculation, and the confi- dence reposed in him was unbounded. For a time the entire railway system of the north of England seemed under his control. What Herculean energy was in the man may bo gathered from a couple of days' work, under Mr. Hudson's direction. On the 2nd of May, 184G, the FREE PASSES FOR SHAREHOLDERS. 109 shareholders of the Midland Company gave their ap- proval to 26 bills which were immediately iutrodaced into Parliament. On Monday following, at ten o'clock, the York and North Midland sanctioned six bills, and affirmed various deeds and ag^reements affectino* the Manchester and Leeds, and Hull and Selby Companies. Fifteen minutes later he induced the Newcastle and Darlington Company to approve of seven bills and ac- companying agreements ; and at half-past ten took his seat as a controlling power at the board of the Newcastle and Berwick. In fine, during these two days, he obtained the approval of forty bills, involving the expenditure of about £10,000,000. For three years matters went bravely on ; each succeeding day being a witness of greater won- ders than its predecessor." We may add that some of those who were best acquainted with the activities in which Mr. Hudson was at that period engaged, are of opinion that scant justice was done to his work and to the motives by which he was actuated in the performance of it. An arran2:ement was made at the commencement of the year 1840, by which the shareholders of the Midland Railway have been allowed to travel without charge to all their meetings on showing their statements of accounts. It is an advantage which ought to be insisted upon by shareholders of all similar undertakings ; since it tends to secure larger meetings of the proprietors and a more intelligent interest in the vast properties under their con- trol. The fact that some boards of directors object to this arrangement, and like to keep their constituencies at a distance, should be of itself a sufficient reason for arousing the suspicions of shareholders, and for demand- ing that they have every facility for understanding the position of their own property. In the course of the year (1846) satisfcictory progress 110 OPPOSITION SILENCED. was made with the numerous undertakiuo^s of the Com- pany. The increase of traffic amounted during the first six nionths to £31,000 ; and the dividend on the ordinary shares was at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum. The stock of the Company in every department improved ; new lines were approaching- completion ; the Oakham Canal was purchased; the electric telegraph was established over the whole system ; and several bills obtained the sanction of Parliament. Some of the extensions proposed by the Midland Com- pany encountered strenuous resistance. Lines between Clay Cross and Newark, and between Nottingham ami Mansfield, were resisted by competitive schemes, brought forward by influential persons locally interested; and eventually it was thought good policy to buy off opposi- tion rather than to incur the risk and cost of a Parlia- mentary contest. The Boston, Newark, and Sheffield bill was thus withdrawn for a consideration of £50,000 worth of Midland stock at par ; and the Nottingham and Mansfield project was similarly silenced by £-10,000 stock upon the same terms. The directors stated that they "considered this in every respect a desirable arrangement, as giving to these parties an interest in this Company ; and the directors trusted that their action would receive the approval of the meeting." At about this time the attention of the shareholders was first seriously directed to some new railway schemes that were in contemplation ; one of which came event- ually to exercise an important influence on the destinies of the Midland Company. This was a proposal for a new line to connect the Midland system with the metropolis. Many complaints had been made that the only access for Midland passengers to London was by the circuitous and uncertain route of Rugby — uncertain because the arrange- ments for the meeting of trains so frequently broke down. PROPOSED LINES TO LOXDOX. Ill One gentleman, for instance, declared at a public meeting at Leicester, that he had three times in succession been detained three hours at Rugby ; and it was declared that many persons " hated the name of Rugby." Two new lines were now proposed, by the adoption of either of which it was believed that seventy miles' distance would be saved, delays would be avoided, and lower fares would be secured. One of these projects was named the South Midland, the other the Leicester and Bedford Railway. The latter was intended to remain an indepen- dent company, but to form a link of connection between the two great rival companies, joining the London and York line at Hitchen and the Midland at Leicester. Its direc- tors accordingly placed themselves in communication with the London and York board, who " offered," they said, "their most friendly support and cordial assistance." They intended also to place themselves in alliance with the Midland Company ; but found that they were " not received with the cordiality they had been led to expect." They stated that they desired a friendly understanding with the Midland Company in order to pass over their line from Leicester ; and with the London and York to carry the traffic on to London ; that the Leicester and Bedford Company were willing to enter into arrange- ments with the Midland, so as to give to that company an interest in it equal to that assigned to the London and York ; and that they wished to act impartially to both companies. Of course, such a project and such a policy, which would occupy with a new and entirely independent rail- way the whole district between the Midland system and the metropolis, was not likely to commend itself to both authorities ; and they turned aside from these over- tures to encourage the solicitations of other parties who were wishino: to run a line in the same direction, and who 112 SOUTH MIDLAND SCHEME. were at the same time anxious to be brought into entire harmony with the Midland Company. This was the South Midland scheme, with a proposed capital of £2,000,000, to which in the first instance both offered to contribute £600,000 ; but which eventually they adopted as their own, undertook to carry out, and for which they indemnified the projectors for the expenses they had incurred. Meanwhile the two new rival undertakings appealed to the public for support, and waged dire war- fare with each other. As an illustration of the spirit in which this controversy was carried on, we may mention that a meeting of the representatives of the various interests was held at the Swan Inn, at Bedford, Sep- tember 4th, 1846; and the scene was all the livelier because the precaution of appointing a chairman was neglected. In reply to some animadversions of Mr. Whitbread, Mr. Macaulay, one of the solicitors of the Midland Company, admitted that their intention had been to carry their line at first only as far as Bedford ; but he asserted that this was merely in order that they might see what railways south of that town would be granted by the legislature, and that then they would run on by the most direct line to London. " We stated," he said, " over and over again, that we never intended to stop at Bedford, but to go on by the best line sanctioned by Parliament." " I have no hesitation in saying," re. plied Mr. Whitbread, " that I believe the sole object of Mr. Hudson and his friends in taking up the South Midland scheme, was to floor the Leicester and Bedford, and that they never honestly meant to make a line at all ; but were quite content to be floored themselves, so long as the other line was floored also. I believe the Leicester and Bedford to be as honest a line as any before Parlia- ment, and I am anxious to see such a line through Bedford." LEICESTEK AND BHDl-'OllD COMl'.VNV. 1 1 o *' No gentlouiaii lias a right," returnud Mr. Macaulay, "to misconstrue and distort the motives of another; and the only way I can answer the nuwarrantable charge just made is by a Hat denial, whicli 1 unhesitatingly now give." A lengthened conversation continued in the same ani- mated strain. Mr. Whitbread declared that the Leicester and Bedford scheme was in existence long before the South Midland, and that the latter was only brought out to floor it ; and Mr. Macaulay repeated his denial. One gentleman stated that the engineer admitted before the House of Commons that it was not intended by the South Midland to go to Hitchen ; but that, when the bill came before the House of Lords, the policy of its supporters had been changed. " They felt," he said, " that they had a rotten case, and altered their tack." Another gentleman referred to the London and North Western Railway Company's line as the " Bletchley old lady"; and a third declared that it was fit only " to take the charity children to Bedford, and bring them back again." " We want," he said, " a direct line to London ; and I implore the Bedford people to see which is the best line, to adopt it, and not to be any more humbugged and sacrificed by a few people who call themselves leading men." On the following day a meeting was held on behalf of the Leicester and Bedford Company, at the London Tavern. A correspondence was read between ]\[r. S. Franklin and Mr. Hudson ; in which the former proposed that the IMidland Company should purchase the Leicester and Bedford Railway at the terms given by them for the South Midland shares, equal to about 30.s\ a share for the Leicester and Bedford. Mr. Hudson, in reply, had suggested the appointment of a committee to confer with him. The meeting was held ; but no decision was 1 11-i LEEDS AND BRADFORD. arrived at. In the following month, however, it was announced that Mr. Hudson, Mr. AVhitbread, and Captain Laws (the latter gentlemen representing the London and York Company), had met at Derby, and that they had arranged tliat the Leicester and Bedford line should bo transferred to the Midland Company ; that the remainder of the deposits should be handed over to the Midland Company, in return for which the holders should receive 22s. worth of Midland stock, for each share ; and that the Midland Company should obtain the Act, pay all expenses, and make the line in two years. In July of this year (1846) a special meeting was held, to consider a proposal to lease the Leeds and Bradford Railway for 999 years, at a rent of 10 per cent, per annum, on £900,000. The line was at that time un- finished ; and it was estimated by Mr. Hudson that some £300,000 additional would be required to complete it. The proposal of the Midland Company's board to enter on this lease had already encountered opposition ; and the Chairman therefore thought it necessary to defend, at some length, the policy of the board. As he was himself a shareholder of the line which it was proposed to lease, some hints had been thrown out that in this, and also in other negotiations, he had not been insensible to his private interests. "In the first place," he said, "I must give a broad denial to the assertion that I have purchased or sold a single share since this line came under our consider- ation. It has been my good or bad fortune to be the purchaser of many railways ; and I might frequently have taken advantage of my position and knowledge to go into the market and lay out large suras of money with great benefit to myself; but I here publicly declare that I have never done so, and I call upon any person who can prove anything to the contrary to come forward MR. Hudson's explanation. 115 and do it at once. (Applause.) I liave never in one instance purchased a single share till the whole matter was before the public by advertisements, calling a meeting or otherwise ; nor have I ever in any way taken advantage of the favourable position I hold over any other proprietor. In the Bristol and Birmingham line I never held a single share, nor do I hold a single share now. I did not hold a single share in the Brandling Junction ; nor do I hold shares in the Leicester and Swannington; nor do I hold shares in the Hull and Selby. I did not hold shares till after the purchase in the Great North of England, nor in the Newcastle and Darlington. I never made a single penny by any of these purchases. " Well, gentlemen, having cleared myself from that imputation. (A voice : You have not.) Well then, gen- tlemen, I will sit down, and give the honourable pro- prietor who says I have not, an opportunity of stating anything to the contrary. I am a public man, the pro- perty of the public, and I need hardly assure you I have a great desire to maintain that position which entitles me to the public confidence. The amount of responsibility which rests upon me in connection with this Companj^ is so great that I am satisfied if anything can be urged against me derogatory to my character, it would be a most unfortunate thing for the proprietors, for whose interests I have to act." The Chairman here resumed his seat; but at the request of the meeting he rose again, and proceeded with his address. " Well, then, we come now to the consideration of the question, whether it is prudent for this Company to lease this railway or not upon the terms proposed. In asking that this Company should lease this line at 10 per cent., I am not proposing anything which is unprecedented. 116 LEASE OF LEEDS AND BRADFOKD LINE. Ill the case of one of the Lancashire lines, they have leased a Yorkshire line at 10 per cent. ; the Great North of England have leased the Newcastle and Darlington at 10 per cent. ; so that I am not introducing to you a line to be leased at an undue rate of interest. Why, just consider : you yourselves this day are receiving as much as 9J per cent, on your mone}'. (Xo, no.) But you are ; you have only paid £88 upon your shares." (A voice : You have no right to say that). The Chairman : " I am stating nothing but facts. The ]\Iidland proprietors are receiving 9y per cent, on their money, and have still the privilege of participating in future creations. " For my own part, gentlemen, I am perfectly satis- fied that the line will yield a very large income and per- centage even upon the price that is now })ut upon it, and if you will allow me to take it as an individual, I am quite satisfied I should make a large income over and above the sum which you are about to pay for it." An animated discussion followed. Mr. John Ellis, as " entirely a friend of the Midland Company," urged that " it was essential to the prosperity of the Midland that they should C()inj)lete this purchase. The line was ne- cessary for their protection, and if it fell into the hands of a company now in existence, which the Chairman would not name, but which was the London and York, where would the Midland Company be then? Away would go half their traffic from London to Glasgow and the north." Mr. Brancker, of Liverpool, contended that the im- portant proposal now submitted to the meeting had been insufficientl}^ announced ; that the shareholders had been taken by surprise ; that numbers of those present had not heard a whisper of the intended lease, until they were on the road to, or after they arrived at, the meeting ; THE LEASE SANCTIONED. 11^ that some less burdensome conditions should devolve upon the Midland Company ; and that he should there- fore move as an amendment that the special meeting be postponed for two months. This amendment was se- conded. Another proprietor wished the meeting to bear in mind that there were but few railways in the country that could pay 10 per cent, at the beginning; but the Chair- man replied that there were several such instances, and he cited the Trent Valley as an example. Mr. John Rand, of Bradford, urged that the immediate question before the meeting was, whether the lease was advisable for the Midland Company or not. He did not imagine for a moment that the Leeds and Bradford Company would wait for two months ; and he declared that it would be suicidal for the Midland Company to support the amendment. The chairman again stated his views, and unsuccessfully urged Mr. Brancker to withdraw his amendment. Mr. Hudson added that if .there were a considerable minority against the lease, he should at once withdraw it. The amendment was then put, and lost by a large majority, only twenty-eight hands being lield up in favour of it. The original resolution was then put, and only six hands were held up against it. We may add that it was announced at this meeting that the Sheffield and Rotherham line was now yielding a larger return than the rent; that the wages of the Company's servants had been increased ; and that the maintenance of the permanent way south of Derby had been let by public tender at a price which would effect a saving to the Company of nearly £6000 a year. CHAPTER VI. Numerous extensions projected. — The zenith. — Opening of the Syston and Peterborough line. — Rumours of Mr. Hudson's resignation. — Death of Mr. George Stephenson. — Abstraction of traffic. — Relations with other companies. — Committee of directors. — ^Mutterings of a storm. — Mr. Hudson's resignation. — Committee of investigation. — Accountant's report. — Engineer's report. — Proposed reorganization of board. — Mr. Robert Stephenson's report. — Report of committee. — Opposition to the report. — Poor dividend. — Opening of further portion of Great Northern. — Dividend of sixteen shillings for half year. — Access to Worcester obtained. — Arrangement about Leeds and Bradford line. — The Great Exhibition. — Audit committee appointed. — Proposals for getting neai'er to London. — Arrangements with " Little " North Western Company. — Commutation of payment to Leeds and Bradford proprietors. — Manchester, JJuxton, ^Matlock, and Mid- land Junction. — Dispute between Midland and Great Northern. — Heavy Hoods. — Leicester and Hitchen line proposed. — Proposals of amalgamation of Midland with London and North Western and Great Northern. — Negotiations between the companies. — Special meeting of proprietors. — Union with London and North Western sanctioned. — Select committee of House of Commons report against amalgamation of large companies. — Project abandoned. — A period of rest. — Line from Gloucester to Stonehouse. — Loss of passenger traftic. — Licrease of goods. — Resignation of ^Ir. Ellis. — Appointment and death of Mr. Paget. — Re-appointment of Mr. Ellis. — Continuation of P^rewash line to Clay Cross. — Gloucester and Cheltenham tramway. — Seven per cent, dividend. — Exten- sions. — Purchase of Dursley branch. TiiE period from 1847 to 1854 -witnessed first the rise, then the ciihnination, and next, for a time, the dechne of the prosperity of the Midhxnd Railway. The con- fidence that "was cherished by the directors and pro- prietors may be illustrated by the fact that on the 6tli of ]\Iarch, 1847, no fewer than thirteen bills were submitted for approval, and that, as the records of the period re- mark with sullicient succinctness, they were " unanimously sanctioned ; after which the Chairman adverted to them in the whole, saying, they had now given their sanction to 251 miles of railway, the estimated expense of which would be cC4,GS0,U00, — a large sum; but the directors in PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY. 110 consideration of the interests of the shareholders, could not have omitted any of the proposed works." At the autumnal meeting, Aug. 12th, 1847, great progress was still reported in the afiairs of the Company. The dividend, after j^aying the amount of £-47,384 upon the guaranteed 6 per cent, stock and shares of the Bir- mingham and Bristol, was at the rate of 7 per cent. ; and the gross receipts were not much less than £500,000. The stations at Chesterfield, Woodhouse Mill, Clay Cross, Stretton, Belper, and Gloucester, had been enlarged ; an extensive wharf at Saltley had been built ; and the AVesterleio^h branch of the Bristol and Birmino-ham had been made into a locomotive line. A bridge under the main line at Tamworth for the Trent Yalley line had been completed ; a new passenger station at Nottingham was in course of construction ; passenger and engine sheds were being built at Leeds ; and the Leicester station was beingr enlaro^ed. A short branch line to the canal and stone quarries at Little Eaton, near Derby, was about to be commenced; and the electric telegraj^h was beinof extended from Birmins^ham to Gloucester. Prosperity to the Midland Company was now reaching its zenith. At the eighth half-yearly meeting, held on the 12th of February, 1848, a dividend at the rate of 7 per cent, was again declared. The gross receipts had risen to £586,034. There was activity in all directions. Additional repairing shops were being built at Derby. Accommodation was being furnished for the corn trafhc at Lincoln, Leicester, Loughborough, and elsewhere. Gasworks were being erected at Newark, Syston, and Melton. The new Nottingham station was approaching completion, and progress had been made with that at Leeds. The line from Nottingham to Mansfield was proceeding. The Syston and Peterborough was nearly readv. The works on the Leicester and Swanninfrton 120 niOGKESS AND PROSrERlTr. would shortly be finished ; and the extension through Ashby to Burton-on-Trent was being carried forward. And as the last of the old contracts for the maintenance of the way would expire in the following July, it was now resolved to set apart £20,000 annually, to provide for future renewal ^j. ;~ftr.&L-li Viaduct is perhaps the most interesting work — were the chief events of the period. It is, however, worthy of note that, so severe had been the injuries inflicted by the Great Northern competition upon the Midland Company, that in 1857, with 500 miles of railway (without the Hitchen extension) their passenger traffic was £30,000 less than it had been ten years previously, with only 377 miles open. In 1847 their earnings for passengers were 5s. 2d. a mile, and in 1857 they were 4s. OJd. Happily, the L 146 PKOGEESS. development of goods and minerals bad partially re- couped this loss. In tlie report for July, 1858, the directors referred to the resignation of Mr. Ellis and Mr. Beale, the chairman and deputy-chairman of the Company, and also to the election of Mr. G. B. Paget, who, however, had survived his appointment only a brief period. In consequence of this lamentable event, Mr. Ellis had consented for a short time to resume the duties of the chairmanship. The only circumstance worthy of special notice in the year 1858 was the severe conflict carried on between the Midland and the surrounding and competitive lines. This, however, at length abated, and all parties returned to more remunerative relations one with another. In 1859 the directors resolved to extend the Erewash Valley line up to Clay Cross near Chesterfield. An Act for the purpose had previously been obtained, but in consequence of the depressed state of the finances of the Company the powers had been allowed to expire. The proposed line could be used as the main line to the north ; and it would open out a coal field of the greatest value. The directors also, in conjunction with the Great Western, resolved to dispose of the Gloucester and Cheltenham tramway. That ancient road had become " like a house without a tenant ; an expense without an advantage ; a load without a profit." A suitable hotel was to be erected at Leeds. The Castle and Falcon, Aldersgate Sreet, London, was obtained for the erection of goods warehouses ; and twenty acres of land were purchased, near the Great Northern terminus, for a Midland goods station; £1000 were also set apart for a foot bridge from the Derby passenger station to the locomotive sheds. On the 25th of May, 1860, the Midland Company was authorised to construct a railway, 15 miles in length. EOWSLEY TO CL'XTOX EXTENSION. 147 between Rowsley and Buxton, tliere to be connected with a line about to be made by tlie London and ^ortli Western from Wlialey Bridge to Buxton. For many years past various projects of extension had been entertained. As far back as 1845 several competitive schemes were proposed for thus uniting the eastern and midland counties of Eng;-land with Manchester and Liver- pool. The Boston, Nottingham, Ambergate, and Midland Junction for instance proposed to unite with the Man- chester, Buxton, Matlock, and Midland Junction, and thus to provide a througli route from the Lincolnshire to the Lancashire coast. But great difficulties had to be overcome, on account both of the ownership of the land and the formation of the country. Buxton, for instance, is nearly 1000 feet above the level of the sea, and if a line were made to get up to it, how would it get down again by decent gradients to Mancliester. Although, even- tually the valley of the Derwent was adopted, and Buxton was left out in the cold, other routes bad been thought of. One was by Eyam, Chapel-le-Frith, and the Peak; the other by Castleton and Whaley Bridge. In either case the local population and the trade to be served were of the scantiest; and hence one that went by Baslow Moors came, by the commodities which it was thouglit would form its chief traffic, to be designated the " Bilberry and Besom Line," while the other through the Peak* "was known, on account of the innumerable tunnels on its course, as "the Flute Line." The then Duke of Devonshire gave his consent to a line being made througli his park at Chatsworth, on condition that it was by a covered way, and tliere is no doubt that that route would have supplied the best levels ; but the present duke objected to such an invasion of his * Another, subsequently proposed, was called the " High Pique Line." 148 ROWSLEY TO BUXTOX. ancestral domains ; and after mucli negotiation witli the Duke of Rutland, it was decided that the line should be carried along its present course, at the back of Haddon Hall. A thousand special precautions had, however, to bo observed. None of the trees were to be removed or lopped by the contractors or navvies during the progress of the works ; agents and keepers were set to watch the property and the game ; one duke wanted the prin- cipal station to be at Bake well, and the other required that it should be at Hassop, and both had to be built ; and the line through the park of Haddon Hall was ^^^5*, ■-''■At^'i. ■'ff-t-^y Mi'N--\l, I'M carried along the hill side by the excavation of portions — lialf cutting, half tunnel — wliich were then covered in. ROWSLEY TO BUXToN. 140 These difficulties being overcome, and tlie heavy works of Monsal and Miller's Dale being provided for, the mighty limestone crag of Chee Tor barred the way. CHEE VALE. This is the second tunnel to the north of what is now Miller's Dald Station. Many an engineer had carried his imaginary line from Ambergate to Buxton thus far, but had 2:one no farther : for, in addition to the ordinarv work of piercing a hill of solid mountain limestone, there was the fact that the rock rose abruptly 300 feet- in one face above the river, that consequently no shafts were possible, that the tunnel must be made wholly and only from the two ends, and that before the southern end could be touched the river must be spanned by a bridge, and the bridge be approached through another tunnel. The work, however, was done, and the line to-day * Chce Tor is imuiediatclj to the right of the bridge. loO EXTENSIONS. carries the traveller through perhaps the most interesting series of railway works to be found in England. ClIKi: VAl.K. At the spring meeting, 18G1, the chairman had the satisfaction of announcing a dividend at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum. " The revenue accounts," he said, " were most satisfactory. The rate of increase had been greater than on any other line in the year;" and the directors decided upon some extensions of the Midland system. One of these was in Wharfedale, near Leeds, and was to be carried out in conjunction with the North Eastern. Another was from Evesham to Ashchurch, in the valley of the Avon. A third was from Whitacre on the Midland line to Nuneaton, by means of which, in conjunction with the line from Leicester to Hinckley, the * The northern end of Chee Tor Tunnel is seen in the distance. EXTENSIONS. 151 Midland Company would have access from Leicester to Birmingliam. Further, a few years previously an inde- pendent company had made a short line of two or three miles from the Birmingham and Bristol to Dursley. But such a scrap of railway could scarcely be expected to pay if worked by itself, and it was now agreed to transfer it to the Midland Company for some £10,500, that being something like half its cost. Unfortunately, as time passed on, the remarkable increase of traffic which the Midland Company had been enjoying began to wane, in consequence of the general depression of trade. And so the year 1861 drew to a close. FOOTBUIDGE IN JIOXSAL DALE. CHAPTER VII. The short line with the long name.— London and North Western's Disley line. — A " block " line. — Midland and North Western "most hostile." — Proposed Midland line to Manchester. — Duke of Devonshire's support. — Whaley Bridge and Buxton extension of North Western Company. — " Tlie Three Companies' Agreement " to exclude the Midland from Manchester. — " The Triple Agree- ment." — The Midland shut out. — A chance meeting. — Negotia- tions between Sheffield Company and Midland for access to Man- chester via New Mills. — Evidence in favour of new Midland line. — Town clerk of Manchester. — Manchester Chamber of Com- merce. — Mr. Cheetham. — Other witnesses. — Opposition of London and North Western Company. — Ofl'er of "facilities" over North Western line from Buxton to Manchester. — Sir Joseph Paxton's evidence. — Opposition of Great Northern. — Supposed encourage- ment to a breach of agreement. — Gouty patients. — Death of Mr. John Ellis. — Eminent services of Mr. Ellis. — Proposed Midland line to London. — The " destiny " of the Midland. — Insufficient accommodation of Great Northern via Hitchen for Midland traffic. — Delays. — Five miles of coal trains blocked at Rugby. — Witnesses from St. Albans. — Great Northern propose to double their line. — Reply to the proposal. — Mr. Allport's evidence. — Other projects in the field. — Camden Square. — Horticultural perplexities. — Bill pas.sed. — Proposed line from Cudworth to Barnsley. — Importance of the line. — Other railway projections and working alliances. We have already referred to a short railway mth a long name that ran from Ambergate as far as Rowsley — a jiortion of what had originally been intended to form a connecting line between Manchester and the Midland system. In 1852 this fragment was leased to the London and North AVestern and Midland Companies for 19 years, at 2J per cent, interest upon the capital, the North Western being glad to retain a legal hold upon the property in order to prevent this line, or any extension of it, from ever becoming part of a through route from Manchester to the metropolis. It was under the influ- ence of the same considerations that the North "Western, in the following year (1853), also encouraged a project for a new line from their system at Stockport, by way of Disley, to Whaley Bridge. It was, indeed, stated at the THE DISLEV L[^'E. 153 time tliattlie sclieme originated with iudepeudent parties; nevertlieless, clauses were inserted in tlie bill giving ])ower to the London and North Western to work the line ; and eventually, out of a capital for the Disley line and Buxton extension of £310,000, the North AYestern advanced £299,000. " The accounts show," said Mr. Allport, " on the face of them that the line is London and North Western." To the construction of this Disley line the Midland Company were naturally and necessarily opposed. They were so because they were vitally affected by any measures for completing the links in the chain of com- munication across Derbyshire to Manchester ; because, though the two companies were on terms of amity, and had previously always acted on the matter conjointly, the Midland were now excluded from participation in the contemplated arrangements ; and because the Midland Company's board believed that an effort was being made to fill up the country with a line of a designedly inferior character — a line for blocking up the way, and not for opening it. " The proposed railway," said Mr. Allport, " for some reason which does not appear on the face of it," is run along the high country where there is little or no population ; and instead of taking the valley with a gradually rising ascent, "it goes up a steep gradient out of Buxton, to fall down again. The line appears to me to have gone up the hill for the sake of going down again." These criticisms on the project seem to have given offence to the London and North Western Company ; and they complained to the Midland board that Mr. AUport's evi- dence was "most hostile." The Midland board, however, replied that they concurred in the statements of their general manager; that he had their sanction in giving evidence against the bill ; that they regretted to find that such a course was deemed most hostile; andthev "would 1-j4 north western line to BUXTON. have been glad if, by previous communication between tlie two boards, means had been devised for preventing even the appearance of hostile interests." On the last day of the year 1856 the Midland Company made a proposal to the London and North Western that the idea originally contemplated in the scheme for the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Rail- way — and set forth in the name that the company bore — should be carried into effect, and that a through route should be made. The Midland board stated that they would subscribe £200,000 towards such an object. It was also known that the Duke of Devonshire was willins^ to contribute £50,000, and that he had even offered a passage for the line through his park at Chatsw^orth, if it were necessary. The North "Western directors, howr ever, replied that though the local traffic ought to be accommodated, and though they were prepared to join with the Sheffield Company in making a line suitable for that purpose, they could not, as Mr. Stewart, the secretary, expressed it, " recommend their proprietors to become parties to so costly a scheme," as that now advocated. Meanwhile, however, the North Western Compan}^ were promoting, at their own expense, and without the co-operation or the knowledge of the Midland Company, an extension of their Disley line to Buxton — an expense nearly equal to the share they had been asked to con- tribute for the through line. To this project the Mid- land Company made no parliamentary opposition. They had been refused a hearing on the original AVhaley Bridge Railway, on the ground that they had no locus standi; and they were advised that they would have no better claim to appear against the extension than against the original line. The Act for the Whaley Bridge and Buxton line was accordingly obtained (1857). While the London and North Western Company was "THE THREE COMPANIES' AGREEMENT." 155 thus steadily drawing on towards Buxton, and doing so by works which could never be available as a through line for either Company, other powers were being brought into play which it was hoped would even more effectually shut out the Midland Company from any access to the North. An agreement, which had made the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincohishire Company a dependency of the London and North Western, came, in 1857, to an end ; in the following year, despite the strenuous opposition of the North Western, the Sheffield Company entered into alliance with the Great Northern, and thereby opened a new route between the Metropolis and Manchester ; and now these three companies, having abated their mutual rivalies, joined in a compact with one another to keep away all intruders from their territories. With this desio^n an ag^reement called " The Three Companies' Agreement " was made, and application was made to secure for it the sanction of law. It succeeded in passing the Commons ; but was rejected in the Lords, on the ground that it ought not to bear prejudicially upon the Midland Company. What followed is worthy of note. In 1860 another application was made to Parliament for its sanction to this agreement. Again it was opposed by the Midland, who urged the adoption of a " Four Companies' Bill," in which their interests were protected. Both bills, however, were thrown out ; and then the three companies resolved to act as if, though twice rejected, their bill had passed ; and they succeeded by mutual arrangements in excluding the traffic of the Midland from the entire district. The North Western stopped the Midland at Stockport, and the Manchester and Sheffield at Hyde. Subsequently it was ascertained that by adopting a northerly and circuitous route the Midland Company could yet reach a point of the York- shire and Lancashire line, and so find a route for its 156 MIDLAND SHUT OUT FROM LANCASHIRE. traffic from London to Manchester; and an agreement was made, February 28tli, 1861, with that intent. But the arrangement had not subsisted more than a few months when it was suddenly terminated ; and it tran- spired that an agreement, dated as far back as 1850, and called the " Triple Agreement," had been entered into between the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Sheffield, and the North Western Companies, by whicli they undertook to exclude other companies from the traffic which they jointly commanded, and to use every exertion and induce- ment to confine this traffic to the lines of the said three companies ; and they agreed that if any other company attempted to divert any of this traffic the highest tolls should be charged. The Midland Compan^^ was now efi'ectually excluded from access to Lancashire by any existing route ; and the only alternatives that remained were, either to abandon all hope of carrying their traffic in that direction, or to construct an extension of their own Buxton line — which was approaching completion — to Manchester. Instruc- tions were therefore issued to their engineer to examine the country with a view to a through Midland route direct from near Buxton to Manchester. One day, in the autumn of the same year (1861), the Midland chairman, Mr. Beale, the deputy chairman, Mr. Hutchinson, and Mr. Allport were visiting the country " promiscuously," as Mr. Sergeant Wrangham called it, through which such a line would have to pass. They were not surveying ; " the country had been surveyed fifty times by various parties." They had plans that had previously been made, and the ordnance maps with various lines marked upon them; and while driving, walking, and asking their way through the country, they unexpectedly, in a bye lane, met a dog-cart, on whicli Mr. LeeSj one of the directors, and two of the officers of PROPOSED .A[IDLAXD LINE TO MANCHESTER. 157 the Slieffiekl Company, were riding. " And what are you doing here ? " the latter good-naturedly demanded. " AYe will show you," was the reply. "You know the country ; perhaps you v\-ill accompany us." The Midland officers then stated the object they had in view — to endeavour to select a route for a new line to Manchester. The gentlemen of both companies remained together during the day; and in the course of conversation it was suggested by the Sheffield directors that it would be un- desirable for an independent line to be made side by side with their own, and that it might be possible for the Midland Company to have the use of the Sheffield Com- pany's line from New Mills to Manchester. It was fur- ther proposed that Mr. AUport — who had previously been for nearly four years general-manager of the Sheffield Company, and was intimately acquainted with all its details — should have an interview on these proposals with the chairman of the Sheffield Company. This was done ; and the result was that it was agreed that the Midland should run its own trains over the railways of the Sheffield Company " to or from Manchester, and every other place in Manchester, in Lancashire, or Cheshire, or beyond," and that thus the work would be done by " one hand."* But though these arrangements simplified the course of the Midland Company, and though not a single land- owner opposed the project, the bill encountered the determined resistance of the other powerful interests that liad enjoyed a monopoly of the carrying trade of the district; and the Midland Company had to gather up their best arguments to prove the necessity of the line. One of these was found in the fact that existino^ routes * Sir Edward Watkin seems never to have forn;iven his board that they arranged these terms, so favourable, as he thinks, to the Midland Company, while he was absent in the United States. 158 PARLIAMENTARY EVIDENCE. were inadequate. Suppose, for instance, a passenger wished to go from Nottingham to Manchester, two routes were available. By the Great Northern, he would be first carried due east twenty-three miles to Grantham ; from Grantham he would turn northward as far as Retford : then westward via Sheffield to Manchester — a most cir- cuitous course. Or, by the other route, he would proceed by the Midland Railway to Derby, by North Stafford- shire to Macclesfield or Crewe, and then by the London and North Western to Manchester, — by three different companies, with three different sets of trains, and all the contingencies involved in their adjustment, or want of it. Evidence to like effect was given by various competent persons. For instance, on the 7th of March, 1862, the General Purposes Committee, which represents the cor- poration of Manchester, passed a resolution that they were " decidedly of opinion that increased facilities of communication between this city and Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, and other places in the midland district are now much required ; " and they directed that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the solicitor of the Mid- land Railway. In cross examination (March, 1862) Mr. Cripps inquired of Mr. Heron, nou' Sir Joseph Heron, the town clerk of Manchester, whether he had not been " a great advocate for a communication between Man- chester and London by means of the Great Northern system." Mr. Heron replied that by desire of the corporation he had given expression to a desire for such increased accommodation, and that undoubtedly it had been secured. "You have had," asked Mr. Cripps, "increased facili- ties ? " " Yes ; we have had increased facilities ; we have an excellent second route to London, and we have the fares reduced from two guineas, at which they previously PARLIAMENTARY EVIDENCE. 159 stood, to £1 13s. by express trains, wliicli is a very great public advantage." "I understand," continued the counsel, "that you have nothing to complain of at present, so far as Man- chester and London communications are concerned ? " "I have not come here," replied the witness, "to make any complaint whatever." " Manchester has a choice of one of two routes to London ? " " They have ; and I suppose there would be a choice of three if this line were made." " Should you come here equally for a communication for a fourth route ? " " That depends ; it is quite possible a fourth route might not be objectionable." The Manchester Chamber of Commerce also expressed its desire for more direct communication with Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, and other Midland towns ; and asked that legislative . sanction might be given to any measure that might appear best calculated to provide it. Influential manufacturers, too, bore similar testimony. Mr. Cheetham of Staleybridge, for instance, stated that his firm paid some £1500 a year, for carriage of yarn between his works and Nottingham, Derby, and Leices- ter ; yarn which was made into stockings, a large amount of which subsequently returned to Manchester. Serious inconvenience arose to men of business from havino- to travel by routes so circuitous, and to owners of goods from having to deal with two or three companies in the carriage of freight. He was of opinion that the new route would be " very much the best, the most direct, and the shortest." Mr. Kenworthy, the mayor of Ashton, another cotton spinner, gave similar testimony, and especially to the im- portance of having, if ])ossible, one company responsible 160 oprosiTiox OF north western. for any delay or loss tliat miglit occur in railway transit. " It is not," lie said, " a question of law, but of getting practical redress. We have had great difficulty in fixing the complaint on the different companies. Latterly we have had very great trouble indeed." The general manager of the firm of S. & J. Watts, stated that they had very large transactions with retail dealers in about fifty towns in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire. Hosiery, lace, and gloves were bought to the amount of £100,000 a year; all sorts of drapery goods w^ere despatched to the same districts, to the value of £50,000 a year, and the delays in the transmission of this costly property was considerable. Buyers, too, found the routes to Manchester so incon- venient that it was necessary to come one day and return the next, a circumstance which greatly tended to hinder trade. " I have been left," said another witness, " dozens of times at the North Staffordshire station at Maccles- field in times past, sometimes as long as two hours, and sometimes with fifteen or sixteen other passengers." These arguments were eagerly resisted by the London and North Western and Great Northern Companies ; and when it was found that direct opposition might be una- vailing, the North Western offered that its own route from Buxton to Manchester — the Disleyline as it was called — should be used by the Midland Company, instead of the new^ line it was proposed to make. " Assuming," said Mr. Hope Scott, " that the London and North Western Company are walling to give full facilities, backed, if ne- cessary, by contingent running powers in case of misbe- haviour, and are willinsf to be at extra costs entailed bv greater steepness of gradients, why should not the Mid- land traflic be sufficiently accommodated over the Disley line?" " I cannot go into those details," replied Sir Joseph OPPOSITION OF NORTH WESTERN. IGl Paxton. " My opinion is that they will not offer such powers." " But I do offer them," returned Mr. Scott. " I offer you facilities, with contingent running powers in case of abuse. I offer you facilities into Manchester." " We know," replied Sir Joseph, significantly, " what * facilities ' are." " If," he subsequently added, " we had running powers over the Disley line, direct into Manchester from Stockport, and accommodation was given there for the trafl&c, then I think it very likely that my board and the other directors might think that sufficient ; but I do not think it is. I think it a very poor way of finishing a great communication between London and Manchester, and Manchester and the Midland districts." His concluding observation was subsequently con- firmed by Mr. Beale. " My opinion," he said, " and the opinion of the entire Midland board is, that the proposed facilities would be totally inadequate, and that they would not give the open vent which the immense traffic of the important Midland district requires. I believe this line, if made, will be one of the main arteries of the kingdom for railway traffic. I may tell ray lords that in eleven years the gross traffic of the Midland has increased something like ninety per cent., of which probably upwards of sixty per cent, is upon the development of old lines, and not in the slightest degree in connection with additional lines, and I feel personally quite sure that the public cannot have accommodation unless the line is granted." "When, too, the route by the Disley line was thus offered to the Midland Company, an important qualifica- tion was introduced into the terms. The North Western Company expressly required that the traffic should be what they called " proper traffic " ; and they stated, for instance, that they would not take Birmins^ham and 162 OPPOSITION OF GREAT NOKTHEEX. Bristol traffic ; though, of course, if the Midland had a line of their own, their traffic might flow that way. It is true that the North Western secretary promised that his company would take any traffic that they might fairly be required to convey ; but the Midland Company were not satisfied to leave the question of what might be "fairly required" to the decision of another and rival board. An objection made by the London and North "Western Company to the proposed Midland line was, that it would run more or less parallel with the existing Disley route, and that this would imply a needless outlay of capital. But such an arrangement, it was replied, was frequently found advantageous where there was a diversity of in- terests. Duplicate lines run for six or seven miles north of Peterborough ; the one belonging to the Great Nor- thern Company, the other to the Midland ; there being merely a fence between them. Between Leeds and Bradford there are also duplicate lines, and between Birmingham apd the Staffordshire districts there are three. The opposition to the Midland scheme made by the Great Northern Company was based on other grounds. They contended that the Sheffield Company had no right to give the Midland Company facilities of access by New Mills to Manchester, inasmuch as by doing so they would violate obligations previously incurred towards themselves. " I charge the Midland Company," said Sergeant Wrangham, "not with the breach of any agree- ments, but with abetting the Sheffield Company in break- ing agreements that they have had with us, the Great Northern." To this it was replied on behalf of the Sheffield Company, that they might not unnaturally say, ' Here is a company that intends to reach Manchester by a line made side by side with ours. Will it not })e BLACKWELL MILL JUXCTIOX, 163 l)L'tter tliat this multiplication of lines should bo avoided ; that, as they ivill come into the town, we should let them come, and come over our route, and utilize to our advan- tage, as well as their own, a part of our line ? " To enforce their views the Great Northern filed a bill in Chancery. One of the objections made before the parliamentary committee to the Midland extension, gave rise to an amusing conversation. It was supposed by the opponents of the Midland line that passengers for Buxton would necessarily have to change carriages at the junction at Black well. BLACKWELL MILL JUNCTION. Mr. Merewether : " Will you assume that a man comes over the great through line to Blackwell Mill? " Dr. Robertson : " Yes." Mr. Merewether: "That is the junction for your in- valid ? " Dr. Robertson: "Yes." 164 GOUTY PATIENTS. Mr. Merewether : " My learned friend has referred to gout — gout is a disturber of the temperament ? " Dr. Robertson : " It is." Mr. Mere wether : " Your gouty patient — a gouty merchant from Manchester — is of quite as warm a tem- perament as most people." Dr. Robertson : " Hear, hear." Mr. Merewether : " AVill you bring him from Man- chester with his gout, and his Manchester temperament ? Will you put him out at Black well Mill to get into the branch train to go to Buxton ? " Dr. Robertson : " I have been told so. . ." Mr. Merewether : " Do you put it as a medical view, that going along a gradient of 1 in 60 * would exas- perate a gouty patient more than being put out at the station at Blackwell, and being sent round to Buxton ? " Dr. Robertson : " I consider that going along a gra- dient of 1 in 60 would exasperate any man, gouty or not." The Act of Parliament by which the line was sanc- tioned was passed, and the railway was opened for public traffic, on the first of June, 1863, the day named in the contract. An improvement of great importance was during this year effected in the arrangement of the passenger service by the opening on the 1st of May, 1862, of the Trent station. At this point great and increasing difficulty had been experienced in the safe and expeditious con- duct of the traffic. Trains came in from, and went out in, four different directions — east to Nottingham, west to Derby, north to the Erewash, and south to London. At one time it was the practice to take passengers who were going from Nottingham to London round by Derby and back to what is now Trent, an 18 miles' journey for * The Disley route. TRENT STATION. 165 nothing. Subsequently the Nottingham trains were shunted into a siding at Kegworth, and there they waited till the Derby portions arrived. The opening of the Erewash line, too, necessarily created a dangerous level crossing of lines at right angles at a place called Platts's Crossing, about 200 yards north of what is now the Trent Station. With regard to the spot itself, its lines, curves, cross- TRENT STATION. overs, and junctions, Sir Edmund Beckett has offered some playful criticisms in words to the following effect : " You arrive at Trent. Where that is I cannot tell. I suppose it is somewhere near the river Trent ; but then the Trent is a very long river. You get out of your train to obtain refreshment, and having taken it, you endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But whether it is on this side or that, and whether it is going north or south, this way or that way, you cannot 166 MR. JOHN ELLIS. tell. Bewildered, you frantically rush into your car- riage ; tLe train moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified to see some red lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate expectation of a col- lision, when your fellow passenger calms your fears by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of you own train !" On the 26th of October, 1862, Mr. ElHs, wlio had for so long a period been connected with the interests of the Midland Company, died. John Ellis came of a goodly stock : his forefathers were honest Yorkshire yeomen. His father, Joseph Ellis, removed into Leicestershire in 1784, BEAUMONT LEYS. where he occupied, until his death, in 1810, a farm which required in its management unusual skill and industry to work it successfully. Left at the age of twenty-one with the care of his brothers and a sister, John Ellis succeeded to a small patrimony, and the good name of his father. MR. JOHN ELLIS. 1G7 wliich he was wont to say was his best inheritance. He followed his father's calling, and in early life, at Beaumont Leys, near Leicester, he could plough and sow, reap and mow, with any man. In the harvest field it is said that he did not know his equal, and even when rising to eminence in his calling he did not abandon these homelier employments. He milked his cows until he went to Parliament. Meanwhile, through the late Mr. James Cropper, of Liverpool, he had become acquainted with George Stephenson, and hence the circumstances arose that led to the connection of both of them with the Leicester and Swannington Railway. He early identified himself with the policy of Free Trade ; and before a parliamentary committee, expressed the opinion that the English farmer should prepare to grow wheat at £2 10s. a quarter ; and he added, he can afford to do so ; " a bold thing," it has been remarked, "for a farmer to say in those days." In 1847 he was sent to Parliament for the borough of Leicester. " He entered into his new duties," says a local writer of discrimination, "with characteristic earnestness ; his sagacious judgment and practical knowledge on all questions which he pretended to understand, soon gave him a position in the House, and his opinion on such subjects was not unfrequently asked by some of our leading statesmen." Mr. Ellis was from the first a director of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, and, for some years, of the Midland Counties Railway. On the amalgamation of the latter with the North Midland and Birming^ham and Derby Companies, he was placed on the joint board, and appointed deputy chairman. In 1849 he was elected chairman of the Midland Railway. On resign- ing this office in 1858, the directors gave expres- sion to the " deep pain " which they experienced at the 168 MR. JOHN ELLIS. event ; " but remembering," tliey said, " the express conditions upon which he consented to withdraw a pre- vious resignation, they felt precluded from further press- ing upon him the duties and responsibilities of the chair." They rightly recalled the fact that Mr. Ellis had under- taken his oflGice, " at a period of unusual difficulty and mistrust, when embarrassment and ruin hung over so many undertakings of a similar kind ;" but that he had encountered the perils of the crisis with a determination which rose superior to the danger, with a confidence which cheered his colleagues, and with a practical sagacity which was of immediate and decisive value. The gratitude of the shareholders was expressed by a vote of 1000 guineas. Part of this sum was expended in a service of plate, and the remainder in a full length portrait by Lucas ; in the background of which is a view of the works and tunnel entrance of the Leicester and Swannington Railway. The portrait hangs in the share- holders' room at tlio Derby station, " He will be greatly missed," said a local writer, "by his associates in public life and in works of charity. We shall miss his well known face and figure in our public meetings and in our streets. We shall miss his wise counsel, and his genial warm-hearted converse. He has won the respect of all who knew him. His name will be a household word amongst us, and there will long be a kind thought and a good word for John Ellis." * A period had now arrived in the administration of the Midland Company when it was called to confront new and weighty responsibilities. Hitherto its area of opera- tions had been restricted to the midland districts of England ; but its vast and increasing traffic southward suggested the inquiry whether it ought not to be placed in direct communication with the metropolis itself. There * The Leicester Jmcrnal, Oct. Slst, 1862. "destiny" of the midland railway. 169 were some who tliouglit, and some who said, that the Midland Railway had no right to widen its field of opera- tion. When the Manchester Extension Bill was before the Lords' committee, Mr. Hope Scott, the counsel for the London and North Western Company, declared that the " destiny " of the Midland Company forbade its further development. " My learned friend," replied Sir W. Alexander, " was rather oblivious when he said that the Midland Company had no natural terminus in London. N^ot only was my learned friend tempted to indulge in that somewhat hyperbolical phrase, but he said also, that it was not the destiny of the Midland Company to go to London or to Manchester. It was rather a strange term to use. Destiny ! was it the destiny of the London and North Western Railway Company, which was originallj- a line to Birmingham and Liverpool, to join the Cale- donian ? Was it their destiny to seek a line to West Hartlepool ? Was it their destiny to seek, as they were doing a few days ago, a line to Merthyr Tydfil ? Yes ; that they are doing. Was it their destiny to seek a line to Cambridge, the very head-quarters of the Eastern Counties territory, which they did when they obtained the line from Cambridge to Bedford ? I dare say these lines were passed by my learned friend's able advocacy. They have come to Leicester, they have come to Burton — that is upon the notes — and they have purchased land at Derby, adjoining the head-quarters of the Midland system with the view of competing with the Midland system. And they say, forsooth, that the Midland Com- pany, with 700 miles of railway, coming within 25 miles of Manchester, with £260,000 in the course of expendi- ture upon their London station, are not to be considered, and that it is not their destiny to reach London or Man- chester." On the contrary the Midland Company had advisedly 170 IXCEEASE OF LONDON TRAFFIC. looked forward to the time when it would require to have a line of its own to the metropolis, and it had ex- pressly avoided any negotiation which might seem to com- mit it to a narrower policy. When, for instance, in 1858, an agreement between the Great Northern, the Manchester Sheffield and Lancashire, and the Midland Companies, was drawn up by Mr. John Bullar, in which there was what is called the " amity clause," under which the companies were to abstain from a2:2rression into each others' terri- tories : in this agreement it was declared that nothing it contained was " to prevent the Midland Company making a line to London, after notice *' had been given. At length the time drew on when the Midland board had to face the question of how best to deal with its vast and increasing London traffic. " Perhaps," said Mr. Allport, in 1SG2, " there is hardly another instance of a large system increasing like ours." In five years the amount of goods and minerals had risen from 676,000 tons to 1,111,000, and was steadily augmenting. True, the Great Northern Company was, by agreement, bound to allow the ^Midland the use of their London goods and coal stations ; but it was soon found that these were so inadequate for the requirements of both companies that, in 1860 and '61 the Midland Company had to go to Parlia- ment for powers to acquire a large amount of land ad- joining the Great Northern, where it might have a goods station of its own ; and the capital authorised for this purpose amounted to some £3-10,000. The accommodation provided by the Great Northern for the Midland passenger trains was also insufficient. Experience has proved that there are certain times of the day most convenient to the London public to travel, and five o'clock in the afternoon is one of these times. Ac- cordingly the Great Northern started one of its chief express trains at that liour ; this was followed by a large DIFFICULTIES AND DELAYS. 171 local traffic ; and it became undesirable that the Midland express should follow earlier than 5.35, and even then it was often pulled up by signals before it reached Hitchen. It is true that the Midland were entitled by agreement to fix the running of their trains at hours mutually con- venient, and that there was an appeal to arbitration ; but, as Mr. Allport remarked, " no arbitrator can enable you to perform physical impossibilities." In fact, in 1862, the Exhibition year, there were nearly 1000 Midland passen- ger trains and nearly 2400 goods trains delayed between Hitchen and King's Cross. " The Midland," said Mr. Allport, " can never tell with anything like certainty at what time their trains will reach King's Cross. They may be in good time at Hitchen, but delays constantly occur between that place and London, especially near the terminus at Holloway, where the trains are kept waiting outside the tunnel till the station is cleared inside, and they can be admitted. Or if the Midland train comes from the north, depending perhaps for its time of starting on other trains still further north,* and, is late at Hitchen, they find of course that other trains have already started before them, and they must take their chance — being a stranger company ; and having no control over the management they cannot order a slow train to shunt and let a Midland express pass, though on their own lines such a practice would be at once adopted. Constant complaints are made to the Midland Company of these irregularities, and the Great Northern on many occasions have frankly admitted their inability to avoid them." Nor was it only on the Great Northern line that the Midland Company had to contend with these difiiculties and delays. An enormous traffic was also sent from the * At Normanton the Midland has to -wait for trains from Newcastle and Edinburgh, and at Ingleton for trains from Carlisle and Glasgow. 172 A FIVE miles' block. Midland system to London via Rugby. In fact, in 1862, the Midland Company paid the Great Northern £60,000 for tolls to London, in addition to rents for the use of their London station, and to the London and North Western no less than £193,000 for traffic by Rugby ; and such was the crowded state of that company's line, that, though they had laid a third pair of rails for fifty miles for the up trains, from Bletchley to London, they were unable to accommodate the traffic. On one occasion they suddenly gave notice that theycould not convey the mineral traffic from the Midland system: and the coal trains ac- cumulated at Rugby till they were Jiue miles long, to the infinite annoyance of the sellers at the fields, and of the buyers in London, w^ho were depending on the arrival of the coal for the supply of their customers. The embarrass- ment of the Midland Company, too, may be imagined when they received such messages as, " Stop all coals from Butterley colliery for Acton, Hammersmith, and Kew, for three days, as AVillesden sidings are blocked up." " The North London are blocked with Poplar coals for all the dealers ; Camden cannot receive any more for Poplar." "You must stop the whole till London is clear." "Rugby is blocked so as not to be able to shunt atiy more." " Camden and the North London are blocked with coals." In addition to the necessity that thus existed for a more adequate accommodation of the through traffic of the Midland Company to the metropolis itself, it was apparent that a new railway up the country that lay between the Great Northern line on the east, and the London and North Western on the west would be locally beneficial. Grave complaints, for instance, had been made of the insufficiency of the communications directly south and north of St. Albans. Proposals had been made with a view to amendment, and one witness stated that his land w\as surveyed "almost every winter ;" but no im- A " MOST UNFORTUNATE COUNTY." 1 73 provement had been made. " It is almost useless now," said another, " to make up a stock of goods to keep at St. Albans. People who come over there have so little time, and buyers from the north will not come to us at all. Formerly we did a very great business at St. Albans. The communication by coaches used to be very much more convenient to these northern buyers than the railways are now." " If a railway is made," said another witness, " it will multiply our trade at St. Albans double or treble." At this period (March, 1863) the county of Bedford generally was described by one of the witnesses as " the most unfortunate county in England," as regarded its railway communications. " We have nothing," he said. " but the Great Northern running from Hertfordshire to Bedford, across the estate of Mr. Whitbread at the out- skirts, and from Bletchley on the Duke of Bedford's estates on the other side ; but with respect to the interior part of the county we have no communication at all." By a new line it was declared " the whole district would be immensely benefited." " I believe," said a witness, " that the Great Northern Company do all they can, but they cannot do justice to the district with a junction line." It was estimated that the proposed line would serve 50,000 people who did not then have the advantage of railway facilities. Such were some of the data that led the Midland Com- pany's board to resolve to construct a line of their own from Bedford to London, and their intention was ap- proved by their constituency. There "was not a single dissentient voice that I know of," said Mr. Allport, " though one shareholder objected, who usually objects to everything." Meanwhile, the Great Northern Company, naturally loath to lose such a customer as the Midland, made an 174 OFFER OF GEEAT NORTHERN COMPANY. offer of fresh facilities aud rio:lits over the Hitchen and London Une, in fact of running powers in perpe- tuity. But in return they required that the Midland Company should guarantee a rent of £60,000 a year instead of £20,000. If it were found that the traflBc of the two companies could not be carried on by the existing lines, the Great Northern undertook — on the opinion of an arbitrator, if there were difference between the companies — to put down one or two additional lines between Hitchen and London ; but in that case the minimum guarantee of the ^lidland Company was to be increased to 5 per cent, per annum on the money spent by the Great Northern on such additional works. But when the best answer of the Great Northern Company to the demand by the Midland for adequate facilities for its growing traffic, was an offer to widen the Great Northern line at the expense of the Midland, the rejoinder was easy and complete. If the old line had to be doubled the cost would be altogether dispropor- tionate to the benefits conferred. Besides the earthwork, there were many of the overbridges that would need to be rebuilt, a large viaduct to be widened, nine tunnels to be doubled, stations to be altered, a suitable junction be- tween the Great Northern and Midland to be made at the London end, a new terminus for the Midland to be erected, and a gradient between Hitchen and Bedford to be improved. "I should tliink," said Mr. Charles Liddell, " that the duplicating the Great Northern would cost at least £900,000," in addition to other large items of expenditure. Lender these circumstances, it was obviously better to make a new line, in a new country, to accommodate new districts, to create new traffic, and to secure independence for both companies. " It is im- possible," said Mr. Allport, " that you can reconcile the interests of these two great companies," on the same CAMDEX SQUARE GARDENS. 175 railway. " AYe are always second best, and whether there are four lines or a dozen lines, the same thing would be true." Besides all this, it was by no means improbable that the districts which the Midland Company proposed to occupy would, if abandoned by them, be taken up b}- another company, and employed as a formidable com- petitor against Midland interests. Such a line had, in fact, been in contemplation. " The year before last," said Mr. Beale to the shareholders, " a project of that kind "was brought forward by persons of great talent, who very nearly succeeded in carrying forward a scheme going over the very district which we have proposed to take. If such had boon the case, we should have had to buy it back from the projectors. The Midland Company does not want to be dragged into a Trent Valley business, and have to buy a line at an enormous premium ; and if they did not make a line from Bedford, the work would be done by others." Another point that came under the consideration of the parliamentary committee may be cited, as showing the manner in which individuals are sometimes disposed to assert their rights. It arose from the circumstance that the Midland line was to be carried tlirouo:]! the Camden Square Gardens in Camden Town, where it was arranged that a cutting, which must first be made, should be arched over, and that then the garden should be restored to its previous condition. AVith these terms Lord Camden, the proprietor, was satisfied. Xot so, however, one of the witnesses. " It is utterly impos- sible," he said, *' that the garden could ever be restored ; because the trees were of fifteen years' growth, the lawn was as old, and got finer and finer every year, and the whole appearance of the square had been improving." '•' Then you think,'' asked the counsel, " leaving alone 176 HORTJCULTDRAL PEErLEXITIES. the trees, and taking the shrubbery and lawn, it could never be restored for a great length of time, if at all, to its present state." " No. Because this covered way would act as a great drain, and the grass would not grow." For these and similar reasons, the parties alleged that " the injury to the property was excessive," and that the works " would generally affect the value of the property in the neighbourhood." In cross-examination this mo- mentous matter was again referred to. Mr. Venables : " Your trees are large trees, and of fifteen years' growth, you say?" "Yes." " Have you examined tlie plans, and seen how many of them would be disturbed ? " *' I have not counted the number, but there are several of them that would be disturbed. " Would there be more than six disturbed?" " No ; I would not say actually." " If it should turn out that six trees fifteen years old were taken out of 400, would that be an enormous evil ?" " I think it would be a great evil ; but I think many more would be disturbed." " You know that it is not beyond the resources of gardening ingenuity to put in trees fifteen years old — is it?" " Quite." " I respectfully differ from you. But at all events, supposing you had half a dozen or a dozen trees dis- turbed, and young ones put in in their places, do you not think that that might be compensated for by money ? " And all this was about two poplar trees, two labur- nums, and two horse-chestnut trees, — such wonderful vegetable productions as are to be found in an average London square ! BARNSLRY. 177 Eventually, however, the chairman stated that " the committee were of opinion that the preamble of the bill had been proved ;" but so considerate were they of the feelings of the owners of the property in Camden Square, that it was ordered that if they wished, they should have " a clause which would enable them to seek for compen- sation for consequential damage." In the course of the year the Midland Company applied to Parliament for power to make a line to connect their main line at Cudworth with the town of Barnsley, by a branch about four miles in length. Tliat town was the centre of a district containing some 66,000 persons, and the chief seat of the linen manufacture — the Dundee of England — and produced a fabric worth nearly £500,000 a year, but it had no communication with the Midland system, except by an omnibus over a very rough road, and it was also very inadequately accommodated otherwise. One of the witnesses declared that " there was no town of equal importance in the kingdom, and indeed there w^ere very few villages, which have such execrable rail- way accommodation as we have." The station, which was the joint property of the Lancashire and Yorkshire and the South Yorkshire, has "one room 20 ft. square, which serves at once for the booking offices of three railways, for a spice stall, and the sale of the daily papers," and also as a waiting room. Another room, " by a very gross abuse of language," called a ladies' waiting-room, was so small that " one lady of modern dimensions would occupy a very considerable portion of it." In fact, the station arrangements violated the most ordinary requirements of decency. The witness stated his con- viction that if a railway were made from Barnsley to Cud- worth, all the arrangements would be improved, since it " would lower the character of the Midland Company to be associated with such station accommodation as existed." 178 EAEXSLEY VIADUCT. '* One thing we have for our consolation," he added, " that under no combination of circumstances could the accommodation be worse." That the railway facilities ot the town were not highly appreciated, may be inferred from the fact, that of a population of 6G, 000 in and around Barnsley, there went up to London by the Great Northern in the Exhibition year, an average — if we may be excused the form of calcuhition — of only a passengei- and a quarter a day ! The line that the Midland Company proposed to run from Cudworth to Barnslcv was four miles and a half in liAKNSLIiY VIADUCT length. It was to pass almost close to the large collieries known as the Mount Osborne and the Oaks. From the former some 162,000 tons were raised every year — an amount which could be largely augmented if there were proper communication ; and from the Oaks the yield in 1862 was 180,000 tons. The importance of the proposed line was obvious; but when the bill was before Parliament, it became entangled EXTENSIONS. 179 with a number of competitive projects with which that of the Midland Company had really nothing to do. There were the Barnsley Coal Railway, the South Yorkshire, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Great Northern, and the Leeds and Wakefield, who " had agreements with each other in every possible complication, and all of whom almost accused all the others of havinof broken those asfree- ments on every possible occasion." Eventually, however, the committee found a way through this labyrinth of perplexities, and the bill was sanctioned. The directors also decided to recommend the construc- tion of several other extensions ; to make a branch from Duffield to Wirks worth and the High Peak Railway ; to run a branch from Staveley to the Doe Hill Valley, in order to open up a large and valuable coal field ; to double the Ashchurch and Tewkesbury line ; to join with the Furness Railway Company in making a railway to be called the Furness and Midland, for the purpose of connecting the coast lines of Cumberland and West- morland and the Lake District with the Midland Railway at Wennington, on the Little North Western Railway, and 'with Carnforth. This line is about ten miles in length, and was to cost £150,000, of which the Midland Company was to contribute one-half. Bills were also submitted to Parliament to enable the Midland Companj^ to make working arrangements with the Manchester, Bux- ton, Matlock, and Midland Junction ; with the Kettering and Thrapstone extension to Huntingdon ; the Peter- borough and Wisbeach; the Rcdditch and Evesham; the Nailsworth and Stonchouso ; and the Metropolitan. CHAPTER VIII. Arrival of a memorable period. — Claims of Sheffield to increased ac- commodation. — Growth of trade in that town. — Sir John Brown'.s works. — Town's meeting. — Communication with the Midland' board. — Sheffield to be put on the main line of the Midland. — Large outlay. — Terms settled. — Advantages to be conferred. — Remarkable change of opinion in Sheffield. — Rival scheme pro- duced. — The Sheffield, Chesterfield and Staffordshire Company. — Extraordinary pretensions of new company. — Objections to the scheme. — Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company's claims. — A small disease and a great remedy. — Astuteness of Mid- land Company's advisei's. — Plan for meeting the difficulty. — The rival scheme defeated in the Commons. — Persistent attempt to defeat the Midland Company in the Lords. — Midland Company's bill passes. — Projected extensions of the Midland system. — Yate and Thornbury line. — Mangotsfield and Bath. — Derby to Mel- bourne and Breedon-on-the-Hill. — Mr. Beale's resignation as chair- man. — Mr. W. E. Hutchinson becomes chairman. — Mansfield and Worksop line projected. — Opposition of the dukes. — Difficulties overcome. — Evidence of the necessity of the line. — Vast colliery field. — Rival line proposed by Great Northern. — Proposed line from Barnsley to Kirkburton. — Evidence. — Humorous criticisms of Mr. Mereweather. — Proposal rejected. —Death of Sir Joseph Paxton. — Resignation of Mr. Barwell. — Mr. W. M. Thompson a director. — Bedford and Northampton line. — Evidence before Parliament. — Passing of bill. — Tottenham and Hampstead Junction. — Advant- ages of the line. — Opposition of Great Northern to the new arrangement. — Cheshire lines. — Proposed new line of the three companies between Liverpool and Manchester. — Access via Gars- ton inconvenient. — Necessity for additional railway accommoda- tion between Manchester and Liverpool. — Enormous increase of trade of Liverpool. — Evidence. — Complaints of merchants and others. — Cost and probable returns of the projected railway. — New line from Manchester to Stockport. — Omnibus traffic. The year 1 864 was memorable in the history of the Mid- land Railway. It began with an attempt to meet public claims and to strengthen the position of the Company ; but before Ions; the directors were called, with their utmost resources and skill, to repel an attack upon their most vital interests, — an attack which, if success- ful, would have entailed the most serious consequences on all the future of the Midland Company. When the route of the North Midland Railway was SHEFFIELD. ISl selected by George Stephenson, lie thought it better to follow the course of the valleys, and to leave the town of Sheflfield among the hills on the left, to be afterwards connected with the main line by a branch from Mas- borough. But with this subordinate position, a popula- tion so vast and industries so thriving were not likely to remain permanently satisfied, and the complaints of the Sheffield people would have been entertained by the Midland board at an earlier period, had it not been for financial difficulties of their own. Pressure, however, of all kinds gradually increased. The little passenger station, built some twenty years before, became utterly unsuitable for the traffic ; but being jammed in between principal streets of the town, and bounded by numerous vast and costly works, it appeared impossible by any attempt at enlargement to meet the necessities of the case. Meanwhile the trade of the town increased enormously. During the year 1863, one firm, that of Mr., now Sir John, Brown, consumed nearly 100,000 tons of coal, and 45,000 tons of pig iron. Nearly 30,000 tons of the iron came over the Midland system from Derby, Clay Cross, Hull, from Morecambe, and even from Scotland. " We pay to the Midland alone," said Mr. Brown, " from £35,000 to £40,000 per annum for the conversance of our minerals and pig iron, out of which £12,000 is paid direct to the Midland Company by us, for what we call * goods outwai..,' that is to say, manufactured goods." At length the Midland board received an intimation that, on the 5th of December, 1863, a town's meeting under the presidency of Mr. Brown, the mayor, would be held to consider the question of railway communica- tion. The chairman of the Midland board shortly after- wards returned an official assurance that his board had resolved, " if assured of the support of the towai," to 182 town's meeting. " recommend to their sliareliolders to apply, in the session of 1864, for an act for a direct line from the Midland Railway near Chesterfield, to Dronfield and Sheffield." This letter was submitted to the town's meeting, the chairman of which spoke in terms of warm appreciation of the intended action of the Midland board. He stated that he had no doubt of the good faith with which the promise had been made ; and it was generally admitted at the meeting that the accommodation which the town needed could be best supplied by the Midland Com^^any. It was at the same time suggested that a Uttle pressure from without might be useful to support the Midland directors in commending the project to their shareholders. " The meeting," said Mr. Thomas Smith, a solicitor, should have " faith in the Midland Company, which alone could do for the town that which was really wanted — put it on the main line (cheers). It has been admitted, however, that directors sometimes required a little pressure with their shareholders, to enable them to carry projects of this kind out. "With a view to supply the necessary pressure, and put the town in a position to secure a railway to Chesterfield, if they should show any further hesitation, and also in order to support and jiro- tect the interests of the town in the matter, he (Mr. Smith) advised the formation of an independent com- pany, w^liich should, by arrangement with the Midland, prepare to give the necessary notices, and deposit plans, the independent company withdrawing on the Midland Company going to Parliament in earnest " (cheers). A committee was appointed to watch over the interests of the town, and to see that the new line and station met their just expectations. After the meeting the mayor sent to the chairman of the Midland Company an account of the proceedings. Under these circumstances the Midland board took EXCELLENT LLVE. ISli immediate action. At the general meeting on the Srd of February following, they obtained the sanction of the shareholders to a bill involving an expenditure of £500,000 for the projected line; and their engineer was instructed to make his survey of the difficult country through which the railway would have to pass. A deputation, also, from the Sheffield committee had an interview with the Mid- land board, and received a renewal of the pledge given to the mayor; and at the end of the same month, the Sheffield committee forwarded to the directors a resolu- tion which they had just passed, expressive of their satisfaction with the action of the board ; taking care, however, to add the following warning against any in- fringement of the understanding already arrived at : " That this committee, while they rely on these promises, yet desire to impress on the board of directors the peril of any departure from these assurances, as the general public are most anxious on the point, at the earliest period of making the line." On the 10th of July, 1863, the engineer of the Midland Company met the committee at Sheffield, produced his plans and explained them. It was, however, considered that " the position and approaches of the station appeared too far removed from the business part of the town," and" several departures from the plan in that particular" were suggested, and in these " Mr. Orossley coincided." The Sheffield representative reported that if this plan, as thus amended, " be confirmed by the survey, your depu- tation thinks that the scheme will, as a whole, be satis- factory to the town." By these arrangements a very costl}^ and difficult but admirable line was offered by the Midland Company to the town of Sheffield, and the offer was officially accepted by its municipal authorities. Some 1,200,000 yards of cutting, and about an equal amount of embankment, a 184 EXTRAORDINARY CHANGE OF OPINION. viaduct 260 jarcls in length, and tunnels more than 2,000 yards long would be required ; the work of which would cost £40 a yard for tunnels, £60 for viaducts, and Is. a cubic yard for earthworks. The whole would involve an outlay of half a million of money. But the benefits con- ferred would not be disproportionate to the expenditure. Hereafter the principal trains from north to south would run directly through the town ; in fact, Sheffield, instead of being approached by a branch from Masborough, would for all the future be on the main line of the Mid- land system. Passengers from the south, instead ot ] laving first to go north to Masborough and then back to Sheffield, would save eight miles ; while the distance from Chesterfield to Masborough itself would, over the new route be only slightly increased. Instead of the old Sheffield station — which would be devoted to goods — the new one would be three or four times the area, and would have unlimited facilities for extension ; and all the just expectations of a large population and a thriving industry would be more than satisfied. It was now August. Apparently everything had pro- ceeded fairly and in good faith ; when suddenly, to the amazement of the Midland board, it was discovered that some of the very parties with whom these negotiations had been conducted were engaged in prosecuting, not a friendly bill, to be used merely in the event of the Midland's default, but one in the highest degree com- petitive and hostile; that the mayor himself was to be chairman of the new company ; that a large expenditure was to be undertaken ; and that it was intended to make a rival line to Bastow, Bakewell, Winster, Ashbourne, and Stafford, with a fork from near Sheffield through Dronfield to Chesterfield, at the heart of the Midland system ; and that people of great local influence and wealth had committed themselves to this scheme. RIVAL SCHEME. 185 In fact, despite correspondences, conferences, and agree- ments, the Midland Company and the Midland line were thrown overboard, and for the time being appeared, under the fresh influences that had arisen, to be — nowhere. The Sheffield corporation, the Cutlers' Company, the Sheffield people, Mr. Fowler the engineer, Mr. John Brown of the Atlas ironworks (both natives of the town), were of one mind and heart in the advocacy of the new en- terprise, — an enterprise which would not only have put the new line into the hands of strangers, but would have tapped the traffic blood of the Midland system at its heart. The Midland board could hardly believe their ears ; and the only defence which at the moment they seemed able to offer to the assault was — their recognised position, their character as a Company, and the sanctions of good faith. And so the time drew on when Parliament should decide. When Parliament met, the rival scheme came out in full bloom. It cheerfully proposed that, in lieu of the proposed Midland line, the ground should be occupied by a railway to be called the Sheffield, Chesterfield and Staffi^rdshire Company, which should run in the direc- tion named by its title ; that the Midland Company should have the option of using it " on fair terms "; and that the Staffordshire Company should have running powers at arbitration tolls, not only over the whole of the Midland system, but even on to other lines, indeed " to every- where"; and that the new company should have their own clerks and agents at the Midland stations to which they had running powers. Even for traffic going to the extremities of the Midland system, and beyond, on to points as distant as Bristol or Carlisle, this little bit of a company, with its 12 or 14 miles of railway, if it sent passengers or goods on its own line for a distance of only one, two, or three miles, claimed to receive the rate 186 EXOEBITAKT PEETENSIONS. for the wliole distance, and tlie Midland Company was, as well as it could, to reclaim its share of tlie amount. " Here is a company," said Mr. Allport, " about wLicli no one knows anything, who come and propose that, at arbitration tolls, they should run over the whole of the Midland system, by merely making 13 or 14 miles, and that in the very midst of our system." " I think it is a most unreasonable thing." Nor should the fact be overlooked, that, if the Staffordshire line had been made instead of that of the Midland Company, the great want of Sheffield would have remained unsatisfied. Sheffield would still, for all Midland purposes, have remained on the branch from Masborough. " It is idle," said Mr. Allport, " to suppose that we should use and pay tolls upon a link of 13 or 14 miles in the midst of our system, with all our traffic passing through. The number of passengers taken up at Sheffield, as compared with the number we should take through, would be not more than as 1 to 10; and it is not to be expected that we should transfer from our own line the traffic to another and competing company. I have no hesitation," he added, " in saying that the whole of the Midland passenger traffic would go via Mas- borough, as at present." But the proposal of the Midland Company to make a direct line through Sheffield had not only to endure the neglect of its supposed supporters in Sheffield and the preposterous pretensions of the Staffordshire scheme; the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company was scarcely to be outdone in the exorbitancy of its claims. That company is connected with the Midland by a branch at Eckington, a station between Chesterfield and Mas- borough, by means of which it conveys certain traffic on to Sheffield. But it was contended that if the Midland Company made aline of its own directly through Sheffield, DEMANDS OF SHEFFIELD COMFAXY. 187 some traffic wliicli had formerly travelled via Eckington might go by the new and better route. So, for this small disease, the Sheffield Company proposed a suffi- ciently comprehensive remedy. They stated that, when the Midland Company had their through line to Sheffield, Chesterfield would be- come the point of junction between the two systems, and that the Sheffield Company ought to have running powers over the Midland line from Eckington to Chesterfield, and there make its exchange Avith the Midland. " As the locus,'' they said, " is going to be changed physically, we ask that we should be removed from Eckington to Chesterfield ; " and they proposed that a clause should be inserted in the Midland bill that, at the new point of exchange " the said companies shall grant to each other mutual facihties by through booking, through rates, and otherwise, for the convenient transmission of the traffic of their respective systems;" in fact that the Midland Company should be compelled to grant through bookinof at arbitration rates. In the event of the Midland train arrangements being remodelled, and, for instance, the Midland expresses not stopping at Chesterfield, the Sheffield Company claimed that the exchange of traffic should be made at Trent junction, the Sheffield Company having running powers on to Trent. They would thus, though a line running from east to west, have a position in the heart of the Midland system, with a spur running north to south. These demands were considered by the Midland Com- pany to be inadmissible. The Midland Company, they said, is going to spend half a million of money to make a better route from Chesterfield to Sheffield ; but because in doing so a small quantity of the traffic of another company may be diverted from a route along which it has previously flowed, that company is to be allowed to loo OBJECTIONS OF MIDLAND COMPANY. take up a position, under the guidance or caprice of an unnamed arbitrator, in the midst of a great system of railway which has cost some £23,000,000 of money, and to the construction of which the other company has not paid a penny. Every new Hue, of course, is made for the more convenient transmission of traffic somewhere ; but it was unprecedented that the owners of the less con- venient route should have to be compensated, and com- pensated at such a price as this. When the Midland Company made its extension from Buxton to Manchester it was strenuously opposed by the London and North Western and the Great Northern Companies, because it was seen that some of their traffic would be diverted ; but they never asked to be reimbursed for their loss, or for running powers over the new Midland route as a price for their loss. When the Midland Company sought for an act to enable them to construct a new line from Bedford to London, the Great Northern well knew that £60,000 worth of Midland traffic would be diverted from their rails, but Parliament never thoufjht of c-rantino: them compensation. The loss, too, actually sustained by the Sheffield Company would be infinitesimal in com- parison with the price at which they asked to be reimbursed. The total value of the traffic of all com- panies exchanged at Eckington was of the gross value of £60,000 a year. Out of that there was a sum ot £5000 or £6000 for " terminals " which the Sheffield Company would still enjoy ; and deducting this amount out of the £60,000 tlieir share would not exceed £20,000 or £21,000. The Midland Company, however, undertook to provide trains to carry on without delay all the traffic which the Sheffield Company should still bring to the place of exchange' at Eckington. But while enemies were thus exhausting every re- source to give effect to these claims, the friends of the ASTUTENESS OF MIDLAND COMPANY'S ADVISERS. 189 Midland Company were not idle. One day, as he was travelling in a train to London, there glanced across the mind of an astute adviser of the board, this thought : — " We have heard much about this new company, — its vast works, its large cost, and the deposit paid, — but we have heard nothing about shareholders. Who are they ? What are they ? Are there any ? Or is the proposed company, after all, unreal and illegal ?" These inquiries were soon answered ; answered by the discovery that though the deposit had been paid, yet the three names of the depositors bore the same address ; and at once it was suspected that the amount, instead of representing a proportionate payment of a large number of bond fide shareholders, as Parliament required, had been borrowed en bloc for the mere purpose of a deposit, that the stand- ing orders of Parliament had been evaded, and that in fact there were no shareholders. But how should this suspicion be confirmed, how should the fact itself be proved ? The reply was original but conclusive. " Summon the depositors themselves by Speaker's warrants ; put them in the box ; ascertain from their own lips the exact circumstances of the case ; raise the question of the legality of the entire proceed- ings, and secure, not only a favourable decision, but one which will establish a precedent for the prevention of any similar proceedings hereafter." The course thus proposed was adopted, and at the commencement of the proceedings before the Commons' committee, March 11, 1864, it was proved by the evi- dence of the depositors themselves, that the whole amount of the deposit had been obtained as a loan from the Guardian Insurance Companij on behalf of the pro- moters of the Sheffield, Chesterfield and Staffordshire Railway Bill. On hearing this announcement and the comments of counsel on either side, the committee 190 ME. SAMUEL BEALK. stated that they were •' of opinion tliat, as the matter was one of very grave importance, they would require time to consider it." Meanwhile, however, as witnesses on both sides were present, the committee would hear the case on its own merits. The result of this hearing was satisfactory. After a protracted inquiry it was decided in the House of Commons' committee that the Sheffield, Chesterfield and Staffordshire Bill should be rejected ; and the Chesterfield and Sheffield line of the Midland Company was approved. Such, however, was the vitality of the quasi-defunct undertaking, that it followed with its opposition the Midland Company's bill into the House of Lords. It was hoped by its friends that, though their own bill had been rejected, yet, by securing, even for one session, the rejection also of the Midland bill, an opportunity might be secured in a future session of a^rain advanciufr their own scheme. In this, fortunately for the ^lidland Company, and, wo may add, for the town of Sheffield, they were defeated, and the Midland bill became law. In the course of this year (18G4), projects were an- nounced for the formation of several small but not un- important lines. One was from Yate, near Bristol, to Thornbury. It was easy of construction, and led to a valuable iron field. Another was from ^mngotsfield to Bath, and its formation would connect that city with tlie narrow-gauge system of the country. A third was from near Derby, past Melbourne, to a junction at Breedon-on- the-Hill, with a tramway that belonged to the Midland Company, and led to Ashby-de-la-Zouch. This line would be six miles in length, and would cost £40,000. Meanwhile satisfactory progress was being made with the numerous works already in hand. It was matter of sincere regret to his colleagues that in the course of this vear Mr. Samuel Bealo, M.V., who AUDITOES OF MIDLAND COMPANY. 191 bad been, with much " energy and talent," for many years the chairman of the Midland Company, found it desirable, on account of his health, to relinquish the responsibilities of that office, though he consented to remain a director. It was unanimously resolved by the shareholders, on the motion of Mr. Barrow, M.P., that £1000 should be placed at the disposal of the board to provide some suitable acknowledgment for Mr. Beale's services. The amount was expended in the purchase of plate, which was duly presented; and, in return, Mr. Beale gave to the shareholders his portrait, which was placed in the proprietors' hall at Derby, side by side with that of his old and lamented friend, Mr. Ellis. In the autumn of this year Mr. W. E. Hutchinson, a member of the Society of Friends, who had been connected with the Midland Company from its commencement, was elected to the chairmanship, and Mr. W. P. Price, M.P. for Gloucester, was appointed deputy-chairman. A vacancy also occurred during this year in the office of auditor, by the death of Mr. Joseph Cripps, of Leices- ter, who for upwards of twenty years had ably and faithfully discharged the duties of that position. In con- sequence of this event, the accounts were signed only by the remaining auditor, Mr. Alfred Allott. Major Robert Heane, of Gloucester, a holder of £12,000 worth of Midland stock, was appointed to fill the vacancy. The years 1865 and 1866 witnessed an important in- crease to the responsibilities of the Midland Company. Heavy works were in hand, and new ones w^ere in con- templation. During the summer of 1865, the New Mills extension was rapidly advancing; the Dove Holes Tunnel, which governed the rest of the work, was nearly three- fourths through ; the tunnel on the Chesterfield and Sheffield line was going forward ; the Duffield and Wirksworth branch was commenced ; and the contracts 192 EXTENSIONS. of the London and Bedford line north of the Brent were let. NORTHERN END OF UOVE HOLES TUNNEL. In addition to these undertakings, further extensions had become necessary in consequence of " numerous hostile schemes " projected by rival companies. " It would have been more consonant with the feelings of the directors," said the chairman, at the February meeting, " if they had been enabled to state that there was not a sino-le bill to be brought before Parliament; but they felt that they could not shut their eyes to what was going on around them, for there were districts that required railway accommodation, and other parties were already at work in the Midland district." " I believe," remarked the chairman, in August, " that this further construction is necessary for the stable and permanent position of the company." The proposed new lines were eighteen, ex- tending for a distance of eighty-one miles, at a cost of £1,684,000; besides a railway from Barnsley to Kirk- burton, and an arrangement with the Great Northern riJOPOSED MANSFIELD AND "WORKSOP LINE. 193 and SlieflSeld Companies for what we sliall have to speak of more fully hereafter — the Cheshire lines. In the course of this year (18G5) an important move- ment was made for the purpose of connecting together the middle and northern districts of Nottinfrhamshire — the county in which the Midland Company had its birth. The line that ran north of Nottingham ended at Mans- field in a cul cle sac, or, in expressive railway phraseology, " a dead end " — always a bad thing both for a line and for a district ; and so matters had remained for years. Several abortive attempts had been made to diminish the inconvenience that was felt ; and when in 1860 a bill was brought before Parliament for a line from Mansfield to Worksop, such serious difference of opinion arose with regard to the subject between the Dukes of Newcastle and Portland, through whose property the intended line would pass, that the project was withdrawn. At length, in the summer of 1864, it was intimated to the Midland Company that these obstacles were removed, and that both noblemen would lend their support to the projected line. But other difficulties arose ; for the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company now appeared with a scheme almost identical with that of the Midland ; nor were they appeased until they were pro- mised running powers to Mansfield in return for running- powers over their line on to Retford. A fresh survey was now ordered of the district, and several improvements were made on the scheme of 1859. It had, for instance, been intended that the extension to Worksop should turn off from the Nottingham and Mansfield line, at a point some distance south of Mans- field; that it should bend to the west, and that there should be a second station at Mansfield. It was now determined to carry a new through line across the town, and to build a new station within a few yards of the 194^ CLAIMS OF THE DISTRICT. market place. At its iiortliern end the line would join the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire to the west of Worksop, near the Shireoaks Colliery. Uninterrupted communication would thus be provided between Mans- field and AYorksop on the one hand, and Sheffield on the other. The benefits to be conferred by the proposed lines were considerable. Mansfield was cooped up in a corner, and its trade had suffered accordingly. Two gentlemen, cotton doublers, who employed some 360 hands, gave evidence of the inconvenience to which they were exposed in carrying on their business with Lancashire. " We may lose more," said one, " by reloading, in the waste that it causes, than the cost of the carriage two or three times over." Mr. "William Bradshaw, at whose foundry about 300 persons were employed, and who received some 2000 tons of iron a month from the north of England, complained of the circuitous route by which Mansfield had to be approached. " All I want," said the late Speaker of the House of Commons, in evidence he gave before the committee, " is a better communication from the northern part of the county to the county town." The district, too, through which the line would pass, deserved better accommodation. At Steetley, between Whitwell and Worksop, are the quarries of valuable stone from which it is believed that Southwell Minster was erected, and which the chairman of the committee re- marked was probably " the most famous of all building stones." The quarries at Mansfield are of high quality, but have only a limited though lucrative trade. The proposed railway, with the branch intended to be made to Newark, would open what one witness described as " most magnificent quarries of magnesium stone." The line would also pass in the neighbourhood of the finest timber district in Enojland. The Duke of Newcastle's GREAT NORTHEllX COMPETITIVE SCHEME. 195 agent stated that tlie mere thinnings of 4000 acres of woodland fetched from £6000 to £10,000 a year ; and that they were used chiefly for pit and manufacturing purposes. The Shireoaks Colliery, too, which the line would approach, contained several beds of valuable coal ; and the engineer and manager expressed a conviction that the entire district which the line would traverse was "a mineral field;" or, as another said, "full of coal." Mr. Heming, the agent for the Duke of Newcastle, also stated his belief that the " entire length " of the line was " full of minerals." These opinions have since been con- firmed : and eventually, as the time drew on for the opening of the line, thousands of acres of coal-fields were leased to coal-owners, and it is believed that the Mans- field and Worksop line will rival, if not outvie, the mineral productiveness of the Ere wash. But while the Midland Company was thus contending for the importance of a line between the centre and north of the country, another competitor — in the interest of the Midland's old foe, the Great Northern — came upon the field, and proposed a railway from Mansfield to Het- ford. On its behalf it was contended that Retford was the second largest cattle market in the kingdom ; that the Mansfield limestone quarries would be benefited by the Retford route as well as by the other ; that whatever wont north-east of Retford, should be carried direct to Retford ; though it was admitted tliat whatever went westward or north-west would go better by Worksop, and that delay in the transit of minerals did not much matter. It was of little consequence — some one humorously suggested — • if a load of pig iron was detained ; but if a truck of pigs were starved to death in winter weather, or if fish or fruit coming from Hull were delayed en route at mid- summer, the consequences might be unpleasant to all concerned. 196 PROPOSED LINE TO KIRKBURTON. The Midland replied that theirs wa^ tlie better route, because they passed through a population twice as numerous as on the line to Retford, and because the latter ran through a purely agricultural country without minerals. The decision of Parliament was given in favour of the Midland bill. Application was also made in the course of this year (1865) for powers to make a line from Barnsley to Kirkburton, there to join a line projected by the London and North Western from Kirkburton to Hud- dersfield. These two companies agreed that if the Midland bill were sanctioned, a joint station should be made at Kirkburton, and each company should have running powers over the line of the other company. It was urged on behalf of the Midland project that it would be of special value, as the country was " full of mills in the centre, and full of coal at one end." At Huddersfield there were as many as four hundred ware- houses for woollen goods, and nearly as many mills. It was also shown in evidence that part of the traffic on the Barnsley and Kirkburton line would consist of leather, bark, and timber. Upon this point Mr. Mereweather thus cheerily criticised the evidence : "I shall not ques- tion whether there is some coal in the valley, whether there are some woods in the valle}^ whether the beasts there have hides, and whether they are ultimately taken off and tanned at another place. Of course there are woods everywhere, and yon will not find me contending that round most trees there is not bark, or to deny that that bark is used in tanning. But this gentleman comes and says that this line would be of great advantage to him, because it will help him to the bark. The greatest dis- tance from either end is six miles. The middle of the line is three miles from the end. Your lordships know what is done with bark. It is first of all stacked upon HUMOROUS SPEECH OF MR. ME RE WEATHER. 107 the spot, and must bo left to dry, and after being dried, it does not want a bit more locomotion than can be lielped. Take the middle part of the line, and assume that there is a wood upon it. The oak does not grow so that when the bark is stripped it can fall into the railway waggon. It has to be put upon a waggon for convey- ance to the rail. Do you suppose that the bark will travel three miles to the railway, then be unshipped into the trucks, be taken six miles to Barnsley, and unshipped there. Or is the railway to go and collect the hides of the dead oxen. Hides sold in the Barnsley market are either the produce of the beasts killed by the Barnsley butchers, or the one or two hides which the butcher brings in his cart to sell, having left the carcase in the village. Beasts do not die in heaps. They are killed individually, and to present to your lordships a line pick- ing up hides is absurd. That disposes of the leather business, the bark business, and the timber business." The bill for this line passed the Commons committee ; but in the Lords it was decided that the Midland Com- pany should have access to Huddersfield by running- powers in perpetuity on arbitration tolls via Barnsley or via Beighton and Sheffield, " local traffic being pro- tected in the usual manner." To these terms the Man- chester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, and the Lancashire and Yorkshire consented, and the bill for the new line was thereupon withdrawn. The Midland Company were also to have accommodation in the Huddersfield station (supposing the London and North Western to consent), of which the Lancashire and Yorkshire and London and North \V'estern are joint owners. Had these terms been conceded at the outset, they would have been willingly accepted; and the Parliamentary costs of £3500 would have been saved. As the bill was not obtained, this out. lay, in the usual manner, fell upon revenue. 198 ACCESS OF MIDLAND TO NORTHAMPTON. Two vacancies occurred during tlie year 1865 in tlie direction. One, said the chairman, " by the death of our deeply-lamented and highly-valued colleague. Sir Joseph Paxton," who for sixteen years had been a member of the board ; and the other by the retirement, through ill- health, of Mr. E. H. Barwell. The seat of the latter was filled by the appointment of Mr. ]\I. "W. Thompson, of Bradford. At a special meeting which followed the ordinary autumn meeting, various financial arrangements were sanctioned, and also an agreement for the purchase by the Midland Company of the Rcdditch station, and for the working and leasing by the Midland Company of the Midland and South "Western Junction Railway. Durinnf the year an act was obtained for making a line — in which the IMidland Company eventually became inter- ested — called the Bedford and Northampton Railway. The affair came about in the following 'way : — Three or four years previously, the Midland Company had received notice from the London and North Western that they intended to e.x:ercise the old common law right of passing along a public higliwa}', and that they should pass along the " public highway " of the track that ran from AVichnor, on the Birmingham and Derby line, to Biirton-on-Trent. To this the Midland did not demur; but they likewise gave notice that they should use similar powers from "Wellingborough to Northampton, where they had bought land, and where they opened a tem- porary station immediately adjoining that of the North Western Company. The two companies also agreed that the tolls from AVichnor and from Wellingborough should be fixed at the same amount. The junctions* of the Midland with the London and North Western were formed from the east and west sides of the Wellingborough station ; but it was soon found * For several years tlicrc was only one junction. BEDFORD AND XORTlIAMrroX LINK. 199 that, however convenieutly these might serve as ap- proaches from the north, there should also be access from the south ; and this, it was conjectured, might be made at a cost of £4000 or £5000. On examination, however, it was ascertained that it would be a more serious undertaking, since it would have to be carried for at least four or five miles through a very difficult coun- try, at an outlay of £70,000 or £80,000. It was, there- fore, abandoned. Meanwhile complaints arose of the inadequacy of the means of communication between Bedford and Northampton; and when a proposal was made by a company called " The Bedford, Northampton and Weedon," to make a line in that direction, it was warmly supported by parties locally interested. The traffic of the district, they declared, had to be carried on by private vehicles or by carriers' carts. " The agricul- tural interests of that neighbourhood," said Mr. Hurst, of Bedford, " are very extensive. There is a great deal of extremely well-cultivated land, and it would be a great convenience to have this line to convey agricultural pro- duce from one place to the other. Bedford, too, is a very improving, and is becoming a very important town. It has very extensive commercial and grammar schools — I should think an arrangement of schools hardly second to any in the kingdom. These schools are all but free, and the benefits thus conferred might be greatly extended if the facilities of access were increased." " I reckon," said another witness, " that every acre of land properly worked ought to produce something like half a ton of cattle or corn to be exported or imported," and that the freightage thus supplied should, if possible, be accom- modated. One gentleman from Northampton, who stated that his firm employed about 1,500 hands, and made more than half a million of boots a year, declared that the rates they paid for the carriage of boots and shoes 200 TOTTENHAjr AND HAMPSTEAD LINE. from Xortliamptoii to London were " about as much as tliey used to pa}^ in the old waggon time." Another witness, who lived at Olney, expressed the great desire of people there engaged in trade to have railway facili- ties. He mentioned that, as a tanner, he received 500 or more tons of goods in a year, which had to be con- veyed by road; and that coals for the town had to be carted from the Midland Company's station at Sharn- brook, a distance of ten miles. Similar eviJence led to Parliamentary sanction being given to the bill, witli the omission of the part that extended to Weedon, it being thought to be difficult to make a good junction with the London and North Western main line. The Midland Company did not consent to the terms on which they would adopt this new project until about three weeks before the bill was sub- mitted to Parliament; but eventually they agreed to work the line when completed for seven years, at forty per cent, of the receipts, anil at fifty per cent, afterwards. The Tottenham and Ilampstead was another lino that arose under somewhat similar circumstances, and that came under the control of the Midland Company under somewhat similar conditions. It starts from Kcntisli Town; runs up alongside of and then over the Midland main line ; crosses over the Great Northern, with which it forms a junction; runs over the Edgware and Highgate Railway; and reaches Tottenham on the Great Eastern line. It has also a connection with the Ilampstead and City Junction Railway. It has no independent terminus of its own; but is, by its very nature, a dependency on the stronger systems upon which it abuts. By means of it the ^lid- land Company gains access to the Great Eastern system generally, to the docks at the east end of London, and to the City station of the Great Eastern Company. By using this line, the Great Eastern, which long desired OPPOSITION OF GREAT NORTHERN'. 201 to have a station more westerly than that at Shored itcli, has admission to the St. Pancras terminus, into whicli it runs certain of its trains, and by means of which pas- sengers to some of the cliief Eastern Counties stations can book direct from the Midland terminus. For the attainment of these objects, the Midland Com- pany agreed to subscribe £183,000, an amount equal to one-third of the capital of the Tottenham and Hamp- stead Junction Company. The Great Eastern did the same, and the line is now worked by both — each doing its own work. The two companies pay their receipts into a joint fund, making an allowance for working expenses. To this arrangement, by which the independence of the line was affected, the Great Northern Company objected, on the ground that all control of it would be in the hands of companies which were the rivals of the Great Northern. " Hitherto," said Mr. Seymour Clarke, " it was the interest of this little company that our traffic should come upon its line ; but when it is swal- lowed up by the thousands of miles owned by the Great Eastern and the Midland Companies, it will be their interest to prevent the flow of Great Northern traffic upon it." These objections, however, were overruled. Several new railway projects were now in contempla- tion. The directors were invited to join the London and North Western in promoting a line between Huddersfield and Halifax ; and agreed with the Great Northern, and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire lines in becoming joint-owners of the Stockport and Woodley Junction, the Stockport, Timperley and Altrincham, and the Cheshire lines, the capital of which was £1,850,000, of which the Midland Company was to subscribe a third. In the course of this year, 1865, a bill was submitted to Parliament, which was destined to place the Midland 202 ACCESS TO LIVERPOOL. Company — along with the Great jN^ortheru and Man- chester, Sheffield and Lincolnshh'e — in a commanding position for sharing in the traffic of Liverpool. It is true that, in a sense, the Midland was already there ; but it was amid circumstances of great disadvantage to its mighty competitor, the London and Xorth "Western Company. In 1861, the three companies already named had ob- tained power to make a line of their own from Garston to the Brunswick Dock at Liverpool — a terminus where but little passenger traffic was likely to be obtained ; but besides this, the access from the east was by a railway " made up," as Mr. John Fowler remarked, " of bits of local lines constructed for other purposes," which chiefly belonged to the London and North Western, and wliicli only " incidentally " came to be available for a route from Manchester to Liverpool, Between Timpcrley and (jrarston were several curves, which had to be cautiously passed ; and between Manchester and Liverpool there were no fewer than ninety-five level crossings. On tlie up journey the driver of an engine had to meet sixty- four signals, and on the down journey sixty signals. On the one way he would liave to obey a signal on an average of every tliii-ty-six seconds, and on the other every thirty-eight seconds, and he would pass over a level crossing every twenty-four seconds tliroughout liis journey. Practical difficulties also arose in the workinir of the railway, fi-om the fact that part of it was under the con- trol of another and a competitive company. ]\Ir. Charles Turner, for instance, gave evidence that though the line ran near his house, and he would have been glad to have availed himself of it, yet he had been detained so often, and, as he thought, so needlessly, that he had determined not to go by it again. " It is perfectly obvious," he said, " tliat whenever tliere is a difficultv, instead of running NEW LINE TO LIVEKTOOL. 203 our traffic, which they engaged to do, as their own, they make our traffic subservient to theirs." The difficulties thus to be contended with may be illustrated by the fact that when the three companies* were about to commence running to Liverpool, they sent in to the London and N'orth AYestern a list of twelve trains which they wished to put on — trains of course fitting their own at Manchester ; and the answer received contained an objection to every train on the list. Mr. Cawkwell, no doubt, would have con- tended that the objections so alleged were good and suffi- cient ; but this only seemed to show more conclusively the necessity of the three companies having a line of their own, and of their ceasing to intrude where they were not wanted. It is not surprising, therefore, that the three companies were gradually led to the conclusion that it would be necessary for them to have a line of their own — a line which should be connected with their several systems at or near Manchester, which should take a new and inde- pendent route, and which should proceed to a central station in the middle of Liverpool. The companies were supported in this decision by the demands that had arisen at Liverpool for more adequate railway accommodation. The vast growth of business in that great seaport neces- sitated increased means for carrying it. Between the years 1822 and 1803 the timber trade had trebled. The tonnage discharged into Liverpool in 1864 was nearly 5,000,000 tons. It had become, in fact, a sort of axiom among Liverpool men, that the trade doubled every four- teen or fifteen years. In five years the traffic between London and Liverpool increased 40 per cent. ; that is to say, in 1859 it was worth £227,000 a year, and in 18G4 it had risen to £306,000 a year. If four years more * The Midland, the Great Northern, and the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Companies. 204 TRAFFIC OF LlVEIirOOL. elapsed (1869) before the new line was opened, it was estimated that the traffic would have increased to nearly double what it was in 1859; yet no really new line, till the opening of that now projected, would have been pro- vided. Similarly, the railway traffic between Liverpool and Manchester was worth £180,000 a year; and if the amount sent by canal w\as added, it was estimated that the total would be doubled. Again, if to Manchester were added the towns usually classed with it, the railway traffic between the Manchester district and Liverpool would be worth, it was believed, nearly £400,000 a year. But the means of carrying on this traffic had by no means increased in similar proportion. It is true, as the counsel for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company re- marked, that the " most enthusiastic hogshead of sugar cannot want to go in less than two hours and a half from Liverpool to Manchester, and the most rapid piece of timber may be satisfied with a journey of three hours." But, on the other hand, it became a serious matter when it could be said that a new line was now asked for " upon very much the same grounds as the late George Stephen- son, and those who employed him, proposed the first Manchester and Liverpool Railway. I do not think," said a witness, " I am exaggerating at all in saying that the existing means of communication between Manchester and Liverpool are almost as insufficient for accommodating the present traffic as the two canals, which existed many years before, have become insufficient since that time." The effects of all this told injuriously in various ways upon the traffic and business of the town. Thus that important trade, the cart owners, complained that the accommodation was so insufficient that they were detained in the streets for their loads for most unreasonable times. One, Avho carted 150,000 bales of cotton in a year, said FURTHER ACCOMMODATION REQUIRED. 205 that the Lancashire and Yorkshire Company kept his carts standing idle while they loaded their own, and that he had known as many as 57 carts kept Avaiting for four hours consecutively. Another stated that he had seen 78 carts at a time waiting to go to the Lancashire and Yorkshire line. Merchants also asserted that they suffered serious hindrances in the conduct of their busi- ness. Sometimes the timber trade would, in consequence of snow, be delayed for a week or two. In fact, they said, " when an order is received from the country, it is the practice to send down to the wharf to see whether ' the goods ' can take it in, and if they cannot, we do not send it until we receive permission. If a man orders 1000 feet of timber, and says it is to go by the Lanca- shire and Yorkshire line, we have to send to that com- pany to see if they can receive it. AVe are obliged to know the state of the railway before we can send the goods. If we do send the goods without asking their permission, they very often send it back again." The same remark applied to the canals. " I believe," said a witness, " that they have all the disposition to do whatever they can, but delays occur. Perhaps I might send a few thousand feet of timber to the railway com- pany, and if they have no waggon at the time, the timber is deposited in exactly the same way as those papers are on the floor ; the next lot of timber that comes is put upon the first lot, and then it is like goods that we put down the hold of a ship, the first comes out last." " It is impossible," remarked Mr. Heron, the town clerk of Manchester, " to doubt that the proposed line would be advantageous ; and, as it appears to me, it is an absolute necessity that those great systems (the three companies) should have a communication with Liver- pool as they have with Manchester, within their own power and under their own control." As an evidence. 20G PROBABLE KETUKN ON CAPITAL. too, of the inadequacy of tlie accommodation then pro- vided, it may be mentioned that at that time no pas- seno-er train ran on the London and North Western line between the vast populations of Liverpool and Manchester at a later hour in the day than half-past seven o'clock. That there was a prospect of the capital to be expended on the proposed line receiving an adequate return, was shown by Mr. Denison. " We are going to spend," he said, *' upon that line, £750,000. According to the or- dinary practice, £75,000 a year will pay 5 per cent, upon that, allowing half to go off in working expenses. If the figures I have given you are right, then that £75,000 a year will be less a great deal than the almost certain increase of traffic in the next three years. So that we can actually pay ourselves 5 per cent, upon our line, without depriving the London and North Western or the Lancashire and Yorkshire Companies of one single penny which they now receive from the carriage of goods and passengers upon the existing line. Again, the £75,000 a year, according to the calculations I liave, is less than one sixth of the eastern traffic now conniig into Liverpool."' Such were some of the facts submitted for the consider- ation of Parliament. The result was, that the promoters of the line were successful. In connection with this new line from Manchester to Liverpool, it was also resolved to provide additional communication between Manchester and Stockport. The importance of further facilities of communication between these towns was illustrated by the fact that Mr. Ivie Mackie, of Manchester, had started and maintained a remunerative omnibus traffic on that route. " The little cribs of omnibuses," he quaintly told the parliamentary committee, " such as you have here in London, are not fit for people to ride in. I, being rather above the ordinary size, required increased OMNIBUSES. 207 accommodation, and I thought I would introduce the large Scotch omnibuses simply to show the Manchester people what could be done. I had no idea of establish- ing it as a business ; but finding it a profitable business, I have continued it ever since." " And so," remarked Mr. Mereweather, " I understand you were measured for a seat in the omnibus, and that you started these new ones on that broad basis." LIVEUI'OOL, IT.OM THL MKESEY. CHAPTER IX. Impoftant pci-iod in Midland Railway politics. — The AVost Coast route to Glasgow. — Tlie East Coast route to Edinburgh. — Midland Company complains that it is excluded from its share of Scotch traffic. — Difficulty of ^lidland passenger traffic to Scotland. — Pro- posals of London and North AVcstern. — Joint ownership and run- ning powers at arbitration rates offi?red. — Practical difficnlties. — Proposed local line from Settle to Hawes. — Overtures of Midland Company to North of England Union. — Proposed ^lidland line from Settle to Carlisle. — Support of landlords. — Evidence of Lords Wharncliffe and "Wensleydale and others. — Hesitating opposi- tion of London and North Western. — Objections to admission of Midland to Citadel Station at Carli.sle. — Reply of Midland Com- pany by fact and argument. — Capacity of Citadel Station to receive additional traffic. — Radford and Trowell line. — Opposition of Lord Middleton and others. — A wonderful canal. — Conclusive reply. — Ashby and Nuneaton line. — Rival scheme of London and North Western. — Arrangement for Midland bill to pass with joint ownership by London and North Western and Midland Companies. — Floods. The year 1866 dated au important epoch in the politics of the Midland Railway extension. While looking for- ward to the completion of lines that would connect the IMidland — by the Furness and ^lidland — with the Lake District ; by the Buxton extension with Manchester ; by a connecting link with the South AVestern system ; and by the Bedford line with the Metropolis, — the directors again turned their eyes to the far north, and sought to devise some means by which they might obtain a share of the vast traffic carried on between this country and Scotland. Nor was this unnatural or unreasonable. Just as the London and North Western Company, when it reached Liverpool, had secured access by way of Preston, Lan- caster, Carlisle, and the Caledonian line, — by what is called the West Coast route, — to Scotland; and just as the Great Northern had, by association with the North Eastern and North British Companies, been able to carry a laree throucrh traffic between London and Edinburo^h EOUTES TO SCOTLAND. 209 — by wliat is called the East Coast route ; so the Midland Company, ha\4ng come to occupy an influential position ill the midland counties of England, and having stretched its great highway from London to Lancaster, arrived at the conclusion that the time had come when it should form a third and central route from south to north, and should enjoy a fair share of an increasing traffic, worth, even at that period, not less than £1,500,000 per annum. The precise position which the Midland Company occupied with regard te the Scotch traffic was as follows : By a lease for 999 years of the Little North Western line, it had a line of its own as far as Ingleton. Here the Midland line ended; but it was in connection with another line belonging to another company which ran northward, along the magnificent vale of the Lune, which at Tebay joined the main line of the Lancaster and Carlisle. Tliis Ingleton and Tebay extension originally formed part of the scheme of the Little North Western ; but the pro- jectors fell into difficulties, and after spending several thousands of pounds upon the land, and on the partial construction of the works, they were abandoned, and in this state they remained for several years. When times mended, a fresh application was made to Parliament for ]:)Owers to complete tlie line, and the Lancaster and Carlisle Company also asked for similar authority ; and they, being the more responsible body, were succossfal. They accordingly completed the works, through a very difficult and mountainous country, and at enormous cost. Subsequently the Lancaster and Carlisle became prac- tically London and North Western, for it is vested in that company according to terms so comprehensive that they are worthy of quotation : the North Western is to have control of the line for 1000 years, "the plant, rolling stock, and moveable property to be used by the lessees during, and to be restored at the end of, the lease " ! p 210 COMPLAHs'TS OF MIDLAND COMrANV. Such was the position of affairs down to the year 1866, and the Midland Company was in consequence under the necessity of sending its Scotch traffic over the lines of a company with which it was in competition in almost every large town in England ; and the effect of these disadvan- tages was decisive. Between towns as large as Birmintr- ham and Glasgow the Midland did not carr^^ a passenger, and the goods it conveyed in a year would have filled only a few wheelbarrows ; while over the Waverley route the Midland Company sent only about two tons of goods a day, and a passenger once a fortnight. The personal inconveniences also suffered by those who travelled from any part of the Midland system to Scotland were consider- able. " It is a very rare thing," said Mr. Allport, " for iii<' to go down to Carlisle without being turned out twice. I have seen twelve or fifteen passengers turned out at Ingleton, and tlie same number at Tebay. Tlien, altliough some of tlie largest towns in England arc upon the ^lidland system, there is no through carriage to Edin- l)urgh, unless we occasionally have a family going down, and then we make a special arrangement, and apply foi- a special carriage to go through. "We have applied in vain for through carriages for Scotland over and ovcc aofain. . . . Tluv will not book thi-ouffh from Glasfjow to London by us. . . . T have frequently had letters from passengers complaining that tbey could not get booked through. I have sent letters also to !Mr. Johnson from passengers requiring to come to Derby when book- ing to Glasgow, and they have been told to go by way of Crewe instead of going by Ingleton. I have been in trains myself with passengers who have been booked from Glasgow to Derby by Crewe. It is only recently 1 liad a correspondence with a family who particularly wished to come by the Midland; but they were refused, and were sent bv Crewe." CLAIMS OF MTOLAXD COMrANV. 211 It became, too, a practice of the North Western in the summer months to have their nine o*clock express from London divided at Preston into two, the first portion ran quickly to Carlisle, reaching Edinburgh and Glasgow an hour earlier than before ; but the London and North Western Company declined to stop that portion of the train at Tebay, where yhe Midland passengers might have joined it, and they were taken on by another train which left at ten o'clock. " Tliey say they cannot stop," said Mr. Allport, " although I find in their time-table that that train from London stops at Stafford and at Lancaster — Lancaster for example with 10,000 inhabitants, while Tebay is practically, through the Midland system, in connection with a population exceeding 1,000,000." The consequence was that the IMidland could not advan- tageously compete for express traffic; and thus pas- sengers had to find their way by different and deviouu routes on to the London and North Western, in order to catch the express trains of the North Western. " I have been by a fast train," said Mr. Allport, " from Derby to Ingleton, and then been attached to a train with six or eight coal-trucks to be carried on to Tebay." The Midland also complained that at Carlisle it had to encounter a fresh series of difficulties. Needless and invidious hindrances, it was alleged, arose in the for- warding of Midland goods. "I am sure," said the manager of the North British Company, " there has been ill-will. There has been systematic delay." At length these difficulties in the conduct of the traffic became so serious that the Midland Company opened com- munications with the London and North Western, in which abetter access to Carlisle was insisted upon. The reason- ableness of the claim was not denied ; and at length the London and North Western mentioned terms upon which the Midland might bring their traffic over tlie Lancaster 212 TERMS OFFERED. and Carlisle. One proposal was that the two companies should share the line, each paying half the rent, and each running over it, without tolls, as if it were their own. But inasmuch as the London and North Western, by its local position, was likely to throw a greater pro- portion of traffic on the line than the Midland, it was obviously unreasonable that the latter should pay half the cost of the rail and enjoy less than half of the advantage. Another proposal was that the Midland Company should have running powers over the line at arbitration rates. But arbitration rates would involve constant difficulty. Suppose, for instance, a contractor applied to the manager of the Midland Company for a rate from London to Glasgow, the whole case — with all its par- ticularities — would have to be submitted for the approval of the manager of the London and North Western Com- pany, and if he did not assent the case must go to arbitration. " But," said Mr. Allport, " scarcely a day passes but we are obliged to meet cases by altering our rates at some one or other of our large towns ; and if we had to wait, either for the consent of the London and North Western Company to an alteration of those rates, or for arbitration, the time would be gone by, and the traffic would be lost. Parties come to me, and within a very short time three or four of the principal iron-masters have come to me, and said : ' Here is a contract for 20,000 tons, and if you can reduce your rate on the lot to so and so, we can tender, and probably obtain the contract against our competitors.' But the decision had to be made instant]}^ This very contract I have named was in competition with many iron-masters, and the London and North Western would have had a direct interest in refusing to give their assent." In the light of such considerations, the Midland PROPOSED MIDLAND LINE TO CARLISLE. 213 Company claimed the absolute control over tlieir own rates. As to the stations on the Lancaster and Carlisle itself arbitration rates might suffice ; but for the through traffic to Carlisle they must be free, for Carlisle meant the Scotch traffic. " Do you insist upon the control of your raves as an indispensable condition?" asked a deputation from the North AVestern board of a deputation from the Midland board. " Then," said the London and North Western chairman, " the negotiation is over." The course now pursued by the Midland Company was also affected by some special circumstances. In the session of 1865 a bill had been introduced into Parlia- ment for making a line, to be called the North of Eng- land Union Railway, from Settle to Hawes. Originally this railway was projected by gentlemen locally interested, who supported it because it would promote local con- venience, and because it would enhance the value of their estates. The chairman of the company was Lord AVharncliffe ; and the line would have cost about £500,000. The Union Company's bill had received the sanction of the Commons, and would doubtless have passed through the Lords had not the Midland Company interposed, and come to an arrangement with its supporters. By this it was agreed that, since the line had been projected chiefly for local purposes, and a gradient had been adopted which would have been unsuitable for a good through line, the bill should be withdrawn ; and that it should be reintroduced in the session of 18G6, with a better gradient, by the Midland Company. " We gave up the line," said Lord AVharncliffe, in his evidence before the House of Lords, '•' on the distinct understanding that the Midland Company should apply for the bill this year." 214 LOCAL SUPPORT. Such were the circumstances under which a bill of the Midland Company came before Parliament for a through line from near their Settle station to Carlisle. It received the cordial support of numerous witnesses. There was not an opposing landowner on its entire length. And the reasons for such support were obvious : the necessity for such a railway was great, the benefits it would confer were numerous, and the injury it would occasion was nil. It is true that, on the map, the line looks as if it ran almost close to the London and North Western Railway ; but in reality it occupies an entirely different series of valleys, which are separated from those on the North Western line by a range of hills. Lord Wensleydale gave expression to the anxiety of the people locally interested to be supplied with direct communication, in order that they might send their agricultural produce to the populous manufacturing dis- tricts of Lancashire. Such was the satisfaction felt at Appleby when it was announced that the bill had passed the Commons, that the church bells were rung, and the people, as was quaintly remarked, " wrote to the news- papers, and did everything proper under the circum- stances." Another witness, Mr. Matthew Thomson, who resided at Kirkby Stephen, and who mentioned that the proposed railway would pass " through about fifteen different estates " which he owned, besides others be- longing to his sister, — declared that there was " only one feeling " among the landowners as to the importance of the line, and that it would be of " very great advantage to the occupiers there for the purpose of taking their produce to the consuming districts, as well as for bring- ing into the district those things which they require." *' I have only heard of one dissentient voice in the whole district of Eden Valley," said a farmer, who sent more than 5000 pounds of butter every year to Sheffield, and POLICY OF NOUTH WESTERN COMFaXY. '215 it came from a gentleman who " had a few trees he was partial to." The policy of the opponents of the Midhxncl Company's bill was undecided. Mr. AUport had had frequent con- versations with the manager of the Caledonian Com- pany; but he "never laised the slightest objection to CARLISLE STATIOX. the Midland Company using the Carlisle station : " on the contrary " always expressed himself most anxious to see them there." Before the case closed, however, it was intimated that Mr. Hope Scott would address the committee on behalf of the London and North Western and Caledonian Companies. " My learned friend, Mr. Hope Scott," said Mr. Mereweather, " is at this moment' I am told, on his legs in another room ; but he is rapidly terminatino-.* We have looked at his notes over his shoulder, and we find that he is getting sufficiently near the end of his speech for us to assure you that he will be here very shortly." * Legal pliraseology, it appears, lias its peculiarities. 216 OBJECTIONS OF XOETH WESTEKX. The London and North Western professed that its ob- jection to the Settle and CarHsle bill was, that the Midland Company intended to use the Citadel Station at Carlisle. "If the Midland Company," said Mr. Cawkwell, "had come for a line to Carlisle without touching^ our station or interfering with our property, I do not think we should have opposed them now. ... If they had made their own provision at Carlisle, it would have been a different thing." Even so late as the period at which the bill reached the Lords, and when Earl Amherst, the chairman of the committee, asked Mr. Mereweather if he intended to oppose the line generally, or to confine his opposition to tlie question of the Citadel Station, the learned counsel hesitated. At that moment, however, a whisper reached them from behind, and he remarked that it was " a ticklish question." On the matter of the Citadel Station a protracted discussion then took place. It should be mentioned that it was originally constructed by the Caledonian and Lancaster and Carlisle Companies. In 1860 it consisted of a single platform for both up and down trains ; but, as several other companies sought admission into it, it had been gradually enlarged, till the total cost had amounted to not less than £250,000.. The design of those who opposed the use by the Mid- land Company of the Citadel Station was, however, not founded upon those facts. It is obvious that if they could have compelled the Midland Company to laud its passen- gers a mile or so east or west of the station to which all other lines from north and south converged, the effect would have been to exclude it from the very traflBc it sought to share. If the Midland Company made a new station, " how could they," Mr. Cawkwell was asked, " conduct their Scotch passenger traffic ? " " They could form a junction," was the reply, "with the Scotch companies out of Carlisle by which an exchange could be effected." REPLY TO OBJECTIONS. 217 " Then your suggestion is," it was returned, " tliat we should not have stopped at Carlisle at all for the purpose of through traffic, but have joined the Scotch companies somewhere to tae north of Carlisle ? " Mr. Cawkwell's only answer was, "Our suggestion is, that you should not use our property for the purpose of your through traffic." When, therefore, the London and Xorth Western resolved to concentrate their objection on the use by the Midland Company of the Carlisle station, they well knew that if they succeeded in that they succeeded altogether — that without Carhsle station the Settle and Carlisle line would be useless for the objects for which it was intended to be made. To this assertion of exclusive rio-ht on the part of existing companies to the Citadel Station the reply was conclusive : for, by the bill of 1866, which authorised the amals^amation of the Caledonian and Scot- tish North Eastern it was expressly declared that "whereas the railways of the Midland Railway Company form one of the lines of communication between the metropolis and Scotland, it is expedient that nothing should be done which shall impede or obstruct the flow or transit of traffic of every description freely and expe- ditiously over the lines of the Midland Railway to and from Scotland." And accordingly running powers, and also the use of the Caledonian portion of the Carlisle station, were granted to the Midland Company. The argument from exclusive right being thus set aside, it was contended that, though there was sufficient accom- modation in the Citadel Station for the six companies already there, it would be impossible to admit a seventh. But to this the reply was conclusive, both in fact and in ar- gument. It was conclusive in fact. "In my opinion," said Mr. Rowbotham, the manager of the North British, " the station is not at all crowded." " It is perfectly idle," said Mr. Allport, " to assert that the station cannot ac- 218 REPLY TO OBJECTIONS. commodate the Midland traffic. I have had the traffic taken out at two or three stations, and in and out of thb CarHsle station, both with reference to goods and pas- sengers. There have been 106 trains a day, from the 4th of February to the 3rd of March, going south, from Car- lisle : about 37 or 38 passenger trains and 69 goods trains ; that is the average for the month. At the north end of the Derby station, — which is a very similar station to the Carlisle, — we have 320 trains out and in, against 106 at Carlisle. At Leeds, again, which is purely a pas- senger station, we have 255 passenger trains in and out of the Leeds station over a neck of line very like this at Carlisle. I have no hesitation, too, in saying that the trains in and out of the Newcastle station for passengers are at least ten times more in number than the trains in and out of the Carlisle station. I could find a hundred stations in England with very much larger traffic, varying from double up to ten times the amount, with less accom- modation than they have at Carlisle." Besides the reply from fact, there was also an argu- ment. " How was it," it was asked, " that during the two years in which negotiations were going on for the Midland to run over the Lancaster and Carlisle line it was never suggested that the Citadel Station was insufficient, and that it was never once proposed that it should be en- larged ? " " Having pointed out," said Mr. Venables to Mr. William Clarke, the chief assistant engineer to the London and North Western Company, " the impossibihty of working the Midland traffic under this system, will you now point out how it was to be worked if they had come by joint ownership over the Lancaster and Carlisle ? " Such were the arguments submitted to the considera- tion of Parliament; and the bill passed. Besides the great and overshadowing project of thus connecting the Midlands of England with Scotland, some RADFORD AND TROWELL LINE. 219 other plans of extension were also contemplated. One of these was for a short line from a station called Rad- ford, near Nottingham, to connect the Mansfield line with the Ere wash Valley Railway, in order to avoid the circuitous route by Trent, and to diminish the distance by about five and a half miles. It was also intended, by means of a branch from Codnor Park to Ambergate, to have a more direct route to Manchester, instead of that by way of Derby. The bill was opposed by three gentle- men, — a landowner, a clergyman, and a nobleman. The landowner alleged that the line would injure a consider- able residential estate and other properties which he pos- sessed, and that some other route might be preferable. To this it was very naturally replied that if an alternative line were proposed the relative merits or demerits of each could be determined; but that it was impossible that "a mere ghost of an imaginar}^ railway should be put in compe- tition with our flesh and blood, or our iron and ballast railway." The rector of Trowell adopted a similar course of objection, and was met by a similar reply. Lord Middleton's case was more definite. It was alleged on his behalf that injuries would be inflicted on his estate by the projected line. The proposed line would, it was said, sever for two miles the connection of his property with the neio'hbouring: Notting^ham and Grantham canal. Undoubtedly it would, was the reply, if no bridges or roads were made over the railway ; but then bridges and roads would be made, and must be made, and the com- pany was perfectly willing to make them. " The peti- tioner had, he said, at great expense, laid out a large extent of land for the purposes of the manufacture of bricks," etc. True; but for any loss on that expendi- ture he would be paid. The proposed line, it was further declared by the objectors, would "prevent the use of a canal, called Bilborouo-li Cat," which had been " used 220 "consulting the facts." by the predecessors in estate of your petitioner during many years." True, tlie canal "had been " so used by the said predecessors ; but it had been stopped up for 53 years. On a part of the bed of it there was an avenue of trees, 25 to 30 years old ; while on other portions corn crops grew, or cattle grazed. A bit of the canal remained open, and on it some kind of boat had a short time since been made to float, and this was the only vessel that had been upon the water there within the memory of man. In addition to all this, it was declared, on behalf of Lord Middleton, that a considerable portion of the estate "contained very large and valuable deposits of minerals." True; but the said deposits were lying beneath old exhausted workings full of water, and it was probable that if any deeper beds were opened they would be flooded also. Finally, it was contended that Lord Middleton had cer- tain rights over the cut, and that he was required by Act of Parliament to keep it open. To this it was replied that the ownership and the Act were of little avail if part of the canal was actually filled up, and the whole of it disused. " Did you consult your legal advisers," said Mr. Rodwell, "with regard to the terms on which the Bilborough Canal was held?" "No," replied Mr. Crossley; " I consulted the facts." Eventually, however, the engineer of the Midland Company stated that he had discovered a plan by which the railway could be made, and at the same time " the Bilborough Cut be saved, if it were worth saving." By a slight deviation of the line it could be made to go under the canal. The additional cost to the company would be £1000. In ] 866, the Midland Company projected a line from Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire to Nuneaton. It was designed to accommodate the large coal-fields some- ASHBY AND KUNEATON LINE. 221 what to the west of tlie Leicester and Burton Railway, extending between Hinckley on the south and Moira on tlie north. The cost was estimated at about £300,000. The route selected was prescribed by the nature of the country and the situation of the collieries. But side by side with this proposed line a competing scheme was projected. It was described by a name which gave to it what a critic designated " an entirely illusory aspect of respectability," — the " London and North Western and Midland Counties Coal Fields Railway ; " the fact being that the Midland Railway was entirely opposed to it. The project was brought out in the names of private parties. The chairman of the board of promoters was Sir Cusack Roney, a gentleman who must have had con- siderable experience in such matters, for it was said that at that time he held office in fifteen different railway companies in England and Ireland. The promoters, how- ever, looked with hopefulness to the London and North Western Company for patronage. " They feel," said Mr. Karslake, " that their little bantling can hardly support itself in a state of existence, unless it have something to which it can cling; and hence we find the extreme anxiety that they have shown in attempting to affiliate their infant upon the London and North Western Company. We do not find that that attempt has succeeded. A sort of faint declaration was put forth that if this line were made, then possibly the London and North Western proprietors might be invited to subscribe for it ; but the utmost that we find that is done is this, that if this line should be sanctioned, then the London and North AVestern will work it. It is just one of those lines which, unless it is assisted by another company, must die a natural death." At length, however, it was formally announced that the London and North Western Company would sub- 222 JOINT OWNERSHIP. scribe £250,000 towards the share capital of the Coal- fields Kail way Company, would work and maintain it, and would send over it all their traffic from Burton-on- Trent for Nuneaton, Rugby, or the south. In return the North Western was to be rewarded by direct access to Derby, the head quarters of the Midland system. It is true that they were already at Burton-on-Trent, and could exercise their rights at common law to run over the ten miles thence to Derby ; but they preferred an in- dependent route, though it would have involved an outlay of £950,000. On the other hand the ^lidland Company contended that their line would cost less than £3U0,U00 ; and tliat they ought not to be exposed to competition when they offered ample accommodation to the new comer ; but they consented that the North Western should be joint proprietors with themselves in the Ashby and Nuneaton, " either by contributing half the capital or by paying to the Midland a fair interest on the outlay. Consequently," said ]\Ir. Venables, " if there is any public object what- ever in taking London and North Western traffic to Derby, we shall take it without the expenditure by anybody of a shilling for that purpose, and Ave sliall not only do that, but we shall give them at Derby a com- munication with all tlie otlicr railways that radiate from Derby, whereas they would come to a cul de sac at Derby, and would have, at some future time, to obtain some other way of getting on to the other railways. That we offer them instead of spending £700,000 in pure waste." To these terms the London and North Western eventually acceded; the Coal Fields Railway Bill was withdrawn, and the Ashby and Nuneaton was sanctioned. The autumn of 18GG was marked by floods disastrous to property and life ; and in November a singular accident occurred at the viaduct over the Aire at Apperley Bridge, EL'GSWOLTH VIADUCT. 1.2o by wliicli tlie traffic of the Midland to the north-west, to Scotland and Ireland was temporarily arrested. There was also a landslip on the Manchester extension at Bugs- w^orth, by w^iich sixteen acres of land on which the rail- way stood slipped dow^n the valley, and necessitated the deviation and re-construction of that part of the line. The particulars of these remarkable incidents, and the remedies adopted, will be found in our description of the line. %?^fc^5*.-- ■ BUGSWOETU VIADVtT. CHAPTER X. Glasg'ow and South Western Company. — Contemplated alliance with Caledonian Company. — Policy of Midland Company. — Door of Scotland .sliut in their faces. — Proposed amalgamation of Midland with the Glasgow and South Western. — Lateral and longitudinal amalgamation. — Bill before Parliament. — Argument of Mr. Venables. — Humorous reply of Mr. Hope Scott. — Mr. Denison and Mr. Allport. — Rejoinder of Mr. Venables. — Bill rejected. — Heavy liabilities of Midland Company. — Mi.sgivings among share- holders. — Meeting of Proprietors on May 29th, 18G7. — Mr. Hutchinson's explanation of ^Midland policy. — Circular of share- liolders. — Meeting at Corn Exchange, Derby. — Proposal to aban- don the Settle and Carlisle line. — Efforts to obtain terms from London and North Western. — "Childish" reply received. — Approval of amalgamation bill. — Position of ^lidland system. — iMeeting, August, 18<37. — Time of anxiety. — Circular of December 14th. — Alarm. — Rumours. — Criticisms. — Defence of Midland policy. — Special general meeting, January 15th, 1868. — Mr. Hutchinson's explanation. — Reasons for additional outlay. — Committee of Consultation. — Report of committee. — Keighley and Worth line. — Five millions' bill. — Negotiations with London and North Western for access to Scotland via Lancaster and Carlisle. Terms proposed. — Bill brought before Parliament. — Opposition. — Abandonment. — Bill rejected. — Progress of lines. The period we are now approacliiiig wa.s marked by events of great interest in the chronicles of the Midland Railway. The earliest of these was in connection with the various efforts made by that Company to obtain a share in the vast and increasing traffic carried on between this country and Scotland. This had been chiefly con- ducted along two routes, that on the East Coast by the Great Northern, North Eastern, and North British ; and that on the West Coast, by the London and North AYestern and Caledonian : the Midland Board was now of opinion that b}^ virtue of its natural position and growing importance it might justl}" claim to form a third and Midland route to Scotland. With this object it resolved, as we have seen, to seek Parliamentary power to make a line up the series of valleys which lead from Settle to GLASGOW AND SOUTH WESTEEN COMPANY. 225 Carlisle, wliere it would reach tlie door of Scotland, and whence it might, by means of the Glasgow and South Western Railway, find its way onward to the North. The Glasgow and South Western was originally a line from Glasgow to Ayrshire, and it is still frequently spoken of as the Ayrshire Railway. Subsequently it was extended, via Dumfries, to Gretna, where it falls into the Caledonian, along which it reaches Carlisle, and by means of which it obtained power to use the Citadel Station. The distance between Carlisle and Glassfow over the South Western is 124 miles; by the Caledonian about 105 miles ; but the latter have to suffer the disadvan- tage of inferior gradients. The special significance of the position of the Glasgow and South Western line was that, whereas the North British was identified with the East Coast route, and the Caledonian with the London and North Western, it provided the only independent course along which a third railway from the South could hope to reach the heart of Scotland. Scarcely, however, had the Midland Company decided that they ought to make the Settle and Carlisle line and to endeavour to secure an uninterrupted course into Scotland, than it was ascertained that the Glasgow and South Western were on the eve of amalgamation with the Caledonian. In fact, powers had already been obtained which would almost have enabled these companies to amalgamate without further leave or licence ; it was reasonable to suppose that they would not allow them to slumber; and on the 17th of August, 1866, the secretary of the Caledonian Company addressed the secretary of the Glasgow and South AVestern on the subject. " His board," he said, " thought it advisable that the oppor- tunity afibrded by the recent powers," obtained by the two companies, "to enter into an agreement for the management and working and apportionment of the Q ;226 LONGITUDINAL AMALGAMATION. •revenues of the two undertakings should not be lost sight of; and having no doubt that your board recipro- cates the feeling," they had appointed a conmiittee to meet a committee of the Glasgow and South Western board in the hope that an agreement might be come to. For the Glasgow and South Western to amalgamate with the Caledonian was, however, in effect to amalgamate with the London and North Western; for these two com- panies were identified in policy and interest. So that, had this further amalgamation been consimimated, the effect would have been that the Midland Company would have found that it had made 80 miles of very costly railway from Settle to Carlisle, through a comparatively unpro- ductive country, solely to reach Scotland, but that the door x)i Scotland was shut by the hands of the several com- petitors in their faces. Only one course appeared possible to the Midland board : to enter into alliance with the Glasgow and South Western, with a view to the identi- fication of their interests ; and negotiations to that end were opened, and terms were arranged for the subse- quent amalgamation of the two properties. Such a union of continuous lines would, it was believed, be in the public interest. Lateral amalgama- tion, that is, of parallel lines of railway, may repress the fair competition that arises from the working of two independent routes between the same termini ; but lon- gitudinal amalgamation, that is, of lines which, not being parallel, can never be competitive, facilitates through traffic by being held in one hand, guided by one policy, and directed to the most efficient conduct of traffic over long distances. Though Mr. Hope Scott humorously remarked that in Mr. Venables' "great longitudinal principle there is about as much latitude as I ever found in describing a longitudinal case," yet we beheve that this principle is incontrovertible. " The Glasgow and MR. HOPE SCOTT. 227 South "Western Company," continued Mr. Scott, " has been threatened, says my learned friend Mr. Venables, with fraternity or death. It has, however, been able to hve, and what is more, it has been able to grow fat. It has reached, says Mr. Johnstone, a dividend which we will call 6J or 7, whichever you please. It has reached that dividend during the last two years, during which the Caledonian Company has had extra means of oppression over it. It has managed to give a tit-for-tat to the Caledonian Company. It has got to Grreenock, which is the best portion of the traiBc. It has got running powers and facilities over the Caledonian and over the North British, and has, I say, now a dowry to take with it of 1000 miles of traffic belonging to other companies. Nay, more, it has reached a situation which enables my friend, Mr. Yenables, to open it as with a case of amalgamation on equal terms, because the Midland Company and the Glasgow and South Western are in an equal state of prosperity. So that the oppression of the Caledonian Company has not done much harm to the Glasgow and South Western Company ; for it has found itself flourishing ; its permanent way is in excellent order ; its rolling stock is the same, and is abundant and sufficient ; so that my learned friend, Mr. Venables, is really obliged to lament that they are not insolvent, because he would then have had a better reason for his bill." Mr. Hope Scott could not allow, even in the discussion of details, however dry, an opportunity to pass for the play of his wit. In the course of Mr. Venables' speech, that gentleman had said of the Midland Company " the}^ are a prosperous company, and perhaps that is the reason why they have always been a straightforward company." " This," said Mr. Scott, " is an odd view of morality certainly ; but of course my learned friend is fully entitled to describe his own clients, the Midland Company, as he 228 HUMOROUS SPEECH. likes best. I£ he had said they had always been a straightforward company, and therefore they had been a prosperous company, one would have understood the moral of it ; but the odd thing is, that, having said this of the Midland Company, and having declared elsewhere that the property of the Glasgow and South Western is ef[ual to that of the Midland Company, he has nowhere called the Glasgow and South "Western a straightforward Company. Now, sir, I think that was wrong. But in truth he could not do it, for he will not trust them out of his sight, and that is the reason why he asks you to pass this bill. My learned friend found the Glasgow and South Western Company and the Caledonian Company on the eve of amalgamation. What my friend meant was this, if he could be sure of their \nrtue for the next four years " this bill might have been delayed. Mr. Hope Scott, on the other hand, contended that the amalgama- tion should be delayed " until the Settle Railway is con- structed, and no shorter time has been suggested for its construction than four years. Wliat may arise in that time in the railway world," he asked, " who can say, especially as within that period we shall all be under a new constitution ? Perhaps, sir, by the time when this question ought properly to come before parliament, your places may be filled by gentlemen whose seats depend considerably upon the votes of lodging enginemen and discompounded stokers, whose views of railway legislation may be entirely different from your own. " Now is it fair to snatch from the new parliament the decision which ought to be delayed for four years, and to deal with it by a house for which I have infinite respect, but which evidently does not at present represent properly the people of England? But, sir, the only argument whicli is alleged for this anticipation — these espousals which are not to become marriage for four vears, — is that MR. DENISOX. 229 the lady is fickle ; * fraternity ' — not tlie dagger, not death ; ' fraternity,' a something more kindly than fra- ternity, might influence her, and she might slip through their fingers. Now what does all this depend upon? Why, upon clauses in two Acts of Parliament of last session. Pass this Act in a form simply to repeal those clauses (which, on the part of the Caledonian Company, I freely assent to), and the whole argument for the bill is gone." Mr. Denison, on behalf of the North British, expressed his belief that the Settle and Carlisle would not be completed, and that therefore any such amalgamation as that now proposed was premature. " We had it," he said, *' from Mr. Allport that nothing had been done upon the Settle and Carlisle line. I cross-examined Mr. Allport (as one always does such a witness) with fear and trembling, because sometimes one gets the worst of it, but I do not think I got the worst of it, because what I got from Mr. Allport was, that he was not the man to tell us about it. Now, sir, do you think that if much of that land had been bought, Mr. Allport would not have known of it ? Do you think that if the line had been staked out he would not have known of it ? Do things go on with the Midland Company which that very able gentleman does not know of? They have placed the shares of the Settle and Carlisle line ; the deposit, or the first call, or whatever the word is, has been paid upon them, I dare say ; but I should not be very much surprised to hear that the Midland shareholders would not be very much distressed if they were not called upon to pay any more. The agreements with landowners are capable of settlement. Suppose they do, there is a Settle and Carlisle line. Every argument for this bill will be just as good when the Settle and Carlisle is within a few months of completion as it is now." 230 MR. YENABLES. Mr. Venables replied first to Mr. Hope Scott. " My learned friend," lie said, "made an offer at the end of his speech. After speaking entirely on other subjects, he said, * you made a great point of the possible amalgama- tion under the clauses of these two agreements ; well, we will give up those clauses;' and then he sat down. In what possible manner is he going to give them up ? He can represent the Caledonian, and say, knowing perfectly well what is coming of it, that they will give them up. If they could have given them up, they w^ould never have made the offer. But they cannot give them up without the consent of the Glasgow and South Western Company. I am here representing the Midland aud the Glasgow and South Western Company. No doubt it would be a great concession to tlie Midland Company to give up those clauses; but my learned friend says, if the committee will throw out this bill, we, the Caledonian Company, will at some future time consent to repeal those clauses. But if the amalgamation were rejected, what would be the position of the Glasgow and South Western Com- pany ? They would be placed in exactly the position in which they were when they made those clauses. On behalf therefore of the Glasgow and South Western, I say. Indeed we will not do anything of the kind. It is perfectly clear that the Caledonian Company, when they made that offer, knew that it could not be allowed, that it was one of those cheap pieces of benevolence for which my learned friend, Mr. Hope Scott, in his professional character, is rather remarkable." In answer to Mr. Denison's remark, that the amalga- mation would be premature, because the Settle and Carlisle was not made, Mr. Venables said : " As to the question of how much money has been laid out, how many stakes have been placed, how many surveys have been made, that might have been very important if this 'IRUE PEINCirLES OF COMPETITION. 231 had been a poor owner, or a new company incapable of creating the line which they are authorized and required to make. It is very true that the refusal of this amalga- mation, shutting the door to the west of Scotland in our faces, would undoubtedly greatly diminish the value of the Settle and Carlisle line. But I think it is not an argument likely to weigh with the Committee against the bill, that it will utilize and employ for the benefit of the public parliamentary powers which have already been given after full inquiry. The passing of this amalga- mation bill will involve the completion of the Settle and Carlisle undoubtedly, as an indisjoen sable condition. To say, therefore, that it is an argument against this amal- gamation that we have not made, and perhaps have not begun, and perhaps may not make the Settle and Carlisle line, is an inconsistent argument. There is no doubt that the fear of the opponents is not that it will not be made, but that it will be made, and that by its being made this amalgamation will be efficient. Can there be any better proof that we shall make the Settle and Carlisle line ? Moreover, what harm will this amalgama- tion do to anybody if we cannot use it ?" In this view of the matter the Committee of the House of Commons appear to have concurred ; and on the 23rd of May, 1S67, they declared the preamble to be proved. In subsequently urging the measure upon the sanction of the Lords' Committee, among the advantages likely to accrue from the amalgamation of the Midland with the Glasgow and South Western, it was shown that a healthy competition would be secured. Although no fresh capital Avould be expended, and no fresh lines be constructed, the independence and power of free competition on three great routes between England and Scotland would be perpetu- ated. There would be no necessity for passengers or goods to travel by any particular company. Three direct 232 MR. VEXABLES. routes would be open, and open more effectually after amalgamation than before. " We come, my lords," said Mr. Yenables, " not to rob anybody, but to accommodate the public, and to get a fair share of profit in accommodating the public ; and if we can give a share of the accommodation to the amount of one-third of all the possible Scotch traj0&c, we shall pro- bably get a third of the traflSc. Of that the London and North Western will lose something, the East Coast companies will lose something; but all three companies together, by improved accommodation and increased competition, will develop the trafiic in such a way that in a short time probably the proportion of each company will, notwithstanding what may have been lost to the Midland, be quite as great as at present." In concluding his speech Mr. Venables said : " We say, my lords, it is a great advantage in this kind of scheme that we do not expend one shilling of capital, that we merely utilize the expenditure of capital which Parliament has already sanctioned. We say that we are entitled, not so much in our own right, as in the public interest, to have an independent route to Carlisle. We say that, for reasons we have suggested to your lordships, the North British Company, which no doubt is entitled to great con- sideration, will not be injured by this line ; and we say that if the amalgamation pure and simple were to be injurious to the North British line, nevertheless, as they themselves now say, they are ready, if the case arises, to suggest protection against j^ossible damage ; and I say, my lords, none of the modes of protection which have been suggested are injurious or unjust to the Caledonian Com- pany. I think, my lords, there probably never was a case in which so great an advantage could be gained with so little loss. There has hardly been an attempt to dispute the preponderance of advantage to the public ; and I think ACTION OF MIDLAND SHAREHOLDERS. 233 the evidence results in showing that there would be no hardship whatever to the railway companies." The committee-room was cleared. After a time the counsel and parties were called in. The chairman then announced that " the Committee had given the most serious consideration to the case, and they were of opinion that it was not expedient to proceed further with the bill." While the Amalgamation Bill was thus occupying the attention of Parliament, an event of much interest was occurring among the directors and shareholders of the Midland Company itself. Doubt had long been cherished by some of the proprietors as to whether it was wise to prosecute this amalgamation ; and their misgivings at length took the shape of overt and organized opposition. An opportunity for expressing these opinions occurred at a meeting of the proprietors held in Derby on the 29th of May, 1867, to consider the propriety of formally con- sidering several bills then before Parliament. Before it took place rumours were rife as to the hostility with which the policy of the directors was in some quarters regarded. More than 1000 shareholders were present, the attendance being so large that the meeting had to be adjourned to the Corn Exchange. Mr. Hutchinson, as usual, presided, and with much self-mastery proceeded to address himself to the business of the day. After some preliminary remarks, he stated that the great business on which the decision of the proprietors was to be obtained, was the bill for the amalgamation of the Midland and Glasgow and South Western Companies. When the Settle and Carlisle line was projected, Carlisle was regarded as the ultimate resting-place of the Midland Company northwards. But, the chairman stated, when he and his colleagues met the directors of the Glasgow and South Western Company in Scotland in the previous September, they were surprised to find that in a recent 234 MR. Hutchinson's explanation. session of Parliament the Caledonian and the Glas2:ow and South Western Companies had obtained clauses which, if exercised, "would have amounted practically to an amalgamation. Had these powers been put into effect, the Midland, when they reached Carlisle, would have found the road to Glasgow practically in the hands of one com- pany, and that company the most close and intimate ally of the London and North Western Company, which com- peted with the Midland in every great town into which the Midland ran. Under these circumstances the directors came to the conclusion to recommend the shareholders to apply for a bill to amalgamate the two companies. Depu- tations from the Midland directors visited the line and works of the Glasgow and South Western; similar deputa- tions came over the Midland ; the accountants of both companies had several times examined the accounts, and their report was favourable ; and the amalgamation would secure for the Midland Company a direct route from London, through the heart of England, to Glasgow ; and a share of a traffic between the two countries which was estimated at £1,500,000 per annum, and which was every year increasing. An animated discussion followed, in which strong opinions were strongly expressed on both sides of the subject. Another meeting was held on the following Tuesday, in the Shareholders' Room, when the subject was still further debated, and the decision was reserved till the 13th of June. These discussions, however, had accomplished import- ant ends. They had cleared the air ; they had prepared the way for action when the final vote was to be given. Meanwhile a number of influential shareholders availed themselves of the interval to submit by circular some con- siderations which they thought might be useful to fellow proprietors who had not been present at the meeting. EXCITED MEETING. 235 They stated that several of themselves had at one time entertained " a strong objection to the bill ; but further reflection, and the full discussion which the subject had undergone, had changed their opinion, and they were now unanimous in regarding the adoption of the bill, which contained no power to create newcapital,as of vital import- ance to the interests of the Midland Company. A similar change of opinion, they believed, had taken place to a large extent among the general body of shareholders." They urged all the shareholders to attend the adjourned meeting on the 13th, and to judge for themselves. The meeting, which had been formally adjourned to the Corn Exchange, was very large and excited, though in ex- cellent temper. A new element was now introduced into the debate. Since the last meeting the Midland Com- mittee of the Railway Shareholders' Association had opened negotiations with the London and North Western Company with a view to ascertain on what terms the North Western would give the Midland access to Car- lisle over the Lancaster and Carlisle line. It seems to have been thought by this deputation that hitherto the Midland Company had been entirely in the wrong, and that the London and North Western directors were ready, if rightly approached, to make the most liberal concessions. Mr. William Sale, a Manchester solicitor, who acted as the secretary of the association, was one of a deputation who had waited upon Mr. Moon and other directors at Euston Square. Subsequently he called upon Mr. Carter, the solicitor of the Midland Company, stated that he had acted as the official organ of the Midland Committee, that he had obtained a statement of the terms which the North Western authorities were prepared to concede, and that these terms he now officially communicated to the solicitor of the Midland Company. It subsequently transpired that though Mr. Sale was the official medium of conveying 236 NEGOTIATIONS. these terms, jet that neither he nor the association had any responsibility as regards their approval. At this our readers will not be surprised ; for it appears that the latest and best terms which the friends of conciliation could obtain from the North Western Company were as follows : — " That it be referred to the President of the Board of Trade to inquire and ascertain what the point of difference was between the Midland and North Western Companies in the recent negotiations respecting the Lan- caster and Carlisle line, to determine which company was right, and what should be done as to such point of differ- ence in the event of the Midland Company abandoning the Settle and Carlisle line." When these negotiations and their results were de- scribed by the Chairman of the Midland Company to the meeting, they were received with derisive laughter, and a warm response was given to his announcement that " he had placed that document before his colleagues for their consideration, and he might tell the meeting that the board considered that the discussion of such terms would be idle. The first thingr the London and North Western proposed, was to refer to the President of the Board of Trade as to what was the point of difference, and which party was right and which was wrong with regard to the offers which had been made. That ques- tion ha \ already been referred to and had been decided by a higher tribunal, namely, a committee of the House of Lords. The case of the London and North Western Company was argued before that committee by the most able and accomplished advocates of the parliamen- tary bar. Witnesses were examined on both sides ; the voluminous correspondence which had taken place between the companies on the subject of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway was put in evidence ; and with what result ? Whv, after all, that the House of Lords A POLL. 237 declared the preamble of the Midland Company's bill to be proved, and they passed the Act for making the Settle and Carlisle railway, which they would not have done had they considered that fair terms had been offered to the Midland Company for the use of the Lancaster and Carlisle railway, and that free access had been offered by the London and North Western to Carlisle. What the London and North Western Company pro- posed was something like this : — Two parties have a suit — a law suit if you choose ; the verdict has been given in favour of one of these parties, upon which the other party turns round and says, " We will now submit this matter to arbitration." Mr. Hutchinson added that such an offer and such conduct could only be described as childish. An animated, and at one time somewhat angry dis- cussion followed, after which a show of hands was taken on the resolution, for which there was an immense majority. A poll was demanded ; the voting occupied two hours, and then the chairman moved an adjournment of the meeting till the following Friday, to receive the reports of the scrutineers. The result was as follows : — Approving the BiU. Capital Stock. Present, 572 persons, holding ... ... 1,505,503 Proxies, 1008 „ 3,375,112 Total ... ...£4,880,615 Not approving the BiU, Present, 34 persons, holding 83,703 Proxies, 994 „ ... 1,367,111 Total £1,450,814 The position at this period occupied by the Midland Company was one of satisfaction not untinged with solicitude. Having the weight of many and heavy 238 POSITION OF MIDLAND SYSTEM. responsibilities, they were looking forward to a time of relief. They were paying interest on a large amount of capital which, as it was expended on works still incom- plete, was earning nothing. When those works are finished, " we shall have a system of railway," said a writer of the time, " which plants one foot in London and another in Bristol, whose trunk lies upon the best portions of the midland counties of England, and covers Manchester, Liverpool, and Sheffield ; whose head rests on Carlisle, and whose arms, extending east and west^ grasp with one, by way of the North British, the traffic of Edinburgh, and with the other, by the Glasgow and South Western, the trade and commerce of Glasgow." APPEKLET VIADUCT. In August, 18G7, the directors reported that their working expenses had increased in consequence of the payment out of the revenue for the reconstruction of the Apperley Viaduct, of a bridge at Tamworth, and other works injured by floods in the previous year; there had PERIOD OF ANXIIIXr. 230 also been a loss of revenue from having to work tratlic over the lines of other companies. The amount of un- productive capital had increased to £5,000,000. The loss of the Glasgow and South AVestei-n Amalgamation Bill, and the withdrawal of some others, had made it necessary to charge the cost of promoting them to revenue instead of capital, because there would now be no capital accounts under those bills against which they could be charged. At this meeting an arrangement with the ISIetropolitan Company was sanctioned. The Midland Company was to have the use of the Metropolitan from King's Cross Junction to Moorgate Street ; the former fixing the num- ber and times of their own trains. The ]Midland was to pay a mileage proportion of gross receipts from traffic, a minimum being fixed for the first year of £4000, of £5000 for the second, of £(3000 for the third, and of £7000 for the fourth and each succeeding year. They were also charged £500 a year for the first three years for the use of the intermediate stations, and from £4000 to £0000 a year for station accommodation at Moorgate. The Midland Company also undertook to pay Cnl. a ton for goods, and 4d. for coals, up to 50,000 tons, and 3(/. for every ton al)ove that (piantity. Tlie total fixed minimum chai'ges under the agreement were to amount to from £14,000, to £15,000 a year. The latter part of the year 1807 was a period of great anxiety to all the moiiied interests of the country; the conspicuous break down of some of the principal rail- way companies l)rought discredit on railway property and on railway administration generall}' ; and though the proprietors of the ]\Iidland Comj^any were confident of the substantial soundness of tlioir property, man}' hail misgivings on account of the undefined magnitude of their own financial liabilities, concerning which tlie 240 THE FIVE MILLION BILL. cliairman had publicly remarked that they " would far outstrip the estimates made four or five years ago." Affairs, however, were moving quietly on, when, on the morning of the 17th December, a "circular" was received by the proprietors from the directors, an un- usual document for them to send. It stated that " under ordinary circumstances the directors would not have deemed it necessary to issue reports of their proceedings except at the general meetings of the Company ; but as they are about to deposit a bill in Parliament proposing a large increase of capital, they felt it due to the share- holders to submit to them, without delay, an explanation of the causes which rendered this application necessary." The introduction was ominous. The circular pro- ceeded : — " At the last half-yearly meeting the Chairman announced to the proprietors that the cost of the extension into London, and of the stations there, would largely exceed the parliamentary estimates. It has, in fact, been found that the value of the property required and the amount of compensations have been enormously in excess of what was anticipated, and it would seem that the cost of carrying the works of a railway into London is such as to defy all previous calculation;" and additional capital for the London line alone would be required to the amount of about £2,150,000. Further, it had been ascertained, in constructing the Sheffield and Chesterfield and other lines, that there would also be "a large increase of expenditure be- yond the parliamentary estimate " to the extent of £1,350,000. " It has also been found necessary to provide new engines and additional plant and rolling stock, to meet the requirements of the increased traffic of the Company. For this purpose the sum of £960,000 has been expended out of the sums voted by the proprietors at various half- ALALMIXG RUMOURS. 24 1 yearly meetings, but the necessary powers to raise the capital have not as yet been obtained. It is now therefore proposed to include this expenditure in the present bill, with power to raise a further sum of £540,000 to meet future requirements. " The total addition to the capital of the Company will thus be £5,000,000, of which it will be proposed to raise £3,750,000 by shares, and £1,250,000 by borrowing powers." This circular fell like a thunderbolt through a sensi- tive atmosphere. Not that it said very much more than had been previously known ; but the statements so recently made, that " all previous calculations " had l3een exceeded, that capital had been spent for which "the necessary powers had not" as yet been obtained; and the demand for a round sum of £5,000,000 ad- ditional capital, seemed sufficiently alarming. The wildest rumours were afloat. It was confidently declared that the company " had been bought up, as the Americans phrase it, 'short,' by a banker or money lender, for this £960,000, or some other sum of money; and that in dire necessity they asked for all these millions, in order to get the trifle that they wanted." The severest criticisms were off'ered. It was declared that Mr. Hutchinson and his colleagues had spoken " with a frankness which almost amounts to reckless- ness." The directors were " upon the horn of a di- lemma, for either they and their chief officers are flagrantly ignorant of matters which, if fit for their posts, they ought to understand, or there had been a deliberate concealment of the facts from the proprietors." A pamphlet asserted that the Midland property had been gradually depreciating, and, mile for mile, was not worth as much as in 1865. " The Midland Railway Company," said the Economist, "has this week created a panic R 242 CEITICISMS. such as only a great and respected railway can create." " Is upwards of £30,000,000 sterling," demanded the BuUionist, "to be imperilled for the sake of an idea ? " Other writers, however, drew other lessons. The Mid- land proprietors, said one, " must discriminate between the bond fide objurgations of their fellow- shareholders and the coarse bellowings of speculators, whether dat- ing from Liverpool, Manchester, or elsewhere." " Though unexpectedly large," said the Observer, " as the new London lines and stations may be, the company will ultimately get a fair return for their outlay." " Laying a bill before Parliament to ask for a very large sum," said the Economist, " is a step so sure to provoke inquiry, 'that that of itself is presumably honest." The present writer thus expressed himself, in the columns of the Daily News, with regard to the entire position of the Midland Company, and endeavoured to soothe the alarms of the shareholders. It has, he re- marked, become the fashion in certain quarters to assert that this company has become " ambitious and aggressive, consumed with a greed of power that has led it to encroach upon the just rights of innocent and injured neighbours. From whom do these com- plaints arise ? They come, in part at least, from friends of the Great Northern, a company expressly intended to flank the whole Midland system from south to north; a company so directly competitive that im- mediately the Great Northern was opened the Mid- land's receipts fell thousands of pounds a week, and Midland shares drooped to the lowest point they ever reached. They came from friends of the London and North Western, a company which, beginning with a simple route from London to Liverpool and Manchester, spread east and west and north from Leeds to Merthyr Tydvil, and from Peterborough to Holyhead, which DEFENCE OF MIDLAND POLICY. 24o occupied the lieacT quarters of the Great Eastern at Cambridge, wliich competes with the Midland in every important town it has, and which has recently announced that it has obtained access to one of the most westerly points of the Great Western system at Swansea. " On the other hand, who can deny that the Midland extensions have been legitimate in themselves, and likely to be remunerative to the company and beneficial to the public ? When, in 1862, the Midland had become, next to the North Eastern, the greatest coal-carrying railway in England, when, besides rent charge for stations, it was paying the Great Northern £60,000 a year for tolls on traffic between Hitchin and London (though forbidden to take up or set down for its own benefit any local traffic whatever), and yet could receive no adequate accommoda- tion either on the rails or at the terminus ; and when the Great Northern Board had to admit that it was unable to provide for the increasing traffic except by laying down four lines of rails instead of two ; when, in addition to all this, the Midland Company was sending traffic via Rugby to London of the value to the London and North Western Company of £193,000 a year, and yet at one time five- miles of laden coal trucks had to wait at Rugby, uuabl& to proceed, causing infinite chagrin to the sellers in the coal fields and to the buyers in London, surely the time had come at which the Midland Company might bo permitted the privilege of wishing to provide accommoda- tion for itself. When the Midland system was within thirty miles of Manchester, and could reach it by a link with the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line, only a few miles long, was it not reasonable that the staple trades and vast coal-fields of Leicestershire, Notts, and Derbyshire, should desire some better access to Man- chester, than on the one hand by Grantham and Retford, or on the other by Derby and Macclesfieldj over the lines 244 DEFENCE OF MIDLAND POLICY. of three several companies, whose trains never ran throuo'h ? And was it not riorlit that tlie shortest route o o that exists between London and Manchester should now be opened up? "When the 200,000 inhabitants of Sheffield were demanding to be put upon the main line of the Midland, w^hen they were applying every possible pressure to the company, and when the ubiquitous North Western was pushing in with a competitive scheme, by which they tried to obtain compulsory powers over the heart of the Midland system, would it have been expedient tliat the directors should have still insisted upon landing all their Sheffield passengers at the miserable station at Masborough, and then sending them by a branch to the more miserable station at Sheffield, into which, — as a British QuarterJij Reviewer has said, — the train now runs ' like a rat into a dust bin ' ? And when the London and North Western were repudiating to the ^lidland Company at Carlisle the identical terms which the Nortli Western chairman characterized as only a 'friendly arrangement,' a 'policy of mutual concessions,' when obtained from the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Company at Sheffield, surely it was no unreasonable conclusion, that, if the Midland Company required the means of conducting a fair proportion of the traffic to Scotland, they must provide it for themselves — a con- clusion which Parliament approved. " It was this deprecated policy of * extension ' that has given the IMirlland Company the measure of prosperity it enjoys. Before its extensions it was a mere dependency of the London and North Western, and that board tried hard to buy it up at £57 10s. for each £100 share. And from the time when those negotiations failed that power- ful company has laboured, by open attack and by secret treaties, to sap the resources of the Midland and to draw around it a cincture which should cripple it in every A PREDICTION. 245 limb. It was ' extension' that alone emancipated it from bondage ; it was ' extension' that raised its shares from about £30 to the £140 at which they have recently stood, and at which before very long they will stand again. ' I believe,' said Mr. Hutchinson at a Midland meeting, * there is no railway in this kingdom whose original traffic has been so fiercely attacked as ours.' " AYith one prediction I conclude : — Six months ago, through the efforts of astute opponents and of mis- informed and timid friends, there was a general outcry against the policy of the Midland Board. Large meetings were held, protracted discussions took place, and the result was — what ? Candid statement and good sense prevailed, opposition was conciliated, misunderstandings were explained, and the course of the directors received the warm commendation of their constituency. So it will be again. The free passes so wisely provided for Midland proprietors (other Boards prefer their share- holders at a distance) will facilitate a large gathering ; we shall see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears ; the reasons for past action will be explained ; a wise and conciliatory policy for the future will, I doubt not, be submitted; and after a few safety-valves have blown off their superfluous and dangerous steam, and the thunder of a little Irish invective has rolled harmlessly away, and some estimable gentlemen, holding microscopic propor- tions of Midland property, have solemnly warned the w^ealthy shareholders of the certain bankruptcy to which the whole concern is hastening, we shall recover our sober senses and have the candour to admit, as Ave did last summer, that the directors deserve the confidence of even the most panic-stricken of the constituents whom they honestly and ably serve." A special general meeting was held on Wednesday, Jan. loth, 1868, and it was anticipated with much in- 246 MR. nUTCHIXSOX's EXPLAXATIOX. terest and excitement. The large liall was crowded, and in order to give increased space, we cannot say " accom- modation," a number of the benches had been removed, and many hundreds of proprietors had to stand. But whatever the world outside might have thought, and whatever the misgivings of individual shareholders might have suggested, the applause with which the directors were welcomed when they entered the room, showed that the confidence of the constituents was undiminished. *' There'll be no fighting to-da}-," said a gentleman standing near us. " That cheer shows it." The chairman stated that the meeting had been sum- moned in anticipation of the usual half-yearly meeting, in order to give an explanation of the circuhir of Dec. 1-ith, and to point out the provisions of the money bill which liad been deposited. It had, he said, been suggested, that a committee of large and influential proprietors shall be appointed for the purpose of consulting with the directors on various matters which are involved in the bill, and lie was sure tliat the Board would very gladly avail themselves of the assistance of such a committee. After explaining some minor provisions of the bill, he proceeded to explain the causes of the increased outlay on the line to London. He showed that the cost of the works originally contemplated had not so much been augmented as that the works themselves had been enlarged. " Un- doubtedly," he said, " the value of the property, especially in Loudon and the neighbourhood, rose very considerably between 1862, when the plans were deposited for this railway; but we also found that the traffic to and from London was so rapidly increasing, that if the line had been carried out in only its original proportions, by the time it was opened for traffic the acconnnodatiou would have been wholly inadequate." After illustrating this statement by figures which MR. Hutchinson's explanation. 247 sTiowed the enormous development of the London traffic, he said : " I will now call your attention to the increase which has taken place in the capacity of the railway and works, as compared with the original intentions. The railway has been constructed with four lines of rails instead of two, and with steel rails instead of iron for nearly seven miles north of London. The land has been bought and the overbridges have been constructed for four lines of rails. Over the remainder of distance to Bedford only two lines of rails have at present been laid down, and the directors will not lay down the additional rails until the requirements of the traffic shall render it necessary. Having found upon some of our other lines that inferior gradients caused a great deal of in- convenience as well as a great deal of expense, we decided to improve the gradients upon this line, from 1 in 176 to 1 in 200, and from 1 in 129 to 1 in 17G in the tunnel." Complaints, he said, were made of the enormous increase in the cost of the London line, but this had arisen mainly because of the increased capacity and cost of the accom- modation provided. Originally about two acres of laud had been secured for the passenger station ; afterwards it was found that four acres would be necessary. Originally it had been intended to raise the flooring of the station to the required height by filling it up with earth ; after- wards it was decided to excavate it for cellarage, and fifty shops were to be built into the walls that faced the roads. Originally it was arranged to approach the London station by embankment ; afterwards it was found that if some 85- acres of land were arched over for coal drops, at least 250,000 tons of coals could be disposed of, and a rent for cellarage be secured. " It being evident," said the engineer, " that the productiveness of the line and its beneficial influence on the Midland system would 248 MR. Hutchinson's explanation. be limited only by the capabilities of the London ter- minus to receive and despatch traffic, it was decided to utilize as far as practicable every yard of ground which was available for traffic purposes. Additional works had also been required by Parliament during the passing of the Act. They include a covered way through Camden Square, an expensive iron viaduct and other onerous con- ditions regarding the passage through the Saint Pancras burial-ground, the providing of bridges for two additional lines of rails for all tlie railways crossed within the metro- polis, and clauses for drainage, involving considerable extra expense, introduced by the Metropolitan Board of -^."^^ iA i.;.i..\r MADL'cr. ^yorks. There is also the construction of tho Brent A^iaduct of nineteen arches, required by the Gran^ Junction Canal Company, instead of an ordinary bridge, and this viaduct is built for four lines of rails." It thus appeared that after apportioning the expenditure which had arisen for additional works " there remains," said the engineer, "a sum of about £200,000, which represents the excess of expenditure over estimates, the ME. Hutchinson's explanation. 2-i9 greater part of wliich is attributable to the large increase in the price of labour and materials which has taken place since 1863, when the estimates were made. The principal extra which arose on engineering works occurred in passing through Hampstead Hill, where the tunnel had to be strenofthened and lined. The effects of the increase of prices compelled three of the contractors to abandon their contracts, and the works had to be transferred to other contractors at higher prices, in addition to con- siderable loss arising from the transfer of working plant, etc." It is remarkable that the magnificent roof of the station, which might be regarded as the costliest work of all, fell considerably within the estimate. It was ori- ginally intended to build it with a span of two arches, and the parliamentary estimate was £5 per square yard for roof and platform. Subsequently it was ascertained that it might be erected with only one span at a cost of about £4 a yard. On the line itself additional works had also been pro- vided. It was at first decided to lay down only two lines of railway from London to Bedford. Land had now to be bought for four, the overbridges had to be built for four, for several miles rails had to be laid for four ; and the cost of four lines of such railway for the first few miles out of London could not be less than £500,000. Originally it was proposed that iron rails should here as elsewhere be used; now steel ones were to be adopted; but iron cost some £6 a ton, steel cost £13, and hundreds of tons are wanted for every mile. Yet was not this increased expenditure a true economy? "We are finding," said the chairman of the London and North Western, " steel rails wearing actually as long as ten pairs of iron ones ;" and at the Chalk Farm station a steel rail might then be seen in good order, which had outlasted no fewer than 250 COMMITTEE OF CONSULTATION. twentj-five iron rails successively placed next to it on tlie same line. Instead of 209 acres of land near London, 470 acres had been bought ; and instead of 368 acres for the rest of the line to Bedford, 710 had been obtained. This increase of cost, indeed, must have been large ; but how much larger would it be a few years hence, when every yard of the company's property will be hemmed in by the masses of houses which close around the pre- cincts of every new London line — houses which are often built expressly with the expectation that their sites will be wanted, and that large profits will be realized. Such were the facts to which with great clearness — without haste and Avithout rest — Mr. Hutchinson called attention. He dealt in a similar manner with tlio in- creased outlay which had been made in other parts of the line; and after a lengthened, minute, and exhaustive, not to say exhausting, speech, concluded by announcing the future policy of the Board : " It is — suspension of all works which will not involve too great a sacrifice ; post- ponement of all new lines not yet commenced, or upon which a small outlay has been made; application to Parlia- ment for an extension of time to complete them ; the most rigid economy in the expenditure of all moneys, whether capital or revenue, the utmost exertion made to increase the receipts, and the cultivation of the most friendly relations with all the neighbouring companies." He concluded amid the " loud applause" of the meet- ing. Mr. Edward Baines, M.P., then rose, by request of the chairman, to propose the appointment of a Committee of Consultation to confer with the directors especially as to the extent to which the projected lines and works could be relinquished or postponed, and to report to the half- yearly meeting to be held in February. The names were, —Messrs. Edwai'd Baines, M.l\, AV. Orme Foster, M.P., EErOKT OF COMMITTEE. 2M J. Garnett, Robert Loader, AV. Overeiid, (^.C, Cliarles Paget, A. J. Stanton, Edward Warner, and Joseph Wliit- wortli. Mr. Baines and other gentlemen supported the resolu- tion with much abilit}^, and the chairman having stated that all information which might be required would be furnished with the greatest pleasure, to facilitate the inquiries of the committee, the resolution was heartily and unanimously adopted. The committee thus appointed set to work immedi- atcl3\ They had many meetings. They received minute explanations from the directors and officers of the com- pany, and they passed over the whole line from Bedford to London, and carefully examined the works at St. Pancras. The report of the Committee of Consultation was for- mally presented to the shareholders on the 19th of Feb- ruary, though it had previously been printed and circu- lated. It expressed its divergence from some part of the policy of the Board of Directors ; but bore abundant testimony to the integrity and ability with which their administration had been conducted. " It is the duty of the committee to report," they said, "that they have re- ceived convincing proof of the integrity with wliich the affairs of the Midland Company have been conducted," of " tlie trustworthiness of its published accounts," of " tlic dilig:ence and zeal of the Board and its officials in the performance of their duties," and " the great vigilance and ability" that have been " displayed in watching the interests of the company throughout the wide field over which its lines and works are spread, in developing its mineral and other resources, and facilitating the traffic of the country. The attention of your committee has also been directed to the principles upon which the ex- penditure of the company has been classed under the re- 252 EEPORT OP COMMITTEE. spective heads of capital and revenue, wliich seem to tlieni to be such as effectually to guard against the fre- quent error of augmenting the apparent available profit, by charging to capital that which should be borne by revenue. Your committee find that all charges relating to the renewal, strengthening, and improvement of the permanent way, works, stations, bridges, and rolling stock, are paid out of revenue ; and in addition to this, nearly the entire cost of the carting stock and wagon covers, amounting to about £90,000, which by most other companies is entirely provided out of capital, has been paid out of revenue during the last few years. In- terest upon the very large amount of unproductive capi- tal, now amounting to about £5,000,000, is all borne by revenue." They expressed regret that the company had been led to undertake engagements " beyond what could be pro- perly undertaken at any one time," involving " an amount of liability which cannot be met without great incon- venience to the shareholders." But they added that it was true that these works had been " undertaken when commercial confidence was unlimited, and when the spirit of competition among the great railway companies was be- 3^ond control." They were sorry that there should have been delay in the application to Parliament for the crea- tion of additional capital until so large an amount had become indispensable ; and also that the sums of money originally estimated for the different works should have been so largely exceeded. On the other hand they Tvdshed to make every allowance for wise alterations and im- provements that had been made on the original plans. " Increased cost of land, buildings, and severance, — in- creased cost of all materials, -^increased wages of labour, — the doubling of the width of the line, and the laying down of four lines of rails for six or seven miles from EEPORT OF C0M3JITTEE. 253 London, — the adoption of steel rails, instead of iron (doubling the cost), for that distance, — the purchase of land for four lines all the way to Bedford, and the erec- tion of bridges to provide for them, — the purchase of a large quantity of land at Hendon for the convenience of mineral and goods trains, — the connection of the Midland with the Metropolitan Line, by a subterranean branch, so as to give access to the heart of London and to rail- ways south of the Thames, — the erection of ale and corn stores, — the pro^dding of larger accommodation for goods and mineral traffic than had been thouQ^ht needful, — the making of numerous shops and a great amount of cellar- age, — and the contemplated erection of a large and splendid hotel and offices at the St. Pancras Station ; — all these things no doubt account for the cost of the in- dependent access to the metropolis being likely to reach several millions beyond the original estimate. It is proper to mention that there is every probability of a large pas- senger traffic in the suburbs of London ; and that the ex- tent of mineral and goods traffic which may be had there is declared by experienced persons to be only limited by the extent of the accommodation that can be provided for it. It is an important fact, that the greater part of the mineral traffic which has been brought into London by the North Western and Great Xorthern Railways, comes from collieries in Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and other counties on the line of the Midland Railway, and it is reasonable to suppose that a very large amount of that traffic will go by the direct and shortest route." The committee expressed their regret that they were unable to advise any reduction in the amount for which application should be made to Parhament. The money bill for £5,000,000 must be passed in its integrity, after obtaining which it would be competent and advisable to make other apolications for the postponement of some of 254 AGREEMENT WITH NOETH WESTERN COMPANY. the undertakings. They had also felt it their duty to communicate with the chairman of the London and North Western Company, with a view to such an arrangement of terms with that company, for such a use by the Midland of the Lancaster and Carlisle as should justify the aban- donment of the Settle and Carlisle. They were gratified to state that they had been received by the London and North Western officers with frankness and friendship, but that before any further action could be taken in that direc- tion the Midland Company's money bill must be obtained. It would be impossible for the Midland Company to go before Parliament to ask for money for lines for the abandonment of which they were actually negotiating. The meeting of shareholders at which this report was presented w^as the ordinary half-yearly meeting of the proprietors. It was stated that the increase of traffic had been large, amounting to an average of £4700 a week. The expenditure in carrying the traffic had also increased. On the 13th of April, 1868, the Keighley and Worth Valley line w^as handed over to the Midland Company. It had previously been maintained by the contractors of the Valley Company, though worked by the Midland Company. Towards the close of the year 1868, terms of agree- ment were drawn up between the Midland and the Lon- don and North Western Companies by which the former was to have free and full access to Scotland over the Lancaster and Carlisle, and by which the Settle and Car- lisle was to be abandoned. It was arranged that the Midland Company should have equal rights with the London and North Western " of user and control " be- tween Ingleton and Carlisle, " with joint management by a joint committee, with a standing arbitrator, and with full power to the Midland Company to fix their own rates and fares." The Midland Company was to be " allowed ABANDONMENT BILL. 2oO to carry local passenger traffic between Low Gill and Car- lisle, and from the receipts of tlie traffic so carried to be allowed 15 per cent, for working expenses " the balance to be paid to the London and North Western Company. The Midland Company was to pay " a mileage propor- tion " of rates and fares, the annual minimum beinsr £40,000 a year for the use of the line. The London and North Western was to provide accommodation at inter- mediate stations for passenger and goods traffic ; the Midland Company having power to place their own ser- vants there if desired ; for whom accommodation should be provided at a rate to be settled by arbitration. The agreement was to be for 50 years. Both companies were to unite in applying to Parliament for the abandon- ment of the Settle and Carlisle line. In the report of the spring meeting of 18G9, it was announced that the directors had continued the nesfotia- tions with the London and North Western for the use of certain parts of the Lancaster and Carlisle line " as a substitute for the Settle and Carlisle line, which many of the shareholders wished to abandon ;" and that eventually terms had been agreed upon. Mr. Edward Baines, M.P., and others expressed their satisfaction at this settlement of the matter, as it was supposed to be. "The Consultation Committee," he said, "were of opinion, as they had been throughout, that it would be a ver}^ great misfortune to lay out more than £2,000,000 in con- structing a line which for 80 miles would run side by side with another railway, the use of which could now bo obtained on fair terms. If the directors could have obtained those terms from the beginning, they would never have dreamed of promoting the Settle and Carlisle line." The attempts thus made to secure an abandonment of the Settle and Carlisle line Avere, however, unsuccessful. 256 ABANDONMENT BILL REJECTED. After a conflict of six days, the Commons' Committee decided that the evidence given by the Midland and the London and North Western did not justify any such arrangement. To this conclusion they were, we believe, chiefly led by the opposition of the Lancashire and York-, shire, and Xortli British Companies, the former of whom declared that it was tbeir desire to avail themselves of the Midland's Settle and Carlisle line if it were made, and that they wanted a route to the North independently of the London and North Western. It is curious to observe how, in the ebb and flow of railway politics, when the Lanca- shire and Yorkshire a very few years later were endeavour- ing to amalgamate with the North Western, it then came to find that the making of the Settle and Carlisle was an argument for the rejection of the amalgamation ; or at any rate a reason why certain special concessions should be made to the Midland Company on the withdrawal of their opposition to the amalgamation. In referring to this subject, Mr. Hutchinson stated to the meeting, that though the rejection of the abandonment bill "had been a disappointment to many shareholders," no alternative was now left to the directors but " to ac- (juiesce in the decision of Parliament, and to proceed with the construction of the line." He, however, comforted the proprietors by stating, that though hitherto they " had been unable from certain causes to obtain any exact esti- mate of the Scotcb traffic," it was proved in "tlie discussion on the abandonment bill that the amount of traffic passing via Carlisle alone, between places in England and places in Scotland, was between £1,300,000 and £1,400,000;" so that, the amount passing by way of Berwick, the east coast route, being some £500,000, the total might be set down at nearly £2,000,000. During the year an extension of time was obtained for the construction of the Mansfield and Worksop, Mansfield PROGRESS OF NEW LINES. 257 and Soutlivrell, and some other lines ; powers were taken by which the Midhmd Company obtained the Evesham and Redditch line, and also the Tottenham line, by which the Midland obtained access to the Victoria Docks. "A very extraordinary increase " said the chairman, " has taken place in the traffic during the seven weeks of the current half-year, amounting to more than £8000 per week, a sum that far surpassed their most sanguine expectations." The dividend, which had increased in the spring, was in the autumn further augmented by half per cent. It was announced that the receipts had increased £8400 a week, and that the unproductive capital of £5,000,000 had been reduced to half that amount; £1,000,000 of which was on the new Sheffield line. The Cud worth and Barnsley line was opened for local goods on the 28th of June, 1869; the Bath and Mangotsfield for passenger traffic on the 4th of August ; the Melbourne and Sawley line, running via Castle Donington to Trent, was ready ; and all the eno-ineerinnf works of the Tvondon and Bedford liK 1 AIMNt U.WLKhii'CK illl.l. 258 PROGRESS OF LINES. were completed, except a small part of the roof of St. Pancras Station. It was ordered that the hotel should be carried to the necessary height and finished in a per- manent manner, and that those portions that were ori- ginally intended for the company's offices be added to the hotel. It was announced that the bills for a joint use by the Midland, Great iS'orthern, and Great Eastern of certain lines, for a new station at Lynn, in Norfolk, and for giving certain powers to the Midland, in conjunction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company, over the Marple, New Mills, and Hayfield Junctions had been granted. ■^"i ST. PANCRAS GOODS STAlluN CHAPTER XI. Opening of 'Sew Line to Sheffield. — Unstoue Viadaefc. — Expiration of Lease of Ambergate and Rowslej Line, and Amalgamation with the Midland Company. — Terms. — State Purchase of Telegraphs. — Stupendous Misuse of Public Money. — Resignation of Mr. W. E. Hutchinson as Chairman of the Company. — Appointment of Mr. W. P. Price, M.P., as Chairman, and Mr. E. S. Ellis, Vice-Chair- man. — Amusing Incidents. — Mr. McTurkand Mr. Hadley. — Amal- gamation of the Midland and the Little Xorth Western. — Openin"- of Sawley and Weston and Tibshelf and Tiversall Coal Lines. — Complimentary Dinner to Mr. Hutchinson. — Speeches of Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Allport. — Progress of the Company. — Battle of the Coal Rates between Midland and Great Northeim. — The Agreement. — The Arbitration. — -The Award. — The Rupture of the Agreement. — Resumption of former Rates. — Advantages of Pre- ference Stocks. — Line from Birmingham to King's Xorton. — Rumours of Fresh Conflicts between the Great Northern and Mid- land. Attack on the Heart of the Midland System. — Midland and Sheffield Companies' new Projects. — Arrangement between Mid- land and Sheffield Companies' Chairmen. — Great Northern Com- pany's Derbyshire Lines.— Objections of Midland Company. — Objections of Derbyshire Coal Owners. — Defects of the New Line. — Great Northern Bill for Line from Newark to Leicester passed. — Midland Company carries Third Class Passengers by all Trains. — Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Midland Junction Line. — Bedford and Northampton Line Opened. — Slip at Dove Holes Tunnel. The commencement of the year 1870 was signalized by the opening of the new line from Chesterfield to Sheffield. " Direct " communication, such as it was, l3ctween the two towns had for some time been carried on by means of an extraordinary vehicle, not unlike an old-fashioned French diligence, which, as we write, may still be seen, apparently turned out to grass and rottenness, in a field at Dronfield. The people residing in that district may well have been surprised at the improvement between the old means and the new, when, on the 2nd of February, 1870, they found they could now accomplish the journey in a few minutes at almost any hour of the day, and with perfect comfort and convenience. The line, however, was opened without any official recognition on the part of the 260 OPENING OF SHEFFIELD LINE. company. It is true that some enterprisiDg country people at Dronfield left their beds at an undesirable hour in a February morning in order that they might be able to say that they saw the up Leeds express pass at 4.7 ; but the first down train entered Sheffield station, says an eye-witness, "just as if it had been accustomed to do so any time for the last ten years. Spruce collectors UNSTOXK VIADUCT. asked for your tickets, and slammed the doors, and went their way, and left you to go yours ; the whole affair being so business-hke and formal and matter-of-course that the operatives, who at twelve o'clock came down in consider- able numbers to see what was to be seen, must have returned to their homes considerably disappointed. We have witnessed far more fuss and ceremony over the opening of a drinking fountain or the ' inauguration ' of a new parish fire-escape." An important arrangement was about this period con- cluded. Our readers will remember the little railway with the long name (the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, PUECHASE OF AMBERGATE AND ROWSLEY LINE. 261 and Midland Junction) that ran between Ambergate and Rowsley, and that had ah'eady occupied a prominent place in the world of railwaypolitics. This line formed a portion of the Midland main route to Manchester, but was partly owned by the London and North Western Company, and was held by the Midland on a lease which would expire at Midsummer, 1871. In anti- cipation of this contingency, and knowing that it was possible that for its renewal terms that were too exacting might, under the peculiar circumstances of the case, be claimed from the Midland Company, an excellent alternative line had already been made from Duffield, a station a little south of Ambergate, up to Wirksworth, — a line which could, if necessary, be continued to Eowsley, and there, joining the Midland main line to Manchester, form an admirable substitute for the existing one. This stroke of policy on the part of the Midland Company saved it at the critical moment from serious embarrassment. As it was, the negotiations came so nearly to a dead lock that the Midland Company's board ordered surveys to be pre- pared for the completion of the alternative line ; and it would have been carried by a tunnel under the Heights of Abraham at Matlock, up the left side of Darley Dale to Rowsley. At the last moment, however, the matter was adjusted, and the directors were able to announce in the report (February, 1870), that they had " negotiated the heads of an ag^reement with the Matlock directors for vesting the undertaking in the Midland Company alone,'' who would now take the railway, and also the Ambergate Canal, "with all liability and obligations thereon, and pay the shareholders of the Matlock Company at par in a 5 per cent, stock, with the option of converting it into Mid- land ordinary stock at any time within twelve months from the expiration of the lease." This year was memorable for the supposed transfer to 262 GOVERNMENT PURCHASE OF TELEGRAPHS. the Government of the telegraphs of the country, including those belonging to the railways. We say the supposed transfer; for, as our readers are by this time aware, the whole affair was one of the most stupendous blunders, to use no harsher term, ever transacted even by an English GoYcrnment department. It is true that money was paid by John Bull enough to buy all the telegraphs ; the only mistake was, that it was paid to the wrong parties : it was not paid to those who had tlie telegraphs to sell. In a word, it was just as if the reader employed a land-agent to buy the freehold of an estate, and the cash was given him, but he handed it all over to a lessee w4io had only a short expiring lease ; and the purchaser soon afterwards discovered that he had to buy the estate over again from the freeholder. At the present moment the telegraphs on tlie principal railways are still the property of tliose railways ; and they will have to be purchased and paid for before they can become the property of the Government. On this subject IMr. Allport said at a meeting of the Statistical Society : "What did the Government do in the case of the telegraphs ? They gave thirty years' purchase on the enhanced price of a property wliich the sellers had not in their possession. In the case of the Midland Com- ])any, for instance, the greater part of the wires and instruments belonged to the company, wliich had an agreement with the Electric Telegraph Company ex- piring about the end of 1S73 or the beginning of 1874. The Government gave the Telegraph Company thirty years' purchase; but the Government has yet to buy what belongs to the Midland Company, and an arbitra- tion as to the amount to be paid is now pending."* * "Onp:lit the State to Bay the Railways ? A Question for Every- body." By a JMidland Shareholder. Price One Shilling. Londoii : Longmans, Green & Co. MR. IIUTCHIXSON's RESIGNATION. 263 At the spring meeting of shareholders (1870), Mr. A\'. E. Hutchinson announced his intention to relinquisli his chairmanship of the company. "Although," he said, he *' estimated highly the honour of being chairman of that great company, and although he valued very dearly the confidence which the shareholders and his colleagues had reposed in him, he felt that the duties devolving upon him were too arduous. He had arrived at a period of life when some relaxation from business was desirable and necessary ; and as he had devoted nearly a third of a cen- tury to the service of the company, he thought the time had arrived when he might retire from the chair." Very cordial acknowledgments were made of the services of the chairman. Mr. Edward Baines, M.P., proposed that the sum of £1000 should bo placed by the shareholders at the disposal of the Board, partly to be expended in procuring a portrait to be placed on the walls of the Board Room, and the remainder at the disposal of j\Ir. Hutchinson, for some memorial to be presented to him. Mr. Bass, M.P., desired, through Mr. Baines, to express his opinion that Mr. Hutchinson had been "a most zealous, most upright, and most able servant of the company." At a special meeting held in May, the new chairman, Mr. W. P. Price, M.P., presided. The contrast between the gravity with which the previous chairman uniformly conducted the proceedings, and the livelier fashion of his successor, struck many. An illustration of the humour in which Mr. Price sometimes indulged may be mentioned. On one occasion, as on several others, Mv. IMcTurk, of Sheffield, complained that certain injuries had been inflicted upon the Sheffield and Rotherham shareholders, who, he declared, " had had their locks shorn like Sam- son." The chairman in reply expressed his deep regret t1iat Mr. McTurk " should find himself in the })osition 264 THE NEW CHAIEMAN. of Samson, with his locks shorn, but must certainly congratulate him that he had fallen into the hands of so skilful an operator," a remark which, as Mr. McTurk is rather regardless of appearances, elicited roars of laughter. On another occasion the chairman thus bantered Mr. Hadley. That gentleman had, with lugubrious accents and manner, deplored (he appears always to be deploring something) the slow progi'ess made on the Settle and Carlisle line, the works on which had been retarded by the weather. Mr. Price assured Mr. Hadley that he deeply regretted that the directors could not control the climate; but added, "I have no doubt if we had Mr. Hadley among us we should be blessed with perpetual sunshine." Mr. Hadley further professed to have dis- covered some discrepancy in the accounts of the passenger receipts per train mile. " Mr. Hadley," said the chairman, " tells you that the passenger receipts are only 8s. 6t/. per train mile, whereas, in fact, they are 48. Id. It is quite true that he drew this distinction : he said men, women, and children, by which I suppose he meant to exclude mails and parcels." " I beg your pardon," interrupted Mr. Hadley ; " I gave you the two items. I gave you the men, women, and children, and then I included the other items afterwards ; and then I said it was ;36\ 11J(L" Mr. Price : " Well you have dropped a few halfpence on the road." Mr. UadU'ij : " I think it is no more — say what you will." Mr. Price : " I have no doubt you are right ; but 1 must leave you to settle the matter with the accountant. The accountant tells me that it is 4.^-. It/., and 1 believe liim. In the course of this year the Little North "Western NEW LINES OPENED. 265 came under the permanent control of the Midland Com- pany. A lease which had been running since February, 1860, at a rental equal to 3^ per cent, had hitherto involved the Midland Company in loss ; but calculating on a future improvement in the traffic it was agreed to give "a progres- sive dividend at 3f per cent., in and for the year 1871 ; increasing by a i per cent, in each of the years 1872, 1873, and 1874, and reaching in 1875 its final and maxi- mum limit of 5 per cent." The Sawley and Weston, and the Tibshelf and Tiversall (coal) lines were during this year opened for traffic. SAWLEY BRIDGE. On the 20th of December, 1870, a comphmcutary dinner was given at Derby to Mr. Hutchinson, at which the testi- monial was presented that had been voted at the general meeting of the 16th of February, at which, as Mr. Price said, they desired " to record their appreciation of the eminent services their late chairman had rendered to the company, and to crown with their gTateful approval the services of a long and faithful career." In the course of the proceedings Mr. Hutchinson remarked that his con- 266 PROGRESS OF MIDLAXD COMPANY. nection witli the company dated from 1837, now 33 years ago ; and, he added, " it sometimes makes me sad when I remember tl^^t very few of my colleagues of that period are now left. At this table, my brother-in-law, Mr. Burgess, and Mr. Barlow, our consulting engineer, with myself, alone remain ; and with the exception of two or three other gentlemen who have long ceased to be con- nected with railways, are all that are now left of the old Midland Counties Railway Board, with whom I began my railway life as a director. It unfortunately happened that the Midland Counties Railway and the Derby and Bir- mingham Railway had each of them routes from Derby to London, in one case by way of Rugby, and in the other by way of Hampton ; and the consequence was that a yer}' severe competition soon ensued for the traffic, and I found myself in fierce opposition to my worthy and excellent friend and predecessor in the chair, Mr. Bcale, to our excellent legal adviser Mr. Carter, and to the present able and efficient officers of this Company, Messrs. Allport and Kirtle}^ We contended together for a considerable length of time ; but at last our Derby opponents called in the aid of their ' big brother,' the North Midland, and the consequence was that negotiations commenced, and peace was ultimately made between us on the basis of an amal- gamation of the three companies. Since that period we have laboured earnestly, zealously, and harmoniously together, in order to promote the prosperity of the amal- gamated companies, the mileage of which then became 181 miles in length, " I have seen," he continued, " many fluctuations in the fortunes of the company. I have seen £100 shares quoted at more than £190, and I have seen them quoted as low as £32 or £33. I have seen our dividends at £7 7s. 6d. per cent, per annum, and I have seen them as low as £2 Is. per cent. Our highest rate of dividend POSITION OF MIDLAND COMPAXV. 267 was achieved during tlie cliairmansliip of my excellent friend Mr. Beale, in, I think, 18G1." In referring to the career of the Midland Company, Mr. Allport subsequently remarked : — " I say it ad- visedly, that the Midland now stands in a position second to none in this kiDG:dom. There is one fact which I think shows the position of the Midland Company per- haps as well as anything else that could be named. You will remember that it was proposed in the year 1867 to give a third member to each of seven of the largest towns in this countr}^ It is a singular fact that the Midland Company, in its own right, goes to every one of those seven towns, and is the only railway that does. It is true that to each place there are two or more railways; but no other railway goes to the seven towns except the Midland. I will mention them : — Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Liverpool, and Manchester. A short time ago I had taken out the population of the countiy which the Midland Railway accommodates. I think by the census of ]861 the population of England, Wales, and Scotland was about twenty-two to twenty- three millions. The Midland Eailway runs to upwards of ten millions of that population." The remarkable progress of the general traffic that had of late years been made on the Midland system will be indicated by the following summary : — 1851. 1861. i8ro. Capital Expended ... ..£15,802,614 £21,101,133 £36,851,000 Miles of Line 496 620 826 Average Weekly Return . . . £22,814 £40,476 £70,000 So that, as a writer remarked, " while the increase of capital is about two and a third, and the number of miles is much less than doubled (or nearly doubled, if we add the 122 miles of joint line), the gross traffic is more than threefold. The £70,000 a week gross traffic repre- 268 CONTEST WITH GEE AT NORTHERN COMPANY. sents mucli more than three times the work done for the pubHc, wlio paid £22,814 in 1851. From year to year the Midland has gone on increasing and cheapening the national service that it performs. It has been on an enormous scale a public benefactor. By facilitating trade, and stimulating manufacturing industry; render- ing marketable mines of mineral wealth which were formerly almost locked up for want of means of transit, — the Midland lines have promoted almost incalculably the public welfare. We might venture to say that for every shilling the Midland shareholders have had in re- turn for their outlay, the country at large must have gained several shillings." The year 1871 was signalized by the protracted con- flict between the Midland and Great Northern Companies on the subject of coal-rates. " The shareholders are doubtless aware," said the report at the quarterly meet- ing, " that after many years of negotiation between the two companies, having for its object the freest inter- change of coal traffic between their respective systems, and the opening of the Midland coal fields to the Great Northern Company," the rates at which they should thereafter carry the produce of these coalfields to market were adjusted so as to be "fair one with the other." The circumstances that followed were then described by the present writer in a letter in Tlce Times, which may be quoted almost hi extenso : — " The Agreement. — Before the year 1863 a severe com- petition had been carried on between the Midland and the Great Northern Companies for the coal traffic, especially to London. The consequence was, that there was such uncertainty as to the rates, that coalowners refused to undertake new contracts or to sink new pits ; and this vast industry, which requires safe data on which to calculate, and ground of confidence in the future, THE AGREEMENT. 2G9 was in confusion. As the trade suffered, the railways suffered ; and eventually the two companies resolved to end the strife and to seek relief from several embarrass- ments in the future by what is known as ' the agreement of 1863.' " This agreement provided that the rates for coal from the Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Notts, and Leicestershire collieries should ' be equitably adjusted to each other.' Accordingly a list of such adjusted rates was prepared and adopted ; these rates being by the express terms of the agreement based on ' the shortest existing route by the Midland and Great Northern, or by such other routes and lines as may from time to time be agreed upon by the parties hereunto.' It was also provided that, in the event of any difference hereafter arising as to these rates, arbitrators should have 'full power to settle what is fair.' The two companies also declared that they would ' in all respects ' carry on the traffic ' fjxithf ally the one towards the other, and according to the spirit and intent of this memorandum ; ' and that they would not, by any ' means or inducements wdiatso- ever, prevent such traffic from being carried, or the revenues therefrom di\nded and apportioned in accord- ance with the bond fide intent and meaning of the terms of this memorandum.' " The spirit and aim of this agreement were thus as plain as words could make them ; but an additional safe- guard was provided. In the mineral districts occupied by the Great Northern and Midland there were two other companies — the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincoln- shire, and the South Yorkshire (the latter now merged into the former), and they were the owners of part of the through, route. These companies were accordingly invited to furnish a list of rates at which they would deliver their coals on to the Midland and Great Northern 270 THE ARBITRATION AND AWARD. respectively, and tliey did so. Inasmuch, however, as it was possible that at some future period these rates might be modified, and that thereby the fixed through rates already agreed upon by the Great Northern and Midland Companies might be affected, the contingency was provided against; for, by a minute adopted at a meeting on the 12th of February, 1863, the Midland and Great JSTorthern finally approved their list of rates, ' sub- ject to such alterations as may be rendered necessary by any subsequent action of either the Manchester, Shefiield, and Lincolnshire Company or the South Yorkshire Com- pany.' By these arrangements, both in spirit and in letter, every security was taken that the integrity of the through rates of the two contracting companies should be preserved ; an adjusting machinery also was provided for rectifying any irregularity that might arise ' by any subsequent action ' of other parties ; and in case of difficulty arbitrators were invested with ' full power to settle w^hat is fair.' " The Arbitration. — The rates agreed upon remained in operation without objection till 1868, when the Great Northern Company desired that an alteration should be made in the rates from the South Yorkshire collieries. The Midland Company contended that the rates were only W'hat was fair, and in 1869 the matter went to arbitration. Sir John Karslake was appointed sole arbitrator, and the two companies agreed that he should have ' full power to determine ' the rates for coals carried * by either or both of the companies ' to the ' places mentioned in the said agreement,' so as * to secure to the companies the full benefit intended by the said agreement.' " The Award. — The arbitration occupied sixteen months. Evidence was taken that fills a folio volume ; the subject was dealt with under all it aspects; and the RUPTURE OF THE AGREEMENT. 271 decision of the arbitrator may be summed up in liis concluding words : — 'I award that no alteration be made in the rates for coal in the said agreement or submission to arbitration mentioned and referred to.' " The Rupture of the Agreement. — Scarcely was the award pronounced when the representatives of the Sheffield Company were invited by the Great Northern to King's Cross;* and as the result, the Sheffield Com- pany decided no longer to deliver their South Yorkshire coals direct to the Grreat Northern at Doucaster as here- tofore, but to send it by a circuitous route and at a con- siderably reduced rate to the more southern point of Retford, the Retford rate on to London (which was originally fixed for the convenience of the collieries situated on the Sheffield Railway, and for which Retford and Beighton are the legitimate routes) being also less than from Doncaster. The effect of this diversion of traffic was to create just that disturbance of the through rate for the correction of which machinery had been provided by the minute of February 12th ; and it there- fore became the duty of the Midland Company to claim that the adjustment should be made. But with this claim the Great Northern Compan}'' refuses to comply. " The consequence was, that the through rate from South Yorkshire to London was reduced by lid., and the Midland Company was compelled to make a similar reduction in its rates from Derbyshire ; and other reduc- tions have since been made by the Great Northern, which the Midland Company has been obliged to follow, until they now involve a loss to the shareholders of the * On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Denison, the counsel for the Great Xortliern, described in tlie following remarkable words the action of bis company : — " The award was in August of 1870. . . . We began to look at the agreement, and see whether we could drive a coach and six through it." PJvidence, Great Northern Railway (No. 2) Bill, May 2nd, 1872, p. 9. 272 TERMINATIOX OF THE STRIFE. two companies to tlie amount of several thousand pounds a week. " Sucli is the end for the time being of one of the most exphcit engagements ever entered into. And as I read the words that pledge the companies ' faithfully the one towards the other, and according to the spirit and intent of this memorandum,' and the minute that expressly provides that no disturbing influences from without shall compromise the purport or letter of the agreement, and also the ' full power ' given to the arbitrators to determine any point of difference, I am amazed tliat any responsible body of public men should venture to set such obliga- tions at nought. The terms employed in these docu- ments have, and can have, but one meaning, and I challenge them to put any other reasonable construction upon them. True, the Great Northern directors say that they are wilHng to refer a case which for sixteen months has been under arbitration. But if one arrangfe- mcnt can be repudiated, what evidence is there that another would be binding ? The question really narrows itself to this, — Are treaties between public bodies in this country to be obligatory ? And this is a question which concerns not only railway directors and shareholders, but every one who would maintain the honour and the interests of commercial life among us." The conflict continued for many months, the Midland Company lowering their rates as the Great Northern lowered theirs. At the August Midland meeting it was stated that although the directors were " not able to re- port a final settlement of the matter in dispute, the dis- astrous competition from the London coal trathc had been abated. Various meetings of the managers and depu- tations of the ]\Iidland and Great Northern Boards had taken place ; but at the last of these it appeared that the Great Northern Company were not in a condition to USES OF PREFERENCE SHARES. Z/o deal absolutely with their own rates, and that any ar- rangement between the two companies would virtually liave left the rates of both subject to the control of others. This, in the opinion of the directors, rendered any agreement impracticable ; and it was therefore determined that the Midland Company should pursue its independent course, and an increase had been effected in the rates to London, to date from the 1st of May." But though the severity of the conflict was apparently re- laxed, it was in appearance only: the storm which for a time had lulled broke out again, though under different conditions. At one of the ordinary meetings held during the year 1871, a question arose which is worthy of passing con- sideration. A proprietor complained that by means of certain preference shares which it was proposed to issue, a priority of right would be given to outsiders over the ordinary shareholders. "For my part," he said, " I do not like preferential capital. I object to a mortgage of 55 per cent, upon my railway stock, before I receive a single penny." He accordingly urged that the new proprie- tors should have only original or ordinary shares, and tlien, he said, " they would share fairly among themselves the entire earnings of the company." The reply of Mr. Price, M.P., the chairman, was, of course, conclusive. He reminded the j^i'oprietor, that the debenture debt of the company had been created at a charge of only 4J per cent., and their preference stock at less than 5 ; but that inasmuch as their ordinary dividend might be taken at G|- per cent., it was obvious that there was a clear gain on every £100 they borrowed at these lower rates of one-half or three-quarters per cent., all of which went to swell the dividend of the ordinary shareholder. The same principle holds good under all similar cir- cumstances. 274 SOUTH WESTERN J D NOTION. A bill was passed during this year (1871), wliicli authorised certain parties in Birmingham to construct a railway from the commercial centre of the town to King's Norton in Worcestershire, but to be worked by the Midland Company. " The line," said Mr. Price, " was much desired by the neighbourhood. It would give to the Midland Company an admirable goods station in the commercial centre of Birmingham, and there was a prospect of a good suburban traffic. It was one of those lines which, if the Midland Company did not desire to work it, which they did, they could not possibly allow to pass into other hands." An arrange- ment was also made for the Midland Company to share with some other companies in the lease of a line near London, called the South Western Junction. It turns off from the Midland Company's line near Cricklewood, and running southward, joins, as its name indicates, the South Western Railway. The line had been earning 5J to 6 per cent. : the lessees undertook among them to guarantee 7 per cent. In the autumn of 1871, the railway world was filled with rumours that the conflicts which had raged between the Great Northern Company and the Midland were about to be renewed. From the first hour of its existence the Great Northern had lived and thriven as a vast parasite, drawing its daily life from the trunk and branches of what had been the Midland system. Now it was about, if possible, to fasten itself upon, and to draw the traffic-blood from the heart of, that system. When the parliamentary notices appeared, these reports were found to be true. The attack was to be, not with rates, but with rails. The Derbyshire and Nottingham- shire coalfields of the Midland Company were to be entered in all directions by a series of lines connected with the Grantham and Nottingham branch of the Great COMPETITIVE LINES rUOPOSED. 1{ O Northern, and, — in association witli tlie London and North Western, — were to be continued through the Ere- wash Valley to Derby and Burton and to the North Staffordshire lines. The same company had further resolved to construct lines from Newark to Melton Mowbray, Leicester, and Market Harborough. Other railway projects in these districts were also in contemplation. The Manchester, Sheffield, and Lin- colnshire Company, were the promoters of a line from Doncaster to Worksop, and from Worksop to join the London and North Western at Market Harborough. The Midland Company proposed to construct railwaj^s from Doncaster, to join their Worksop and Mansfield line at Shireoaks, and to give them a better connection with the North Eastern ; and also from Dore, just south of Sheffield, to Hassop on the Manchester line, which would have placed Sheffield and Manchester in direct communi- cation. Relief lines southward were proposed from Nottingham to Saxby and from Manton to Rushton. Such was the conflict of contesting claims. As, how- ever, the parliamentary session drew on, it was sug- gested that there should be some adjustment of affairs before war actually broke out. " I had occasion," said Mr. W. P. Price, M.P., the chairman of the Midland Company, in subsequently recounting the circumstances, " to meet Sir Edward Watkin on other business. After having disposed of that business, the conversation naturally turned upon the lines which either had been deposited at that time or wliicli were going to be de- posited ; and Sir Edward Watkin, taking the map which he had on his table, and a pencil, sketched out what the known and deposited lines of all the companies were. It was suggested b}^ one or other of us, I do not remember which, that it would be a very good thing if the lines promoted by the three companies could be 276 GREAT NORTHERN DERBYSHIRE BILL. nbandonod for tlie session, in order to await the issue of tlie proposal tlien made to amalgamate the London and North Western and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Companies. I told him, that, so far as we were con- cerned, we were in some little difficulty about one portion of our scheme, namely, the line from Nottingham to Saxby, because we were feeling very much oppressed by the increasing traffic upon the mineral portions of our line, and we were extremely anxious to get an alter- native route for some of it : but I offered at once to abandon the Doncaster line, and the Has sop and Dore line, and the lino from Manton to Rushton ; and he asrreed to abandon his Doncaster line, his Market Har- borough line, and another. Eventually these concessions were definitely arranged ; and the proposed competitive lines of the Midland and the Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Companies were withdrawn. Proposals to the like effect were made to the Great Northern, but, for reasons that will soon appear, were declined. The Derbyshire bill of the Great Northern was brought before the Commons' committee. May 2nd, 1872. It may be thought that it would have been better that this particular measure should have been promoted simply on its own merits, and that it should have been separated from recent incidents in the annals of the Great Northern Company; but Mr. Denison, wisely or otherwise, dis- tinctly indicated the influence under which the project had been conceived. He referred at some length to what he called " the disputes of last year, which," he said, " instead of being settled, have gone on and got worse instead of better, until it has become necessary to settle them by the promotion of this line." No wonder that Mr. Venables, on behalf of the Midland Company, com- plained. " "We were mulcted," he declared, " in many tliousands, by a deliberate breach of faith on the part of EVIDENCE. 1( ^ the Great Northern, and not content with that, and not content with having triumphed by repudiating their honourable debt, they now came to inflict upon us another and more serious and more permanent injury." Although the bill of the Great Northern was eventually passed, there are two or three points connected with the opposition of the Midland Company which may be noticed. The first is the remarkable fact that, if the proposed line was supposed to be for the good of the coal owners of the Erewash and Mansfield Valleys, none of those gentlemen, with two unimportant exceptions? could be prevailed upon to give evidence on behalf of the new project. Indeed they felt that a company like the Great Northern, that was so deeply interested in the South Yorkshire coalfields, and which had lately shown such hostility to the Derbyshire coal owners, could now have no favourable intentions towards them. " I think,' says Mr. Robert Harrison, of Eastwood, the manager for Messrs. Barber, Walker and Co., who mentioned that their total output was nearly 750,000 tons for the year, " I think the Great Northern have always fought against the Derby- shire collieries in aid of the South Yorkshire coalpits." The London and North Western too, "has always," said Mr. Venables, " discouraged Derbyshire coal for the protection of Lancashire, and," added the learned counsel, " I say it will be an unprecedented thing to make a line for the purpose of discouraging and checking the com- petition of the district through which that line passes." " Here are the Great Northern coming, tainted W\t\\ bad faith ; here are the London and North Western coming, with scarcely concealed hostility to Derbyshire and its coal- fields." "I think it would be ungrateful," said Mr. Sanders, the mineral agent for the Shipley Colliery Com- pany, " if I did not come here to speak for the Midland Company. And I may say also that nineteen-twentieths '278 DEFECTS OF THE LINE. of the coal masters in the Erewash Yalley are of the same opinion. I have been connected," he added, " with the Coalowners' Association for the last 20 years nearly, and I never saw them so united on any one subject as the question of the Great Northern being introduced into the Erewash Valley." " ^Ye cannot," he said, " be better served than we are now. The power of the Mid- land to carry coal is in excess of the power of produc- tion." Criticisms were also offered with regard to the con- struction of the new railway. " The Midland Company's line," said Mr. Crossley, " all the way from Codnor Park to the Trent, with one exception of a few yards, is on a descending gradient and in favour of the load ; on the other hand the Great Northern line is on a gradient rising for more than two miles in sections of 1 in 100 against the load." The Midland Railway had been laid out by Mr. Jessop so as to follow the natural valley ; and " the lines and tramways fall naturally into it ; " whereas the Great Northern would in some parts have to be carried on an embankment to the height of 51 feet above and across the Midland. " Therefore I say," remarked Mr. Crossley, " that coals can be conveyed on the Midland Railway at a profit at a much lower rate than they can be conveyed on the Great Northern at a profit." The half-yearly report presented to the proprietors in August, 1872, stated that the Great Northern Com- pany's bills for lines into Derbyshire and also from Newark through Melton to Leicester, both of which the Midland had opposed, had met with the approval of Parliament. The bill for the fusion of the Midland and the Glasgow and South Western Railway Companies, which had again been sanctioned without a dissentient at the spring meeting of shareholders, had been sus- pended on account of the appointment of a Joint Com- THIED CLASS BY ALL TRAINS. 279 mittee of the two Houses to consider tlie general question of railway amalgamation. With reference to these events, Mr. Price, the chair- man, said, that in his judgment the invasion of the Derby- shire coalfield was " inconsistent with good faith towards ourselves, and with the integrity of treaties. We believe the Hues were uncalled for in the public interests; and they were not even supported by those local interests which they were supposed to be especially designed to serve. We believe that the lines of the Midland Company were fully competent to the traffic, no insufficienc}' having either been alleged or proved. But since Parlia- ment in its wisdom has thouo-ht fit to sanction the invasion, we have no alternative but to submit; and as the subject is a very painful one, and as any discussion would be fruitless, we think that silence is the more dignified and discreet." Other circumstances of interest occurred during this year in connection with the Midland Railway. One of the most important of these was with regard to third- class passengers. On the last day of March, 1872, we remarked to a friend : " To-morrow mornino- the Midland O will be the most popular railway in England." Nor did we incur much risk by our prediction. For on that da}^ the Board at Derby had decided that on and after the 1st of April they would run third-cUxss carriages by all trains ; the wires had flashed the tidings to the newspapers ; the bills were in the hands of the printers, and on the follow- ing morning the directors woke to find themselves famous, not perhaps in the estimation of railway competitors, but in the opinions of millions of their fellow-countrymen who felt that a mighty boon had been conferred upon the poor of the land. This step had, we believe, long been in contemplation, and in deciding to adopt it the board had had to prepare for what some expected would 280 AN ELEVATED POLICY. be a serious sacrifice of revenue; but reasons of high policy won the day, and tens of millions of passengers who have since been borne swiftly and comfortably over the land have been grateful that instead of the narrow- ness and greed so commonly and often so unjustly attributed to railway administration, a statesmanlike and philanthropic temper has prevailed and triumphed. Great pressure was subsequently put upon the Mid- land Company to consent to the withdrawal of these benefits; and it must be admitted that the folly and injustice of the Government in inflicting a fine upon the railways for their liberality, would have amply justified sucli a course. Several of the companies have somewhat increased the fares for those who travelled by fast third-class trains ; happily for the public the Midland Company has remained firm to its original purpose. " If there is one part of my public life," recently said Mr. All- port to the writer, " on which I look back with more satis- faction than on anything else, it is with reference to the boon we conferred on third-class travellers. When the rich man travels, or if he lies in bed all day, his capital remains undiminished and perhaps his income flows in all the same. But when a poor man travels he has not only to pay his fare but to sink his capital, for his time is his capital ; and if he now consumes only five hours instead of ten in making a journey, he has saved five hours of time for useful labour — useful to himself, his family, and to society. And," Mr. Allport added, " I think with even more pleasure of the comfort in travel- ling we have been able to confer upon women and children." AVe venture to repeat that it is a happy circumstance when the hard realities of railway adminis- tration are thus tempered by a spirit and a policy so humanitarian and elevated. In the course of the year the sanction of the Midland A SUP. 281 sliarebolders was given to a bill promoted for " the con- struction of railways between Walsall, in Staffordshire, and the Midland Railway in AYarwickshire, to be called the Wolverhampton, Walsall, and Midland Junction," and containing permissive power for the company to enter into agreement with the Midland Company for its working and maintenance. The Bedford and North- ampton Railway was opened in June, 1872. The line starts about two miles and a half north of Bedford, hi the parish of Bromham, and runs chiefly through cuttings to Northampton. Some of the gradients are heavy — one is one in eighty-four. The intermediate stations are Turvey, Olney, and Horton. During a tremendous storm of thunder, lightning, and rain, on the 19th of June, 1872, which deluged the country far and wide, a slip took place at the northern entrance of the Dove Holes Tunnel on the Manchester Une, crushing in part of the covered way that extended beyond the tunnel, and laying an arrest upon the traffic for several weeks. Goods trains, however, were able to run on the 28th of July. The repairs cost £10,000, irre- spective of the loss and the diversion of the traffic. " The inconvenience to the public," Mr. Price remarked to the Midland shareholders, "was very much decreased by the assistance rendered by the London and North Western Railway Company; and I am happy to take the oppor- tunity of publicly expressing our grateful recognition of their aid." CHAPTER XII. Negotiations between Sheffield and Midland Companies — Proposed joint througli line from Rusliton to Askerne. — Forty days' battle in the Commons. — The chief portions of the bill rejected. — " Flii-tations " of the Sheffield Company. — Bill for Amalgamation of Midland and Glasgow and South Western. — Mx\ Price resigns the chairmanship to accept the position of a Railway Commissioner. — Rise of the price of coal. — Rise of the price of everything connected with railways. — 500,000 tons of coal a year consumed by ^Midland Com- pany. — Improved communication between ^lidland and North Eastern system. — Origin of the Swinton and Knottingley line. — Congestion of ti-affic at Normanton. — Necessity for improvement. — Passenger traffic to the West. — Opposition line sanctioned by Great Northern and Sheffield. — Sir Edmund Beckett and the Aquabus. — Rival designs. — Mr. Leeman, M.P. and Sir Edmund Beckett. — Evidence of Mr. Harrison and ^[r. Bass, M.P. — The "amenities" of Ackworth. — Extraordinary decision of the committee. — The decision reconsidered. — The bill passed. — Running powers under the bill. — Proposed Midland line through Huddersficld and Halifax. — Proposed line from Hammersmith to Acton. — Bills rejected. — Manton and Rushton line sanctioned. — Cheshire Lines Committee Bill for extension to North Docks at Liverpool. — Advantages of the line. — Objections. — Bill approved. — Additional facilities to Birkenhead. — New line to Wigan. — Speech of Sir E. Beckett. — Vast coalfields. — Evidence of Mr. AUport and others. — Bill sanctioned. — Midland Company's access to South Wales. — Existing through routes. — A third through route proposed. — Mr. Noble's evidence. — Mr. Venables' speech. — Hereford, Hay, and Brecon. — History of the line. — Propo.sed amalgamation with the Midland. — Three years' litigation. — Accommodation at Hereford. — Ironworks and coalfields. — Through traffic. — Swansea Vale line. — History of the line. — Evidence. — Midland proposal to lease the Swansea Vale. — Terms. — Brecon and Neath Railway. — Circum- stances of line. — Terms proposed. — Objections. — Evidence. — Reasons influencing the Brecon and Neath. — Mr. Noble's evidence. — Bill passed. — Testimonial to Mr. Price. — Abolition of Second Class. — Opposition of other Companies. — Retaliation Threatened. — " Railway Revolutions." — Lord Redesdale. — Settle and Carlisle line opened for good. — Re-adjustment of Capital Account. — Chairman's retrospect. — Private Waggons. — Lease of Somerset and Dorset. — Floods. The great political work of the Midland Compauy during the pai'liamontary session of 1873 arose out of events to wliicli reference has already been made. The negotiations that had taken place in the previous year MIDLAND AND SHEFFIELD COMFANIES' PROJECTS. 283 between the Midland and the Sheffield Companies, and which led to the temporary abandonment of their com- peting schemes, were followed by an agreement to promote a joint line direct from north to south from Askerne, near Doncaster, to the Midland line at Rushton. On this scheme the Midland were not unwilling to enter, as the loss they had sustained by the intrusion of the Great Northern into the Derbyshire coalfields had led them to consider whether they could not claim or reclaim a share of that North Eastern traffic which they had originally enjoyed, but of which the Great Northern had largely deprived them ; and the Sheffield Company was glad of a free access to London and of an independence it had long coveted from the "jealous and somewhat hostile neighbours," as Mr. Venables described them, with which it was surrounded. The contemplated outlay was £2,600,000 or £2,700,000, or about £23,000 a mile, on a mileage of 115 miles. It was anticipated that coal would be found upon more than half of the entire route. " The line is to be constructed," said the Company's report, " at joint and equal cost, and with equal rights of user, with running powers to the Midland Company on to the South Yorkshire Districts, and to Grimsby and New Holland ; and to the Sheffield Company over the Midland Railway from Rushton to London. It is also proposed, as part of the scheme, to open out, by a line between Conisborough and Shireoaks, an important coalfield at present without access to the markets, and from which a valuable traffic will be secured to the joint lines." After a forty days' conflict of great severity, the Com- mons' Committee granted to the Midland and Sheffield Companies the Rushton and Melton jDortion of the line, also the part from Conisborough to Shireoaks, but took out the great intermediate links of the scheme, and all the running powers to be interchanged between the Midland 284 FLIRTATIONS. and the Sheffield Companies, and thus left the Midland " to find a bod J for their head and tail by means of the existing lines, a practicable but somewhat circuitous route." In this mutilated condition the bill went up to the Lords, who still further "amended " it by striking out the Eushton and Melton portion, leaving only the Shire- oaks — a mere fragment of the original scheme ; and the Midland, having duly considered the altered condition of affixirs, decided to withdraw what remained of the bill. In subsequently referring to the various efforts made by the Sheffield Company — of which this was the latest — to enter into alliance with one or another of the sur- rounding companies, Sir Mordaunt Wells playfully re- marked : "What have the Sheffield done? They have flirted Avith the North AYestern since 1856 ; they then flirted with the Great Northern ; they then flirted with the Midland ; then they flirted with the Eastern Counties and the coal-owners. Then, in 1872, they flirted again with their old love, the London and North Western ; and now in 1873, there is a mild flirtation between Sir Edward Watkin and Mr. AUport ; and, like all flirts, mark my words, the Sheffield will be left without an alliance with any of them, and will entertain that feeling which all flirts entertain towards all mankind when they have been left completely in the lurch, and she will move about society on her own hook, catching who she can. This is not the less true because it creates a little mirth." • In the course of the year there was a renewal of the application for the amalgamation of the Midland and the Glasgow and South Western. " You are aware," said Mr. Price, " that a bill for that purpose was approved by you in 1869, and another last year ; the former of these having passed through the Commons, being rejected by the House of Lords, on account of, as we are informed, the MR. piece's resignation. 285 insufficient security for the completion of tlie Settle and Carlisle line ; and the latter bill having been postponed last year to await the report of the Joint Committee of both Houses on the great question of railway amalgama- tion." This Joint Committee rejected the amalgamation bill, for reasons which nobody knows. It is said that the practice adopted by parliamentary committees, of pro- nouncing decisions without giving any explanations, is calculated to inspire public confidence in the wisdom of such tribunals, or at any rate to shelter them from impu- tations of a contrary kind. Our own opinion is (though for reasons different from those commonly suggested) there is much to be said in favour of concealment. At the conclusion of the proceedings at the spring meet- ing of proprietors, Mr. Price asked permission to inform the shareholders that that was the last occasion on which he should have the honour of addressing them from that chair. "It is, no doubt," he said, "a matter of sufficiently public notoriety that I have accepted office as one of the three Commissioners to be appointed under the Eailways and Canal Traffic Act." He spoke of the great pain with which he severed himself from " a company and from colleagues with which he had been intimately associated for nearly one-and-twenty years. I cannot claim to be one of the fathers of the undertaking, but I may at least say with truth that I have stood by its cradle, and watched and aided others in fostering its growth. From this time henceforth the Midland Company to me must be as one of the great commonwealth of railway enterprise." The attention of railway managers and shareholders was during this year greatly exercised upon a new subject, but one of urgent practical moment : the enor- mous rise in the value of labour, coals, minerals, and in fact of all the articles consumed by railways. The outlay of the Midland Company alone for stores, which 286 MR. MATTHEW KIRTLEY. amounted in the previous year to no less than £1 ,414,000, gradually increased up to tlie proportion of in some instances as much as 150 per cent. This was the case with coal, and the magnitude of the additional cost may be inferred from the fact that the Midland Company consumes about 500,000 tons per annum. Similar burdens had to be borne by other lines, so that " though an extraordinary impetus had been given to the trade and industry of the country in the past two years, it had conferred less real benefits upon the railway shareholders as a body than upon any other class of the people, whether capitalist, manufacturer, or labourer." On twenty-three of the leading railways of the kingdom, every 20s. of increased traffic which had been brought upon the lines in the previous half year had resulted in a net additional profit of only 4cZ. to the railway proprietors, the balance being absorbed in the increased charges on capital account and augmented working expenses. During this year the Midland Company lost by deatli the services of one who is not undeserving of special notice, Mr. Matthew Kirtley, their locomotive superinten- dent. His father a colliery owner, himself, at the age of thirteen or fourteen, employed on that cradle of the rail- way system, the Stockton and Darlington line, and afterwards on the London and Birmingham, he was early and through his life identified with railway interests. He drove the first locomotive that entered London, in 1839. When the Derby and Birmingham was opened, he was selected by the Stephensons as locomotive superinten- dent; on the union of the three lines which formed the Midland Company he retained the same position; and here his responsibilities steadily increased until some 7000 men were directly under his control, including 2000 at Derby. " He was a man of clear sagacity and SWINTON AND KNOTTINGLEY LINE. 287 well-balanced judgment, and possessed a power of organiz- ation and arrangement wliicli enabled him to exercise an effective control over the whole of the extensive concern for which he was responsible. In nothing was he more distinguished than in his command of men. Simple in his manners, easily approachable, able to sympathise with the workmen's position and difficulties, and strictly candid, he was singularly happy in dealing with com- plaints. While sympathising and conciliating, he was also firm and decisive, and, like all strong men, employed few words to convey his resolves." Mr. Kirtley died May 24th, 1873. The year 1874 witnessed some quiet but important developments of the Midland system, both in the area of its operations and in the policy by which it was ad- ministered. In its earlier months much time and labour were devoted to securing the passing of important l)ills for new lines. One of these was for a railway to improve the communication between the Midland and the jN^orth Eastern systems. It appears that after the great fight of the previous session for the bill by which the Midland and Sheffield Companies were jointly to reach the North Eastern at Askerne, Mr. Harrison, the engineer in chief of that company, " formed a very strong opinion " that such a line would not have been advantageous to the parties concerned ; but " from the ordnance surveys and contour lines, and some sections " which he obtained, he considered that the ric^ht direction in which to run such a line was between Swinton and Knottingley ; and " I then suggested it," he said, " to Mr. Allport, and also to the officials of the North Eastern Company." " That," said Mr, Harrison to Mr. Allport, " in my judgment, is your course northward. It will give you almost an un- obstructed road, as there is no traffic scarcely upon the line from Knottingley to York ; the Great Northern 288 XORMAXTUX. Laving removed tlie whole of their through traffic ou the new line from Askerne to York, jou will have as good access to York as the Great Northern." " I was very much impressed with that," Mr. AUport subsequently remarked ; " and after discussing it with Mr. Harrison, and ascertaining from the Xorth Eastern that they were quite willing to exchange running powers, so that York might be the common point of exchange both with the Great Northern and ourselves, I submitted the plan to the Midland Directors, and it resulted in this bill." The main object contemplated by this line, as we have remarked, was to improve the communication between the Midland and the North-Eastern systems; "and that,'' said Mr. Venables, "is not a small object." The Midland Company includes more than 1200 miles of railway, and the North Eastern some 1 1-50 miles ; " both of them have a very large traffic, and from their geographical position and their peculiar resources of traffic there is a very large exchange, which we propose to improve and facilitate." The intended line would shorten the distance from the Xorth Eastern to Sheffield by seven miles, and would in a still greater degree facilitate the interchange of traffic. The present point of exchange is Normanton, and the approach of the North Eastern to that station is from a place called Burton Salmon, one of the most crowded parts of the system ; while at Normanton the weight of traffic exchanged in 1872 was more than 1,500,000 tons, and the passengers 680,000; the propor- tion of the Midland beino: about half the tonnaofe and some 278,000 passengers, taking no account of the Mid- land main traffic north and south. The position of the Normanton station, with a heavy embankment at the north and a deep cutting at the south, rendered it diffi- cult to extend the area of the station so as to avoid an increasing congestion of traffic. " We have ac- PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES. 269 quired," said Mr. Allporfc, " about as mucli land as we can ; we have spent within the last few years a large sum of money, but we cannot keep pace with the require- ments." In the previous month of November the delays amounted to nearly 1000 hours ; which, calculating an enoine to work ten hours a day — an outside estimate — would mean that the services of four engines were en- tirely wasted at that station ; and as all railway companies consider that an engine costs from £1000 to £1500 a year, a loss of £4000 to £6000 a year on engine power alone was thus incurred, besides all other inconvenience and loss contingent thereon. " Any one, in fact," said Mr. Harrison, the North Eastern engineer-in-chief, "who has travelled from Normanton to York, must be perfectly aware of the absolute necessity for doing something to get rid of the stoppage which takes place there." Another of the practical difficulties created by this defective communication between the two systems was mentioned by Mr. Tennant. " We have," he said, " an express train starting from Newcastle at 10 o'clock in the morning, taking passengers that have come in by local trains from Tynemouth, Shields, Wrexham, Morpeth, Alnwick, and as far as Berwick. We cannot start it earher than 10 o'clock without seriously interfering with a large number of local passengers. The train arrives at York quite in time for a train to go on to London ; but we have not been able to make it fit in at Normanton with an important train of the Midland Company which goes through to Bristol and the West of England. We tried it for some time, and we failed ; we had not time. Of course our suggestion to the Midland Company was that they should start their train later ; but they are tied up at Bristol, and various other places on the line, with other companies' trains, and they could not start it later ; and we could not start ours earlier. Although a pas- u 290 AN AQUABUS. senger can start from Newcastle at 10 o'clock and go right through to London, he must start at half-past eight o'clock to catch a corresponding Midland train to the West of England, and from the local towns somewhat earlier. This important project of the Midland and North East- ern Companies was not, however, allowed to be brought forward without resistance. Another line was advocated by the Great Northern and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Companies, which, starting from Swinton or Mexborough, would run to Knottingley. Mr. Denisou, who had now become Sir Edmund Beckett, and who appeared on its behalf, thus referred to Mexborough : " I am old enouo^h to remember when Mexborouirh was a very small place upon the banks of the Don ; when we used to travel from Swinton by a vehicle which should have its name perpetuated. It was called by an ingenious gentleman * the Aquabus,' meaning a vehicle which went by water through the river Don. He evidently thought it necessary to keep the word ' 'bus.' But since that time Mexborougli has become a sort of Castleford, or almost a sort of Middlesborough ; it has iron works and glass works, and it builds boats; though, I am afraid, no more aquabuscs." The main difference, remarked Sir Edmund Beckett, between the proposed railway of the Midland and North Eastern and that which he advocated "is, that our line has more junctions, and goes to more places " than the rival line, and is to a certain extent a more " local line," "but, at the bottom, the two lines are so very identical" that there is little in many respects to choose between them. It appears also that the promoters and the Shef- field Company offered not only that the Great Northern but the Midland and North Eastern should share in it ; but the proposal was by the latter companies declined. OBJECTIONS AND EEPLIES. 291 " Therefore," remarked Sir Edmund, " it cannot be said that the Sheffield Company are desirous to make this line with the object of shutting everybody else out of it. On the contrary, they desire to get everybody into it. The object has been to make a line that should be an open route or highway to everybody who was inclined to use it upon fair terms." The proposal for a joint use of the line was objected to by the representatives of the Midland and North Eastern, on the ground that it was undesirable that any part of the control of the railway should be in the hands of those whose interest it would be to thwart the design of those who projected it. " It is said," remarked Mr. Yenables, *' that the four companies could get on remark- ably well together. But we know that if the four com- panies were upon the line, in some way or other their conflicting interests must be adjusted, occasionally to the injury of one, occasionally to the injury of another, always to the inconvenience of those who are to be post- poned. Upon a railway, as upon any other kind of horse, if two men ride, one must ride behind; and if four men ride, three must ride behind. We naturally decline to subject this traffic, which is wholly independent of any rival companies, to their control. They would be only too happy to put a block there which would deprive us of any opportunity of improving the communication in our own hands. They would be glad to take in a dozen companies, and would be ready to take the chance of any inconvenience which might arise. The present route, by which the Midland Company and North Eastern connect, is absolutely in their own hands. They meet at Nor- manton, with nobody between them, — with no partner north, with no partner south ; they have the control in their own hands. It is now proposed, that because they ask to be allowed to create a great public benefit, by 292 EVIDENCE OF ME. LEEMAN. shortening the line and improving the service, they are not to do it unless they let in two other companies. What do we take away from them ? What wrong do we do them ? We take nothing away from them whatever except this, — that whereas we have now a comparatively circuitous route to the North, we propose to make a direct one." The demand of the competing companies was well ex- pressed by Mr. Leeman, M.P., the chairman of the North Eastern, in reply to Sir Edmund Beckett. " Do you not think it fair," said the latter, " inasmuch as the Great Northern and Sheffield Companies have been trying to get this line of their own under the cir- cumstances I have described, that they should have running powers in some way, so as to make a little profit out of them, and not the ordinary running powers, which leave no profit to the party possessing them ? " " I do not think so," Mr. Leeman replied ; " and I might illustrate the position myself, if I were to ask you the question, would you like to give half your fees to one of your juniors ? " " That is quite a different sort of thing." " That," returned Mr. Leeman, " is exactly the state of things. The Midland and the North Eastern find nine tenths of the traffic, and you coolly and modestly ask that we should give you one half the profit." " If the four companies were joint owners it would be," said Mr. Allport, " that the other two companies would be receiving the profit of the traffic which the Midland and North Eastern provided." A similar opinion was expressed by Mr. Harrison. " If there were four companies interested in it, two of those companies having nine tenths of the traffic, and the most important part of the traffic — the through traffic, and the other companies having merely what they EVIDENCE OF MR. BASS. 293 could pick up, it would be no regular system of traffic. . . . The management ought to be in the hands of the company who have infinitely the preponderating weight of traffic to carry. I do not know any case in which there are four companies jointly owners, except Punch's Line, near London." If there were such ar- rangement, " I have not the slightest hesitation in saying there would become such a block to the traffic that it would defeat the great object for which the lines have been proposed." Mr. M. T. Bass, M.P., after giving evidence in favour of the bill, was thus cross-examined by Sir Edmund Beckett : — " But supposing four companies wanted to run through a district, some of them must ' own ' and some must ' run,' or else they must have a joint arrangement ? " " Yes ; but if those who had an interest in the line were to be masters of the whole, and the others subsi- diary, I should prefer " "So should I if I were you. You are on the Midland line, and therefore you want the Midland line extended as far as you can ? " " Yes. Besides, the Great Northern people have never done anything for us ; and this new line which you are going to carry out (a most wasteful expenditure, accord- ing to my notions), goes about ten miles round for every twenty — I mean the line from Burton to Derby and Nottingham." "The Midland is your railway, in short?" " Well, it is not more than the North Western and several other railways ? " " But of the two the Midland is a little more yours than even the North Western ?" " We do more business with the Midland ; and perhaps I may say to the committee that it is far more con- 294 LOCAL OBJECTIONS. venient that all our traffic should be done by the Midland, because they have lines into all our premises, absolutely into our storerooms." " That is wliat I meant by your connection with the Midland being a little closer. You do not complain of that ? " " Not the least." " You have this excellent connection with the Midland ; they do your business, and you naturally want to see their line extended as far as you can." " Yes." " And if you had it with the North Western you would equally want to see that extended ? " " Yes." " So should I if I were you." In drawing his address to a conclusion, Mr. Venables referred playfully to one or two local objections to the line. One was by the vicar of Ferry Bridge, " who evidently thought he ought to have been told that the Midland and North Eastern Companies would have a station " at his village. If he had only known that there will be one, *' I suppose he would not have come here. But as they will have a station, he and his parishioners will be as happy as the day is long, and will be always travelling backwards and forwards along our line." Another series of petitioners declared that in their opinion, " the railway proposed by the Midland Company would seriously interfere with the amenities of Ackworth and the district;" and on a witness being asked whether he thought the said " amenities " would be compromised, he emphatically replied, " most undoubtedly ; " thougli what he or the district meant by the phrase, we must leave to the imagination of our reader. On the whole case for both parties being completed (June 10th, 1874), the committee room was cleared, and BILL EEJECTED, EE-COMMITTED, AND PASSED. 295 the members remained in consultation for upwards of an hour. When the parties to the bill were readmitted, and the counsel were seated at the table, and silence was restored, the chairman announced that "the preamble of the Midland and North Eastern Bill was not proved, and also that the preamble of the Leeds, Pontefract, and Sheffield Junction Bill was not proved." So extraor- dinary a decision was regarded as in the nature of a practical joke; it called forth a roar of laughter, in which, we are informed, the members of the committee heartily joined.* A few days afterwards, however, the Midland and North Eastern Bill was re-committed and passed. The estimated cost of the line is £480,000 ; and the distance is fifteen miles. Another line proposed this session (1874) by the Midland Company, was for the purpose of improving its direct course to the North of Eno^land. In addition to the existing route by Leeds to Skipton, it was intended to make another, sixteen miles in length, from Hudders- field, through Halifax, to Bradford, and to join the present Midland Railway there. Those towns would thus have been placed on the main line, and in direct communication with Edinburgh and Glasgow. The bill, however, was opposed and lost. The Midland Company also sought for parliamentary powers to construct a line from Acton to Hammersmith. By means of the North and South Western Junction, which turns off from the Midland at Brent, Acton was reached, and from thence it was desired to pass on to Hammersmith, and along the Hammersmith Extension to the Metropolitan District. This line was objected to by the Great Western Company, on the ground that it was an infringement of an agreement made between that Company and the * Railway News, June loth, 1874. 296 MANTON AND EUSHTOX LINE. Midland in 18G3, by Avliich they agreed not to interfere with each others' " district," To this it was replied that London could not be called "a district" for any such purpose. Such an interpretation, it was contended, would have prevented the Great Western reaching the docks at the East of London, because the Midland was there before them ; would have even shut the Midland out of London ; and was contrary to public policy. "Accord- ing to such an interpretation, the Midland Company could never," said Mr. xVllport, " except subject to the veto of the Great Western, give any additional accommodation in London ; and, conversely, the Great Western could never, except subject to the veto of the Midland Com- pany, do the same. I cannot conceive anything more anti-public than a restriction of that kind in the hands of three gi'eat companies ; and I am quite sure that it never crossed the mind of any Midland director or officer that that clause had the slightest bearing on operations in London." On July 1, 1874, the Lords Committee decided that " it was not expedient to proceed with this bill." Another Midland project of this year was for a railway of fifteen miles from Manton, on the Syston and Peter- borough, to Rushton. Its design was, in conjunction with the Xottingham and Melton line already sanctioned, — and a link of the Syston and Peterborough Railway, — to supply an alternative route from the great central coal- field of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to Rushton and the south. Two years previously (1872) a similar bill had been applied for, but had been withdrawn. In ]87o matters had been suspended by reason of the endeavour of the Midland and Sheffield Companies to carry their joint line ; but that having been rejected by Parliament, this was revived, and eventually it was approved. The Cheshire Lines Committee (who, as our readers are CHESHIRE LINES EXTENSION. 297 aware, represent the Midland, Great Northern, and Shef- field Companies) this year (1874) applied to Parliament for some important extensions of the area of their opera- tions. The railways of this committee commence at a place a little east of Stockport (at Grodley Junction) and run through Stockport, Altrincham, and Warrington, to Liverpool ; down also to Knutsford, Northwich, and Chester, with branches to Winsford and other places. A line also is in course of construction which will run to a central station in Manchester, within two or three minutes' walk of the Exchange. The committee now desired to obtain communication with the north end of Liverpool. The three lines owned some 2000 miles of railway ; had spent, in their joint operations, about £6,000,000 in money; and had access to the Bruns- wick Docks, commonly called the South-End Dock System at Liverpool, where they secured a traffic inwards and outwards in 1873 of 300,000 tons; but they had no connection with the docks that stretched six miles in length to the north of the town, and which were steadily extending northward, except by means of tramways alongside the docks, which are constantly occupied by other companies, and by omni- buses carrying local traffic. On those docks it was said that the London and North Western and Lanca- shire and Yorkshire Companies had no fewer than twenty stations ; and the Cheshire Companies claimed some share in the advantages of direct access to such im- portant sources of traffic. The proposed line, too, would free the streets of Liverpool from an enormous amount of cartage. In the previous year (1873) the Cheshire Companies had, under their several powers, bought twenty-three acres of land for station purposes ; but at present they had no access to it. The only ways of reaching it were 298 LIVERPOOL, NORTH END. either by making an underground or deep cut line through Liverpool (and such a scheme had been contem- plated in the previous year, at a cost, it was currently reported, of something like a million and a half of money, or by a line skirting Liverpool on its eastern side. The latter course was preferred. The line would, including branches, be thirteen miles long, and would cost £600,000. The proposed railway would also render another im- portant service. The Midland Company has access from the North over its own line from Skipton to Colne ; and it has running powers southwaixis from Colne to Preston, Manchester, and Liverpool : these privileges having been conceded when the Lancashire and Yorkshire were in Parliament to amalgamate with the East Lancashire, as the price of the withdrawal of Midland opposition. The line now proposed to the north of Liverpool would join the Lancashire and Yorkshire near Aintree, and would thus give direct communication between the Cheshire Companies' Liverpool terminus and the Mid- land route to Colne, Skipton, Settle, and Carlisle. Objections to the new scheme were made by the com- panies already in possession of the district. They said of the proposals of the Cheshire Committee, " that they were entitled to complain" of them. "Yes," replied Sir Edmund Beckett, in his critical, bantering way, " I dare say they will complain. They cannot be prevented from complaining. They were displeased at our getting access to Manchester ; they were displeased at our get- ting access to Liverpool ; and they are displeased at everything we have done." It was objected that certain junctions proposed on the line were badly designed. " I never knew," returned the counsel, " a junction that was not badly designed, when it was designed by another company." Mr. John Heywood considered PROPOSED FACILITIES AT BIRKENHEAD. 299 tliat the line would injure liis valuable residential estate ; but it was replied that there was already a great road between the railway and the house, and that any real injury would be paid for. " Then," said the counsel. " there is Miss Catherine Home's petition. I am afraid Miss Catherine Home will have to be destroyed alto- gether. I mean to say she has a small property there, and we could not with any decency cut through it. She would not like it if we did, and I am afraid we must buy the whole of it." This line secured the sanction of Parliament. The Cheshire Lines Committee also sought, under their additional powers act, for further facilities at Birken- head. It appears that, under the act of 1861, which amalgamated the Birkenhead line with the London and North AYestern and Great AYestern, "facilities " were allowed to the Cheshire Lines Committee. Yet these facilities operated in so ineffectual a way, that the Cheshire Companies felt compelled to seek for powers to run their trains from their own system at Helsb}^ over the main line, and through the station of the two companies, in order to reach the docks at Bh-kenhead, and there to conduct their own traffic. " AYe do not ask," said Mr. Allport, " for any powers over their sta- tion or goads warehouses, or the sidings in their stations, but simply to pass over their main lines to enable us to get to the Dock Board Lines." The main contention on the part of the Cheshire Companies was admitted by Par- liament ; and the preamble of the bill was proved (April 30th, 1874); but instead of running powers being granted, it was thought better that the two companies should be " bound to give all possible facilities to the Cheshire Lines Committee from their stations to all parts of the Birken- head docks ; otherwise it would be in the right of that Committee on a future occasion to apply to Parliament for compulsor}^ running powers." 300 EXTENSION TO WIGAN COALFIELD. A tliird proposal, in this instance of the Midland and Sheffield members of the Cheshire Committee, was to obtain power to connect the railways of the three companies by a line eleven and a half miles long, and at a cost of £300,000, with the Wigan coalfield. Wigan was on the North Western and Lancashire and York- shire lines, " hitherto a kind of preserve of those two companies." The line was to start from Glazebrook, on the new Manchester and Liverpool line. This Wigan coalfield covers about half the proposed line. In submitting the claims of the new line, the chair- man of the committee took occasion to remark that " the whole matter appeared to the committee to lie in a nutshell. Of course we must have the engineer before us to prove the workability of the line. But the whole thing turns on the question whether or not you can make out a case of a sufficient amount of traffic to warrant a new line. The committee want to know about the whole district, such as what is the probable amount of coal that there is ; how many millions of tons would be likely to be obtained;" and he intimated that they would prefer the evidence of some colliery surveyor who knew the whole of the country. As to delays, the chairman added, " we know it stands to reason that there must be delays where there is a large amount of traffic. I know the Lancashire and Yorkshire system, and I know that delays are enormous." This demand it was not difficult to meet. The mineral wealth of the district was enormous. There were several places raising quantities of coal of which the unit is 100,000 tons a year. " There is one works alone where it is 1,800,000 tons; there are others which are raising 200,000, 300,000, and 400,000 tons. In fact the figures are so large that they give one hardly any more definite ideas than the miles' distance of the planets and stars, THE WIGAN COALFIELD. 301 wliicli one says by heart without receiving any clear impressions from them. But I may state that the Lon- don and Nortli Western Company alone carry 3,000,000 tons of Wigan coal southward in a year. The Lan- cashire and Yorkshire also take a very large quantity." The managing director of one of the colliery com- panies, near Wigan, stated that they raised 200,000 tons of coal a year; that the thickness of the seams of the district was rather over fifty feet ; and that the unexhausted product of their own collieries was 20,000,000 tons. Five other collieries would also be benefited by the proposed new line. The manager of the Hindley Green Collieries mentioned that his company raised 200,000 tons a year ; that their railway accommodation was inadequate, and that delays were serious. It was also shown that, so far as the Midland and Great Northern were concerned, this was a sealed district. The amounts were as follows : — RAILWAY DISTRIBUTION FOR LANCASHIRE. TONS. By London and North Western ... ... 5,698,258 „ Lancashire and Yorkshire ... ... 2,874,037 Bj Midland only 22,017 „ Great Northern 6,008 Mr. AUport stated that such a line would, in his judgment, be a valuable piece of railway construction, and more valuable to the Midland than to either of the other Cheshire Companies. The London and North West- ern had entered the Derbyshire coalfields, " competition seemed to be the order of the day," and he " did not see any reason why the Midland should not get into the Lan- cashire coalfields ; " and " the difference between Wigfan and London by the Midland lines now in construction. 302 RAILWAYS IX SOUTH WALES. would only be about three miles more than by the London and North AYestern." There would thus practically be between Wigan and London " an alternative route, almost identical in distance with the North Western main route. Then again, in London we serve dif- ferent districts. We have now four depots in London : one at St. Pancras, which is at least a mile from Camden Town ; we have two on the south side of the Thames ; one at Walworth Road, and another at Battersea ; and we provide coal depots in various parts of the city. We have also been frequently asked to get Wigan coal into Nottingham and Leicester, and told that, although they are both close to coalfields, they want the cannel coal of AVigan for gas manufacture." " I know," he added, *' several of the large coal and iron masters of the district, and for many years they have asked me why we did not get a line into that country." The bill was granted, subject to some engineering modifications, to avoid unnecessary interference with the London and North Western line. A successful effort was also made during this session (1874) of Parliament to improve the position of the Midland Company in the Principality. The condition of railway aff"airs in South Wales was as follows : — The three great railway systems that approach the West of England, viz., the Midland, the North Western, and the Great Western, had access, by something like pa- rallel lines, to Swansea. The London and North West- ern had two routes to South Wales. These converged at Shrewsbury, a station the joint property of that company and of the Great Western, and from thence the line proceeded via Hereford and Abergavenny to the mineral lines in the mineral valleys running generally north and south, w^itli a terminus at Dowlais. They had also another route via Llandovery, and the Vale of Towy MIDLAND company's ACCESS TO SOUTH WALES. 303 Railway to Swansea. The Great Western had the coast line, formerly known as the South Wales, reaching to Mil- ford; and also the system of lines once called the West Midland, which conducted them to Worcester, Hereford, and by the Vale of Neath to Swansea, The third route was the Midland. " In this part of the world," said Mr. Venables, " as in most other parts of the world, the Midland Company form a competing system with the London and North Western Company and the Great Western Company." They came by their own line to Stoke Works, near Worcester, and from thence had run- ning powers by the Great Western to Swansea. These had been granted as part of the condition that the Midland Company should not oppose the union of the Great Western and West Midland systems. But such powers are practically useless unless local traffic can be obtained ; " because," as Mr. John Noble, the assistant general man- ager of the Midland said, " in running over another com- pany's line, the running company makes no profit upon that running ; the running company is merely allowed the bare cost of working its trains over the railway ; and the whole of the profit of the transaction goes to the owning company. We therefore should have to run over more than 100 miles, if we ran all the way to Swansea, for nothing more than the bare cost of working the trains, and perhaps it might not even cover that." The Mid- land were, therefore, desirous of obtaining access to South Wales by some other route less encumbered by these " local traffic " difficulties; and the Hereford, Hay, and Brecon and Swansea Vale lines (already con- structed) supplied the want. " I think," said Mr. Venables, " it will appear upon the face of the map that it is desirable that all these great companies who approach this district (all of which approach it by more or less inconvenient ways), shall 304 THE HEKEFORD, HAY, AND BRECON LINE. have each the most convenient way of approaching it. The North Western have that advantage, and the Great Western have that advantage, and these two companies, either of which would wilUngly exclude the other, are now, not unnaturally, combined to exclude the Midland." " The North Western has nothing to say against us except what it can say with perfect truth, viz., that the amalgamation of this line will enable the Midland Com- pany to compete with the London and North Western for traffic to South Wales, and it is for the sake of estab- lishing that competition that we ask for these powers." " The sole question is whether we, taking a traffic to South Wales, shall take it conveniently and cheaply by utilizing lines which Parliament has already sanctioned, because we do not propose to make a single additional mile ; and it appears to me that when Parliament has sanctioned a line it requires a very strong argument to establish the proposition that a line should remain a block and be absolutely useless ; but that has been from first to last the policy of the Great Western with reference to the Hereford, Hay and Brecon." It appears that this line (the Hereford, Hay and Brecon) was authorised in the year 1859, having been promoted by a nominal company, but really by a con- tractor, Mr. Savin, who also was the originator and maker of the Brecon and Merthyr line. Financial delays and difficulties arose in the construction of the lines ; but they were completed, and remained in his hands till 1864. In 1865 the circumstances of many lines in this district, and of the Hereford line among them, were very unfavour- able : " 1866 was the collapse of many railways." The Hereford hne had been amalgamated with the Brecon and Merthyr; but in 1868 was released from that con- nection. Its condition at this period was deplorable. " While the Brecon and Merthyr had it, they allowed the interest upon the debentures to get into arrears, and had FOUCE AND LAW. 305 contracted other debts for which the Hereford was liable; and therefore, when the railway came back again, they had neither engines nor carriages nor w^agons ; they had no money, they had the line in bad order, they owed a great deal of money, and some of their debentures were overdue." Eventually, however, the Hereford Company made overtures to the Midland Company to take the working of the line, and these w^ere favourably received; and though the Great Western had hitherto not concerned itself about the Hereford Company, yet " having," said Mr, Veuables, " a very strong rivalry with the Midland Company, it now opposed every obstacle which could be devised by human ingenuity to the traffic" of the Here- ford line. Complicated and costly legal battles were fought ; and though, at length, the Great Western were defeated by the Hereford Company, yet resistance was still offered to the Midland in the agreement they had with the Hereford to use the line ; its validity was chal- leng^ed, and the risrht of the Midland to use the connect- ing line gi\"ing access to the railway was disputed. At length, to bring matters to an issue, a formal demand was made for the admission of a Midland train to the junction line. The line, however, was blocked, not only by signals, but with an engine and half a dozen wagons ; and the Great Western authorities admitted that this was done by their orders, and they declared that they would obstruct the line by force if necessary. To avoid an actual collision the Midland Company simply protested against such pro- ceedings, and then appealed to the law ; and the result was, that during three years' litigation passengers coming from the West by the Hereford Railway had to get out at the Moorfields station of that line, and to go by omnibus to the Great Western station, which the Midland Company X 306 " GLOEIOUS UNCERTAINTY OF THE LAW." liad the right to use. The traffic was "very nearly killed," as Mr. Noble expressed it, "by the block;" for "pas- sengers were not very likely to choose being carried in an omnibus through the streets of Hereford when they could get by a through line." Meanwhile the matter was before the Master of the Rolls, Lord Romilly, and the Midland Company was defeated ; an appeal was then made to the Lords Justices James and Mellish, who did not even call upon the ]\Iidland Company to I'cply, but set aside the previous decision, and declared that the Midland Company had " a lawful right to come to and from the Great Western line" as "one continuous line of rail- way." " Being of opinion," said Lord Justice Mellish, " that the agreement itself is legal, and being of opinion that the Midland are entitled to use the Great AVestcrn line by virtue of the agreement with the Great Western, I am of opinion that the decree that has been made must be reversed." The Midland Company in their bill now urged upon Parliament, that as the London and North Western and the Great Western Companies had been authorised to amalga- mate various lines that gave access to this South Wales system, similar advantages should be conferred upon them- selves. They expressed themselves prepared to join other companies in providing additional station accommoda- tion at Hereford, which was urgently needed ; whereas to such a purpose the Hereford Company alone was unable to contribute " anything, because they had no funds." " I may saj^" remarked Mr. Noble, " on the part of the Midland Company, that we are quite ready to consider with the other two companies the most desirable way of giving that accommodation to the city of Hereford which they desire to have." With regard to the district served by the Hereford line, Mr. Charles Anthony, six times mayor of Hereford, HEREFORD, HAY AND BRECON LINE. 307 stated that tliat city was looked upon as the capital of the district. "There are," he said, "an enormous number of cattle bred in Radnorshire ; and on the west side of the city we have some of the finest timber for general purposes, and pit timber particularly, which should find its way to Birmingham, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire. The citizens generally attribute its enormous increase in the markets to the opening up of the country by the Midland Railway. The markets have enormously increased. The inhabitants generally think that the competition would be most wholesome and beneficial to the trade of the city as well as to the county." " For the sake of the traffic on the Hereford, Hay and Brecon itself," said Mr. Noble, " it would not be worth our while to work it. It only becomes valuable to us as affording the means of access to places beyond Brecon. To those places the London and North Western and Great Western have got their own independent routes. Now the largest places beyond Brecon to which this line takes us for the purposes of this bill are Merthyr and Dowlais, which are two very large and populous places, containing together 100,000 people. There are also some of the largest ironworks in Wales here;" and both the other great companies have, or will shortly have, a route of their own to both places, so that neither of them are likely to use the Hereford line, " because it would simply be abstracting traffic from their own rail- way." The Midland Company has, however, every reason for encouraging traffic by this route. " There is now a very large traffic from the ironstone fields of Northamptonshire to those very large ironworks at Dowlais. We are now," continued Mr. Noble, " sending fifty or sixty thousand tons of ironstone every year into those works. Then there is also a very large cattle traffic 308 NEAELT STAEVED TO DEATH. which comes out of this district to the grazing districts of Leicestershire and Northamptonshire ;" and there is the anthracite coal which goes largely into the midland and eastern districts. For the sake of the local line it seemed imperative that something should be done. " The Great Western Railway," said Mr. Noble, " are trying to starve that poor little Hereford Railway; they have nearly killed it, and want to finish it." " If the bill was not sanc- tioned," said Mr. Venables, " the Hereford line would in all probability be shut up ; and there would be a very well laid-out line o^oinof throuo^h one of the most remark- able and pleasant and beautiful countries, and affording a means of communication with the North and the country inland to the whole of South Wales, absolutely useless." " I do not think," he said in conclusion, " it will be contended that the public advantage is not exclusiv^ely upon our side, or that any possible material advantage can be gained by the rejection of our bill. It will be contended by the London and North Western that they will lose some traffic, which perhaps they will. It will be contended by the Great Western that they will lose some traffic, and that they ought to be pro- tected in their two claims, — one of which is to place a truck across the junction at Hereford, and the other is to force us either to use these impossible running powers, or not to get into South Wales at all. They will support these two contentions to the best of their ability — probably with great ability; but the greater the ability they show in proving that they are for this purpose the enemies of the human race, the better for me. When the claims of this bill were submitted to the committee of the Lords they " decided (July 3, 1874) to reserve their decision until they had heard the evidence THE SWANSEA VALE RAILWAY. 309 on the next bill." On the following day they resolved to give their sanction to both measures. The other line was the Swansea Yale, which it was proposed also to add by amalgamation to the Midland. We have already seen that the Hereford line brought the Midland Company as far as Brecon. From Brecon its traffic could go south to Merthyr, Tredegar, the Taff Vale, and Cardiff by other lines; but the Midland wished to go south-west to Swansea by a line in effect its own. Between Brecon and Swansea lay two railways; first the Brecon and Neath, and then the Swansea Yale. To the latter we will now refer. The Swansea Yale Railway was originally promoted as a private line, the property of some colliery owners and others, who wished to send the produce of their pits and works down to the harbour and docks of Swansea. The colUeries, steel, tin, copper works, and foundries upon this line are so numerous that, as the manager declared, " they extend nearly every four or five hundred yards from one end of the line to the other." Meanwhile the demands of the district were increasing, and an unop- posed bill was, in that session (1874), before Parliament for a large increase of the dock accommodation of Swan- sea, at a cost of £400,000 or £500,000. To go back, however, to the year 1846, we find that an attempt w^as then made to obtain the sanction of Parliament to the little railway company, but that it failed in consequence of some incidental circumstances. Still, the construction of the line went on, and eight miles were completed. At length, in 1855, the Company succeeded in obtain- ing their Act of incorporation, and, by subsequent legis- lation, in extending the railway up to a place called Yniscedwyn, and westward to Brynammon, where it joins the Llanelly line. Difficulties, however, were numerous. " We are a small 310 CONDITION OF THE LINE. compaii}^," said Mr. Starling Benson, the chairman, *' and have had to work expensively ; we have also had to borrow money at a high rate of interest. For some years we paid no dividend, then two or three per cent., and gradually we got up to six per cent." And its later prosperity had arisen, he declared, " simply upon the prospect of our becoming Midland." Having, too, been originally in- tended only for local purposes, it was constructed, ex- cept at the stations, with a single line ; its stations were little better than waiting sheds; its siding accommo- dation was scanty ; and at Swansea, though there was a wooden passenger station, there was no goods station of any kind. " I have been over the line a great many times," said Mr. Noble, the assistant general manager of the Midland ; " and it is quite evident that they are com- pletely overpowered by their present traffic." Their rolling stock, too, was insufficient. " We have had to lend them an engine or two already," said Mr. Noble. To put the line into a proper condition for the public service, it was necessary that a large sum of money should be expended. " It must," said Mr. Noble, " be something very large " — " a very large sura, no doubt." The doubling of the line, which was indispensable for the proper development of a through route, would " certainly cost more," declared Mr. Yenables, "than £100,000." But all this the little company was not prepared to undertake. " Although," as Mr. Venables observed, " a local company may be earning a good income on its line, it cannot afford to lay out large sums of capital." A great company can afford to make improvements when- ever they are required, because the amount is only a fraction of the whole capital ; but if a small company were to spend 50 or 100 per cent, on its capital in improvements, it would for a time seriously cripple its position. The consequence practically is, that, so long as DIFFICULTIES OF SMALL COMPANIES. 311 a company like the Swansea Vale can get a moderate dividend on its capital, it will be slow to make improve- ments. At the same time, a larger company would not lay out its money on a foreign line — a line which it did not practically own. Another disadvantage of the Swansea Vale Company, experienced by all small companies under similar circum- stances, was, that they could not find enough trucks to carry on a business over large and distant lines. " If they come back empty," said the chairman, " the loss of time is so great that they are not used ; but if they belonged to one of the large companies, they find traffic to load them with near the spot, and they deliver the loads, and there is something else to send back again." " We find as a small company that we cannot afford the proper accommodation which the colliery trade requires. We cannot find the trucks and those thino^s which a large company can do." "We are also at a disadvan- tage through the smallness of our line, that in case of accident or temporary stoppage of our traffic we cannot average our losses. A laro-e accident or a lock-out would O a take away all our dividends." This line (the Swansea Vale) the Midland Company proposed to make their own by a perpetual lease, and by guaranteeing a dividend of G per cent, per annum on a capital of about £145,000. All this was provisionally arranged. But the difficulties of the case had not yet been overcome ; for between Brecon (the most westerly point of the Midland) and the most easterly point of the Swansea Vale lay the property of a third company, the Brecon and Neath Railway. How Avas their concurrence so to be secured as to provide a through and uninter- rupted communication between the Midland system and Swansea ? The solution of this question was to be found in the fiict that at a previous period it had been arranged 312 BRECON AND NEATH LINE. between the Brecon and Neath and the Swansea Vale Railways that they should interchange certain running- powers over each other's lines, " so as to establish a direct route between Swansea and the North of England." The words were, that the Swansea Vale were " to have the right, if they think fit, to run over and use with their engines, etc., the Brecon and Neath Railway." A through route northward was thus secured, of which the Swansea Vale was the first stage, the Neath and Brecon the second, and (what had now become) the Midland the third ; there being " through invoicing and through booking," and all " in the fullest and most unreserved manner." It so happened, that up to the period when the ]\[idland was contemplating these amalgamations, this Brecon and Neath had been by no means in a prosperous condition. The great highways of the London and North Western and Great Western had carried the traffic by other routes, and this line had been reduced to a state of starvation. *'At this moment," said Mr. Noble, " its working expenses are, I think, 93 per cent, of its entire receipts." Mr. Denison, who appeared on its behalf, admitted before the Commons Committee, that " it had gone through great calamities — it had never earned a penny for itself — it had been in a most miserable condition — it had passed through all the stages of poverty because it had not been in a proper physical condition." Under such circumstances the proposal of the Midland Company seemed highly advantageous. It was, that the Midland Company should take over, with the Swan- sea Vale line, the running powers it had over the Brecon and Neath, and use them as the Swansea Vale could have used them ; in payment for which the Neath and Brecon would receive their mileage proportion of the PEOTESTS AGAINST AMALGAMATIOX. 318 tiirouQfli rate. This was tlie laro^est amount which the Midland Company professed to be able to give ; for if they charged the same as their competitors for a through service, and yet allowed the Brecon and Neath a greater share than their mileage proportion, it is plain that the rest of the line would have to receive less than its mileage proportion, which it could not afford to take. "It would," said Mr. Noble, "be a bar toll ;" and the practical result would be that the whole line, Brecon and Neath included, would lose the through traffic altogether. Mr. Noble, however, stated that his company was prepared to allow the Brecon and Neath, if they believed that a mileage proportion was " an in- sufficient remuneration for the traffic carried in Midland trains over their railway, to have the right to go to an arbitrator, and ask him how much more, if any, they should receive out of the through rate." " There is," he said, " a precedent for this, in the terms on which the Midland Company obtained running powers over the South Staffordshire, by the Act of 1867." But against these proposals the Brecon and Neath entered its protest ; and urged Parliament to refuse its sanction to the amalgamation. Piqued at the less favourable terms offered to itself, or backed up by other influences, it declared that it did not want the Mid- land to come over it at all, and did not want to be made a through route. This may seem very unnatural and strange; but the underlying motive came out in the remarks of their counsel. It simply meant that more money was wanted from the Midland Company, — of course a very natural design considered in itself. " We say," remarked Mr. Pember, " here are two companies who are properly bought up, and naturally we think that you ought to buy us up properly too. If not, we say, let us alone." To this, of course, the Midland 31-i ADVANTAGES OF THROUGH LINES. Compaii}^ could repl}^ : "If we did as you wislied, and bought you up, and paid the market value for you, we should pay you next to nothing. If we buy you at any price you might put upon yourselves we should pay you too much. We will therefore adopt the middle course; and as the Swansea Yale are prepared to sell us their right to running powers over your line, we will buy that and pay you a mileage proportion of all the large traffic we shall be able to bring over your half- starved and almost moribund system." The advantag^e of makino' these little fra% 1 '«£,< f AIREDALE VIADUCT, ON OCISELET LINE. engraving represents one of the viaducts, — not the largest. It carries the line over the valley of the Aire. At Shipley the branch line turns away, and runs up a wide valley down which the Beck flows from Bradford to the Aire at Shi})ley. The town is said to have derived its name from being a " broad ford" over a marsh. It " has little ancient history preserved, though it must have been a seat of ironworks in the Roman period, a number of Roman coins having been discovered in the midst of a mass of scoria?, the refuse of an ancient foundry in the neighbourhood of the town. The supply of ore is still abundant ; l)ut the works, though considerable, are not so extensive as perhaps might have been anti- BRADFORD. 463 cipated. The great supply of coal in the neighbourhood lias, as in the case of Leeds, been one of the main causes of the growth of the prosperity of the place. In the Civil Wars of the reign of Charles I. Bradford stood for the Parliament, and twice repulsed attacks from the Cavalier garrison of Leeds before it was taken by New- castle, Lord Fairfax cutting his way through the besiecrers to Leeds ; but his v/ife being made prisoner before she could (on horseback) reach the brow of the hill, Newcastle sent her to her husband in his own carriaofe. Bradford is now the great centre of the worsted trade ; Norwich, which was the cradle of the trade, beino- now supplied from Bradford ' with finer yarns than she can herself make, and at a far lower price.' The earliest manufacture of Bradford, however, was that of woollen cloths." Less than a mile from Shipley is Saltaire — named after 464 S ALTAI RE. its founder, Sir Titus Salt, Bart. Of the processes carried on in the factory, -svhich covers twelve acres, and where eighteen miles of cloth a day can be made, we can say nothing; but of the town, the chapels, the baths, the almshouses, the infirmanes, the schools, the club and institute, and the Saltaire Park, it has been well remarked that the whole is the realization of a great idea, and shows " what can be done towards breaking down the barrier that lias existed between the sympathies of the labourer mid tlic ('m])loy■/•-. CLAPHAM STATION AND VUDDCT, AND INOLEBORODOH. Scotland have been wont to turn off to the right, and run for four or five miles to the station at Ingleton, where they come under the control of the London and jN'orth Western Company. Clapham is a place of much interest, being one of the most accessible points for those who intend to visit Ingleborough Mountain, — that "huge creature of God," as Gray calls it, — or the wondrous limestone caves of Clapham, that stretch half a mile into the earth ; and it is not improbable that further re- searches may open up chambers leading yet farther into the recesses of the mountain. Stalactites and stalag- TNGLEBOEOUGH. 471 mites may here be seen in every stage of tlieir formation, from a drop to a pillar. One stalagmite is ten feet in circumference at the base and two in height, it is estima- ted that it is the growth of 260 years. One part of the cave is called the " Gothic Archway." A stream of water flows through the cave. Excellent accommodation is to be had at the inn close by the Clapham Station. The summit of Ingleborough is the site of an ancient British camp. It is of an irregular quadrangular form -^^^g:£:->: AQUEDUCT NEAR LANCASTER. 400 yards on its longer side, and 220 on its shorter. The area enclosed is some fifteen acres, within which are the horse-shoe foundations of nineteen ancient huts, about thirty feet in diameter, all of them opening to the south. Ingleborough is 2361 feet high. Here beacon fires used to be burnt, to give warning of a threatened incursion of the Scots. 472 LANCASTER. Between Bentliam and "Wennington we enter Lancashire, where we find the junction of the Midland and Furness Railway, and then pursue our way by Hornby. The castle stands on a conical hill washed by the river, — a site formerly occupied by a Roman villa. It is a place full of histories of sieges and struggles " from the time of the notorious Colonel Charteris down to the period when the poet Gray received inspiration from its battle- ments." Anon we proceed down the beautiful valley of mi. UUiCABTSB. " the stony Lune," as Spenser calls it, to the Green Ayre Station of the Midland Company at Lancaster. The Castle Station of the London and North Western Com- pany is a short distance farther forward. Some of the Midland trains run into it. From Lancaster the Midland Company has immediate access to Morccambe. We pass over the iron bridge across the Lune depicted in our sketch, and leaving on our left another and older bridge which conducts to the MORECAMBE. 473 Castle Station, we run under the lofty embankment of the Lancaster and Carlisle line, and are soon out in the fields on our way to Morecambe. A few years a(^o the very name, except as that of a beautiful and dangerous bay, was scarcely known ; and in the present time, in all legal documents the old name of Poulton, an obscure fishing village which stood upon this spot, is retained. AVithin the last twenty years, however, a large and increasing town has arisen : the promenade has been completed ; by the aid of the Midland Company, the sea-wall has been extended ; the new pier has been built, improvements and enlarge- MOIIECAMIIE. ments have been made in all directions ; and visitors and residents have become so numerous that the place is known among many as " Little Bradford." The hand- some and commodious railway station, the pleasant sea- side views, the interest of the nciGfhbourhood, the wide- spread bay, the cheering coastline of hill, and to the north and west the mountains of the Lake District, have made Morecambe one of the most attractive spots on the Eno^lish coast. 47-4) MIDLAND AND FURNESS LINK. Returning to Wenuingtou Junction, and curving to the right, we are on the Midland and Furness line, and soon passing Moiling, we run over a viaduct of thirteen arches that crosses the Lune. Here a fine view of the river may be enjoyed, with Hornby Castle in the distance. Emerging from a tunnel under Melling Moor, we observe various country seats, pleasantly situated on the hill- sides ; and on our left, at Arkholme, across the valley, is the noble residence known as Storr's Hall ; and, in a few minutes, we cross over the London and North Western main line, immediately north of Carnforth Station, and reach the Carnforth Station of the Furness Company. Here, strictly speaking, we should pause, and leave the rest of our journey westward to the historian of the Fur- ness lines. But that company has a special intimacy with the Midland, and there are two points which they may be consi'. — Robberby Beek. — Eden Lacy Viaduct. — A cofferdam. — Long Meg and her Daughtei*s. — La^onby. — Kirkoswald. — Barren Wood. — Samson's Cave. — The Nunnery and its history. — Armathwaite. — Drybeck Viaduct. — A landslip. — Eden Brow. — Heavy works. — Carlisle. If a long day's work or pleasure i.^ wanted, commend us to one of tlie newspaper expresses. We do not mean to say tliat to leave St. Pancras at 5.15 a.m. would not tax the fortitude of the most inveterate early riser, unless he THE SETTLE AND CARLISLE LINE. 479 liad spent the niglit at tbe Midland Grand; but the ordinary specimens of our sleep-loving race might manage to catch the train in its downward course, say at Bedford, Leicester, or Trent. At any rate, whoever does not go, the newspaper express train goes, with eager speed and exact punctuality ; and the traveller on the Midland finds himself careering along the magnificent valleys of the High Peak country at a time when common mortals are eating their breakfasts ; that he has reached Manchester at ten o'clock ; and that he is on 'Change before the Manchester manufacturers. Our errand, however, was in a somewhat different direction. We had heard, as everybody had heard, a great deal about a certain new railway in the North, which is to bring England and Scotland more closely together. " The Settle and Carlisle " is a line which (as dear Tom Hood says of Miss Kilmansegg's leg) was " in every- body's mouth, to use a poetical figure." Some millions of money had been spent upon it; Midland shareholders had long eagerly awaited its completion ; and the great east and west coast lines had been preparing, with whatever fortitude they could summon, to share a traffic worth, it is said, two millions a year, with their great and growing Midland rival. It was generally understood that the line was approaching completion ; that some twenty goods trains a day would soon be hastening up and down those then silent valleys, and that the passenger traffic would commence so soon as the stations were finished and the road was consolidated. So we resolved to go and see that part of the world for ourselves. It was well known, when the Midland Company de- cided to secure a route of their own to the gates of Scot- land, that no common difficulties would have to be over- come. Years before, Mr. Locke, the eminent engineer, had been daunted by the obstacles he met, and had 480 EXTRAORDINARY DIFFICULTIES OF THE COUNTRY. declared that even a west coast route to Scotland ums impossible ; and when, later on, the Lancaster and Carlisle was made, it had to be carried over the gorge of Shap, which, with the best gradients that could be found, re- quired an incline for many miles up and down of 1 in 70. Across the whole North of England lay too the giant Pennine Chain, which seemed resolved to bar the way acrainst any further access for an innovatin": and ob- trusive civilization. Undaunted, however, by these obstacles, the general manager and the enrrineer-in-chief of tlie Midland Com- pany went down to see for themselves what could be done. In their researches they ascertained tliat tliere was one, and only one, ])racticable route. The great wolds and hills that stretch far over the West Riding of Yorkshire are fortunately bounded by one series of natural valleys that run from south to north, flanking the western out- lines of the county, continuing across Westmorland, and forming part of the great Eden Valley of (\imberland. But when we speak of a series of valleys, we must not be misunderstood. It was no easy thing to find a route for a railway even among these. Over any such path frowned the huge masses of Ingleborough, and Whern- side, and Wildboar, and Shap Fells ; and if a line were to wind its way at the feet of these, and up and down these mighty dales, it would have to Ijo by spanning valleys with stupendous viaducts, and piercing raouutain- heights with enormous tunnels ; miles upon miles of cuttings would have to be blastwl through the rock, or literally torn through clay of the most extra- ordinary tenacity ; and embankments, weighing perhaps 250,000 tons, would have to be piled on peaty moors, on some parts of which a horse could not walk without sinking up to his belly. " I declare to you," said a some- what rhetorical fai'inur to us, ** there is not a level piece MR. SHARLAND. 481 of ground big enough to build a house upon all the way between Settle and Carlisle." A railway for merely local purposes might indeed have been made by running up and down steep gradients, and twisting and twirling right and left with rapid curves, so as to avoid cuttings or em- bankments ; but such a line would have been useless for the very purposes for which the Settle and Carlisle was to be constructed. An ascent would also have to be made over the country to a height of more than 1000 feet above the sea, by an incline that should be easy enough for the swiftest passenger expresses and for the heaviest mineral trains to pass securely and punctually up and down, not only in the bright dry days of summer, but in the darkest and greasiest December nights. Knowing all this, the enofineers set to work. However o^reat the obstacle that lay in their path, they had simply one of four courses to take — to go over it, or to go under it, or to go round it, or to go through it : go they must. Hence the marvel- lous variety of work, the endless resources of ingenuity, and the immense demands of labour and capital which characterise this remarkable railway. After the visit of the general manager and engineer, the first pioneer sent into this remarkable country on behalf of the Midland Company was a young engineer named Sharland. A Tasmanian by birth, he had been for some time professionally engaged on the Maryport and Carlisle Railway, and had become familiar with this en- tire district. Immediately on his appointment he started off to fiuxd the best route for the proposed line, and in ten days walked the whole distance from Carlisle to Settle, taking flying surveys and levels, and determining on what he considered the best course for the railway to take. Unhappily, a very few years afterwards, though he was apparently strong, and unusually commanding in figure and appearance, the toils of his work and the severity of I I 482 SETTLE. the climate to which he was exposed suddenly developed lurking seeds of disease, and he died at Torquay, regretted by all who knew him. The first sod of the new line was cut near Anley, in November, 18G9; and, by the time of our visit, skill, energ3% and money had brought the work nearly to its completion. As our train began to slacken speed for Settle Station, and we saw the new line curving away to the north, wo were at the base of a rugged but beautiful valley, down which the roaring Ribble runs. Near the southernmost end of this valley, the town of Settle ("quite," says an admirer, **a metropolitan town ") stands among wooded hills, overhung, as one writer says, " in an awful manner," by a lofty limestone rock called Castleber ; while far beyond, on the left and right, rise above the sea of mountains the mighty outlines of Whernside and Pen- negent, often hid in the dark clouds of trailing mists. Up this valley the new line runs, pursuing its way among perhaps the loneliest dales, the wildest mountain wastes, and the scantiest population of any })art of England ; yet destined to become one of the world's highways, along which the busiest mercliants, the costliest produce, and the ponderous mineral wealth of England and Scotland will liie their way. Settle presented, when we first saw it, a strange and confused appearance. The pretty passenger station, built of freestone and in Gothic style, was nearly finished; the walls of the spacious goods shed were almost ready to receive the roof, and the commodious cottages hurd by for the Company's servants would soon bo completed ; but around were whitewashed wooden sheds, the tem- porary oflices or homes of the Company's staff', and in- numerable piles of contractors' materials no longer re- quired, but ready marked off in lots for a great clearance sale. THE DINNER HOUR. 483 It is the dinner hour, and a strange silence prevails throughout the works. Navvies are taking their siesta on the great piled-up baulks of timber, in various and grotesque attitudes ; apparently sleeping as composedly, and certainly snoring as satisfactorily, as any alderman could hope to do on his feather bed; while ever and anon some foreman or mason comes to his wooden cottage door, and wistfully gazes at the strangers, wondering what their THE AMBULANCE. errand may be. Two vehicles (if so they could be called) standing in the yard, deserve special notice. One, the ambulance, a covered-in homely-looking four-wheeled conveyance, has completed for a time its humane but melancholy work, and is marked with chalk as a " Lot " for sale. THE BOG CABT. " And what is this for ? " we inquired, as we stood in front of the other vehicle, one which our Scotch friends might well call " a machine," that consisted of a huge 484 BOGS. barrel, over TvLicli was a liglit cart-bodj and shafts, so arranged that as the horse pulled, the barrel would turn round underneath like a gigantic garden roller. " You'd be a long while before you guessed," was the reply ; and our attempts were in vain. " We used to fill it," said our informant, " with victuals, or clothes, or bricks, to send to the men at work on the line, across bogs where no wheels could go. I've often seen," he added, " three horses in a row pulling at that concern over the moss till they sank up to their middle, and had to be drawn out one at a time by their necks to save their lives." And another ^lidland engineer subsequently re- marked that he had watched four horses drajj feet ; a cnrvc of one cliain radins is tlitroforo a circle of 132 feet diameter. A tlirce chain nidiua would mean a circle the diameter of which is 132 yardi. DRUGS AND BOILERS. 495 hill-side in places sometimes as steep as one foot perpen- dicular rise in two and a half feet length, and then dragged it up 1300 feet above the sea. By having crabs placed one above another, we pulled up first the boiler which weighed two tons and a half, and then the engine, the lot weighing very likely six tons. The riveters put it together. It was a strange thing to hear the * tap, tap ' of the riveters' hammers up there in that howling wilderness. When one engine was set to work, we used it for drawing up some of the others." " And did you get them all up that way ? " " Well, no ; we had to get another up the flatter side of the hill ; and that was more difiicult still, because of the bogs. We managed that on a drug, — a four-wheeled timber wagon sort of thing. It was an uncommonly strong one, you may be sure. We brought it along the lugleton road ; and then, for two miles and a half, we pulled it by means of two ropes working round the boiler ; as one rope was drawn off the other was rolled on. And so, stage by stage, we dragged it over the rugged and boggy ground, and up to the top of the mountain on which it stands." And there for four years and more those engines did their almost ceaseless work, the two at either end windiuo- materials or men up the inclined planes from near the tunnel mouths, while the others were lowering bricks and mortar in "skeps"down the shafts, or raising the ex- cavated rock or the water that found its way into the workings, and threatened, ever and anon, to drown them out. From the tunnel ends, and from the bottoms of the shafts " headings " w^ere run till they met. " You see," said Mr. Ferguson, the engineer, " there is room for only four men to work at one time and one place in making a tunnel ; and if we had not had shafts from the top, the tunnel would really have had to be bored by eight men, 496 snAFTfs, nEAniXGS, and dynamite. and I am afraid the patience of the Midland sliareholdcrs would have been exhausted before the Blea Moor tunnel was finished. But every shaft we sank gave us two more faces to work at, and two more gangs could be put on. By such an aiTangement, seven shafts and two tunnel entrances would give sixteen tunnel faces ; sixteen gangs of men, day and night, could work; and thus the tunnel could be completed in four years, instead of thirty-two, a period which would have landed us in 19.03." Besides, four at least of these shafts are permanently required for the proper ventilation of the tunnel. " "When we had made our shafts," continued our en- gineer, "we began to run headings north and south, till, at last, they met. The strata through which we had to pass were limestone, gi'itstone, and shale; but in making the heading we chiefly followed the shale, because it was the easiest, though this sometimes brought us to the level of the rails, and sometimes to the top of the arch. We now started what we termed a * break up ' ; that is, we enlarged a certain jiortion of the tunnel sufficiently to enable us to put in the arch in brick, filling in the space behin line, wc pass along a sandstone cut- ting ; then through a hill of sand ; two tunnels quickly fol- low, beyond which is a rock cutting; there is a third tunnel ; and, once more, a cutting GO feet dee[). All along our course the Eden winds beneath us with majestic curves and wonderful beauty, until, at Arma- thwaitc, with its ancient (piaint old square castle; its picturesque viaduct of nine arches 80 feet high ; its road bridge of freestone; its cataract, where the water "pours in sonorous violence over a bed of immovable crags, which whirl the stream into eddies;" and its elm, said ENGINEERING DIFFICULTIES. 541 to be the finest in Camberland, — we are surrounded by objects of interest and beauty which (to employ an ex- pression never used before) it is more easy to imagine than to describe. Soon after leaving Armathwaite we pass over one of the heaviest embankments on the line. It stretches from the station to a little beyond Drybeck viaduct, and con- tains nearly 400,000 cubic yards of material. As two and a half or three such yards of " stuff" would quite fill a tip waggon, it is plain that at least 133,000 separate journeys had to be taken, and 133,000 such loads had to be filled and emptied, before even this one work could be com- pleted. This viaduct has seven arches, and is 80 feet high above the surface. About a mile forward, and before reaching High Stand Grill, we pass a point where the river Eden curves so closely under the sloping hillside that serious difficulty arose in carrying on the work. " Shortly after we beo-an to tip," remarked the resident to us, " a landslip took place, and the whole ground (some five acres) be^-an to move. The ground between the line and the river 'blew up,' on account of being unable to resist the pressure of the embankment ; and the whole thing slid down towards the water." It had been known at the outset that this spot would be troublesome; and it had even been con- fidently predicted that no railway could ever be carried here. A proposal had been made that the line should be carried further to the left, by piercing the hill with a tunnel ; but the hill itself was on an inclined bed, and, enormous as it was, might, if tunnelled, move. The engineer-in-chief, Mr. Crossley, finally resolved to cany the line across the slope ; and though the incline of the bank was 200 feet from top to bottom, and though the bank slipped, and carried with it trees forty or fifty years old for a distance of 150 feet, driving the river sideways 542 CUMWHIXTON AND CARLISLE. actual!}^ into the uext parish, the difficulty was eventually overcome by similar means to those which were employed at the Soar Bridge, in Leicestershire. The hill-side was also cleared of water by means of vertical shafts driven into the ground, and deep drains carried from one to another; and these holes were filled in with rock, which also served as a friction bed to stay the movement of the slip. The whole of the contents of the previous heavy cutting, containing upwards of 160,000 yards, were tipped here before a safe foundation could bo provided. On the left-hand side of the line, just beyond this iK)int, is Eden Brow, the residence of ^ir. Thomas llorrucks. Before reaching High Stand Gill Station is a viaduct OU feet high, with four arches ; and on the left of the station are considerable gypsum quarries. Immediately forward we pass over a long and heavy embankment, containing about li>0,000 yards of earthwork and several bridges ; and the line then passes under the public road by a hand- some skew three-arched bridge. I'rom hence to the end of our journey the country and the railway works become more (piiet and less interest- ing. Cumwhinton Cutting, however, is 1100 yards long and 40 feet deep. A mile farther on is Scotby, a small village with two stations, one belonging to the Midland Company and the other to the North Eastern ; and soon afterwards we pass through the property of ^Ir. Sutton and others into the large goods station of the Midland Company, which here occupies an area of some 40 acres. The contractor for the whole of these works, from Crow- dundle Beck northward, was Mr. John Bayliss ; the engineer of the last contract was Mr. Baine, of Carlisle. The passenger trains will run about a mile forward into the Citadel Station of Carlisle, and then join the other companies that so numerously congregate there. In the prosecution of the works of this line the chair- MI?. ELLIS. 543 man took a very special interest. His visits and counsel in every stage of its operation, when the district was most difficult of access, when the works were rude and incomplete, and when the weather was in the last degree inclement, were most helpful to those who were struggling with the extraordinary difficulties of the undertaking. " The successful opening," writes an engineer, " and, I may almost say, the success of the whole undertaking, is due to the untiring energy and attention shown by our present chairman, Mr. Ellis; and, personally, I have felt that with his assistance I could pull through anything when I had his confidence and countenance." We should not be doing justice to those of our readers who are Mid- land shareholders if we omitted to draw their especial consideration to this fact. DERBY CDKVE BRIDGE. CHAPTER XVI. Derby to Birralnpham. — Little Chester. — Findem. — Repton. — Forc- rnark Ifjill. — Tlie Dove. — Rurton-on-Trent. — Messrs. Bass: their trade and traffic. — Drakelow Park. — Barton. — The Forest of Xcedwf)od. — Tamworth. — Fazeley Canal. — Whitacre Junction. — Tiawlej Street. — A uselessviaduct. — View of nirminc^ham. — King's Xorton. — Worcester and Birmingham Canal. — Weoly Castle. — Hawksley Hall. — Cofton Hall. — Lickey Hills. — The Lickey Incline. — Working the incline. — Bromsgrove. — Stoke Works. — Brine springs. — Droitwich. — Ix'gends and facta.— Wcstwood Park. — Sahvarp and Richard Beanchamp. — Hinlip Hall: conspiracies and concealments. — Opposition Ui canals. — Worcester. — Historical events. — The Severn. — Crookbarrow Hill. — " O. W. and W." — Ci-oome Court and Park. — DefTord Viaduct. — Bredon Hill. — Gloucestershire. — Ashchurch .Tunctii>n. — Clecve Cloud. — Chelten- ham. — The Zoons Farm. — Krmine Street. — Gloucester. — Hill range. — Gloucester and Berkeley Canal. — Priory of Llanthony. — Hempstead. — Broiwl Barrow Green. — St< nehouse. — Nailsworth branch. — Strondwater Canal. — Opposition to it. — Woodchester Park. — Dnrsley. — Berkeley Ca«tle. — The murder of a king. — Stinchcomix; Hill. — Stancorabe Park. — Nibley. — William Tyndale. — Wotton-nnder-Kdge. — Tort worth. — Wick war. — Yate. — Thorn- bury Castle and town. — Coalpit Heath line. — Mangotsfield. — Bridges or tunnels? — Tramway — Bitlon Cutting. — P(ick» ts of iron. — The Golden Valley. — Weston. — Bath. — Kingswood. — Bnstol. We must now ask our rcadiT to return with us to Derby, and to start on a visit over the Midland Railway to the West. In our journey we shall travel, in the first in- stance, over one of the oldest portions of the Midland system, — the Birmingham and Derby line, as it was called. And we may add, that the construction of it was easy ; that the works are light ; and that there is no tunnel. Leaving the Derby Station we pass under the Man- chester and London road, and soon the village of I^ittle Chester is seen on our left. It was formerly a Roman castra. Emerging from a cutting, we are in a fine open country, — the verdant valley of the Dove ; and we now cross, l)v an iron bridge, the Trent and Mersey Canal, FINDERN AND REPTOX. 545 which ruus for a considerable distance on our right. This watery highway, sometimes called the Grand Trunk Canal, is between 90 and 100 miles in length ; and at one time was so prosperous that its £50 shares were worth from £600 to £700 each. On the right is the village of Findern, formerly owned by the powerful family of the Fyndernes. There is a tradition that " Fyndern's flowers " never died. There was once a Nonconformist college here. On the left, among the trees, is the lofty spire of Repton Church. This village is full of historic interest. It was once a Roman colony ; it was long the capital of the Saxon kingdom of Mercia, and the burial place of kings ; on several occasions it was a battlefield ; it was the site of a rich priory; and its church was twice destroyed. Xo wonder that it is a favourite haunt of the antiquary, and that it well rewards the researches of the Eno-lish student N N o40 BURTON-ON-TEENT. of history. But lonpf Ix'fore these facts can be stated we have reached AVilhiigton Station, standing on an embankment. Three miles distant is Foremark Hall, built on the banks of the Trent more than 100 years ago. Less than a mile west of Williugton we pass under a bridge, and then immediately over a tributary of the Dove ; while to the right the Dove itself, crossed by two bridges, may be observed. The nearer bridge carries the road to Derby ; the farther one carries the canal over the Dove by a bridge of nine arches. We now cross tlu Dove. The village of Egginton is on the right ; and on the left the topmost battlements of Xewtou Castle rise amone: the trees on the summit of a hill. We are now at Burton-on-Trent, so called to dis- tinguish it from the fifty or sixty other Burtons in the land. There are few small towns, it has been remarked, so rich in historical associations as this. " Mure than one pitched battle has been fought near it; and the Trent, in its vicinity, has often been disputed inch by inch, and blood has flowed like water.** But " bitter" as may be some of the memories of the past, bitterness* has been the chief source of the material prosperity of this town, and the traffic thus yielded to the Midland Company has been large. As long ago as 18GG the manager of the one firm of ^Messrs. Bass gave evidence that durinsx that season thev had brewed about llMJ OOU quarters of malt ; and that the weight they had sent out from their yard during their previous season was more than 100,000 tons, in 3G,656 waggons ; equal to 1000 trains of .'3G trucks each. The inwards weight was 72,000 tons, and came in 29,702 waggons. The following year the amount had risen 20 per cent., and has since largely increased. • It was rcninrkcd on one occasion by some liumorous mcnilxr of parliament in the bouse, that Mr. Basa bad " biltt-rly " comi)lained about something or other. DRAKELOW AND BARTON. 547 '* The whole trade of Burton," said the manager, " has trebled in 10 years." "We have paid the Midland Company," said Mr. Bass, M.P., in 1866, "nearly £17,000 for a single month's traffic. But that is not the average. Ours is a season trade ; we do very little in the summer compared with what we do in the winter. Last year, I think we paid the Midland Company £100,000, beside what we paid to the other companies. The traffic of Burton," he added, "is very nearly £400,000 a year;" and the traffic here and elsewhere so rapidly increased that it was scarcely possible for the railway companies to provide sufficient trucks to carry it. So great became the demand that the waggon builders were unable to build waggons fast enough. "We ordered 1000 trucks," said Mr. AUport, in May, 1866, " which would cost about £75,000 ; and instead of having them delivered in about six months, as we expected, I do not think they are all delivered even now, and it is nearly eighteen months ago. There is the same demand every- where." Leaving Burton, a branch bears away on our left to Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Leicester. We also see Drake- low Park, situated on the Derbyshire side of the Trent, and " rendered famous from being the point where King Henry II., with his army, forded the stream in pursuit of his disaffected barons." The line now passes close to the village of Branston, and then we reach the station of Barton and Walton-on-Trent. The church at Barton was built by "Dr. Taylor, one of three sons of a peasant in whose cottage Henry VIII. was entertained by the forester when he lost his way in hunting." The Forest of Needwood now opens on the right, where of yore kings hunted deer and wild boars. It is of about 6000 acres ; but at one time was far more extensive. "Beneath its woods to the left, three rivers, the Trent, 548 T AM WORTH. the Tame, and the Mease," mingle their waters. The Trent and the Tame are now crossed by a viaduct which cost £14,000 ; and we enter Warwickshire at Tamworth. The Midland passes over the Trent Valley line of the London and North Western by an embankment of con- siderable elevation. The stations of the two companies are connected. Extensive views may here be enjoyed of the country; of the town of Tamworth, once the site of a Mercian fortification, and the home of several Mercian kings ; of Tamworth Castle, built, it is said, by the daughter of Alfred the Great ; and of Drayton Manor, backed by the Sutton Coldfield hills, the seat of HAUPTON STATION. Sir Robert Peel. " No one," remarked the late baronet, " who looks on this district ; no one who sees the extent of its woodlands, the delightful rivers that water it, enriching the spacious meadows that border them ; who sees also the extensive champaign country, affording the opportunity of arable cultivation for pleasure and profit, — can be surprised to find that, in the earliest times, it was the chosen seat of those who were the conquerors of the country." In the plain brick church is the grave of Sir Robert. He declined a tomb in Westminster Abbey. We now pass over the Anker Viaduct.* The next • Sec page GO. BIRMINGHAM. 549 embankment crosses the Fazeley Canal, wliicli connects Birmiugliara with the Coventry and Trent and Mersey Canals. At the village of Fazeley, part of which may be seen on the right, in 1785, Mr. Peel established his cotton mills, and there are still extensive cotton works and other manufactories here, belonging to the family. Passing Kingsbury Station we soon reach Whit- acre Junction, now an important point in this part of the Midland system, as it affords connection with Leicester on the east, Hampton on the south, Birmingham on the south-west, and Derby on the north. It is by the Wig- ston and Whitacre Junctions that the Midland Company now has direct communication between London and Birmingham. A run of 10 miles over a level line, and through fat meadow lands, brings us to the confines of Bir- mingham, one of the most enterprising and influential towns in the kin.s^dom, but S LAWLEY STREET GOODS STATIO^i, BIBMIKGHAM. of which our space for- bids us to say any- thing. Here we see upon our right the very extensive goods and mineral station of the Midland Company, at 550 king's NORTON AND LIFFOED. Lawley Street, formerly also the passenger terminus of the Birmingham and Derby line. Upon our left Ave may notice a long brick viaduct, now unused. When it was built the Grand Junction line (which afterwards formed part of the London and North AYestern) was on terms of intimacy with the Great Western Company; and this viaduct was intended to connect those lines together, the Oxford and Birmingham scheme having been originated as "a scourge to the London and Birmingham Railway." The project for the union of those lines was defeated ; but the viaduct was built in the hope that some day the union would be effected. " It cost," as a competent critic remarked the other day, "no end;" but it is not likely ever to be worth anything to anybody. Near this point the Mid- land Company unites with the London and North AVestern, and finds access to the New Street Station, Birmingham. It may be well for passengers to the West to observe that the quick through trains do not, as a rule, enter the New Street Station at Birmingham, but are taken direct from Saltley, on the Birmingham and Derby line, to Camp Hill, on the Birmingham and Bristol. From near Moseley Station, a mile forward, after crossing the canal > " a view is obtained of the enormous town of Birming- ham, with its numerous spires, towers, and chimneys rising above the haze and smoke in which its ordinar}- buildings are commonly invested." At King's Norton, seven miles forward, *" paper and rolling mills, india- rubber works, gun-barrel and bayonet manufactories flourish. The hamlet of Lifford, hard by, confers the title of viscount on the noble family of Hewitt." The church has a remarkably fine crocketed spire. A " curious vocal pedigree " records that the ancestors of a parish clerk here held their oflBce for upwards of two THE LICKEY HILLS. 551 hundred years. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal on our left passes through a tunnel nearly two miles long ; and. it is so straight that it can be seen through from end to end. We shall shortly observe on our left, down in the valley, the fine open sheet of water which forms the reservoir. Nearly two miles from King's Norton we pass close by Northfield on our right, where there are the ruins of an ancient fortress, called Weoly Castle. It must at one time, with its defences, have occupied nearly two acres of ground, and it was surrounded by a large deep moat, filled with water from a brook. The parish church has, on the north side, an ancient doorway, with a round Saxon arch, which is thought to have been part of a Saxon building. The country around is well timbered. We now pass Hawksley Hall, at the foot of the Lickey Hills. *' The old mansion was fortified and garrisoned for the parliament; but, in 1645, the soldiers refused to defend it when they saw it attacked by the king in person, and it was demolished." The fine range of the Lickey Hills is now seen on our right. On their summit is a monument in memory of the sixth Earl of Plymouth. We now enter Groveley Tunnel, 400 yards in length ; and then pass through the Cofton estate. The Hall is an interesting timber mansion of the six- teenth century. As we pass along the embankment, we observe another picturesque half-timbered house, with numerous gables ; it is Barnt Green House. At Barnt Green Junction the Midland line to Redditch, Evesham, and Ashchurch turns off" on our left. The Lickey Hills consist chiefly of new red sandstone, the summits and sides of which arc, says Murchison, " covered with a vast quantity of the pebbles of the disintegrated conglomerate of that formation ; but their northern end, called the Lickey Beacon, is a trap rock. 552 THE LICKET INCLINE. A lower ridge of quartz is composed of the older rock, extending for a distance of three miles, having all the appearance of a mountain chain, being covered with heath ; while the higher Lickey, which attains an eleva- tion of 1000 feet above the Severn, is verdant to the summit, a distinction which is well explained by the difference in their lithological structure." At Blackwell we arrive at the verge of the most in- teresting railway work on this line, — the Lickey Incline. Our readers are aware of the circumstances that originally led to the selection of this route for the railway,* and that it rendered unavoidable the passing down this incline. It is interesting, however, to recount the diffi- culties which were involved in the arrangement, and to observe the way in which they were overcome. The serious question was, how so steep an incline as 1 in 37 for two miles, from a point 400 feet above Cheltenham, could be worked safely. At an early meeting of the Birmingham and Gloucester Company, we find the chair- man referring to the subject. He stated that " increased economy had been practised in the locomotive depart- ment ;" and, as an illustration, " on the Lickey Incline they had done away with tenders, and had substituted tank engines, in which tlie waste steam was turned into the boiler, the water of which was kept at a great heat. They had, he said, solved the problem whether the inclined plane should be worked by locomotive engines, as at present, or whether it would be better to have fixed engines, or the pneumatic railway. It had beeu ascertained that a fixed engine could not be worked at less than £1 200 a year, and they all knew the incon- venience which attended the use of ropes. Indeed, he believed there was no question as to the superiority of locomotives, the only question was as to the expense. * Page 73, and onwards. THE LICKEY INCLINE. 553 That expense had now been brought to somewhat about £1200 a year ; and, if so, all the other ch'cumstances decide in favour of the use of locomotive engines. But the locomotive engines which they now employed were only probably of half the power of those that might 1)0 employed in working the Lickey. By-and-by the engines must be entirely different, but it would be arrant folly to throw away what had cost £40,000, and lay out now another £60,000 in replacing them. By degrees these engines must be replaced." At the preseut time the trains passing up the Lickey Incline have to be assisted with tank engines, three being required for this service. The expense of the maintenance and working of each is not less than £1200 a year ; in addition to which there is the cost of work- shops and machinery, amounting to £800 per engine per annum ; and there is the interest on the £3000 which a locomotive is worth. The annual expense of working the incline as compared with a level or a good gradient is thus over £4000 a year, or nearly £2000 a mile. Every precaution is adopted to prevent the possibility of acci- dent. Nothing is allowed to stand on the down rails at Bromsgrove Station while another train is descending the incline, lest by any possibility there should be any deficiency in the brake power or in the bite of the wheels, and it should overrun the distance intended. The result of these precautions has been that this portion of the line is worked with complete success, and with perfect immunity from accident. About half way down the incline, on the left of the line, is a reservoir, the water of which is carried in pipes laid under the six-foot down to Bromsgrove, for the engines and station. Formerly the Company had to pay £50 a year for the water they here required. " The town of Bromsgrove," said Leland, " is all in a 554 BROMSGROVE AND STOKE WORKS. manner of one street, very large, standinge in a plain ground. The town standetli something by clothinge," a trade for whicli that of needles, nails, fishhooks, buttons, and coarse linen has been substituted. " The heart of the town," he adds, " is meetly well paved. I rode from tlio AVyche to Bromsgrove, a four miles, by enclosed ground, meetly wooded, and well pastured ; and in this ■wave I passed over two or three bridges over tlie water tliat Cometh from the Wyche." The tower and spire of the cliurch are nearly 200 feet in height, and stand up boldly from tlie vale. They are not to be surpassed, said an old writer, " for antique elegance ])y any others in the county." Some of tlio more ancient houses in tliis town are *' framed of wood, and curiously decorated with black stripes and cross pieces, scollops, flowers, leaves, and otlier ornaments." In the neighbourhood are some remarkable echoes. Two miles and a half beyond Bromsgrove is the Stoke AVorks Station, a seat of the salt manufactui'e, at the head of which is John Gorbett, Escj., .M.P. The Romans required the Britons to j)ay tribute of salt (salarium) as " salary." This word salarium is said to iiave originated the term " salt " as used at Eton. Rock salt at Stoke was discovered in 1828. At Droitwich the brine flows on the surface. Here the ordinary springs are pure ; but a "brine smeller" from Cheshire, after examination of the geological formation of the locality, expressed his belief that mines might here be opened, and his predictions were verified. "The salt," says Murray, " is in beds of immense thickness, and the pro- prietors excavated the solid material ; but subsequently they preferred to pum]i up the beautifully transparent brine from a depth IGO feet lower than is reached at Droitwich." AVe now leave the Midland proper (unless travelling DROITWICH. ODD by a " special " or a through goods train), and run to Worcester and on to Norton Junction, by the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton division of the Great Western.* The distance between the two pairs of rails (popularly called the six-foot) is here wider than usual. It is accounted for by the fact that formerly there was the mixed gauge for both broad and narrow gauge trains; but the outer rail has been removed. This portion of the line is now under the administration of a joint committee of the two companies. On approaching Droitwich, the line turns to west- ward across the Salwarp River ; and running along the north side of the town, again bends southward, and reaches the station. The Salwarp took its rise in the Lickey range ; and passing through Bromsgrove, Stoke Prior, and Droitwich (where it formerly received the overflowings of the salt springs), runs by West wood House towards the Severn. Droitwich is supposed to have been the Saline of the Eomans, and is said to have been populous as far back as the Conqueror's time. The salt works are more than 1000 years old. Tradition tells that the salt springs at one time failed ; but that they were mira- culously reopened through the intercessions of Richard de Burford, chancellor to Thomas a Becket. Where- upon Fuller remarks that this " unsavoury lie hath not a grain of probability to season it; it appearing by ancient authors that salt water flowed there time out of mind, before sweet milk was given by either mother or nurse to this saint Richard." At the Domesday survey the springs were annexed to estates around, in propor- tion to the wood those estates could supply. The principal pits belonged to the crown, and there were * The Midland througli goods continue on the old main Midland line route via Droitwich Koad, Dunhampstead, and Spetchley. 556 WERTWOOD PARK. great restrictions on tlieir use ; till, about the close of the seventeenth century-, Mr. Stcynor sank pits in his own ground, and vindicated at law his right to do so. In 1725, Sir Richard Lane bored through a stratum of gypsum, which had formed the floor of the springs ; and immediately a stream of brine rushed up with such force as to drown the workmen at the bottom of the pit. Such was his success at the trade, that other proprietors followed his example. Immediately to the right of Droitwich Station is West- wood Park, the seat of Sir John Pakington, now Lord Hampton. It has 200 acres laid out " in rays of ])lant- ing," around the mansion. The fine old mansion stands on an eminence, and forms a square, from each corner of which is a wing. There is a lake of some GO acres. The house was the retreat of divers Royalists and High Church divines during the Civil AVar, who, " repaid the hospitality of Dorothy Lady Pakington, by aiding her in the composition of her celebrated work, * The whole Duty of Man.' " She also had " The Decay of Christian Piety " attributed to her ! Immediately south of Westwood Park is Salwarp, a EINLIP HALL. 557 village renowned as the birthplace, in 1381, of the famous Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, of whom it is re- corded that, when twenty-one, at the coronation of Henry IV.'s queen, he jousted all comers ; that subsequently he defeated Owen Glendower and the two Percies ; that he overthrew and would have slain an Italian knight at Verona ; that he was " eminently successful in all the glorious battles of Henry Y. in France ; " that he was designated by the Emperor Sigismund as " the Father of Courtesie ; " and that he performed innumerable other deeds as well in valour and chivalry. A mile and a half from Sal warp, on our left hand, is the village of Martin Husingtree ; immediately passing which, we cross over Atterburn Brook, and see Hinlip Hall before us on our left. This has been a place of unusual interest. It was built in Tudor times, and was provided with all the special safeguards suitable for a period of insecurity. " In fact," says one who visited it, " whoever has wandered with the writers of modern romance through towers, turrets, winding passages, creaking staircases, and dark closets, would here find themselves at home ; there is scarcely an apartment that has not secret ways of going in or going out ; some have back staircases concealed in the walls ; others have places of retreat in their chimneys ; some have trapdoors ; and all present a picture of gloom, insecurity, and suspicion." The builder has contrived, as Gray says, — " To raise tlic ceiling's fretted height, Each paimel in atchievenients cloathing ; Rich windows that exclude the light, And passages that lead to nothing." Such was Hinlip Hall ; and from so suitable a spot, the sister of Lord Monteagle wrote to him the secret letter which led to the disclosure of the Gunpowder Plot ; but four of the conspirators were so effectually concealed. 008 WORCESTER AND BIRMIXGUAM CANAL. that though it was known they were here, it occupied eight days to find two of them. Two surrendered after three days, having had only one apple to live upon ; the others had been fed by " a quill, or reed, through a small hole in a chimney that backed another chimney into a gentlewoman's chamber ; and by that passage caudle, broths, and warm drinks, had been conveyed to them." How disappointing, after all these romantic incidents, to find that the present Ilinlip Hall is only a modern mansion, erected in the Italian stylo on the site of its renowned predecessor, and that it is the residence of Mr. Henry AUsopp, who, it is to be feared, has not even a drop of conspirator's blood in his veins. Having passed Uinlip, we cross the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. To this project gi*eat opposition was made. It was solemnly affirmed that, by increasing through such means the outlet for coal, the collieries would be exhausted, and the manufacturers depending ujion them be ruined. It is amusing to notice that a later writer, severely criticising these statements, adds, that they were advanced by the very people who had been anxious to supply the metropolis with coal from the midlanil districts, " to the certain destruction," says tho writer, " of the Newcastle trade." These arguments, however, had such weight, that parliament ordered a survey to be taken of the coal country ; and it was not till after a favourable report had been received, and tho ])rojector3 of the canal had undertaken to relinquish all claim to the millstreams, and to provide themselves otherwise with water, that witli an expenditure of £15,000 the act was obtained. The fall from the summit level near Birmingham, to the Severn is 100 feet. Worcester is said to have derived its name from Wyrc- Cester, the camp or castle of Wyre ; a forest of that name still existing. Many traces of Roman occupation have WORCESTER. 559 been found in the town and county. During the Heptarchy- Worcester was the principal Mercian see. After the Con- quest, Earls of Worcester were created, and the civil power was entrusted to them. Here Henry I., Henry II., and John kept Christmas ; hither Elizabeth came and granted many privileges; and here James II. " touched," for the king's evil, in the cathedral. Worcester was the first city that openly espoused the cause of Charles I., and in 1651 it became for the third time the scene of civil war, and witnessed the very last struggles of the Hoyalist party. "Twice," says a sound Royalist, "the desperate valour of the cavaliers made a stand in the main thorouo-hfare. and thus by their gallantry stayed the foe, and gave the young king time to escape. This was the memorable ' Worcester fight ' ; and for her services on this and the preceding occasions, the city bears upon her scroll, ' Civitas fidelis.' " * Leaving Worcester in a south-easterly direction, we see the broad flood of the Severn flowing southward. Dyer tells us of the " copsy bank," and " Mountain -woods, And winding valleys, with the various notes, Of pipe, sheep, kine, and birds, and limpid brooks," that are found where " the wide majestic wave of Severn slowly rolls," and upbears " the trading bark." It rises in Plynlimmon, in Montgomeryshire. Salmon were for- merly so plentiful in its waters, that Dr. Xash says, it was found necessary to insert a clause in indentures that ap- prentices should not be fed upon it more than twice a week. The Severn is a free navigation, and at one time it was common to " track " vessels up the stream by manual power, ten or twelve men dragging at a barge. Two miles and a half from AVorcester, we see Crook- barrow Hill on our left. It was formerly a Roman and * See page 131. 560 CROOME COURT. perhaps also a British station. The name means a " hill of burial." In later clays there was here a manor house surrounded by a moat. We now have the village of Norton on our right close to the line ; and the range of hills we have had upon our left crosses our path, and winds its way more directly south. Emerging from them, the Oxford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton line (commoidy called " the 0. W. and W.") takes its course eastward ; and we join the old main line of the Midland. Tlin^e miles south of Abbott's Wood Station, we pass tlnougli a wood, full of game, and observe upon our right the fine park of Croonie Court, the seat of the Karl ^■'■T' of Coventry. Here, on what was formerly little more than a barren heath, a former carl ** planted the slopes, drained the morasses, drew his belts of plantation round lands rendered fertile by his skill and laudable i)ersever- ance," and filled the scene with (piiet beauty. The next station is DefFord, just south of which is the remarkable viaduct over the Avon depicted in tlie engrav- ing. It is iron throughout, from the lattice floor of the permanent way, through which we look down upon the river flowing beneath us, to the covering of the massive l)uttresses upon which the iron columns and tluir tables stand. The entire structure rests upon piles driven into BREDON HILL. 561 tlie bed of the river. Some years ago, in order to ascer- tain whether these were sound, they were examined by divers. An engineer, too, being of an adventurous turn of mind, resolved to make a personal investigation, equipped himself in the diver's costume, and went down into the river. But, while moving about in semi-darkness, his inquiries were abruptly terminated by his falling over a heap of stones ; his inverted position interfered with the proper action of the diving apparatus ; the water rushed DEFFOKD BRIDGE. in ; and he was within an ace of being drowned. For- tunately, his friends came to the rescue, and he was jerked up out of the river, as one of them expressed it, " like a great fish at the end of a line." The fine mountainous mass of Bredon Hill that now stretches on our left rises to the height of \nearly 1000 feet, and divides the Vale of Ev^esham from the Cots wold district. On the summit is a tower, from which wide- spread views may be enjoyed. In its quarries lias fossils are abundant ; and here Roman coins have been found among the works of a doubly entrenched Roman camp. 5C2 CHELTENHAM. Many rare plants will reward the researches of the botanist. About a mile south of Bredon Station we again cross the Avon, and are in Gloucestershire. Another mile or so brings us to the important junction of Ashchurch, where the line from Barnt Green, Redditch, and Eve- sham, joins us from the cast ; and the line to Tewkes- bury and ]\Ialvern goes away to the west. Four miles from Ashchurch, having passed a spot named *' Starve- all Farm " on our left, we reach Cleeve Station ; about a mile to the left of which is Bishop's Cleeve ; and behind which Buslicoml) Wood climbs upon the heiixhts of Not- tingham Hill, — the first bold jn-ojection of the range that now accompanies us. Bishop's Cleeve was originally the residence of a small fraternity of monks. The church, a spacious and curious edifice, contains examples of the arcliitecture of different periods, from Saxon times to the last century. The tower, which rises from the centre of the church, was built in lieu of a spire which, in 1()9G, fell upon the chancel. Tlic rectory, standing in front of th(^ village, was originally a residence of the Bishops of Worcester. On the hills continuing to the south, and called Cleeve Cloud, are many traces of Roman military positions; and the end of the ridge is fortified with a deep vallation, 350 yards long, in the form of a crescent, inaccessible on every side except the front. We now pass Prestbury, cross over the Chelt, and are at Chelten- ham. In the time of Edward the Confessor, the manor of Cheltenham belonged to the crown, to which it contri- buted annually a few pounds, and also 3000 loaves for the king's dogs. It subsequently rose in value, and, according to Domesday Book, paid 20 cows, 20 hogs, and £20 tribute, besides 10^. in lieu of the bread. The situation of the town is pleasant; it is sheltered on the GLOUCESTER. 56S north-east by tlie fine ampliitheatre of the Cotswold Hills, and opens to the Yale of Gloucester on the south and west. Leaving Cheltenham, the railway, which has been running nearly south, bears away to the south-west, towards Gloucester. The line is worked on both broad and narrow gauge, and is used by both the Midland and the Great \Yestern. Their stations at Cheltenham, how- ever, are in different parts of the town. On our left the range of hills to which we have already referred continues. Leckhampton Hills are nearly 1000 feet high, and include some of the boldest of the Cotswolds. " They are broken more precipitously, and exhibit a greater extent of bare rock of granulated stone than any other." One of these scars, from its craggy and gigantic form, is called the Devil's Chimney. The rare frog orchis is here found. Two miles from Cheltenham, and we are abreast, on our left, of Badgworth, a pretty village embosomed in trees ; and a mile farther is Churchdown, with Church- down Hill rising behind it to the height of some 850 feet. The circumference of the base is about four miles. From the summit extensive views may be enjoyed down the vale, and also of the fine amphitheatre of the Cotswolds behind Cheltenham. Hard by is " The Zoons Farm," a name which may interest our philological readers. We now cross the celebrated Ermine Street. It has come from near Wallingford, through Cirencester, down the Birdlip Hill, six miles to our left, and continues in a straight line to Gloucester. Gloucester is pleasantly situated on a gentle eminence by the Severn, " about a mile above the confluence of the two channels into which that river is divided by the island of Alney, and about 40 miles above its junction with the Bristol Channel." The origin of the city is 564 GLOUCESTER AND BERKELEY CANAL. believed to be British. It was tlien called Caer Gloew, which, according to Camden, means " the city of the pure stream;" others think that Gloew was the name of the founder. So much for fame ! The Romans here established a colony, called Colonia Glevum, as a check to the Silures, — the inhabitants of South Wales. After the departure of the Romans the city surrendered to the West Saxons, by whom it was named Gleau-Cester, whence its present designation is immediately derived. The noble Gothic tower of the cathedral, surmounted by four pinnacles, is plainly seen from the line, as we leave the station for the south. The county is naturally divitlod into three distinct districts, — the hill, the vale, and the forest. The hills i-uii through the county from north-east to south and south-west, nearly parallel with the Severn and Avon. Between Chrltenham and Dursley they fall to a level of oidy about 'JOU feet ; near Wotton-under-Kdge they rise to 800. " Between Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge this high ground spreads out, and a tract of lower elevation branches from it in a south-west direction. The exten- sive vale that lies between the hills and the Severn is divided into the upper and lower, or the vales of Glou- cester and Berkeley." As we leave Gloucester, we observe, within oOO yards of us, the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal. It is 16| miles long, and was made to unite the city with the Bristol Channel. The port is the most inland in the kingdom ; and the masts look as if the ships had drifted out among the meadows. We have scarcely cleared the suburbs of Gloucester than, about half a mile on our right, and near the deep southern bend of the river, there are the remains of the jiriory of Llanthony. It was founded, in 1187, by monks who had been driven from an oMer priory of tlie STONEHOUSE. 565 same name in Monmouthsliire. Originally this was in- tended only as an adjunct to the elder ; but Edward IV. united both, and made this the principal. After the dissolution the buildings were used as farm offices. The principal entrance (on which are the arms of the Earls of Hereford), the walls of the great abbey barn, and some of the domestic buildings, remain. In digging the canal the foundations of the old church are said to have been reached, some bodies disturbed, and some ancient coins found. A mile after passing Haresfield, on our left is a range of hills, called Broad Ridge or Broad Barrow Green, more than 700 feet high, on which is the site of a remarkable camp. There is an entrenchment 15 feet high, and 600 yards long, stretching from one side of the hill to the other. The bold promontory, called Beacon Hill, is " enclosed by a transverse vallation, 50 feet deep, and containing 15 acres;" it is connected with the former. Here it is thought was a British station, subsequently occupied by the Romans. A spot resem- bling a prsetorium may be traced ; and on this a beacon, which would be seen from afar, was afterwards placed, and hence the name of the hill. We now reach the junction. The Great Western, alongside of which we have been running, rises and bears away to the left, while the Midland bends slightly to the right. At Stonehouse each of the two com- panies has a station. AYhitefield was at one time curate of Stonehouse, and commenced his out-door preaching in the churchyard, "the church being too strait for the people." At Stonehouse we observe a line bearing away to our left; it is the Nailsworth branch of the Midland. It crosses the Stroudwater Canal, follows the course of the Great AYestern for a couple of miles, and then turns 56G NAILSWORTH AND DUESLEY. southward. Nailswortli is a populous village, with " woollen cloth, flock, and piu manufactories." Almost immediately past the junction, wo cross over the Stroud- water Canal. It forms a part of the Thames and Severn Canal. As early as 1730, it was proposed to render the Stroudwater navigable ; but repeated attempts to open up any kind of navigation in this direction were obstinately and successfully resisted. It was not till nearly half a century later that an act was obtained to make a canal from the town of Stroud to the Severn ; but when it was opened, it was found to be of infinite service to the clothing towns of Gloucestershire and the country generally. In leugth it is only about eight miles, it has a fall of 802 feet. From the commencement of the Stroudwater Navigation to its completion there had been, as far back as 50 years ago, 39 lawsuits. The range of hills that now sweeps along on our left, clothed with fine beeches, forms part of Woodchester Park, a place of gi-eat beauty, and of special interest for the Roman anticjuities that have here been discovered. " Perhaps," says Lysons, " so many Roman remains have scarcely been found in an equal space in any part of Enpfhind." The mat^nitude of the ruins indicates that this must have been " the residence of at least the governor of this part of the province, and occasionally, perhaps, of the emperor himself." The size and richness of the tesselated pavements here are superior to any found in Britain, and equalled by few elsewhere. Three miles from Stonehouse, and twelve from Glou- cester, we are at the junction of the line that runs to the old town of Dursley. Leland speaks of it as "a praty clothinge towne." Dr. Edward Fox was born here. Fuller calls him " the principal pillar of the Reforma- tion, as to the managery of the politic and pruden- tial part thereof." He was afterwards Bishop of EEKKELEY CASTLE. 567 Hereford. Some springs, Rudge tells us, issue from the churcliyard " like boiliug water" in so copious a manner that, at about one hundred yards' distance below, they drive a fulling mill, and they are never known to diminish in quantity. " As they rise they cover a fine level gravelly bottom for about fifteen feet square, with nearly two feet of water, wherefore the inhabitants call it Broadwell;" and further back it was called Ewelme. " This is a Saxon word, signifying the head of a spring; and it is conjectured that this remarkable water gave name to the town ; as in British dwr is water and ley "is a common appellation for pasture ground. The town stands at the foot of a steep hill covered with woods of beech. We are now at Berkeley Eoad Station, and about two miles to our right, behind the rising ground, in this beautiful vale of Berkeley, are the town and castle. The manor was granted by the Conqueror to a retainer, and Berkeley Castle was founded soon afterwards. It is nearly a circle in form, the buildings standing in an irregular court, with a moat. The lofty and massive keep is the most ancient part ; it is flanked by towers. During more than seven centuries it has stood, and has witnessed many memorable transactions. Here Edward TI. was murdered, it is recorded, with a plumber's iron " intense ignito." " Mark the year, and mark tlie night, When Severn shall re-echo with affright. The shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs that ring, — Shi'ieks of an agonising king." " His crie," says Holingshed, " did move many within the castell and town of Birckelei to compassion, when they understode by his crie what the matter ment." The dungeon room, leading to the keep, is said to have been the scene of this tragedy. 568 NIBLET AND WOTTON-UNDER-EDGE. During the Civil War Berkeley Castle was held for the king, but was captured. Dr. Jenner was born at Berkeley. Half a mile south of Berkeley Road Station we are abreast of Stinchcombe, beyond which is Stinchcombe Hill, rising 725 feet above the sea, and behind it is Dursley. The hill is a favourite resort of visitors, for from its summit ten counties can be descried. Soutli of Stinclicombe Hill is Stancombe Park, near which is the site of a Roman villa. It extended over six acres, and is thought to be the only specimen that has been uncovered of a large Roman villa, with the foundations of its summer and winter apartments com- pletely visible. South of Stancombe is Nibley. This, in 1471, was the scene of a fierce encounter between Vis- count Lisle and Lord Berkeley. They had been engaged in a great lawsuit for the possession of the manor of Nibley, and being impatient at the delay, challenged one another to combat, and met with their retainers at Nibley Green, a little to the south-west of North Nii)ley, and nearer the line. Lord Lisle and 1 50 men fell in battle, and the victorious Lord Berkeley rifled his opponent's house. The challenge and its acceptance are both extant. On Nible}' Knoll is a cohiinn 11 1 feet high, erected in memory of AVilliam Tyndale. The hill that extends southwards fvcnn thence is occupied by AVestridge AVood, in which is a Roman encampment. Under the southern end of the hill is Wotton-under-Edge, which derives its name from its situation, immediately under an "edge" of the Cotswold Hills. The town was destroyed by fire in the reign of King John ; the ancient site retains the name of the " Brands." It is a borough by prescription. When abreast of Wotton-under-Edge, we have Tort- worth Court and Park on our right, the manor WIOKWATl AND THOENBURY. 569 house and rectory being near tlie station. The word " tort " means twisted, and it well describes the up- heaved strata of the earth in this neighbourhood; for " perhaps no district of similar extent in Great Britain presents so many different geological formations as the picturesque tract round Tortworth. Taking its church as a centre, this district is made up of nearly every sedimentary deposit, from the inferior oolite to the lower Silurian rocks." The name of Wickwar is believed to have been derived from " wick," a turn in a stream, and " War " ; the manor having belonged to the family of De la TVarre. It is well watered by two streams which run through the town. Yate village is to the left of the station. At Yate is a gatehouse of the time of Edward I., the lower part of which is in excellent preservation, and has a fire- place and mantelpiece. The road through Yate conducts to Chipping Sodbury. Beyond is Little Sodbury, in the manor house of which Tyndale translated the Bible. Near it, on the summit of the hill, are the lines of a strong Roman camp, 200 yards by 300 in size, intended to protect this bank of the Severn from the inroads of the Silures. Hence the name " bury," a camp ; and " sod," the south. At Yate Station a line branches off to Frampton Cot- terell, and also to Thornbury. In reaching the former we twice cross the Frome, — once on leaving the main line, and again Avithin a short distance of Frampton. The ancient town of Thornbury is beautifully situated on the bank of the Severn. Its castle, magnificent in its incompleteness and ruin, was begun in 1511, by the Duke of Buckingham. His execution for high treason interrupted the work ; it has never been restored, and much has gone to ruin. Some portions, however, present an admirable specimen of the architecture of the 570 MANGOTSFIELD TO BATH. early part of the ICth century. The building, had it been finished, would have formed a quadrangle, enclosing an area of two acres and a half. The town consists principally of three streets, in the form of the letter Y, " having," says Leland, " first one longe strete, and two homes goyne out of it." Leaving Yate Station we cross Yate Common, and in less than a couple of miles reach AYesterleigh, the church of which has been destroyed by fire ; but some portions, including the tower, remain. Half a mile farther on, a branch line is seen running out on our right. It is the Coalpit Heath mineral line, and it continues for a distance of about a mile and a quarter. From the Laurence Hill Junction to Fishponds on the main line was originally a part of the Coalpit Heath tramway. The old Mangotsfield Station was closed for pas- senger traffic, when the new line to Bath was opened ; and a new station, more suitable for the purposes of a junction, was formed half a mile farther south. Special arrangements also are made here that any delays in the through communication between Bath, Bristol, and the North shall not interfere with the local traffic between those towns. Leaving the Bristol train to pursue its course by an almost westerly route, the Bath train runs nearly south. In a short distance a third line is seen on our left, approaching from the old Mangotsfield station, — the three forming one of those irregular triangles which are so convenient for the interchange of traffic and of routes, an arrangement somewhat common on the IMidland system. Kingswood is now on our right; indeed we have been rounding it since we left the junction. Passing through a rather deep cutting, we reach Warmley. In designing this line (much of which runs through a valley closed in by hills, and crossed and re-crossed by EITTON CUTTING. 571 a river) the alternatives necessarily were — tunnels or bridges ? It must either be carried along the slopes of the Avon Yalley, and pass over the river six times, or else it must be brought farther to the north through the Golden Valley, and enter Bath at a different point, and by a higher level. Fortunately bridges won the day, — lattice iron bridges, as strong as they are beautiful. We are now running parallel with the old Avon and Gloucestershire tramway, along which coals used to be brought from Coalpit Heath, to be shipped at a wharf near Keynsham. The tramway is connected with the Kennett and Avon Navigation of the Great Western Railway Company, and it was proposed that some three miles of it should be purchased by the Midland Com- pany, and utilised in the construction of their new line ; but the negotiations fell through. Leaving Oldlands Common, where a considerable trade is carried on in hat-making, the Midland line crosses by a cutting over the tramway tunnel. The tunnel when made was not lined ; but it had to be lined by the Midland Company for a distance of some 90 feet, to enable it to carry the weight. " We now go through a heavy cutting, called Bitton cutting," said Mr. Howard Allport, the resident engineer, in some remarks with which he favoured us, " part of which is Pennant rock, as it is locally named; from whence we obtained a fine building stone for the greater part of our bridges. Nearly 250,000 cubic yards of material had to be excavated. The stone attracts the attention of the traveller by reason of its intense red- ness ; but this colouring arises, not from the stone itself, which is, when freshly broken, a sort of grey, but on account of the filtration over its surface of water from a thin vein of a fine hsematite iron ore which lies in the crevices of the rock. This vein is in places a few inches 572 BITTON BRIDGE. in tliickncss, running off to nothing ; tliougli it may be that not far off there are considerable amounts. It lies especially in fissures, or, as the miners call them, ' pockets,' in the rock. It has doubtless been carried here by the percolation of water; and in the course of ages the pockets graduallj' became filled till they formed a solid mass. Xowthe water filtering: throucch them stains witli a rich hue the rocks l)eneath. " At the south end of the cutting we reach Bitton Station, which accommodates Bitton, Swinford, and the neighbourhood. At the top of the hill on the left of the BITTON II III 1 iij; AM'N. station are some mounds which indicate the former site of a Roman encampment. A tumulus maybe seen within 50 yards of the line on the left of the station. A beau- tiful elm grows on its summit." The village of Bitton is on our left. Tlie river Boyd has come down the so-called Golden Valley (golden, however, only to those who can change its coal into cash), and now runs through the village. From Bitton southward we are on a heavy embankment, a mile and a quarter long, containing nearly •lUU,UOU yards of earth. "We now cross the Boyd by a stone bridge of three arches, after which Boyd-town, or Bitton, is named ; and TATH. 073 tlicn over the Avon itself for the first time by an iron lattice bridjre. This is the boundary of the counties : we are in Somerset. About a mile farther we reach the village of Saltford, and cross the Avon for the second time. The Great Western line, which has just emerged from a tunnel, is seen approaching on our right. The hills now draw in on the left, and we are in a deep valley, along which the Avon is wending its way ; on the south side of which is the Great Western line, and over which the Midland line crosses and recrosses. Tlie steep hill on our left is WESTON BBIDOE OVER THE AVON. occupied by Kelston Park, the trees of which almost overhang the line. At the corner of Kelston Park, and about seven miles from ]\Iangots field, we cross the Avon for the third time ; then run under the Bristol and Bath turnpike, the road being carried over the line by a girder bridge ; then we cross the Avon for the fourth time, and enter the parish of Weston. Here are the hydraulic lias limestone works of Messrs. Shaw. Tlie Weston Station, which comes next, accommodates two important suburbs of Bath ; and here the Avon is crossed for the fifth time. We now catch sight of the line of the Somerset 574 BRISTOL. and Dorset Company bearing away on our right ; then the goods station of the Midland Company; we pass over the Avon for the sixth time, and enter the Bath Station. This station is conveniently situated in the western part of the town, where four roads meet. It is about half a mile from the Great Western Station. It Ijas this great advantage over its rival that the Midland Station is on the level ; and those who have had to climb the steps of the Great Western will know what that means. The Bath Station is a handsome and commodious structure. The three spans of the roof are 110 feet in breadth, jind the length of the covered way is 250 feet. From ^langotsfield to Bristol is six miles. The line at first runs due west, the great Kingswood district being to the south. It was here that Whitefield preached to the mighty assemblies of colliers, 20,000 of whom gathered at a time to listen to his words ; and when, as ho said, the white gutters made by their tears ran down their l)lack faces. AVe now reach the Fishponds Station, and are soon at *' the capital city of the west of England." Bristol, situated on a tidal river, and near an extensive coalfield, was early distinguished for its commercial prosperity; and for many centunes was the second city in the British dominions. At liristol the ^lidland Com pany has three stations : tliat at Temple Mead, which it shares with the Great Western, a second at St. Philips, and a third at Clifton Down.* * See page 65. CHAPTER XVII. Nottingham, Mansfield, and Worksop line. — A prediction. — The coal- field. — Five hundred millions of tons. — The ironstone-fields. — Hopeful anticipations. — Wollaton Hall. — Newstead. — Mansfield. — Creswell Crags. — Worksop. — Trent, Nottingham, and Lincoln line. — Attenborough. — Ireton. — Beeston. — Nottingham. — Newark. — Lincoln — Rolleston Junction. — Southwell. — Mansfield. — Not- tingham and ^lelton line. — New bridge over Trent. — Bridge building. — Pneumatic process. — The line southward. — Plumtree. — Widmerpool. — Dalby-on-the- Wolds. — Grimstone Tunnel. — Sax- elby Tunnel. — Asfordby Tunnel. — Melton. — Kettering and Manton line. — Crossing the Welland Valley. — Wing. — Manton. — Syston and Peterborough line. — Queeniborough. — Melton Mowbray. — Stapleford Hall. — Manton. — Whiston. — Kelton. — Burleigh House. — John Clare. — Leicester and Swannington line. — William Sten- son — ^Ir. John Ellis. — Proposals for a railway. — Coalville. — Ashby-dc-la-Zouch. — Moira. — Bedford and Hitchin line. — Barnt Green and Ashchurch loop line — Redditch. — Eveham. — Ash- church. — Worcester and Swansea route. — Malvern. — Hereford. — Credenhill. — Morehampton. — Brecon. — Swansea. — Leicester and Rugby line. — Kettering and Huntingdon. The large amount of space unavoidably occupied by an attempt to do any justice to the works upon the great main lines of the Midland Company, and to the objects of interest around them, compels us, however regretfully, to make but a brief reference to the subordi- nate routes of the system. One of the most important of the branch lines of the Midland Company is that which extends from Xot- tingham to Mansfield and Worksop. AVlien it was first proposed that a railway should be made in this direc- tion, a certain witness, giving evidence before a Parlia- mentary committee, was asked whether he was familiar with the country between Mansfield and Nottingham. " Perfectly," he replied. " Do you imagine a railroad could be made from Mansfield to Nottingham ? " 576 NOTTINGHAM TO WOfiKSOP. " I should say," he replied, " it would uot pay a farthing per cent." At that period, however, and for many years after- wards it was not known how vast are the mineral resources of this valley. In l^OS, however, Sir Roderick Murchison, who had more than once visited the Newstead and Iluckuall district, expressed tlir opinion : '* I believe that in all that country you will certainly find a very good coalfield; but," he added, " these rich proprietors will never hear of having coal- pits sunk near them." A very short time, however, had elapsed before the remunerative character of the coal trade improved ; until, by the unprecedented increase of iron ]iroduction, and the " leaps and bounds " of manu- facturing industry, the demand was so stimulated as to occasion tlie coal fever of 1872 and 1S73, and landed proprietors here as elsrwhcrc liccaiiic anxious to It-asc their royalties. It is too soon to hazard conjectures as to the develoj)- ment in this district of the future coal supply. But then^ is no coalfield the possil)ilities of wliich are so large; and it is safe to say that tlu' datn furiiislu'd each year widen its limits. Tlu» trains running from Nottingham to Worksop pass uninterruptedly over thirty miles of magnesian limestone and new red sandstone. The passenger look- ing eastward will see one after another costly and well- designed collieries rising, the shafts of which have recently penetrated the top hard coal at 4U0 yards or more from the surface. The royalties which have been let on the Nottingham and ^lansfield line since the year 1870, now opening out, represent at least 500 million tons of coal. Nor are the geological features of the district with- out bearing uj)on the remunerative nature of the traffic. COAL AND IRONSTONE FIELDS. Oii The depth of the best seam of coal being not- less than 400 yards, the means by which it is extracted must be entirely different from those of older coal districts, such as Staffordshire, or even the Ercwash Valley. It will be more remunerative to bring the coal long dis- tances underground by steam power to capacious shafts up which great quantities are drawn, than to sink many shafts at short distances. The points and sidings con- necting each plant with the railway will be fewer in number, but they will receive an enormo-us tonnage of coal. It will be possible for the Midland Company to collect the traffic with great expedition, and with little or no shunting ; and it is obvious that for a locomotive to take a train of empty waggons to a set of sidings, to find there a train of coal in readiness, and to be able to take it away a long distance without break of couplings, is nearly the most remunerative employment she can have. Further, looking south from the Castle-rock of Not- tingham, there is another great mineral, destined to as vast a development as the coal that lies to the north. The Mineral Statistics show no increase of production in ironstone so rapid during the last few yeai's as that in the county of Northampton ; and it has been proved to lie in equal richness through Leicestershire and Rutland, as far as the borders of Nottinghamshire. This district the Midland Company are now opening up by their extensions from Nottingham to Melton, and from Manton to Rushton ; and when these lines are finished, the coal on the north, which is specially suited for smelting pur- poses, and the ironstone to the south, will find one another ; and all the economy of back carriage, so much insisted on by Mr. Jevons in his work on coal, will be brought into full play. In truth this coal and iron district is only now on the eve of development ; and it P P 578 NOTTINGHAM TO MANSFIELD. needs but energy, skill, and prudence to see in the midland counties another and perhaps greater Cleve- land. To the Midland Railway Company this district rightfully belongs, and that company must remain its most convenient highway of commerce. These hopeful anticipations are certainly corroborated by the results already secured. " The Mansfield traffic," said Mr. Allport, in May, 1873, "has been increasing at a rate that is probably unequalled on any other line. Till recently there was very little traffic on it indeed. Tin first colliery began to sell coal about eight and a half years ago : there are now three collieries on that line, each sending about 300,000 tons,— nearly 1,000,000 of tons." There are also other royalties " coming into operation : the Duke of St. Albans, at Bestwood, of between 3000 and 4000 acres," and the Papplewick and Newstead royalties, each of similar area ; " and there is a fourth which is almost let. Those four collieries in a few years will 1)0 sending almost as nuicli as those in existence, or from 2,000,000 to 3,000,000, down that Mansfield branch." In the laborious and exhaustive inquiry of the Royal Commission on Coal, appointed in June, 18GG, the sub- ject of the extension of the Notts and Yorkshir' coalfield eastward came under consideration. Th' available coal in the British Isles is given in the report as 00,207 millions of tons, with the addition of oG,273 millions existing at a workable depth under strata which overlie the coal measures. Of this possible extension, 23,082 millions, or more than 40 per cent., is credited to Notts and to Yorkshire, as lying under the per- mian and new red sandstone formations. Leaving Nottingham for Mansfield, we run for a short distance over the direct line to Trent, and then turn off to the north. We have not gone far before wo see WOLLATON HALL. i79 upon our left a new branch connecting tliis line with the Erewash via Radford, the new and extensive Wollaton ColHery, and Trowell, near Ilkeston. Wollaton Hall also is seen in the park upon the left. It is a noble and picturesque mansion, " a combination of regular columns, with ornaments neither Grecian nor Gothic, and half embroidered with foliage, crammed over frontispieces, facades, and chimneys." It was built about the year 1590, by Sir Francis Willoughby, of stone from An- caster, " out of ostentation to show his riches," carried WULLAXON ilAi.h. on horses' backs in exchange for coal dug on his estate. Passing through busy mining and stocking-making populations, we reach Hucknall Torkard, in the church- yard of which Byron was buried ; and soon we are in the neighbourhood of Newstead, so intimately associated with the memory of the poet. The Leen rises in the grounds of the abbey. It is stated that a former owner of the estate received £10,000 special compensa- tion for the injury inflicted upon it by the railway. The summit level of the line is at Kirkby Forest, where, in the high grounds, known as Robin Hood's Hilli?, 580 NEWSTEAD. is the anachronism of a tunnel. The uplands hard by " offer pleasant rambles over gorse and ling, and wide and beautiful views in every direction. On a clear day, the towers of Lincoln Cathedral first catch the eye, while the southern horizon is bounded by the rocks of Charn- wood. Nearer home are the woods of Newstead and Annesley in one direction, and those of Hard wick in the other, with the spires and villages of Kirkby and Sutton just at our feet." NEW8TKAI> AUUKY. ^lanslicld, near the source of the small river ^laum, is of special interest as the point from which Sherwood Forest and the " Dukeries" can best be visited. The town is crossed by a stone viaduct, the arches of which are between r)0 and GO feet hiufh, and we are soon in the neis^h- bourhood of Mansfield Woodhousc. We now pass through a yellow magnesian limestone of a remarkably fine quality, of which there are considerable quarries near at hand. * Tin's cMifjraviiirT is copied from a photogmph in a volume recently liubli^hcd by Alcs.srs. Allen, of Nottingham, beautifully illustrating, by description and by photography, the interior and exterior of the abbey. NOTTIXGHAM AND LINCOLN LINE. 581 Going forwards we soon cross the boundary of the county, and are in Derbyshire ; and we continue in our short journey northwards to cross and recross from Notts to Derbyshire. The course of the line was drawn somewhat westerly to avoid infringing on Welbeck Park. It would have been much more convenient to carry the line somewhat farther to the right, through a natural depression in the range of hills known as Creswell Crags, but the engineers were required to divert it, and con- struct a tunnel some 500 yards long. At Creswell a branch leaves the main line, and runs in a westerly direction to Seymour, near Staveley, where it joins a coal branch which formerly belonged to the Staveley Company, but which has been bought by the Midland Company. Communication will thus be provided between the centre of the "Worksop line and the Midland system near Staveley. The worst gradient on this line is between Whitwell and Worksop, and is 1 in 120. The worst curves are across Mansfield, and at the northern end of the line, about a mile and a half west of Worksop, where the junction is made with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company, over whose line the Midland proceeds to Worksop itself. One of the most important of the branches of the Midland system is that which runs from Trent to Nottingham and thence to Lincoln. The first portion was, as our reader is aware, part of the original Midland Counties line ; the extension eastward was made at a subsequent period. It is remarkable that this extension was completed in the course of a year ; Mr. Hudson considering it a matter of policy to show the advocates of the Great Northern that the old established companies could do the work as well as any new projectors, and could even supply a part of the district to w^hich the 682 THE BIRTHPLACE OF IRETON. Great Northern was looking wliile others were thinking about it. Leaving Trent eastward we cross from Derbyshire over tlie Erewash into Notts ; and soon reach the viUage of Attenborough, wliich is seen immediately on our right. It is honoured as the birthplace of one who, in a disso- lute age, retained a Puritan simplicity of character and earnestness of purpose; who took a high place in that ( 'ivil "War which laid deep the foundations of English constitutional freedom ; who commanded the left wing of the Parliamentary army at the battle of Naseby — the intrepid, generous, upright Ireton, son-in-law of Oliver (Jromwell. " Yet that which is best worthy of love in thy husl)and," wrote Oomwell to his daughter, Bridgett, " is that of tlie ini;iL,^e of Christ which he bears ; look on that, and love it best." But it was the remains of Ire- ton, that after the Restoration vrere dragged from their resting place in Westminster Abbey, hung on a gibbet at Tyburn, and the trunkless head fixed on a pole. The honse in which Ireton was born, was on the west side of the churchyard. To the right, on the hill-side, beyond Attenborough, are Clifton Hall and Grove, the former a modern brick mansion ; the latter a noble avenue, beneath which flows the broad expanse of the Trent. The beauties of both are immortalized byll. Kirke White. Chilwelland Beeston are three miles from Nottingham. Here is a Noncon- formist College ; and here also are the gardens of the celebrated florist, Mr. Pearson. Soon we run through the new mineral sidings, some 20 miles in length, pro- vided for the accommodation of the coal traffic of the Mansfield Valley. Approaching Nottingham, we pass on oiu' left the junctions with the Mansfield Valley lines, and then we see on our left the lofty height of the so-called castle of NOTTINGHAM. 583 I^ottingliam ; it is, liowever, iu fact, 011I3' tlie remains of a large modern mansion, burned out, but not burned down. Yet around that liill cluster a thousand historical associations of events of the deepest interest connected with the annals of England. We now reach the station ; with its locomotive establishment, where 50 engines are stationed ; and its large coal wharves ; the whole occupying some 20 acres of land. Leaving Nottingham station we pass on our left the Great Northern terminus ; we run alongside of the Grreat Northern line ; and afterwards, curving round the wooded hill of Colwich, where we see the new red sandstone interlaced with a stratum of gypsum, we go under the new Derbyshire branch of the Great Northern, and are out in a fine open country. In connection with the construction of this part of the Midland line an illustration may be mentioned of the inordinate charges levied upon railways. After the line was opened, the proprietor of an estate through which it passed sent in an enormous claim for works which it was alleged had not been executed, but which it was said the company had undertaken to do. The engineer declared that the allegations were wholly untenable, and recommended the board to reject the claim. " But, surely," they replied, *' we must have made some omissions ; and will it not be better to compromise the matter by paying part ? " " No," re- turned the engineer; "we have done all we promised; I would advise that you pay nothing." Eventually it was resolved to submit the matter to the arbitration of the late Speaker of the House of Commons ; the representa- tives of both interests met ; the claims were one by one investigated ; and every item was disallowed. We now run through a rich and pleasant country, by Burton Joyce, named after the family of De Georz, where the Trent approaches us from the south ; by Lowdham. 58-4 NEWARK AND LINCOLN. Fiskorton, arul Rolleston whore a branch diverges to Southwell and ^lansfield ; and then crossing the Trent, by the "Weir, and running over the fine meadow lands, we pass by Newark Castle and are at Newark Station. As we leave Newark, we see the spur of line that runs down to the Great Northern Railway ; and as we cross the Great Northern itself, we observe on our left the remarkable bridge by which the Great Northern crosses the Trent. The next station is Collingham, about a mile bevond which we leave Notts and enter Lincolnshire. At MKWARS CASTLB. Swinderby, which we soon pass, operations have recently been carried on for the discovery of coal. After passing Thorpe we may, from the left window of the carriage, observe before us the hill and minster of Lincoln, which rise as a mighty landmark in the midst of this ordinarily level county. At the same time a range of hills is seen approaching frnmthe left, and it continuesstn-tchinpaway to the right, on which are the well-known ♦* hill villages," and to which the white roads are seen climbing up. This rancre stretches from the north to Lincoln, and from thence to Grantham. SOUTHWELL AND MAXSFIELH. 585 ReturniDg to Rolleston Junction we may remark that Southwell contains the finest ecclesiastical structure in the county ; and this is also believed to have been the site of the Roman station ad Pontem. " Pursuing our way northward, the line goes to Kirklington and Farnsfield, two agricultural villages rich in rural scenery. For the accommodation of the numerous villages the Company has here erected a goods warehouse, and put in a coal siding." Four miles farther bring the passenger to Rainworth. Thousrh about ten miles have now been run the engineering difficulties have been small; but on entering the beautiful region of Sherwood Forest we find that the heaviest part of the work had to be done. From Rainworth the permanent way is on an embankment, which shortly afterwards is succeeded b}^ a cutting 32 feet deep ; then another embankment 25 feet deep, and Southwell Road is now crossed by a girder bridge of Q6 feet span. Nottingham Road is spanned by an arched bridge ; an embankment follow^s ; the river Maun and 586 NEAR MANSFIELD. the lands connected \vitli it are passed by nine arches 50 feet higli, and 400 in length, and, taking a curve, we are on the main line that runs into Mansfield Station. Returning once more to Nottingham we shall learn that operations are there proceeding for carrying a new branch of tlie Midland system over the river Trent, and away to the South. This is the Nottingham and Melton line. It will, when completed, leave the present station to tlie east, pass under llic bridge that carries the London Road over oui- lioads, cross the canal, and, at the 4- 4'«iit TIXOCCT ACH08S IlESEttVUIU NEAR MANttFIELD. distance of lialf a mile, ap[)roach the Trent. The bridge that will liere carry the line over tlie river will be a noble structure. There will be three main openings, each of 100 feet span ; and five land arches or " flood oj)enings " at either end, each of 20 feet span. The river openings will be spanned by light wrought iron lattice girders supported by cast iron cylinders which will rest on the bed of the river and be filled in solid with brickwork. The flood open- ings will be brick arches with stone facings, and their foundations will tro an averaure distance of some 20 feet NOTTINGHAM AND MELTON LINE. 587 down, to the rock. There will be, in fact, almost as much work below ground as above, in consequence of the poor- ness of the upper ground, wliicli is liable to be scoured out or shifted by the heavy floods to which this valley is exposed. The parapet is of cast iron, and of pleasmg proportions. "Well, now," we remarked to Mr. E. Parry, the resi- dent engineer, " tell us more exactly how you go to work in building a bridge like this." " The first thing we do," he replied, " is to set out the TRENT BRIDGE, ON NOTTINGHAM AND MELTON LINE. centre line, and then to fix the position of the main and lesser piers. This done, we take out the foundations of the piers, two or three at a time, and as we go down through— in this case— sand and gravel, the water comes in, and we have to keep pumping night and day with steam pumps driven by portable engines, until the founda- tions are completed and built up, nearly as far up as the ground level. From this point we begin what is called the 'neat' work; and we carry the piers upwards till we reach the point of the springing of the arches. The centres— arched ribs of timber covered with planks— 588 BRIDGE BUILDING. are next set up between each pier, and on these the brick- work for the arches is built ; the centres are then re- moved and the brickwork stands of itself. Soon after the arches are keyed in, the triangular portions between the backs of the arches are filled up to the requisite height, and lastly the parapet is fixed in position. ]\Ieanwhile we shall be sinking the cylinders in the river, and pre- paring them to receive the main girders.'* " How do you sink your cylinders ? " " The first thing is to drive a number of timber piles down into the bed of the river in such a position that the iron cylinder may afterwards be put within them, and so be guided down to its place. After the timbers are fixed, they are braced by what are called ' walings,' or stout planks fixed across near the top and bottom of the piles so as to keep them securely in position. Several lengths of cylinder are now bolted together, and are lowered down inside the piling to the bed of tlie river. 'I'lic water is, if possible, pumped out of these cylinders ; or, if this bo impracticable, divers are sent down, and the materials round the lower edges of the cylinders are removed. ^leanwliile baulks of timber and iron rails or other heavy things that may be at hand are laid across the tops of the cylinders, so that they may bo weighted down into the river's bed. The water is sometimes got rid of by the pneumatic process." " What is that ? " " By the pneumatic process air is pumped into a cylinder till it contains three, foui-, or five atmospheres ; and, instead of the ordinary pressure (»f 15 pounds to the square inch, there may be 40 or 70 pounds; and tlie cylinder is cleared of water. In that compressed air the men work. Of course, provision has to be made so that they shall be able to get in and out ; and for the stuff to be removed without diminishing tlie pressure; and this BEIDGE BUILDING. 589 is done by wliat is called an air-lock. The men first go into a chamber ; and, the door of it being closed after them, the air in that chamber is raised, by pumping, to the density of the air in the cylinder below ; the door communicating with the cylinder itself is then opened, and the men go in to their work. The pneumatic method is at present in operation in the construction of a rail- way bridge over the Firth of Tay, — a bridge, I believe, two miles long. The pressure downward of the cylinder, and the clearing away of the material beneath it, is con- tinued till it rests on a firm bed. The cylinder is then filled from bottom to top with brickwork." " Inside a cylinder is rather an odd place to work in, isn't it?" "Not so strange as it seems. It's only like working in a well, perhaps eight or nine feet in diameter." After crossing the Trent Bridge the first object of interest that we come to is a bridge over the Grantham Canal : this is a skew bridge, at a large angle. It has brick abutments and wrought iron plate girders. AVe now run along a heavy embankment pierced with nu- merous " flood openings ;" we see West Bridgeford on our left ; and, before we are off the embankment, which is two miles long, we have passed the village. We next enter a heavy cutting in the red marl. Its greatest depth is 50 feet, the material being used in the formation of the embankment we have just left. At the present time (December, 1875) 100,000 yards have been exca- vated, or one- third of the whole ; and it is being cleared, in fine weather, at the rate of 600 or 700 yards a day ; an amount which will fill 320 wagons ; so that it will take about 300 such days' work with the present number of men, to finish the cutting. " But if you put on your full strength at both ends," we inquire, " would j^ou not clear it sooner?" 590 EDWALTON AND PLLIMTREE. " Yes ; but we can't put our full strength at the south end ; because most of the stuff is wanted to the north, so it must be taken out at that end, and tipped on to the embankment. Then, again, we cannot continue our maximum even in line weather without interruption. When, for instance, the embankment approaches a bridge we have to stop tipping, and the material has to be care- fully wheeled up to the back of the brick-work of the brido-e, and there well ' punned,' or rammed in, first on one side, and then on the other, till the embankment is well clear of the bridge ; and not till then is the tipping resumed ; otherwise tlie bridge would be shaken by the continual vibration caused by the tipping. There are ten such bridges in a mile in this embankment." Three miles from Nottingham is the pretty village of Edwalton ; not unlikely, if the proprietor approve, to be a residential district for Nottingliam. The railway station is in a cutting. A quarter of a mile farther for- ward we emerge from the cutting on to an embankment, and then there is another cutting and embankment and we reach the village of Phimtree, where we cross tlie road that leads to Keyworth by a very oblique skew bridge. riumtree Station is five and a quarter miles from Nottingham. From hence we continue with cuttings and embankments, till we reach a funnel at Stanton-on-the- Wolds. It runs through boulder clay and lias shale, the former being very much like the boulder clay of the North, but not quite so bad. " We have now (December, 1875)," continues our engineer, " some 200 yards of the tunnel done out of 1100. The greatest height of the hill over head is only about GO feet. This would, however, have made between 80 and 90 feet of a cutting, which is too deep. There is a heavy cutting at both ends ; and, on emerging from that to the south we reach, at eight miles from Nottingham, Widmerpool Station." WILLOUGEBY, DALBY, AND GRIMSTONE. 591 The next object of interest is the Roman Fosse Way, which we cross over by a girder bridge. It is said that some enterprising and irreverent engineer suggested that sacrilegious hands should be laid on the work of Roman times, and that the Fosse should be somewhat twisted, to allow the Midland line to pass easily over. Reverence for the past, however, was too strong for innovation, and a long skew bridge has been constructed. The line continues with ordinary works by the villages of Upper and Nether Broughton, which it leaves on the left; we have Willoughby on our right; and we pass under the road in a cutting 30 feet deep. "Following this cutting," says Mr. J. W. D. Harrison, the resident engineer, on this the second contract, " is a heavy em- bankment, containing nearly 400,000 cubic yards of earthwork, which crosses the valley east of Old Dalby- on-the-Wolds. The old hall in this village is notable as having been the residence of Judge Jeffreys. The line crosses over the road leading from Old Dalby to Nether Broughton, and shortly after enters Grimstone Tunnel. This is nearly three quarters of a mile long, and is being worked from five shafts, the deepest about 200 feet. The stratum here, and indeed throughout the whole of the contract, is blue lias. In carrying on the work much water was tapped, and in several places very heavy ground was encountered. The bricks for the work are made on the spot, from the material excavated from the tunnel, the southern entrance of which is in Grimstone Gorse, of fox hunting renown. A cutting a mile long, and containing nearly 300,000 cubic yards of excavation follows. It is divided into two parts by a tunnel 100 yards long. The village of Grimstone we pass on our right. " Emerging from the cutting, a short embankment brings us to the village of Saxelby, prettily situated on the .'592 SAXELBY, ASFOKDBY, AND MELTOX. left of the line. Two roads leading to the village are crossed over by a girder and a two-arch bridge respec- tively. On leaving the village Saxelby Tunnel, 500 yards long, is entered ; this is at the present time being worked from each end and from a shaft in the centre; the road from Asfordby to Welby crossing on the summit. Small cuttings and embankments now alternate for a mile and a half, when the valley that lies between Asfordby and Welby is crossed by a heavy embankment, 46 feet deep at the deepest part, and containing 200,000 cubic yards of earthwork. The road from Asfordby to Welby is crossed over, the great depth of the embankment necessitating a heavy bridge. At this point a tramway intended to carry ironstone from Holwell, a village some three miles away, joins the line. *' Asfordby Tunnel, 400 yards long, is now entered, find a short distance be^'ond the south entrance, the road leading from Asfordby to Melton is carried over the line. The river Eye, a navigable stream, is now crossed by a girder bridge, and four arches to carry the flood water. Ten additional arches, each of sixteen feet span, are also being erected in the adjoining field for the same purpose. The new Great Northern Railway line passes over us at this point, and a l)ianch from the same line runs into the Nottingham and Melton line shortly before its junction with the Syston and Peterborough Railway. Tlie total length of this contract is seven miles. Messrs. John Aird and Sons, of Lambeth, are the contractors. The prevail- ing gradient is 1 in 200." The chief difficulties connected with the construction of the latter part of this line have arisen from the fact that, — whereas the old Syston and Peterborough Rail- way' followed the course of the valleys of the Eye and the Welland, and the main line from Leicester northward follows the course of the Soar, — the line from Not- KETTERING AND MANTOX LINE. b\)'6 tingham to Melton has to be carried at soraetliing like right angles directly across the hills and dales of the wolds of Notts and Leicestershire. As this line is intended, in connection with the Melton and Manton part of the Syston and Peterborough Railway, to join a new line in course of construction from near Kettering to Manton, and so to form a new main route direct from JSTottinofham to the Midland trunk line at Kettering, we may briefly describe, in the words of " the resident," the course that this latter portion will take. " The Kettering and Manton line," says Mr. Crawford Barlow, " is about fifteen miles and three quarters in length. It has to cross nearly at right angles the valley of the Welland, and from the fact of this valley being bounded by high table land on its southern side, and by a ridge of hills of considerable height to the northward, the works of the line are necessarily of a heavy cha- racter. " Commencing from the southern end, near Rushton, the line first intersects a hill of ironstone, extensively worked by the Glendon Iron Company ; thence it crosses the river Ise and the Harpers Brook by two viaducts. On reaching the village of Corby, the line commences a descent towards the Welland Valley, pass- ing first through a considerable cutting, and thence by a tunnel a little more than a mile in length, by which it enters the broad valley of the Welland a considerable height above the river, at a point about a mile south- west of the village of Gretton. The line continues its descent by gradually following down the hill- side, par- allel to the river, for a distance of about three miles, past Gretton and Harrino; worth. " Between Harringworth and Seaton the line crosses the river Welland itself by a viaduct about 60 feet in height and three quarters of a mile in length ; and, after Q Q 594 STSTON AND PETEEBOEOUGH. passing over tlie London and North ^Yestern Company's branch line from Rugby to Stamford, continues to in- tersect the high ridge on the north side of the Wellaud Valley close to the village of Glaston. This ridge is pierced by a tunnel a mile in length. From thence the line passes on to Manton, crossing a narrow ridge of hills near the village of Wing, through which it passes by a little tunnel of about a quarter of a mile in length. " The line passes in its course the villages of Great and Little Oakley, Stanion, Weldon, Corby, Gretton, Hai-ringwortli, Seatou, Glaston, and Uppingham; and stations will be provided to suit the requirements of the district." The line has been laid out by Messrs. Barlow Son and Baker, and is being executed under their instructions bv Messrs. Lucas and Aird, the contractors. The Syston and Peterborough branch of the ^lidland starts from the Syston Junction of the main line, and for some distance follows the course of the AVreake. Soon upon our right is Barkby Hall, and a little farther on the tapering spire of Queeniborough Church. Here Rupert had his head-quarters in 10 10. About ten miles from the junction we reach Melton Mowbray, renowned for pork pies and hunters. This town will soon become a centra of railway communication. After passing Saxby Station the line curves to the south, how suddenly may be seen l)y the views we obtain of Stapleford Hall, the seat of the Countess of Harborough. At the south-eastern angle of the park, we observe the now dry ditch of what was once part of the Oakham Canal. This canal must have greatly contributed to the well-being of the county ; for it appear- that when it was first used the roads were not very good. Bay ley complained that he had seen, on a hill-side, a road covered along the centre with " immense frag- ments of rugged stone, thicker and harder than even the MANTON AND WING. 595 heads of the surveyors who had directed them to be laid down. Here they were laid, in hopes that coaches, carts, and waggons would gratuitously pulverize them; " but the said vehicles proved to be " like the rich way- farers in the parable of the good Samaritan," — they went by on the other side. Manton, the next station to Oakham, is partly built upon the hill that the railway pierces by a tunnel. It is an ancient village. The church is believed to have been a collegiate church in the reign of Edward III. It is said that at the dissolution, " the houseling people, that is the communicants, numbered 100," yet that " Sir William Smith, one of the brethren of the Chauntry, did the duty of the cure for £3 6s. 6d., and his diet." At Manton the new line south to Kettering will commence. Leaving Manton we observe a range of hills (at the foot of which flows the Ohater) drawing in from the riofht, on the summit of which is Wino;. Robert de Mont- ford, it seems, in the reign of Henry II., was persuaded by the monks of Thorney Abbey, to give them a moiety of this parish. His brother Thurstan, who succeeded him, withheld the grant ; and, says Brewer, " dispossessed these lazy gentry of their share of the church. To a demand for restitution he gave a flat denial, and not only refused to pay the abbot a sum of money, said to have been due by his brother, but also to pay the legacy he had bequeathed." But the Church was too strong for him ; and the king, through the Earl of Warwick and Bishop of Lincoln, forced him into compliance ; the holy men in return becoming sureties for the health of his soul, " as also of the souls of his wife, sons, brother, and all his ancestors." Having thus " got their fingers into this manor," the monks could not be easy till they had secured the whole of it ; on attaining which they gua- ranteed the health, not only of the former owner's own 596 LYNDON AND KETTON. soul, and tliat of his family and ancestors, but of liis successors also ! About two miles from Mauton tlie village of Lyndon is on our left. This was formerly a royal manor. The church stands behind the Hall, and in its simple burying ground is the grave of ^yhiston. It is said of him that in 1725 he was accustomed, with other learned men, to attend Queen Caroline one evening a week, to discuss matters of science. One day the queen, complimenting his candour, requested him to mention her faults ; and after some persuasion, he stated that her irreverent be- liaviour at chapel had produced an unfavourable impres- sion. The queen said nothing, but about six weeks afterwards again requested him to tell her of her faults. " Madam," he said, " I have laid it down as a maxim never to tell any person of more than one fault at a time, and never to mention a second until the first is mended." Passing LutTcnliam and the junction with the London and North Western line to Rugby, we reach Ketton. This is an ancient village. The tenure of the property is by knights' service ; and " it is a curious fact that the sheriffs of tlio county collect annually a rent of two shillings from the inhabitants, pro ocrcis reghue, which can only be translated ' for the queen's boots.' This may perhaps have been sufficient in early times to have supplied a queen with boots for a year," but scarcely so now. A little more than a mile from Ketton we cross over the AVelland, and enter Northamptonshire. After pass- ing Stamford, with its noble churches and its willows by the water-courses, we see upon our right, beyond the trees, " in all its pristine glory, the palatial type of an Elizabethan house, the building of the great Lord Treasurer — ' Curgblcy House by Stamford town." BURLEIGH AND HELPSTONE. 597 The cliimneys are formed of coupled Doric columns, and strangely peep above the trees of the noble park, when no other portion of the house can be seen. Few houses retain as much of their original form, though the trim gardens and formal hedges which must once have sur- rounded it are wanting to complete its character. The interior is incredibly rich in the accumulated treasures of three centuries, — in Venetian furniture, royal beds, oriental china. Gibbon's carving, and historical heirlooms, from the Lord Treasurer's cup, given him by Elizabeth, to the candelabra of the Duke of Wellington's funeral." Passing Helpstone, where John Clare, the Northamp- tonshire poet was born, in 1793, of parents even then receiving parish relief, and who tells us of his literary gifts,— " I found tlie poems in the fields, And only wrote them down," — we soon reach Peterborough, join the Great Northern Railway, enter its station, and then taking our way down to the Great Eastern, find there the end of our journey. To the Leicester and Swannington line we have already referred. But while this volume has been passing- through the press, we have been favoured with some par- ticulars concerning the early days of the railway, to which we may briefly advert. Mr. Joseph Stenson, of Leeds, informs us that it was his late uncle, Mr. William Stenson, who took the earliest initiative in this matter. He was an engineer. He first undertook the sinking to the deep coal at the Shipley collieries, and also in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire. " He was well known in Derbyshire, where he introduced and erected the first of Boulton & Watts' (so-called) double-power engines, and did sundry surveys for the Derbyshire col- lieries. He was a native of Coleorton, in Leicestershire ; and on the occasion of a visit he came to the con- 598 LEICESTER AND SWANNIXGTOX LINE. elusion that a coal of liigli quality could be found in the direction of Whit wick and Swannington. He bought land ; made arrangements for sinking pits ; and took in as partner the late ^Ir. Whetstone, a worsted spinner, of Leicester, and the late Mr. Samuel Harris, a relative of his own. Difficulties, however, arose ; letters were sent to Mr. Whetstone assuring him there was no coal ; bur- lesques and squibs were posted on the gates and walls representing ' a colliery without coal'; and at this period the afTair would have come to a stand, but for the deter- mined perseverance of William Stenson, who, driven t^aSTi onollY TTNSEL ASD Iim.i'.s mi .., it.w^iKB ASI> 8WASSISOTON LINE. almost to his wits' end, continued to sink at ow pit. Having got to the first coal, he went to Leicester with a sample in a cas(^ ; and called on ^fr. John Ellis, who heartily congratulated him." Mr. Stenson now proposed a scheme wliicli brought further relief to the undertaking. He called upon }>\r. Ellis, and asked that gentleman to aid him in getting up a railway company to make aline from the colliery to Leices- ter. " We have now been getting," said Mr. Stenson, " the old Coleorton coal for some months; l^it we want to get the deep coal, whicli is better. The Derbyshire coal- masters send their coals by canal. Our carting heats us. COALVILLE. 599 But I see a way to relief i£ we can but get up a railway company. I've tried tlie ground witli my theodolite, and find no difficulty in making a railway ; tliougli a tunnel will, I think, have to be made through the hill between here and Groby. And mark what I say : Leicester will soon be supplied from our own county." Such were the circumstances which, we are assured, induced Mr. Ellis to take the steps to which we have already referred,* and led on to the formation of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, and all its important commercial and national results. " To the late Mr. EUis," adds Mr. Stenson, " belongs the honour of getting up, by his great moral and material assistance, the first elements of life in a railway in the town of Leicester." There are two routes from Leicester to the Leicester- shire coalfield : one direct from the West Bridge Station,t through the tunnel ; the other via Knighton Junction on the main line. Coalville, — how incongruous that " ville " sounds in such a connection ! — is the centre of this coal district. The people, houses, roads, fields, everything, are grimy. Coal-laden trucks block up the sidings. Coal-laden trains are groaning and grunting hither and thither. Coal lines glide off in various directions, or sud- denly turn unexpected corners and surreptitiously dis- appear ; while every here and there, in the bottoms of distant valleys, and on the tops of remote hills, may be seen the tall shafts rising amid the green fields ; and the masses of black smoke and white steam proclaim afar that a world of busy life is labouring in the shafts and drifts hundreds of fathoms beneath our feet. A quarter of a mile on either side the line just beyond Coalville are the pits of Snibston on the left, and of Whitwick on the right; while from the sidings may be seen the steep inclined plane leading up to the Swannington pits. * See page 5. t See page 92. GOO ASIICY-DE-LA-ZOUCH. The only town on this line is Ashby-cle-la-Zouch. It received its name from one Alan de Zouch, a baron of Brittany, " who, in the reign of Henry III., married the heiress to the manor." Here, it is said, Mary Queen of Scots was a prisoner ; here James I. was hospitably entertained ; here the Royalists held their own against King Charles's enemies ; and here, in the church, thr Countess of Huntingdon was buried, in 17in, "in the white silk dress in which she opened the chapel in Good- man's Fields." A mile west of the town was " an extensive meadow, of the finest and most beautiful green .vsiitiut i_k..;uctu cAsiLt. turf, surrounded on one side by the forest, and fringed on the other by straggling oak trees, some of which had grown to an immense size," on which Sir Walter Scott describes, in his story of " Ivanhoe,*^ the "gentle passage of arms." It is still called Ashby Field. The coalfield of Leicestershire has been divided into three parts : Moira, on the west ; Ashby, in the centre ; and Coleorton, on the east. In the Moira district there are twelve workable seams of coal, altogether not less than 55 feet in thickness ; the main coal section being 14 feet. Hull states that in the main coal of Moira, especially in the Bath Colliery, a stream of salt water, BEDFORD AND HITCHIN. 601 beautifully clear, and of nearly the same composition as sea water, trickles down tlie coal-fissures at a depth of nearly 600 feet. In the deep sinking at Moira Colliery the number of beds of all substances passed through was 400, of which 41 were coal, many of them thin ; about 20 were sandstone ; and there were some seams of iron- stone. The main coal had a thickness of 14 feet ; another was four or five feet; and altogether 46 beds of coal were found, with an ao^orreo^ate thickness of 100 feet. The salt water that issues here is taken down to Ashby- de-la-Zouch, and is considered to be beneficial for rheu- matic and scorbutic affections. There is also the Bedford and Hitchin branch, forming part of the main line to London. By this route we cross over on a level the London and North Western branch from Bedford and Bletchley, and passing Elstow on the right, and Cardington on our left, enter the Southill Tunnel, the only one on the whole line from Leicester to Hitchin. It is about half a mile in length. It runs through clay, which is very heavy, and required careful and strong timbering before the lining could be put in. The work, however, was in good hands, Mr. John Knowles being the contractor; "and John Knowles," remarked Mr. Crossley to us the other day, " was a good tunneller." A mile to the right of Southill station is a spot with the suggestive name of Dead Men's Cross. Crossing the boundary of the county into Herts, we ere long see upon our left the Great Northern main line approaching ; we draw nearer, we rise to its level, and we enter Hitchin. The Barnt Green, Redditcli, Evesham, and Ashchurch loop line of the Birmingham and Bristol, runs near many spots of interest. It crosses the Worcester and Birmingham Canal ; has a station at Alvechurch, once a place of importance; passes Bordesley Abbey, which Henry YIII. gave to Lord Windsor instead of Stanwell, 002 REDDITCII AND EVESHAM. near London ; Ri'dditch, of needle-making renown ; and Alcester, locally pronounced Aulster, where " six hundred and odd " pieces of Roman coin were once found in an urn, and where " urns are occasionally met with in every ({uarter of this vicinity, though they are usually knocked to pieces by the inadvertence of the rustic labourers." Evesham, the next place of importance, rises from the banks of the Avon, which hero bends like a horse shoe, and shows the *' ancient architecture of the town itself, back by the venerable tower, the antique churches, and h \ -^^ AT BVESUAU. the ivied walls of its once flourishing abbey." " The towne of Evesham," said Leland, " is raetely large, and well builded with tynd)re. The market sted is fayre and large. Thei-e be divers praty streets in the towne. The market is very celebrate. In the town is no hospitall, or other famous foundation, but the late abbey." We now pass Bengeworth, where formerly a castle stood; but the monks and the military did not agree, and it came to ruin ; then Ilinton-on-the-Green, where there is a manor house of the IGth century; then Beckford, where there is an old mansion restored, in the grounds of MALVERN. 603 whicli " is a walk 460 feet long, planted on each side with box, which has attained the height of thirty feet," supposed to be 400 years old ; and, in a few minutes, we reach Ashchurch. We have already indicated the series of lines by means of which the Midland Company is able to pursue its course from Worcester to the south-west, as far as Swansea. Ten miles from Worcester we are at Malvern Wells; and 20 milos more bring us to Hereford, MALVERN STATION AND HOTEL. where the celebrated dispute * took place with regard to railway rights was put to an issue. We are now on the Hereford and Brecon, which the advent of the Midland Company has redeemed from obscurity, and the district from all the pains and penalties that attended the existence in its midst of a poverty-stricken railway company. Less than five miles brings us to Credenhill, where, on the summit of a hill upon our right, is an encampment of 50 acres, enclosed by a double and precipitous ditch. * See page 305. 604 IIKBEFORD AND BRECON LINK. At ]\loreliampton, " Offa's Dyke may be seen in an unaltered state, 20 yarJs south of the station;" at Eardisley a small portion of an ancient castle remains, and not far away is an oak, with an immense head, which covers a surface of 32 \- feet in circular extent," and some of the branches of which are two feet in diameter. Near Kinnersley Station is the castle, built in the time of James I. At Wliitney the line is carried over the Wye, *' considerable difHculties being experienced in its con- struction in the piling of the arches of the bridge. ilAV A.Nb lliK Vi'iti. Twenty miles from lienford we are at Hay; and four more bring us to Glasbury, the views all along the line in the neighbourhood, with the Wye in the foreground and the wooded hills below, being extremely beautiful. Ten miles farther we are at the Talyllyn Junction, locally called Tathlyn, of the Brecon and Merth3'r; and after passing through a tunnel, and seeing magnificent views of the Breconshiro hills, we reach the county town. From hence we travel over the coy and reluctant Brecon and Xonth line, which, since the au' •. IIKCCO.N CASTLK AM> MAl'LCT. Queen Elizabeth ; and where Charles I. was taken from llolmby by Cornet Joyce. But our space is gone, and we must turn away from the thousand scenes of beauty and interest through which the Midland passes, to observe some of the methods by which so vast and varied an administration is conducted. CHAPTER XYIII. Twenty tliousand shareholders. — Shareholders' meetings. — The Com- pany's seal. — Chairman's address. — Scenes dull, and scenes ani- mated. — The Board. — Directors' Committees. — The Secretary of the Company, — The General Manager. — The Superintendent. — Appointments. — Superintendent-inspectors. — Guards. — In- spector-guards. — Pointsmen. — Clerks. — Tickets. — The Detective Department. — Amusing incidents. — The Goods Department. — A visit to St. Pancras Goods Station at night. — The Locomotive Department. — The new locomotive establishment at Derby. — ■ Visit to the works. — The erecting shops. — The lower turnery. — The wheel turnery — The boiler shop. — "The buzzer." — The express. — Riding on an engine. — Awkward accidents. — " A bird with one wing." — "Pinching "an engine. — Engine drivers and their ways. — The night mail. — Unpleasant contingencies. — Night work. — The mail. — The post-office van. — The running shed. — The last new engines. — Statistics of engines. — Twice round the world every day. — The new carriage and waggon works. — New carriages. — Civil engineers. — Services of engineers. — Growing prosperity of railways. — Conclusion. The ultimate source of all power of origiuation or administration in a railway company is the proprietary, present— personally, or by proxy — at tlieir legally con- vened meetings. These are usually held half-yearly, in February and August ; and at them the report for the half-year, a copy of which has previously been sent to every shareholder, is submitted for adoption, the dividend is declared, the policy of the board is explained, and other business relevant to the occasion is transacted. The present number of the Midland shareholders is upwards of 20,000. The meetings of the Midland proprietors are held in the shareholders' room at the Derby Station ; though, in times of special interest or excitement, they have been adjourned to the Derby Corn Exchange. The scene pre- sented on such occasions is interesting and sometimes animated. The spacious hall is not unworthy of the uses to which it is appropriated. The directors' platform G08 shareholders' meetings. extends across one end, and is decorated ^Yitll the por- traits of several former chairmen of the Company : Mr. John Ellis in the centre, Mr. W. E. Hutchinson on his riglit, and Mr. Beale and 'Mr. W. K. Price on his left. Some '500 shareholders, leaving their names with the attendants at the foot of the stairs, and having the free tickets, with which all have been provided, stamped for " return," saunter into the room, and gradually fill the seats. Precisely at half-past one the chairman appears, followed b}' the other directors, and these by the chief officers of the Company. xVfter a few minutes the chair- man calls upon the secretary to read the advertisement legally summoning the meeting : a necessary form, but to which no one pays any particular attention. At its conclusion the chairman directs that the seal of the Company be affixed to the list of shareholders, an act which gives them their final and full qualification to take part in the proceedings. This seal closely resembles the arms of the Company that are painted on the passenger carriages and impressed on the covers of this volume. The deer in a park represent the town or hi/ of the deer, — Derby ; on the right hand, the castle and ships are the arms of the city of Bristol ; and on the left arc those of Birmingham. The arms of Lincoln are depicted under the deer, with Leeds on the right and Leicester on the left. On the seal of the Compau}', Nottingham, however, is represented instead of Bristol. The dolphin is on the left, the salamander on the right, and the wyvern on the top of the shield. At the time of the Saxon Heptarchy, Leicester was the capital of Mercia, and the wyvern was the crest of the Mercian king. The chairman now proceeds to address the meeting. He explains the principal figures and facts mentioned in the report, and indicates the policy, and reasons for the policy, of the board. These speeclies are uniformly AMUSING SCENES. 609 received with the hearty good-will of the meeting. "Ours," as Mr. John Ellis used to say, "is a sort of family affair. We know if we put our money into it we can have it out again when we want it " ; and this seems to be the kindly spirit in which the shareholders have been long; accustomed to reo^ard that which elsewhere is considered only in its hard financial aspects. It is, however, to be regretted that the dignity and interest of these meetings are sometimes imperilled by the persistent obtrusiveness of one or two old-established bores. A bore which pierces through a resisting sub- stance till it lets in light, may, even if unpleasant, be useful ; and a shareholder who could make an effective attack upon any important part of the policy or adminis- tration of a public company, or point out a more ex- cellent way in which its business could be conducted, and who could by facts and figures sustain his argument, mio-ht be a benefactor. But that 500 men of business should be compelled to waste their time in endeavouring to understand the half-audible, half-coherent gentlemen who lulll explain the exact construction and the minutest details of the last new mare's nest that a lively imagina- tion or a defective arithmetic has provided, is a trial of patience which ought not to be made, and for which an abrupt remedy would be justifiable. On some occasions the scene presented at the half- yearly meeting has been full of excitement. In the special meeting, January, 1868, probably 1000 share- holders were present ; many of the benches ordinarily employed having been removed to make standing room for the throng to crowd more closely together. Nothing, however, destroyed the good humour and the general sense of confidence of the Midland proprietary ; and patiently they "stood it out" for about three hours. Amusino^ incidents sometimes occur. " I should not (JlO ELOCUTION AND liANTEK. liave addressed this assembly," we heard a legal share- holder exclaim, with forensic indignation, " had I not been invidiously pointed out by my learned friend — if he Avill allow me to call him so — as the gentleman witli the blut necktie ; " and of course so monstrous an imputation could not but be resented. Or fancy a speaker standing on a window-sill, high above the heads of the seething mass of shareholders, with legs outstretched and arms uplifted with tlie passion of his elocution, wishing to know, as he had done on a previous occasion, whetlu r certain lines affiliated to the ^[i<~>:], he returned to take charge of the ^lidland. In 1857, Mr. Allport engaged in some important shipbuilding operations in the North, meanwhile occupying the position of a Midland director; and, in LSTtO, he was again requested to resume the position of General Manager. In the remai-kable development of the Midland system that has taken place during the last few years, Mr. Allport has had his full share of responsibility and toil. His devotion to the interests of the Company has been, in the opinion at least of rivals, only too absorbing ; and vehement are the attacks that have, in consequence. MP. .TAMFS AI.I.PORT. Mil. AtLPORT. 615 sometimes been made upon him. " The great difficulty that I have had in dealing with this case," exclaimed Sir Vernon Harcourt, " and in considering it, is to wonder what in the world the Midland Company have desired it for. I cannot help thinking that it is one of those things which have their rise in the ambitious hearts of traffic managers. Mr. Allport would make an invasion of this sterile district. I do not see why his ambition should not be satisfied. I do not think he will find much more to reward his labour and his expenditure than Charles XII. did when amongst the snows of Russia." Yet the heat of controversy has generally been tempered with some admission of the remarkable ability with which the policy of the Midland has been defended. " I admit, and I admit freely," said Mr. Liddell, in a case in which he was opposing the Midland Company, " and I must compliment Mr. Allport on, his great accuracy, and his singular power of answering complaints of this sort. I think it a most remarkable thing, the manner in which he can answer those complaints ; and that he has done it in many cases I admit." Such a life as that of Mr. Allport during the years that have witnessed the development of the Midland system from what it was to what it is, must necessarily have been a life of conflict. To carry on negotiations that aff"ected thousands of shareholders, tens of thousands of travellers, and millions of money; which has retarded or hastened the growth of towns, the progress of commerce, the social and political relations of the nation ; to have been concerned in events by which the lines of the Com- pany have increased to 1200 miles in length, by which its capital has been augmented to more than £50,000,000, and by which the income has increased to £5,000,000 a year, could not have been done without a practical sagacity, a mastery of detail, and a persistency of will which ought 610 THE SUPERINTENDENT. iKjt to pass by unnoticed. Such services, it is tnie, are not in themselves conspicuous, however conspicuous may be the results ; but it is on that account they should be the more clearly recorded on an occasion like the present. To sit hour after hour, and day after day, giving evidence before a committee of Parliament, explaining the j)olicy of a company, and the justice or expediency of a bill ; tc be ready with an infinite variety of details, and dates, and names, and negotiations, respecting the history and administration of the Company ; to meet the designedly ambiguous or misleading iiupiiries of opposing counsel ; to parry their astutely delivered thrusts; to show how a new treaty may bo negotiated without comjiromising the validity of an old one, and how a new line may be made into the territory of an old ally without a breach of equity, — to do this before critical professional witnesses, while every word is recorded for future reference and use ; and to do this till the questions and answers fill tt hunih'cd and fifty pages folio consecutively : all this demands qualities which it will be allowed are rare and remarkable. T\\Q next department is that of the Superintendent, lb' has charge of the running of the trains, the safe working of the line, and the signal and other similar arrangements. The Goods Manager has charge of the goods stations, and warehouses, and their contents. When a goods train emerges from a goods department on to the main line it is under the jurisdiction and care of the superintendent, till it again reaches a goods station. The signalling agents of this department are of great importance. When a new line is l)eing completed, or an old one is altered, the superintendent has to prepare a report of the description, the position, the instruments, and the mode of workinef the sijrnals which he considers should be adopted, and to submit the report to the \ SERVAIs^TS OF THE COMP-\NY. 617 General Manaofer. He has also to select tlie different ranks of servants that may be required : station-masters, clerks, signal-men, and porters ; — omitting only those connected with the goods and the " way and works" ; — and duly considering the nature of the positions to be occupied, and the character, quahfications, and length of service of the persons to be appointed. While new berths are thus prepared, candidates are from time to time coming forward. When additional men are required, nomination forms are sent to the directors to ask if they have any eligible persons to name. These lists being returned, and other names being per- haps added, the candidates are sent for and examined, as to their height, health, age, eyesight, hearing, ability to read any kind of writing, and so forth. Yery occa- sionally instances have been known in which the men have satisfied the ordinary requirements of the examina- tion, but have been afflicted by colour-blindness which might have interfered with the accuracy of their reading of night signals. Porters for the passenger depart- ment are not accepted if they are less than 5 feet 8 inches high, or for the goods if they are less than 5 feet 7 inches. Their age must not exceed 25. These conditions being satisfied, the name is put down on a list of " approved candidates," from which ap- pointments are made as vacancies arise. Ministers and schoolmasters not unfrequently recommend clever lads, who have grown up in their schools, for po- sitions in the Company's service. If there h ])rimd facie evidence in their favour, they have a free pass sent to them to come to Derby for examination ; and, if eligible, and there are vacancies, they are appointed. Men who have once left the service to enter other companies are never received back again. " When applications are made by the servants of the 018 PROMOTION. Coinpany fur promotion," ivniarked a gontloiuan in tins department, " wo turn to their pedigree, and if tlieii- history proves that they are eligible for such an ap- pointment as that which they seek, the circumstance is ?-ecorded ; when vacancies occur this list is looked through ; and the best men are selected. To all thesi' positions we promote from our own ranks ; and hardly ever by any chance appoint an adult clerk <>r a man wlm lias been employed in any other railway company, though we arc often asked to do so. When a man is dissatis- fied because his application for a certain j)Ost is not entertained, wo almost alway.s send for him ; we hear what he has to say; we ]>roduce tin* record of his service, and scarcely ever fail to convince him that we are actinir majiy yoar> been very efficiently done in the large and excellent establishment of Messrs. Bcmrose, of Dcrbv. TICKETS. G25 wliicli one ticket, and no more, will slide. As the weight of the column always presses upon the slanting bottom ticket, it will spring forward at the least touch, and thus the booking-clerk is enabled to get what he wants by the mere touch of one of his fingers. Having slipped the ticket from the tube, he pushes it under the stamp which prints the date ; he then takes the money, calculates the change, and pays it from small round bowls containing severally gold, silver, and copper; and all in less time than it takes to. tell. On the departure of the train a further duty devolves upon the station clerk. He has to make an entry of the number and classes of tickets he has issued, and the destinations of the travellers. How is this to be done ? Easily, through the ingenious arrangements provided. When the clerk takes a ticket from the tube, he con- trives, by a dexterous movement of his finger, to draw the next ticket a little forward, so that it shall stick out a little, and serve as a tell-tale. The train having gone, the clerk glances round for the protruding tickets, and can see at once to what stations and for what classes tickets have been issued. He goes to one of them. It is, we will say, a first-class for Manchester, and is numbered 1,019 ; and, on reference to his book, he learns that the last ticket issued for the last train but one was 1,000. It is accordingly evident that for the train just gone 18 first-class tickets have been sold, the value of which comes to so much money. The con- secutive numbers of the tickets and the amount received for them are entered in the columns j)rovided for the purpose. Attempts to defraud railway companies by means of forged tickets are seldom made, and still more seldom successful. In 1870, a man who lived in a toll-house near Dudley, and who rented a large number of tolls on s s G26 CHEAP LOCOMOTION. the different turnpikes, in almost every part of the country, devised a plan for travellinfr cheaply. He set up a complete fount of type, com])osing stick, and every re([uisite for printing tickets, and provided himself with coloured papers, colours and paints to paint them, and plain cards on which to paste them ; and he j)repared tickets for journeys of great length, and available to and from dif- ferent stations on the fjondon and North Western, Great Western, and Midland lines. On arriving one day at the ticket platform at I)»il>y, he presented a ticket iVoin " Masbro' to Smethwick." The collector, who had been many years in the service of the Company, tliotight then* was something unusual in the ticket. On examination ho found it to be a forgery ; and when the train arrived at the platform he gave the passenger into custody. On searching his house upwards of 1000 railway tickets were discov(»red in a drawer in his bedroom, and the ap[)aratus with whicli the forgeries were accomplished was also secured. On the prisoner himself was the sum of L' !'.•',» !<•>•.. and it appeare*! that he came to bo present at the aiuiual letting of the tolls on the different roads leading out of Derby. The punishment he received was sutliciently condign to serve as a warning to all who might be inclined to emulate such attempts after cheap locomotion. Amusinjr incidents sometimes occur in the collection of tickets. A few years ago we were in a train that had stopped at the ticket platform. A hulking boy of about fourteen offered a half ticket. *' You're more than twelve," said the inspector. " No, I ain't," returned the lad. " Well, then," he replied, looking him all over, amid the annisement of the passengers atid the confusion of the youth, "all I can say is, you're an uncommon fine boy for your age." But a newer excuse has lately been given. "This your boy, ma'am ?" inrpiired a col- THE DETECTIVE DEPAETMENT. 027 lector of a country woman ; " he's too big for a 'alf ticket." ''Oh, is he?" replied the mother. "Well, . perhaps he is, noiv, Mister ; but he wasn't when he started. The train is ever so much behind time, — has been ever so long on the road, — and he's a growing lad!" The police and the detective department of a great railway is a subject on which we might say much, but on which, obviously, it behoves us to say little. It is unfor- tunate that such an institution should be necessary ; j^et necessary it is, not only for the discovery of offences committed by the few dishonest men who may find their way into the Midland Company's army of many thousand men, but also to guard against the eccentricities, — to use a mild term, — of the public themselves. So, having some curiosity to know something about this department of human industry and ingenuity, we had an interview with one who was well qualified to inform us. "Well, yes," he said; " we've a goodish bit of work to do, of one kind or another. There are the waiting-room loiterers, who walk off with passengers' luggage that doesn't belong to them ; and sometimes our own men go wrong, and we have to ' run them in,' or to get a 'creep' (a warrant) to search their houses. There's one fellow now who used to be in the Company's service who is ' wanted.' " " And so you have a regular staff who do the detective business of your Company ? " "Not a very 'regular' staff," he replied, smiling; "for I'm afraid they are rather irregular in their ways and words, and even appearance. But they do their work all the better for that, you know." " Perhaps so," we answered. " And your men find themselves in rather odd circumstances sometimes ? " " Why, yes. We have had a man lie under a heap of straw three days and nights, waiting to see who would come 028 PKECAUTIONS. and fetcli away a roll of clotli that had been hidden there. And we've had anotlier ride on a truck sheeted down all the way from Loudon to Glasj^ow ; and what with the shunting and the shaking, he had rather abaddish time of it before he had done. In fact, he suffered so much that we don't often do that now ; but we have had holes bored in the front and back of tlie covered goods trucks, so that men inside can see for'ard and aft, as the sailors say. At first we had only a few done ; and when it was found what they were for, they came to be regarded with sus- picion ; and a porter, seeing one, would hammer it as he went by, and sing out, * "Who are you inside ? How arc you, old fellow ? ' IJut now we've had so many done that nobody can tell whether they are in use or not for our ])urposes ; and it's more comfortable riding in one of them than lying flat on your face under a tarpaulin. And almost the first time we used a bt)red truck we made a haul." '• I low did you manage that?" '• Well, you know Strctton sidings. It's a lonely place in a cutting just this side of the tunnel. One of our goods trains was robbed. It used to take wine, among other things, to the North ; the wine casks were broached. We put two men into a bored truck, to watch the train from end to end, whenever it stopped. It wont all right till it reached Stretton sidings, where it had to be shunted tor an express to pass. No sooner was the ' goods ' safe in the sidings than the driver left his engine, and, helped by the signalman, uncovered a truck that carried wine, drew a lot olT into buckets, gave some of it to the signal- man and brakesman, and took the rest on to the engine for the stoker and himself. It was a regular plant. My men saw it all, but they knew it was no use to show themselves, for if they had then and there taken the oflenders into custodv, there was no one to drive the A FALSE CODE OF HONOUR. 629 engine. So tliey were allowed to finish their little game at their leisure ; and, after the express had passed, the ' goods ' followed, and went right on to Masboro', where plenty of help could be obtained, and wliere they (driver and stoker) were taken into custody, and the buckets were found wet with the wine." Perhaps the chief difficulty in the prevention of offences of this kind among railway servants arises from the false code of honour which exists among the men themselves, — a code, unhappily, found also elsewhere, — which hinders them from actively repressing crimes which they would not themselves commit, or even perhaps countenance, but which they will not expose. " You'll do that once too often, mate," they will say to an offender ; but beyond a mild remonstrance they will seldom or never go ; and should inquiries be made in regard to thefts which they must have seen, their powers of observation will be found to have been singularly circumscribed, and their memories singularly treacherous. The culprits are thus, if not encouraged, yet connived at, and perhaps go on from bad to worse, till they are ruined ; their companions are sus- pected and compromised, and perhaps demoralised ; their employers are robbed, and no one is reall}^ benefited by acts which, if the honest workman would simply resolve at all costs should not be done, would not be done. But if the men are at fault in these matters, the public are not blameless. Claims are made by respectable firms for robberies which took place, not when the goods were on the i^ailway, but before they left the warehouse, and the yawning vacuity which the consignees discovered in the hamper at the end of the journey might also have been found by the consignor before it left his premises. But manufacturers always assume the spotless innocence of their own servants and the exceptional depravity of railway people ; and the most distant hint to an employer G30 A\ EXPLOSIVE EEPrTDIATION". tliat possibly some mistake was made in packing his goods, will sometimes lead to as explosive a repudiation as if his own honour was assailed. An illustration of this sort of thing recently occurred. A claim had been sent in to a railwa}^ company for two dozen pairs of boots, which, it was alleged, had been stolen while on the journey. " I examined the hamper myself," said a chief of the detective department to the writer, "and I was certain that it could not possibly have held the quantity of boots said to have been packed in it. So I went over to L , to seo tlie head of the firm. J was shown into a little office, with windows all round, and with a glazed door at the entrance. A bland-looking white-haired venerable gentleman received me. I stated my errand, iiKjuired .^ome particulars, suggested some difricullios, anil at length ventured vaguely to hint the in(juiry whether it was possible that some error might have been made by liis people. In a moment the bland- ness of the venerable-looking gentleman had gone. * Do yon mean to .say, sir,' he exclaimed, as he rose from his (iak armchair, * that my people have robbed me, sir, and robbed you, sir ? I know what you're driving at, sir, but I won't have my servants insulted, and I won't be insulted b}^ you, sir. I shall communicate with your directors, sir, and I wish you, sir,' he almost screamed out, as he took hold of the office door, before which I made a rapid retreat as he slammed it vehemently in my face — * I wish you, sir, a vkuv G(xid morning, sir!' I expected and hoped that every atom of glass in tlw^ door would have been shivered, but I am sorry to say it survived ; and I export," added the detective in a sul)dued tone, *' that the bland-looking gentleman has ever since been sending all his goods by the London and North Western, which is our chief competitor for traffic in that town." *• Yes," he continued, after some other remarks, " we "easy come, easy go." 631 are always clianging our plans. The thief never knows when he is safe — in fact, never is safe. The man whom he thinks so innocent a companion, — a greenhorn, he fancies, — is perhaps the very one who was sent to watch his movements ; and the next day as he stands in the dock will be a witness against him." The slice of Melton pork-pie so generously presented to an apparent accom- plice was actually given to a detective in disguise. Every detail of the incident was immediately reported to the superintendent, and steps were taken accordingly. The jobber, as he seemed to be, who leaned with folded arms on the pig-sty wall, and congratulated the owner on the fat sides of his pigs, and slyly suggested that they must have had a nice bit of cheap barley, knew as well as the porter who owned them that the barley had not slipped out of the sacks quite accidentally. Even when thieves have run all the hazards of their craft, and have securely possessed themselves of the pro- perty of others, they are seldom really enriched. It is "easy come, easy go" with those who rob railways. They prey upon others ; but others prey upon them. Many an illustration might be given, but one will suffice. A certain railway porter had stolen a roll of ribbed trouser cloth, and, fearing to keep it in his possession, resolved to dispose of it to a Jew tailor, who was known not to be unwilling to purchase such articles at a low figure. On entering the shop with his bundle he was cordially received by the clothier, who guessed the nature of his errand. " And vaat can I do for you, my tear?" the man of business tenderly inquired. "Well, you see — I'm a porter, and I've got a bit of cloth, you know, that I came lucky by " (a technical term). " Quite right, my tear ; and ow mootch have you got ? and ow mootch do you want for it ?" G32 A JEW CLOTHIER. "Well, I don't know," replied the porter; " you sec I haven't measured it, but I want the most I can get for it." " All riglit," said the Jew ; and then looking sideways through his shop window down the street, he suddenly exclaimed, " I say, man, koot, koot." •' What, do you mean ?" urged the surprised venilor. " Koot your stick," continued tho Jew, *' through my back door, and run your hardest, the police are coming," and he lifted up the movable lid of his counter to facilitate the escape of the porter, who, leaving his ill- gotten wealth upon the counter, was not slow to avail himself of tho advice given, and who felt considerable relief when, having passed through tho kitchen and yard of the clothier, he found himself in another street, safe out of harm's way, and no policeman in sight. Next day, nothing doubting, the porter called again, and after passing and repassing, to make sure the Jew was within, entered the shop. " Good morning," said the porter. ** Good morning, young man," returned the .lew, with a little reserve of manner. " Vaat can 1 do for you r" *' Oh, I called about that bit of stuff, you know." " Bit of vaat ?" inquired the Jew. "The bit of cloth I left here yesterday — you remem- ber." " Hit of cloth you left here yesterday r" returned the man of business, with an air of what our French friends call " pre-occupation " and reserve. " Vaat do you mean, young man ? " " AVhy, you know," continued the porter, with empha- sis, " 1 brought a bit of cloth yesterday to sell you — a bit I'd come lucky by." " Vaat ! to my haus — you brought it here ! ^ y. 1 never see you before in ma life. Tell me vaat you mean.'' THE GOODS MANAGER. 633 So the man repeated in emphatic words, how that he had come the day before with a roll of cloth, how that he was going to sell it, and that they were talking about the price when they were interrupted by a policeman passing along the street, and " you know," he added, " I left the cloth just here, and went out the back way through your house and yard." But so monstrous an imputation upon his reputation the Jew could no longer resist. " Judith, my tear," he called out at the top of his voice to his daughter, — " Judith, my tear, fetch a police- man ; here is a railway porter who has robbed his master, and wants to bring disgrace upon a respectable trades- man." And Judith hied herself out into the street in apparently hot pursuit of a minister of justice. There was no time to be lost. The terrified railway servant performed a strategic movement down the street in the opposite direction, leaving behind him for ever his ill- gotten sj^oils in the possession of the tender-hearted and scrupulous Israelites. The position of Manager of the Goods Department of the Midland Company, is occupied by Mr. Newcombe. He was formerly a carrier by road and railway, having conveyances working in connection with Chaplin and Home, and Carver and Co., between all the chief towns in England and Scotland. In the year 1850, owing to the principal railway companies having determined to become their own carriers, and generally to dispense with the services of agents, Mr. Xewcombe accepted the post of goods manager under the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway Company, at Newcastle. In 1855 he was appointed general goods and mineral manager of the Great Western, the head quarters of which were at Pad- dington. Two years afterwards he was appointed to be general manager of the Midland Railway, consequent upon Mr. Allport's retirement to engage in iron ship- 034 THE GOODS DEPARTMENT. building, iiL YaiTOw ; in LsOu, Mv. Allport left the firm with which he had been connected, and Mr. Newcombe was induced to give up the post of general manager to enable ^Ir. Allport to resume it. The board also arranged for his removal to London, to organize and conduct the Company's carting arrangements, which had been performed by Pickford and Co. This post he held for eight years, when at the death of Mi-. Walklate, in 18G8, he was appointed general goods and mineral manager. Tlie duties of the goods manager include the arrange- ment of trains for all goods and mineral traffic ; the fixing and (pioting of all rates for goods and general merchandise ; the purchase and distribution of horses and all vehicles used in the shunting and cartage operations of tlie Company; the supervision of the entire goods and mineral stalfof the Company; the appointment of agents, clerks, and porters, subject to the approval of the board ; attendance at conferences of various companies ; and general management, working, and conduct of all mat- ters relating; to the jjoods and mineral traffic of the Mid- land Ct)mpany. On tlic vast and multitudinous arrangements by which, in the chief towns of England and in hundreds of smaller ones, such a department does its work, we cannot dilate. But it may give some vividness to our understanding of the method of operation, if we visit one principal goods station, say St. Pancras, at lU o'clock some night, and see what is going forward. Having secured the assistance of a competent and cour- teous guide, we ])ass on amid the glancing of railway lights, the sound of passing trains, and the clatter of ponderous vehicles, to the "inwards" departjnent of the great goods shed. If all is dark without, all is light within. This " inwards " platform, on which we are now stand- ST. PANGEAS GOODS STATION. 635 ing, runs tlie length of the shed from north to south, — a distance which, with the additions now being made, will be 1000 feet or so from end to end. On the left of this platform is the " van dock " in which the vans are standing; on the right is the "truck dock," where the train has been placed which is now being loaded. All the morning and afternoon vehicles have been coming in, loaded to enormous heights with the cargoes they have obtained at the London " receiving offices " of the Com- pany, at the Castle and Falcon, Regent's Circus, the Borough, and elsewhere; and now the business is at its height. The appearance at first presented is one of inextric- able confusion. Vehicles are rattling in and out of the yard ; innumerable and mighty heaps of bales, barrels, hampers, crates, baskets, and bundles, throng the plat- form, and seem to become every moment more numerous and more vast ; workmen run hither and thither with little trucks loaded with goods of all sorts and sizes ; cranes swing round in all directions, and the chaos seems to be complete. But as we grow familiar with the scene, we find that order prevails. We notice that the vans, as they enter the shed, are at once placed under the orders, no longer of the drivers, but of " van shunters," who, with their horses, do nothing else but regulate the move- ments of the vans, so that no place all along the " van dock " is unfilled, or filled by the wrong vehicle. At the present moment some eighty of them — all backed up to the left-hand edge of the platform — are discharging their contents under the hands of a hundred men, in four-and- twenty gangs, each with its checker, loader, and barrow- men. Besides these there are ten capstan lads and their foremen ; the train setters and their foremen ; and the superintendent in charge of the whole. The " outwards " platform is arranged in some twenty 036 ST. PANCRAS GOODS STATION. different " ])erths," as they are called, named after the principal towns to which the ^Midland runs, and distin- guished as such by the names hanging overhead on great wooden labels — Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, Leeds, Bradford, etc. The goods intended for these different destinations are brought into these divisions respectively. Xo sooner is the train marshalled in its dock on the right-hand side the platform than the " truckers " bring foiward the goods to be loaded, or the cranes are worked by machinery, and *' forthwith a huge bale, or a heavy forging, is seen dangling in the air,and is swung round and deposited in the truck or waggon as tenderly as a mother would ])lace her sleeping child in its cradle." In the trucks themselves, the loaders are at work reducing the incoherent heaps of goods into compact masses of cargo, and so adjusted that they shall not sutler by frietion or shaking on their hurried jcnirney. The first chief down train is the 2.35 ; it contains fruit, butter, and wool. The fruit is from the South of England, the Channel Lslands, and France, and it goes to the midland counties and Manchester. Twenty tons of apples and plums a day throughout the season is not unusual, and sometimes forty tons of oranges in a night ; each box, containing from one to two hundredweight, must sweeten a good many mouths. The wool comes from the London wool warehouses, where it has changed hands at the periodical wool sales, which last perhaps a couple of months at a time, and which supply an almost continuous traffic of wool to the North for eight or ninr months of the year. The variety of goods thus despatched is enormous. (Irocery and tea from the docks and bonded warehouses; furniture, made in London, but unfini.shed, — " in the white" it is called, — to receive the last touches of the cabinetmaker's and of the polisher's art when it reaches ST. PANCRAS GOODS STATION. 637 its destination, and is not in such dano^er of beino: scratched or injured by a journey; carriage-builders' work in the same condition, and for the same reasons ; drugs from the wholesale houses for country druggists ; skins from Bermondsey; mustard from Colman's at Norwich ; spirits (especially gin) from the London distillers ; and oil, and a thousand commodities besides, are consigned by metropolitan merchants and traders to the care of the railroad for their country customers. The principal work on the " outwards " platform has to be accomplished within a specified period, namely, be- tween about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and say 4 o'clock the next morning. This pressure is unavoidable. The chief articles sold in London during the day cannot be packed by the owners and obtained by the Company except in the course of that day. The amounts brought in are constantly iucreasing as the afternoon wears on, and the business from 8 o'clock in the evenino- till mid- night is at its height. From that time it slackens, the last express goods leaving at 2.25 in the morning, and then there are two "clearing np " trains, as they are called, to finish up with. The goods received at 6 o'clock to-night at the railway receiving offices, have to be delivered in Yorkshire by 7 o'clock next morning, as rapidly as the Post Office delivers its letters ; and so numerous and weighty are the trains, that each must be despatched to a minute at the time appointed in the working time-tables, failing which there will be on the part of the authorities at Derbj^ — to nse the expressive phrase of a subordinate — a " tremendous noise." We now cross over from the western or " outwards " platform to the eastern or " inwards." It also occupies the whole line from north to south of the goods shed, one side being bounded by the trucks dock, the other by the van dock. The procedure on this side is simply the 638 ST. TAXCRAS GOODS STATION. reverse of that upon the other ; instead of goods being received by road from the metropolis, to be sent into the country by rail, goods are received b}' rail from the country to be sent into the metropolis, chiefly by road. There is, however, on this side an even greater diversity of goods than upon the other. London produces a great multitude of articles wliicli it forwards to the provinces for consumption ; but London receives a still greater multitude for its own use — in fact, every conceivable article under the sun. No wonder, then, that upon the '* inwards " platform we find cases of hardware from Birmingham, casks of shoes from Leicester, hampers of lace from Nottingham, agricultural impk-mcnts from Lincoln, crates of earthenware from Staffordshire, skips of lint from Chesterfield for Guy's Hospital, boxes of biscuits from Reading, sacks of seed from Wisbeach, hats from Luton, mangles from Keighley, ale from Hurton, castings from Leeds, tins of butter from Liverpool, whisky from Glasgow, trusses of canvas and bales of hides from Leith, and last, but not least, ** mild cured Cumberland bacon " direct from the United States! Let us watch the j)rocess of unloading. There are five-and-thirty waggons now alongside the platform. Till' side of each is let down, and is resting on the edge of the platform, so as to form a bridge across which the little trucks may be run direct into the body of the waggon. The '* checker " places himself alongside the waggon with the invoice in hand, which has come from the " sending station," and which shows what were the contents of the truck when it was despatched. Another man, named a ** caller-oflT," assisted by two porters, rolls the floods out of the wac:0 miles, if need be, without a pause. So intricate, yet so tru(>, will be its movement, that some of the machinery Avill, as it runs, divide a second into eight equal parts. THE EXPRESS ENGINE. 647' and the pistons will be passing backwards and forwards along the cylinders at the speed of about 1000 feet a minute ! Yet this stupendous power is under the easiest control, and can be made to run at the rate of a mile a minute or a mile an hour by a single movement of the regulator. The scene is always ane of interest and excitement before the down express starts. The train is ready ; the engine is attached; the last passengers are taking their seats ; porters bustle about with luggage on their shoulders, or trundle alono^ mountains of basfo-agfe in ' O CUD O wicker-work trucks, which have the appearance of some- thing cross-bred between a clothes-basket and a cradle. One man endangers the head of the public generally by the manner in which he carries a huge box ; another is evidently of opinion that he is perfectly justified in bruising any one's shins, because he has first shouted, in tones which no one can understand, " By y'r leave" ; but, as a rule, everything is proceeding as rapidly and as orderly as is j^racticable. The last moment has come; the last farewells are uttered ; the signal is given ; the " chay-chay " of the engine, at first heard at perceptible intervals, becomes a continuous sound ; and before the last van has cleared the platform, the train is running at rapid speed on its new journey. The first impression produced by riding on the engine of a fast train is exhilarating. There is a sense of novelty, of swiftness, and of power. But if con- tinued for any length of time, there is a strange feeling in the calves of one's legs, — a sort of cramp, — the effect of the firmness with which one has to stand on the footplate in order to resist the " dither" of the engine. The next feeling is that everything is very hard and very hot. The graceful bounding appearance that an engine seems to a looker-on to have when it is running is C48 HARD AND HOT. appearance only. Everything on a locomotive is as un- yielding as iron and steel can make it. Xor is it any wonder that it is hot, for within a iow feet of the foot- plate are three or four hundred gallons of boiling water, and also a firebox that is a seething cauldron of five or ten hundredweight of coals that are, not only burning, but burning like a blast furnace under the highest possibk^ draught, as if fifty blacksmiths' bellows were at full work upon it ; while to prevent any lateral escape of anv of this volume of heat, its sides arc covered in by a non- conducting wooden '* clothing " around the boiler. Some- times, indeed the flame becomes so great as to pour right through the ten feet length of the 200 tubes that run from the firebox along the boiler, and, mounting up the six or seven feet of the chinmey, will flow out at the top a foot in length. " I have known," said an engineer to the writer, " when an engine was pulling a very heavy load, the exhaust steam (that is, the steam that has done its work in the cylinders and is passing away by the chimney) cause such a vacuum in the chimnev, and di*aw the air so stroncflv throuar. \\<- was also fi-ostbitten in the chest, and was eight weeks off work. He'd never lost time before, but in cold winters he has suffered ever since." " \\ «• like," he continued, after some other remarks, *' w<> like to keep the same engine while her legs is good. Then we shift to another while she is irpaired, and then we go back again. We like to stick to the old 'un same as we do to a iiouse. You see we, — tlto engine and me, — get used to one another; know where everything is to be found, and what she can do. A «rood ensrine-man takes a ])ride like in his engine, as if, you know, she was his own property, and we know what we can coax out of her; and, what's more, what we can't. What do I mean by coaxing her r Why, you see an engine wants to be managed like, same as a woman does. We have to fire the engine on the lightest ]»art of the road, that is MUGBY JUNCTION. 651 when she's running down banks and sucli like, and has the least blast on. If we put coal on when the blast is strong up the chimney, the small coal goes into tlie smokebox and flies up out of the chimney. It would be wasted, and would dirty the carriages, and settle on them. It is the fireman, you know, that watches the fire, and keeps the steam up by the indicator, as the driver re- quires him ; and both driver and fireman have also to keep a sharp look-out ahead. " I've been a goodish time in the service. I started as a fitter as a boy, mostly in the running shed. I was driving before I was 30, and had been ' firing ' before that. How many miles do I run? Why, 76 miles out and 76 miles home — 152 miles, or 1000 miles with odd- ments in six days, or 50,000 miles in a year, if we don't lose time or make ' over.' Time was, when I worked goods, I never saw my children except when they was abed; now the trains are worked more regular and comfortable for the men. No ; never had an accident in my life. Have had many narrow escapes. In my opinion more men get injured by jumping off" their engines than by staying on." " Did I ever read ' Mugby Junction'? Yes ; I've read it, and don't think much to it. I don't believe any driver ever told Muster Dickens anything of the sort. Why not? Well, sir, if you'd ever run over a poor fellow on the road, and had to pick his poor dead limbs together, as I've had to do, you wouldn't speak cold- blooded like about it, as Muster Dickens said the man did. ' Tain' t in human natur' ; 'tain't in driver's natur', leastwise. So I don't believe a word about it. But them romancing people never know, sir, when they're telling the truth and when they ain't — that's my opinion." There are many among us who, like the writer, are fond of looking at trains. It is pleasant to watch them by day, 652 Till-: iMiwx MA li- as thej run through the silent fields, where the grazing cattle scarcely lift their heads, and the timid sheep lie quietly in the furrows, and the hen partridge crouches with her brood only for a moment in the dry dust of the gravelly cutting, and the loose horse, though ho gallops away, and then stops and stares and snorts, is not really fiML^htened, but only pretends that he is. We like, too, to go down to the roadside station at night, and see the down mail pass. We were there the other night. All was silence and ihirkness, except the sound of the rain pattering on the roof, and the glancing lamps of two or three porters, one of whom, with a lan- tern in his left hand, was writing in a small memoran(),* at the above speed, will draw a load of 350 tons. The tender will hold 2320 gallons of water ; it has a coal space of four tons ; and it weighs, in working order, about 28 tons. The engine and t(Mider when loaded will weigh G3 tons. The main line passenger engine as used for express trafhc, has six wheels, four of which are cou{)led, and ;i smaller wheel at the front or leading end. The coupled wheels are feet 8 inches diameter, with cylinders of 17 THE lAST SKW UIDLAND KXmf.HB EN..iN>. nches diameter, and 2 feet stroke. It will weigh whei in working order 30 tons, and with the boiler pressure ot 140 lbs. per square inch, is capable of drawing, on a level, at a speed of 45 miles per hour, a load equal to 240 tons ; and on an incline of 1 i>» 100, at the above speed, will draw a load of 120 tons. Th<' tender will hold 232<> gallons of water ; it has a coal space of four tons; and tht^ whole weighs, in working order, about 28 tons. The enf'ine and tender irhm Jnndrd ireiah not Jcf^s ihni 64 tons. * The Trader will lieiv observe how woiKlerfnlly a pradient of ftii\ stoopncsa tells against the drawing power of even the best engines. NEW MIDLAND CARRIAGE WORKS. 659 The following is a list of the principal locomotive stations, with the average number of engines "in steam" at them : — Derby, 94: engines ; Birmingham, 72 engines ; Sheffield, 47 engines ; Leeds, 48 engines ; Toton, 54 engines; Nottingham, 49 engines; Leicester, 52 engines; Wellingborough, 49 engines ; London, 69 engines. The distance run by the Midland engines during the last half year was nearly 11,000,000 of miles, equal to about 60,000 miles every day, or to two and a half times round the world every day. We may add that the Break-down Trains are under the control of the Locomotive Department. The new Carriage and Waggon Works of the Midland Company at Derby will form by far the largest establish- THE BREAK-DOWN TRAIN. ment of the kind in England. The land purchased amounts to no less than fifty acres, and the actual area of the buildings will be twelve acres. They will be approached by a line turning off under the first bridge through which the trains pass as they start from Derby towards Birmingham. The arrangement of the establishment will be simple and complete. There will be two series of buildings, one for wood, the other for iron. At the north end of the wood department will be first the timber-yard, containing wood in logs and planks; then the buildings for the sawing mills, where there will be every variety of the latest and best wood cutting machinery ; thirdly the drying sheds ; fourthly the waggon shop for Iniilding and repairing waggons ; 6G0 MIDLAND PASSENGER CAKKIAGES. fiftlily the carriage building and repairing shop ; and lastly, in the series, the carriage painting and finishing shops. Parallel with these will be the series of shops for the ironwork that is required in carriage and waggon build- ing. First will come the genei-al stores, and the foun- dries for brass and iron ; next the smithy, including the spring-makers', the bolt-makers', and wheel repairing shop ; and then the fitting and turning of the ironwork, and for the making up of the wheels. Sidings, and travers- ing tables will be laid between all these various shops, and also through them, so that there will always be more tlian one way l)y whicli trollies or trains can get in and out. In the arrangements of these new works cverj' possi- '^ KKW XIOLAXO rAKSENOER CxnutXUK. l)le appliance will be used for the saving of labour. '* Araehines," as Mr. Clayton remarked, " will do every- thing tliat machines can do economically ; and hydraulic power will be used extensively." It is intended that in the department for woodwork there shall not he a fire- place ; and, as five lines of railway and 85 feet of space will separate the iron shops from the wood, it is believed that it will be easy to prevent fire in the only department where it can arise from extending to the other. All the shops are at least 70 feet apart. So large and complete will be the resources of the new establishment, that a large number of new carriages and waggons can be built CIVIL ENGINEEES. 661 tbere in addition to keeping tlie present stock in good working order. The passenger carriages that liave recently been added to the stock of the Company, and which have awakened such general admiration, have cost from £500 to £600 each. About 350 have been ordered, and some 200 have been delivered. In addition to these there are nearly 50 of the new type depicted in the engraving. They are three feet longer than the Pullman ; they rest on two six wheeled bogies (or pivots) ; and each has four first class and four third class compartments, and a luggage box. It is believed that they will ride more easily and steadily than any yet used. We may add that no more carriages of the older type will now be built. Mr. Samuel W. Johnson succeeded Mr. Kirtley as head of the locomotive department. He had previously held office in several other companies ; his last appointment, before coming to the Midland, being that of locomotive superintendent on the Great Eastern for seven years. Besides the engineers of the locomotive depart- ment there are the civil engineers, to the remarkable results of whose labours in all parts of the Mid- land system these pages have already borne testi- mony. The position of engineer-in-chief has for many years been occupied by Mr. Crossley, who in the course of a lengthened experience has planned for Parliament some 600 miles of railway, and constructed 300. Having, "in consequence," as the last report observes, "of fail- ing health," retired from the service except as far as concerns the completion of the Settle and Carlisle line, the department has been arranged into two sections : that of "the engineer for lines under construction," at the head of which is Mr. Underwood ; and that of " the engineer for lines open for traffic," which is under Mr. A. Johnston. GG2 EXGIXEEKS AND SOLICITORS. " It must be very nice to be a railway eugineer," remarked a la.ly to a gentleman of that profession; *' and be able to travel about anywhere you want to go to for nothing." " Yes, madam," was the enigmatical reply ; '* it would, as you say, be very nice to travel about for nothing (/* we were not jhiid for it. Hut you sec," ho added, " railway engineers are like the cabman's horse. The cabman had a very thin horse. ' Doesn't your horse have enough to eat?' in«juirfd a benevolent lady passenger. * Oh yes, ma'am,' replied cabby ; * I gives him lots o* victuals to eat, onlv, vou see, he hasn't anv time to eat 'em.' So it is with the railway engineer : he has lots of pleasure of all kinds, only he has not any time to take it." The service rendered by our engineers is worthy of more honour than it receives. True they are *' monarchs of all they i<»nr< // ; " yet how many persons, says one of them, *' rushing through the country at si.xty miles an hour in a first class carriage, bestow as much as a passing thought on the labour that was expended on that narrow tnick of road that they whirl over in even a minute of time! Little do tln-y think how that portion of the line was constructed bit by bit by the combined efforts of thousands of their fellow-creatures, some of whom have required almost a lifetime of study and experience befoi*e they could contribute their mite of knowledge to the genenil undertaking. It may lx» the genius of one man who directs and sets the whole of the mighty machinery in motion; but he would be powerless unless the orders he issued to the many ])arts were thoroughly understood in all their many details ; and unless every bolt, every little screw, were |Hirforming its proper duty, the machine would collapse, and every effort to make it move would but involve the destruction of eV(Ty ])art." EESULTS OF RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. 663 The solicitors of the Midland Company are the emi- nent firm of Messrs. Bcale, Marigold & Beale, of Great George Street, Loudon. Mr. Samuel Carter, formerly at the head of this firm, occupied for several years the remarkable position of being solicitor to both the London and JS'orth Western and Midland Companies. This was at a time when the latter was regarded almost in the light of a humble dependency of the former. But our space has gone ; and, however reluctantly, we and our readers must part. "We have mentioned many facts of interest with regard to the Midland Railway : we have left more untold. We will only add, that in the growing usefulness and prosperity of this Company in particular, and of railways in general, we have perfect confidence. Already 16,000 miles of English railway interlace the land; 12,000 engines, w^hich would of themselves make a train 90 miles long, and are worth nearly £3000 apiece, run a distance every year equal to that from the earth to the sun and back again ; 25,000 carriages bear rich and poor by almost every train ; waggons, numerous enough to stretch from St. Pancras to the Equator, convey our goods ; money equal to the amount of the national debt has been invested, not on useless wars, but for the social, commercial, and moral welfare of the community ; and able statesmanlike minds are devising how far all these benefits can be made more complete and far-reaching. The midland counties have become a suburb of the metropolis. The patriotic Welshman can travel from Pontrydfendigaid to Myuydd- yslwyn, and rejoice. The Scot can ride from north to south, as Lord Macaulay finely puts it, " by the light of a winter's day." With the space and resources of an empire, we enjoy the compactness of a city. Our roads are contracted into streets, our hills and dales into parks, and our thousand leagues of coast into the circum- 00 i LESULTS OF RAILWAY ENTERPRISE. fcrence of a castle wall. Nineveh was a city of three clays' journey round. Great Britain can be traversed in one. For questions of distance, we are as mere a spot as Malta, as St. Helena, as one of the states of the ^gean. " A hundred opposite ports are blended into one PiraDus, and to every point of the compass diverge the oft-traversed walls that unite them with our engirded Acropolis." nAIL nSTINO MACDINE AT EXTBANCE TO DEL8IZE TONBL. APPENDIX MIDLAND DIVIDENDS. 1 June. December. Year. £ s. d. £ s. d. £ s. d. 1844 ^•^^• ^^^ M.Co. 2 2 0) 2 2 6} 3 Say 5 2 1845 3 3 13 9 6 13 9 1846 3 10 3 10 7 1847 i 3 10 3 10 7 1848 3 2 10 5 10 1849 1 10 15 2 15 1850 16 15 2 10 1851 15 17 6 2 12 6 1852 1 10 1 12 6 8 2 6 1853 1 ]2 6 1 12 6 3 5 1854 1 15 1 17 6 3 12 6 1855 1 15 1 17 6 3 12 6 1856 2 2 2 6 4 2 6 1857 2 2 6 2 10 4 12 6 1858 2 2 6 2 15 4 17 6 1859 2 12 6 3 5 12 6 1860 3 5 3 10 6 15 1861 3 2 6 3 10 6 12 6 1862 2 15 3 5 6 1863 2 17 6 3 10 6 7 1864 3 10 3 17 6 7 7 (J 1865 3 5 3 10 6 15 1866 3 3 2 6 6 2 6 1867 2 15 2 15 5 10 1868 2 10 2 17 6 5 7 6 1869 2 17 6 3 5 6 2 6 1870 3 2 6 3 7 6 6 10 1871 3 5 3 15 7 1872 3 10 3 15 7 5 1873 3 7 6 3 5 6 12 6 1874 2 15 3 5 6 1875 3 1876 1877 1878 1879 3880 1881 1882 1883 ; :r -tr i; C • ^. i _ <= =r = > r rr <= = srf-^iP. V^5 MIDLAND HOTELS. 6G7 The Midland Railway Company are the proprietors of four Hotels : the Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras, of which a description has been given in this volume (pages 345-350) ; the Queen's Hotel, adjoining the Wellington Midland Station, Leeds ; the Midland Hotel, adjoining the Derby Station ; and the North Western Hotel, adjoining the station pier, Morecambe. The three first are under the direct administration of the Midland Company ; and all ai'O first class establishments for families and gentlemen. Mr. Etzensberger is the manager of the Midland Grand ; Mr. James Allen at Leeds ; Mr. W. Towle at Derby ; and Mr. W. Hartley is the lessee at Morecambe. As the magnitude and sumptuousness of " the Grand " may deter some from availing themselves of its accommodation, it may be right to state that the charges are not only moderate for the unusual advantages they secure, but do not exceed those of any first class hotel in the metropolis. An hotel porter attends the trains in London, Derby, and Leeds. Passengers who are booked through between London and Edin- burgh, Glasgow, or stations north of those cities, b}^ the Midland Railway, are allowed to break their journey by remaining one night at Leeds ; passengers who are booked through between London and Edinburgh, Glasgow, or stations to the north of those cities, by Midland Railway, may break their journey by remaining a night at Derby; and passengers holding through tickets from Scotland to stations west of Birmingham, or, vice versa, may break the journey by remaining a night at Derby. With regard to the terms on which the Midland Company undertake to convey passengers or goods, we must refer our readers to the official regulations of the Company ; but it may be convenient for us to state, in an unofficial way, some of these arrangements. Greenwich time is kept at all the stations ; and passengers who are as far west as Bristol should be aware that this makes a difference between the geographically local time and the railway time of nearly 12 minutes. Passengers should at all the prin- cipal stations be five minutes earlier than the times mentioned on the time tables, and at intermediate stations they should be ten minutes earlier. With regard to passengers, it should be noticed that children C68 TICKETS AJv^D CAEEIAGES. under three years of age travel free ; and those above three and under twelve, at half price. A passenger with either a single journey or return ticket, is not permitted to leave any train at an intermediate station (unless it is advertised that the journey may be broken at that station) without giving up his ticket, in which case he will forfeit all further right to it. Passengers in private carriages (not being servants) must take first class tickets, as the carriage rates do not include the privilege of reduced fares, and such passengers may change on the journey into the Com- pany's first class carriages, if they please. Tickets are issued at intermediate stations, conditionally on there being room in the carriages of the train by which the passenger books. If there be no room, the money will be returned if the ticket is produced at the booking office immedi- ately on the departure of the train for which it has been pur- chased. Passengers are requested to examine their tickets and change before leaving the booking office counter, as claims for alleged mistakes cannot be recognised afterwards. Tickets must be shown to the Company's servants, or delivered up to them when demanded ; any person failing to produce his ticket is liable to be charged the fare from the most distant station from which the train has started. Parties cannot re-book at an intermediate station by the same train. -Single journey tickets (with a few exceptions) are only available on the day of is- sue. Passengers who allege that they have lost or mislaid their tickets, and apply for a return of their fares, should be aware that the Company does not hold itself liable for the consequences of any such mistakes. The exclusive use of a compartment of a first class carriage may be engaged if not fewer than four tickets are taken, and written notice is given to the station-master, at the departure station ; not later than two hours before starting, if at a terminal station from whence the train starts ; or the previous day if at an intermediate station. If more than four seats are occupied in a reserved compartment, the additional fai'es must be paid. Saloon carriages are kept at St. Pancras, Derby, Leeds, Bradford, and Gloucester, and, if not previously engaged, may be had for the EEFEESHMENT EOOMS AND RETUEN TICKETS. 669 accommodation of pleasure parties or families^ on application at any of those stations on the previous day. Invahd carriages, each with a couch, upon which an invalid can recline, are kept at London (St. Pancras) and Derby, and can, unless previously engaged, be had upon due notice being given to the station-master at St. Pancras or Derby, and arrangements can be made for these carriages to go through to any part of the kingdom to which there is direct communication. Four first class fares as a minimum will be chai^ged. Footwarmers are supplied in first and third class carriages on the application of passengers at all the principal stations, for the through trains in the winter months. There are refreshment rooms at the St. Pancras, Luton, Hitchin, Rugby, Leicester, Trent, Derby, Shefiield, Normanton, Leeds, Bradford, Bath, Gloucester, Ashchurch, Birmingham, Burton, Peterboro^, Nottingham, Malvern Wells, and Lincoln stations. Luncheon baskets can be obtained at Derby, Leicester, and Trent. These can be taken by the passenger into the carriage, and delivered up when he has finished his meal. Lavatory and dressing rooms, for the convenience of passengers travelling on the Midland Railway, are provided, under the ma- nagement of Mr. Faulkner, at the following stations : St. Pancras, Trent, Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Normanton, Leeds, and Bradford. First and third class return tickets are issued between all stations on the Midland Railway where single journey tickets are issued, available for the return journey for six months, except between the following stations : to and from all stations between Hendon, South Tottenham, Moorgate Street, and St. Pancras, the return ticket is available for seven days ; between London and Birmingham, and stations west of Birmingham, in- cluding Saltley and Camp Hill, one month ; between Bristol and Bath, seven days. First and third class return tickets are issued between most of the principal stations on the Midland Railway and j)rincipal stations on the following railways, for distances above 50 miles, available for a month : — All Scotch lines ; Bristol and Exeter ; Cheshire Lines Committee ; Cockermouth, Keswick, and Penrith ; Cornwall ; Furness ; Great Eastern ; Great Northern ; Lancashire 670 LUGGAGE AND NEWSPAPERS. and Yorkshire ; London and North Western ; Manchester, Shef- field, and Lincolnshire ; North Eastern ; North Staffordshire ; Somerset and Dorset ; and South Devon. Return tickets, avail- able for a month, are issued also between St. Pancras and Dublin, Belfast, Londonderry, and principal stations in the north of Ireland: If a passenger with a return ticket travels one journey in a higher class of carriage than that for which the ticket was issued, he will be required to pay the difference between the single journey fares of the two classes respectively for that journey. First class passengers are allowed 120 lbs. and third class passengers 60 lbs. of personal luggage, not being carried for hire or profit, free of charge. All excess above the weight allowed will be charged for as excess. The ordinary charge made for excess luggage of passengers for distances not exceeding 30 miles is a farthing a pound; for distances not exceeding 50 miles one halfpenny, and so on with a gradual increase until for a distance exceeding 300 miles the charge is 2cl, per pound. Commercial travellers^ extra luggage is charged, if booked at the commencement of the journey, ac- cording to a reduced scale, and they are allowed the privilege of booking their luggage from the station from which they start to the station at which their day^s journey is to end, whether it be a return journey or otherwise, although they may have occa- sion to stop during their day's business at intermediate stations. Passengers' heavy luggage, when conveyed on carriage trucks by passenger trains, is charged 6d. per mile per truck. The minimum charge is 7s. 6d. Bath chairs, when accompanied by passengers, and conveyed at the owner's risk, are charged, for a distance not exceeding 12 miles. Is. ; above 12 miles and not exceeding 25 miles. Is. 6d. ; and so on with an increasing charge until for 75 miles, and not exceeding 100, the charge is 4s. Perambulators and bicycles are charged half the above rates. The wide spread diffusion of newspapers and periodical litera- ture has rendered it necessar}'^ to make special provision for their cheap and rapid circulation, by railway as well as by post. Ac- cordingly it is provided that single newspapers or several copies of newspapers or periodicals published at intervals not exceeding PARCELS AND VAN PARCELS. 071 one montli^ are conveyed between any two stations on the Midland Railway, iri'cspective of distance, at the uniform charge of one half- penny per copy. Tlie charge is in all cases to be prepaid by affix- ing one of the Company's labels to each packet. The rates do not include collection or delivery. The parcels must be open at both ends. Labels varying in value from one halfpenny to tenpence each, to be used for the conveyance of single newspapers and newspaper parcels not exceeding 12 lbs. in weight, can be obtained in sheets, on application to the General Manager, Derby. Parcels are conveyed by all trains. They must be delivered at the respective stations of the Company at least 10 minutes before the departure of the train they are intended to be forwarded by. The Company do not undertake to deliver parcels received by passenger trains at country stations on their line where the dis- tance from such station is more than half a mile. Parties residing at a greater distance are requested to inform the station-masters what arrangements they wish to be made for the delivery of their parcels. Gentlemen having seats in the country, and residing occasionally in London, may have fruit and vegetables for their own use con- veyed from any station in the country by passenger train, and delivered in Loudon at reduced rates, particulars of which may be ascertained on application to the '' Superintendent, Midland Rail- way, Derby. ^' Packages of a light, frail nature, or such as are bulky in pro- portion to their weight, such as paper boxes, containing arti- ficial flowers, paper bonnet or hat boxes, straw bonnets, packages of lace, light furniture, etc. ; are charged 50 per cent, increase upon the ordinary parcels rate. Van parcels are conveyed daily (Sundays excepted) to and from London, and stations on the Midland Railway, at one-half the ordinary rates for parcels. The rates for van parcels include delivery within the usual limits, but no less charge is made than the lowest ordinary charge for a parcel exceeding 7 lbs. in weight. The van parcels are conveyed to and from London by the first morning stopping train, and are required to be delivered at the Midland Company's receiving offices or stations before the usual hour of closing the day previous. All packages intended to be forwarded as van parcels at the reduced rate of charge must be 672 EMPTIES. legibly marked "Van Parcels Tkain/^ or they will be cliarged at the ordinary rates. Van parcels are also conveyed at greatly reduced rates between London and Luton, and Belfast, and between London, Luton, Bristol, Bath, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Worcester, Birmingham Burton, and Derby, and Dublin. Returned empty packages. All returned empty packages, by passenger train, except milk cans, ai^e charged according to the following scale : — Not exceeding 25 miles, 2d. each package ; above 25 and not exceeding 75 miles, 4d. each package ; above 75 and not exceeding 150 miles, Qd. each package; above 150 and not exceeding 250 miles, 9d. each package; any distance above 250 miles. Is. each package. The maximum charge is Is. The weight of returned empties sent by passenger train is limited to ^ cwt. Fish empties in bulk are not conveyed by passenger train, and a charge is made for them when sent by goods train. Returned empty milk cans are conveyed free. The above rates only apply to packages which have been sent full in the first instance by passenger train, all other empty pack- ao-es are charged full parcels rates. The charges are required to be prepaid in all cases, and include delivery within the usual limits. Pianofortes, when conveyed by passenger train on a carriage truck in a road van belonging to the sender, are charged the rate for a private four-wheeled carriage, at owner's risk ; when sent without the van, they are charged ordinary parcel rates at owner's risk ; minimum charge, 5s. Sewing machines are charged ordinary parcels rates, at owner's risk ; an additional charge of 50 per cent, being made when con- veyed at Company's risk. Corpses are charged as follows : — adult. Is. per mile, minimum charge when a vehicle is specially put on the train, 20s. ; minimum when no special vehicle is used, 10s. ; child under 12 years of age, 6d. per mile; minimum when a vehicle is specially put on the train, 10s. ; when no special vehicle is used, 5s. First and third class season tickets are issued between St. Pancras, King's Cross (Metropolitan Railway), Farringdou Street, Aldersgate Street, Moorgate Street, Ludgate Hill, and the various stations as far as Bedford, at rates which may be obtained on SEASON TICKETS AND PULLMAN TRAINS. 673 application to the General Manager, Midland Railway, Derby ; Mr. Chas. Mills, St. Pancras Station, London, or through the Station-Masters at any of the Stations mentioned above. These tickets are issued for periods of nine, six, or three months, at pro- portionate rates. Periodical tickets are issued at half-price to children under 15 years of age; and also to scholars, students, apprentices, and articled clerks learning a trade or profession, and not in receipt of a salary, up to 17 years of age, at half-price, up- on production of a certificate from the master of the school, the principal of the college, or their employer, as the case may be. To governesses actually engaged in tuition, upon production of certificate to that effect, first class tickets will be granted at I'educed rates. A deposit of 10s. for each first class, and bs. for each third class ticket is also required, which will be restored if the ticket is given up immediately on expiration. First class periodical hunting tickets are issued during the hunting season from October to April inclusive. Double journey tickets for horses used in hunting can also be obtained, available for return the same day. First and third class season tickets are also issued between most of the stations on the Midland Railway, at prices which can be obtained on application at the General Manager's Office, Derby. Periodical tickets are issued at half-price to children under 12 years of age. They are also issued to scholars, students, appren- tices, and articled clerks, learning a trade or profession, and not in receipt of a salary, up to 17 years of age, at half-price, upon production of a certificate from the master of the school, the prin- cipal of the college, or the employer, as the case may be. The Midland Railway Company have introduced the celebrated American Pullman Drawing-room and Sleeping Cars upon their system ; and trains of these cars are now running regularly be- tween London (St. Pancras) and Leeds and Bradford, and London (St. Pancras) and Manchester and Liverpool. On the opening of the Settle and Carlisle line these cars will be run between London (St. Pancras) and Edinburgh and Glasgow. X X INDEX Acton and Hammersmith Line, 295, 296. Agar Town, 332. Aire and Calder N'avigation, 46. Aire, Valley of the, 452. Alarming Incident, 520. Alfreton, 432. Allport, Mr., 153, 156,172, 174,186, 289, 296, 344, 480, 614, 615. Amalgamation, Proposals of, 140- 144. Amalgamation, Longitudinal, 226. Amber, The River, 401. Ambergate, 401, 432. Lime Works, 433. Tunnel, 49. Ambergate and Rowsley Line, 136, 137, 261. " Amenities " of Ackworth, 294. Ampthill, 370-372. Park, 371. Anne, Countess of Pembroke, 515. Anker Viaduct, 6G. Apperley Viaduct, 238, 459, 461. Appleby, 527-529. Lino North of, 530. Aquabus, An, 290. Armathwaite, 540. Arten Gill Viaduct, 503. Ashby and Nuneaton Line, 221. Ashby-de-la-Zonch, 600. Ashwell Dale, 413. Asphalting, 396. Attenborough, 582. Audit Committee, 134. Bake well, 407. Bardon Hill Incline, 92. Barnsley, 177, 450. Canal, 44. Viaduct, 178. Baron Wood and Samson's Cave, 539. Barrow-in-Furness, 477. Barrow Lime Works, 389. Bass, Mr., M.P., 293. Bath, 574. Battle of Locomotives, A, 137. Batty Green, Traditions of, 489. Batty Moss Viaduct, 497, 498. Batty Wife Town, 490. Beacon Hill, 565. Beale, Mr. Samuel, M.P., 61, 190. Beauchief Abbey and Hall, 443. Beaumont Leys, 166. Beckett, Sir Edmund, 165, 290, 291, 298. Bedford, 374. Bedford and Hitchin Line, 601. Bedford and Northampton Line, 199, 281. Bell, J. Fox, 10, 19. Belper, 48, 400. Belsize Tunnel, 353-357. Ben Rhydding, 457-459. Berkeley Castle, 567. Birkenhead, Proposed Facilities at, 299. Birkett Tunnel, 516. Bilborough Cut, 219, 220. Binns, Mr. Charles, 39, 40. Bitton, 571, 572. Birmingham, 549. Birmingham and Derby Railway, 60. Amalgamation, 69, 70. Committee of Investigation, 67. INDEX. 675 Birmingham and Derby Railway, Competition, 68. Curious Episode, 63. Opening of, 66. Progress of Works, 65. Route of, 65. Birmingham and Bristol Railways, Amalgamated with Midland, 86. Birmingham and Gloucester Rail- way, 72, 74, 75. Appointment of Joint- Committee, 78. Committee of Inquiry, 80. Money Bill, 70. Opening of, 77. Prospects of the Company, 81. Bingley, 405. Bishop's Cleeve, 562. Black Moss Tunnel, 606. Inside of, 507, 508. Black well Mill Junction, 163, 164. Blea Moor, 489. Tunnel, Sights Inside, 495-497, 499, 500. Borrowash, 397. Boulder Clay, 487, 488. Bradford, 462, 463. Brecon and Neath Line, 312-314. Bredon Hill, 561. Brent Junction, 357. Viaduct, 248. Bridge Building, 588, 589. Bristol, 85, 574. Bristol and Gloucester Railway, 81-84. Bromsgrove, 553, 554. Bugsworth Viaduct, 223. Landslip at, 419-421. Bull Bridge, 50. Burton Joyce, 583. Burton-on-Trent, 546. Bunyan, John, 368, 373. Buxton, 414. Camden Square Gardens, 175, 176. Canal Committees, Conferences of, 7. Capital Account, 323. Carlisle, 215, 542. Proposed Midland line to, 213. Carriage Works, Midland, 659, 660. Chapel-en-le-Frith Viaduct, 425. Charnwood, 392. Forest Canal, 4. Chatsworth, 406, 407. Choe Vale, 149, 150. Cheltenham, 562. Cheltenham and Gloucester Tram- way, 74. Cheshire Companies' Line to North end of Liverpool, 297, 298. Chesterfield, 440. Churchyard, Old St. Pancras, 351. Clapham, 470. Clay Cross, 48, 59. Collieries, 436-439. Tunnel, 436. Clay, The London, 353. Coal-fields of Notts and Leicester- shire, 3. Coal Rates, 56, o7. Coalville, 599. Codnor Castle and Park, 430. Committee of Consultation, 250- 254. Committee of Investigation, 125- 128. Compensation, Claims for, 583. Competitive Lines proposed in 1871 , 274, 275. Crackenthorpe, Mr., 532. Crich Hill, 401. Croome Court, 560. Crosby Garrett, 524. Chee Vale, 410. Cromford, 402, 403. Canal, 2, 50. Crowdundle, 533, 534. Crow Mills Viaduct, 138. 676 INDEX. Cudworth, 450. Culgaith, 535. Cumwliinton, 542. Dallow Farm, 368. Dandry Mire Viaduct, 510. Darfield, 449. Deep Gill, 514. Defford, 561. Denison, Mr., Q.C., 229. Dent Dale, 504, 505. Dent Valley and Viaduct, 501. Derby, 398, 545. Derby, " The Inhabitants of," 61. Derbyshire, Beauties of, 413. " Destiny" of the Midland Railway, 169. Detective Department, 627-633. Directors, Midland, 611, 612. Disley Line, The, 153. Dividends, Midland, 665. Dove Hole's Tunnel, 192, 415-418. Drakelow, 547. Droitwicb, 555. Drilling and Blasting, 522-523. Dronfield, 442. Duffield, 39i Eastwood Coalowners, 1, 3, 6, 22, 60. Eckington, 448. Eden and Eamont Rivers, 535. Eden Brow, 542. Eden Hall, 536. Eden Lacy Viaduct, 537. Ellis, Mr. E. S., 324, 325, 543, 610, 611. Ellis, Mr. John, 5, 86, 87, 124, 146, 166-168. Elstow, 373. Enormous Engineering Works, 521. Erewash Valley Line, 23, 24, 93. Ei^ewash Canal, 427. Extension, 146. Source of the, 1. Erewash Valley, The, 2, 426, 427. Elvaston Castle, 398. Engine Driving, 647-651. Engineers, Midland, Civil, 661, 662. Engines, New Midland, 657, 658. Evesham, 602. Express Engine, The, 646-647. Extensions, Midland, 102-108, 179. Findern, 545. Finedon, 380. Fleet Sewer, 334. Flirtations, 284. Flitwick, 370. Floods in 1875, 329. " Fly Waggons " and Coaches, 20. Free Passes to attend Meetings, 65, 109, 134. Fresh Connections, 121. Gauges, Battle of the, 85. Garsdale, 508. General Manager, 614, 615. Geology of Beds, 365, 369-373. Geological Formation, Remarkable, 517. George Stephenson, 440, 441. Ghost Story, A, 452. Glacial Period, A Railway in the, 511. Glasbury, 605. Glasgow and South Western Rail- way, 224, 225. Proposed Amalgamation with Caledonian, 225. Glen Magna, 384. Gloucester, 84, 663, 564. Glyn, Mr. G. C, 39, 56, 68. Goods Department, 633, 634. Gorhambury, 360. Gordale and Malham Coves, 469. Grand Hotel, The Midland, 345. The Cellars and Kitchens, 348. The Clock Tower, 347. INDEX. 677 Grand Hotel, The Midland, The Public Rooms, 346. The Refectory and Laundry, 349. Great Exhibition Traffic, 133. Great Northern, Agreement with the, about Coal Rates, 268, 269. Derbyshire Line, 276-278. Competition with, 129. Company, Proposals of, 174. Railway, 97. Rupture of the Agreement, 271. Grimesthorpe, 446, 447. Guards, 619. Guiseley to Shipley Line, 462. Haddon, 405. Hathern, 393. Hampton, 548. Harlington, 369, 370. Harpenden, 364. Hawes Branch, 509. Haworth, 466. Hay, 604. Heanor, 429. Hereford, Hay, and Brecon Line, 304, 307. Hereford, Midland Dispute with Great Western, at, 305. Helwith, 486. Hertfordshii'e, 359. Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, 173. Hinlip Hall, 557. Hornby Castle, 472. Horses, Cost of, 324. Hotels, Midland, 667. Houghton Park, 371. Hudson, Mr., 96-100, 108, 114-117, 124, 132. Hutchinson, Mr. W. E., 191, 233- 237, 263, 325. Ilkeston, 428. Ilkley, 459. Ingleborough, 470. Intake Embankment, 516. Irchester, 376. Iron Field, South of ITottingham, 577. Ise, The River, 380. Isham, 380. Jessop, Mr., 10-12. Jew Clothier, The, 631, 632. Keighley, 467. Kentish Town, 352. Kettering and Manton Line, 593, 594. Kettering, The Baptist Mission House, 381. Kibworth, 384. King's Norton, 550. Kirkburton, Proposed Line to, 196. Kirkby Stephen, 518. Kirkoswald, 538. Kirkstall Abbey, 454, 455. Kirtley, Mr. Matthew, 286. Lancaster, 472. Lazonby, 538. Lea, The River, 364. Leagrave, 368. Lea Hurst, 402. Leeds, 453, 454. Leeds and Bradford, 114-117, 130 133, 136. Leeman, Mr., M.P., and Sir Ed- mund Beckett, 292. Leicestershire, 383. Legends in, 388. Leicester, Lines in and near, 89. Meetings at, 9, 16. Trade of, 20, 21, 387. Historical Associations of, 380. Leicester and Bedford, 113. Leicester to Hitchin Line, 138, 139, 374, 375. 678 INDEX. Leicester and Swanning'ton Rail- way, 6, 10, 88-90, 91, 92, 597, 599. Leicester and Trent Line, Doubling of, 393. Leicester Station, West Bridge, 92. Lincoln, 585. Locomotive Department, 641-646. London Traffic, Increase of, 170. Difficulties and Delays of, 171, 172. London and ISTorth Western, Pro- posed Amalgamation with, 135. Extension to Buxton, 154. London and York Railway, 95. London, Proposed Lines to, 111. Long Eaton, 427. Longwathby, 536. Loughborough, 392, 393. Canal, 3, 4. Lickey Hills, The, 551. Incline, The, 76. Incline, Locomotives for, 11 , 552, 553. Liverpool, Cheshire Companies' Line to, 201-207. Luton, 365-367. Luton Hoo, 365. Mail Train, The, 652-654. Mallerstang, Forest of, 513. Malvern, 603. Manchester, 422. Goods Station at, 422. Central Station at, 423. Manchester and Liverpool Line, 424, 425. Manchester, Midland Line to, 157. Parliamentary Evidence, 158, 159. Opposition of North Western, 160, IGl. Opposition of Great Northern, 162. Manchester Sheffield and Lincoln- shire Company, Dividends of, 186, 187. Manchester South District Railway, Midland Purchase of, 529. Mania, Railway, 95. Mangotsfield, 570. Mansfield, 580. Mansfield and Worksop Line, 198 -195. Mansfield Line, 575. Manton, 594. Manton and Rushton Line, 296. Market Harborough, 383. Masborough, 447. Matlock, 404. Melton Mowbray, 594. Mere weather. Humorous Speech of Mr., 197. Metropolitan Railway, Access of Midland to, 239. Doubling of, 333. Midland Counties Railway, Di- rectors of, 18. ' First Shareholders, 18, 19. First Meeting of, 25. Second Meeting of, 27. Progress of Works, 28. Opening of, 28, 29. Benefits Conferred by, 30. Prospects of, 31. Committee of Investigation, 35, 36. Peace and Amalgamation, 37, 38. Midland Railway, Birthplace of the, 8. Midland Railway Company, First Meeting of, 70, 71. Midland Policy, Defence of, 243- 249. Midland Company, Progress of, 266. Position of in 1870, 267. Midland Excluded from Lancashii'e, 156. Miller's Dale, 409, 410. INDEX. 679 Mill Hill, 358. Monsal Dale, 148, 408, 409. Moorcock, The, 508. Morecambe, 473. Bay, 474. Mount Sorrel Castle, 389. Quarries, 390. Nailsworth, 566. Newark, 584. Newbiggin, 531. Newspaper Express, The, 478. Newstead, 579, 580. Newton, Mr., Chairman of North Midland, 56, 58. Nibley, 568. Night, Running Engines by, 652, 653. Normanton, 51, 288, 289, 452. North Midland Railway, Increasing Traffic of, 52. Additional Capital Required, 53. New Board of, 58, 59. Choosing the Route, 39, 40, 41. Diminished Expenditure, 53, 54. Committee of Inquiry, 58. Deposit of Plans, 46. Commencement of Works, 47. Progi'ess of Works, 48. Level Summits of, 51. Opening of, 51. Northamptonshire, 376. Ironstone, 377. Northampton People,Proposalsof,l 7. North Western (The Little), Lease of, 135, 136. Nottingham, 30, 120, 583. Nottingham and Lincoln Line, 581. Nottingham and Melton Line, 587- 593. Nottingham Coal Fields, 576. Nunnery, The, 540. Oakenshaw, 51, 451, Oakley, 375. Ormside Viaduct, 526. Orm and Ormside, 525. Otley and Ilkley Branch, 456. Peel, Sir Robert, Speech at Tam- worth, 62. Pendragon Castle, 514. Pennegent, 487. Permanent Way of Midland Coun- ties Line, 27. Pig Tor, 412. Pinxton, 2, 431. Porters, 617. Preference Shares, Uses of, 273. Price, Mr. W. P., 191, 263, 264, 275, 285, 316. Pytchley Hunt, The, 380, 381. Radford and Trowell Line, 219. Railway Controversy and Competi- tion, Early, 32, 33, 34, 35. Railway Servants, 619. Railway Tickets Eirst Used, 11. Railways, Benefits of, 663. Railways, Increased Cost of Con- struction of, 323. Redditch Line, 601, 602. Rennie, George, Report of, 11, 12. Report and Accounts, Proposal to Circulate, 55. Repton, 545. Ribble, The, 486, 502. Rolling Stock, 120. Rolls and Crabs, 494. Rotherham, 447. Rowsley, 406. Rowsley and Buxton Extension, 146-149. Royston, 450. Running Shed, The, 655. Rushton, 382. Rushton to Askerne, Proposed Line, 283. 680 INDEX. St. Albans, 173, 361-864. St. Pancras Goods Station, 258, 634-641. St. Pancras, Historical Associations, 331. St. Pancras Station, Underground, 334, 335. Cellars of, 336. The Roof, 336, 337. Roof, Strength of the, 339, 342. Roof, Rearing the, 340. Roof, the Travelling Scaffold of the, 341. Colouring of the Roof, 344. The Foundation, 338. Magnitude of the Works, 343. St. Pancras, Who was, 331. Saltaire, 464. Sandal Castle, 451. Sandiacre, 428. Sawley, 396. Bridge, 265. Saxbj Bridge, Battle of, 94. Scott, Mr. Hope, Q.C., 227. Scotland, Routes to, 208, 209. Scotland, Claim of Midland Com- pany to Share Traffic to, 211, 212. Second Class, Abolition of, 316,322. Secretary, The, 613. Selside, 488. Settle, 482-484. Settle and Carlisle Railway, Diffi- culties of the Country, 479, 480. Commencement of, 218, 492, 494. Abandonment Bill, 255. Abandonment Bill Rejected, 256. Opened for Goods, 322. Sharland, Mr., 481, 491. Shareholders, The Midland, 607. Meetings, 607-610. Sharnbrook, 376. Sheepbridge, 441. Sheriff Brow Bridge, 485. Sheffield (Direct) Line Opened, 259, 260. Sheffield, 180, 181, 444, 445. Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, 445, 446. Sheffield, Town's Meeting at, 182. Sheffield, Extraordinary Change of Opinion of, 184. Sheffield, Chesterfield, and Stafford- shire Company, 185. Skipton, 468. Smardale Viaduct, 518, 520. Soar Bridge, Barrow- on- Soar, 391. Soar Navigation, 3. Solicitors, Midland, 663. Somerset arid Dorset Railway, 326, 329. Somerset and Dorset Railway, Amalgamation with Midland and South Western, 328, 329. Sopwell Nunnery, 361. South Midland Scheme, 112. Southwell, 585. South Wales, Railways in, 802. South Wales, Midland Company's Access to, 303. South Western Junction, 274. Spondon, 26, 397. - Stamford, 596. Staveley, 448. Stephenson, George, 5, 39, 40, 60, 101, 122. Stephenson, Robert, 5, 54. Stone Bridge Junction, The, 64. Stonehouse, 565. Storm, Mutterings of, 123. Sturge, Mr. Charles, 73, 11. Subscribers, First, to Midland Counties Railway, 9. " Sun," The, Eastwood, 1, 6, 8, 9. Superintendent, The, 616-620. Swansea, 328. Swansea Vale Railway, 309, 310, 311. INDEX. G81 Swanwick, Mr. Frederick, 42, 43, 44, 45. Swinton and Knottingley Line, 287. Bill Passed, 295. Syston and Peterborougli Line, 94, 594-597. Telegraphs, supposed Government Purcliase of, 262. Tewkesbury, 76. Thackley Hill, Remarkable Inci- dent at, 461. The Five Millions Bill, 240-242. The Society of Friends, 73. Third Class by all Trains, 279, 280. Thompson, Mr. M. W., 198. Thornbury, 569. " Three Companies' Agreement," 155. Through Lines, Advantages of, 314. Tickets, Metal Railway, 90. Tickets, Railway, 621-627. Tickets, Return, 671. Topley Pike, 411. Tottenham and Hampstead Line, 200, 201. Trent Bridge, The Few, 587-589. Weir, 394. Bridge, 1 5, 394. Station, 165, 395, 396. Cofferdam of, 28. Treeton, 4, 49. " Triple Agreement," 156. Tunnel Making, 506, 507. Tunnel, "Red Hill," 15. Unstone, 260, 442. Venables, Mr., Q.C., 230, 232, 291, 294. Viaducts, Construction of, 504. Vignoles, Charles B., 14, 25, 41, 42. Waggons, Private Ownership of, 325. Wakefield, 451. Walton Park, 451. Yiaduct, 66. Wanlads Bank, 369. Waterton, Charles, 43, 44, 45. Wath-upon-Dearne, 4, 49. Watkin, Sir Edward, 157, 275. Way Bills and Whistles, 91. Wellingborough, 145, 378, 379. Westmorland, 512. Weston-on-Avon, 573. Westwood Park, 556. Wharton Hall, 517. Whiston, the Grave of, 596. Wickwar, 569. Wigan, Proposed Line to, 300, 301. Wigston, 385. Windermere, 476. Wing, 595. Wingerworth, 439. Wingfield, 48. Manor House, 434, 435. Wollaton Hall, 579. Worcester, 131, 559. Worcester and Birmingham Canal, 558. Working Expenses, Enormous In- crease of, 285. Woi'ksop Line, 581. Worth Valley Line, 254, 466. Wye, The River, 411. Yorkshire, 444. LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Midland Directors. Ellis, E. S., Esq., Ohairman of Midland Company, Leicester Thompson, M. W., Esq., Vice- Chairman, Guiseley, Leeds Cropper, J. W., Esq., Dingle Bank, Liverpool ... Heygate, W. U., Esq., M.P., Eoecliffe, Loughborough Hodgkiuson, Grosvenor, Esq., Newark ... Hodgson, H. T., Esq., Harpenden Hutchinson, "W. E., Esq., Oadby Hill, Leicester... Jones, C. H., Esq., Huddersfield ... Kenrick, T., Esq., Edgbaston, Birmingham Lloyd, G. B., Esq., Edgbaston Eoad, Birmingham Mappiu, F. T., Esq., Thornbury, Sheffield Mason, Hugh, Esq., Ashton under Lyue Paget, G. E., Esq., Sutton Bonniugton, Loughborough.., Thomas, Charles, Woodcote, Stoke Bishop, near Bristol 10 10 1 1 1 6 3 •2 2 1 1 .3 1 1 Audit Committee. Baines, Edward, Esq., Burley, Leeds Leader, Eobert, Esq., Sheffield Officers. Allport, James, Esq., General Manager, Derby Noble, John, Esq., Assistant General Manager, Derby Speight, Kobert, Esq., General Manager's Department Williams, James, Esq., Secretary of Midland Company, Derby Needham, E. M., Esq., Superintendent, Derby Pakeman, E. A., Esq., Superintendent's Department, Derby ... Newcombe, W. L., Esq., Goods Manager, Derby Boylan, A. H., Esq., Goods Department, St. Pancras ... Millar, C, Esq., Goods Department, St. Pancras Johnson, Samuel W., Esq., Locomotive Superintendent, Derby Adams, William Henry, Esq., Locomotive Department, Derby Johnston, Andrew, Esq., Engineer, Derby Gratton, J. S., Esq., Engineer's Department, Derby Crossley, John S., Esq., Engineer's Department, Barrow-on-Soar Sanders, Jno. H., Esq., Architect's Offices, Derby Story, J. S., Esq., Engineer's Department, Kirkby Stephen ... Ferguson, E. 0., Esq., Engineer's Department, Settle ... 10 2 1 ] 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 LIST OF SUBSCEIBERS. 683 Payton, Anthony, Esq., Engineer's Department, Chesterfield Drage, J., Esq., Engineer's Department, Appleby Clayton, T. G., Esq., Carriage and A\^aggon Superintendent, Derby... Pettifor, Joseph, Esq., Stores Department, Derby Bradley, J., Esq., Accountant's Department, Derby Fisher, J. A., Esq., Accountant's Department, Derby ... Allott, Alfred, Esq., Auditor, Sheffield Beale, Marigold, & Beale, Messrs., Solicitors, Great George St., S.W. Billington, Robert John, Esq., Locomotive Department, Derby Jones, C. H., Esq., jun., Locomotive Department, Derby Underwood, John, Esq., Engineer, Derby Cartledge, John, Esq., Midland Eailway, St. Pancras ... Farmer, Edward, Esq., Midland Eailway, Derby Payne, W. Percy, Esq., Midland Railway, Derby Holt, Francis, Esq., Locomotive Department, Derby ... Tickle, W. H., Esq., Engineer's Department, Derby Ward, E. R., Esq., Superintendent's Department, Derby Biirlow, Crawford, Esq., Engineer's Office, Midland Railway, Kettering Harrison, J. W. D., Esq., Engineer's Office, Old Dalby Meredith, W. L., Esq., Engineer's Department, Derby... Whitaker, W., Esq., Goods Manager's Department, Derby Fittall, John Edward, Esq., Goods Department, Derby Halford, Samuel, Esq., Central Station, Liverpool Scott, W. G., Esq., Engineer's Department, Central Station, Liverpool Halford, John, Esq., Goods Department, Derby ... Potter, G., Esq., Midland Railway, Bedford Bland, Joseph, Esq., Derby ... Prince, P., Esq., jun.. Signal Department, Derby Bloxham, F. Say, Esq., Locomotive Department, Chesterfield Wilson, Charles, S., Esq, Engineer's Department Turner, G., Esq., Locomotive Department, Derby ... Chawner, George, Esq., Goods Department, Derby Paine, S. H., Esq., Engineer's Office, Warwick Road, Carlisle Whitaker, Alfred, Esq., Carlisle Peers axd Members of Parliament, etc. Devonshire, His Grace the Duke of, Chatsworth, via Chesterfield Belper, The Right Hon. Lord, Kingston Hall, Derby Auckland, The Right Hon. Lord, Edenthorpe ... Bateman, The Right Hon. Lord, Shobdon Court, Herefordshire Bright, The Right Hon. John, M.P., Rochdale Adair, Hugh Edward, Esq., M.P., 63, Portland Place, W Gower, Granville Leveson, Esq., M.P., Titsey Place, Limpsfield, Surrey Hill, T. Rowley, Esq., M.P., Worcester Corbitt, John, Esq., M.P., Droit wich Smith, F. C, Esq., M.P., Bramcote Hall, Nottingham 684 LIST OF SUBSCEIBEES. Mundella, A. J., Esq., M.P., 16, Elvaston Place, Queen's Gate, S.W.... Lancaster, John, Esq., M. P., Bilton Grange, Rugby Marling, Samuel S., Esq., M.P., Stanley Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire Rothschild, De, Esq., M.P., New Court, St. Swithin's Lane, E.G. ... Macnamara, H. T. J., Esq., ) „ , ^ . . n -n m Peel, Sir Frederick, Bart., \^oja\ Commissioners for Railways, Price, W. P., Esq., 3 House of Lords Thorp, The Venerable Archdeacon, Kemerton, Tewkesbury . . . COl'IKS 1 1 1 1 1 1 Shareholders, etc. Adcock, William, Esq., ISforth Lodge, Melton Mowbray Addison, John, Esq., C.E., Maryport Adlington, William S., Esq., Kirk Hallam, near Ilkeston A Friend Aldam, William, Esq., Normanton... Aldam, William, Esq., Frichley Hall, near Doncaster Aldous, Alex. James, Esq., " St. Andrews," Southsea . Alexander, William Lancaster, Esq., Oak Hill, Lorton, Cocke AUard, William, Esq., Camp Hill, Birmingham ... AUatt, Rev. James, The Manse, ISTewton-le- Willows Allen, James, Esq., Queen's Hotel, Leeds Allen, Richard, & Son, Messrs., Nottingham Alleyne, Sir John G. N., Bart., Butterley Car, Alfreton AUhusen, C, Esq., Stoke Court, Slough Allport, Howard, Esq., Nottingham Alvey, William, Esq., Hardstaft Heath, Chesterfield .. Anderson, William, Esq., 132, St. Yincent Street, Glasg Ansdell, John, Esq., Cowley House, St. Helen's... Arkle, Benj., Esq., King Street, Liverpool Arkwright, Alfred, Esq., Wirksworth, Derbyshire Arkwright, J. C, Esq., Cromford, Derbyshire Armitage, S. S., Esq., 34, Mansfield Road, Nottingham Ash, William, Esq., Holland House, Weston-super-Mare Ashmead, Geo. C, Esq., Land Agent, Bristol Ashwell, Henry, Esq., Mount Street, New Basford Ashwell, J. H., Esq., Engineer to Queensland Government Asling, A., Esq., Midland Railway, Ashby-de-la-Zouch Atkinson, Thos., Esq., Regent Square, Doncaster Augarde, J. J., Esq., View Mount, Waterford ... Auld, William, Esq., 65, St. Vincent Street, Glasgow Ault, John, Esq., Eastwood, Notts Aylwin, C. H., Esq., Sorrento, Bromley ... B.A Baggaley, W. B., Esq., Short Hill, Nottingham ... Baines, George H., Esq., Wolston, Coventry Baines, John, Esq., Tamworth mouth 1 1 1 25 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 15 1 1 1 LIST OF SUBSCRIBEES. 685 Baird, John, Esq., 11, Kirk Street, Townliead, Glasgow Baker, W., Esq., Avenue Road, Bournemoutli ... Baldwin, Benj., Esq., 7, Market Place, Loughborough... Banks, Morris, Esq., Oaklands, Edgbaston Barber, Samuel J., Esq,, Ivy Cottage, Eastwood, Notts Barber, Thos., Esq., Eastwood, Notts Barker, Edward, Esq., Swinton Hall, near Rotherham Barker, John L., Esq., 13, Pall Mall, Manchester Barlow, W. H., Esq., C.E., High Combe, Old Charlton, S.E. Barnes, Thomas, Esq., Chairman of Lancashire and Yorkshire Rail way Company, Farnworth, Bolton Barras, John, E.sq., Broom Lodge, Rotherham ... Bartholomew, Charles, Esq., Ealing Barwick, John, Esq., Chellaston, Derbyshire Baskerville, Walter J. M., Esq., Clyro Court, Hay Basley, Thomas Sebastian, Esq., Hathcrop Castle, Gloucestershu'e Bassett, Joseph Henry, Esq., Countesthorpe, Rugby Bateman, Rev. J., West Leake Rectory, Loughborough Bayley, J., Esq., Pelham Crescent, Nottingham ... Bayley, J. C, Esq., 20, Walbrook, London, E.C Bayliss, John, Esq., Victoria Street, Westminster Bayly & Fox, Messrs., Bristol Bayly & Fox, Messrs., Plymouth ... Beale, William John, Esq., Bryntirion Bontddu, Dolgelly Beattie, W. G., Esq., London & South Western Railway Company Beaumont, Rev. W., Coleorton Rectory, Ashby-de-la-Zouch Beeson, Henry, Esq., Thrussington, near Leicester Bell, John, Esq., Waverley Street, Nottingham Bell, William, Esq., Waverley Street, Nottingham Bembridge, James, Esq., Long Eaton, Nottingham Bemrose, Henry Howe, Esq., Lonsdale Place, Derby ... Bemrose, Wm., Jun., Esq., Lonsdale Place, Derby Bennett, Barwell E., Esq., Marstou Trussell Hall, Market Harboroug Bentley, Henry, Esq., Eshalt House, Woodlesford Berry, John C, Esq., Wisbeach Bewick, Thos. John, Esq., Haydon Bridge, Northumberland ... Bingham, Thomas, Esq., Staveley, Chesterfield Binns, Charles, Esq., Clay Cross Birch, W. Singleton, Esq., Upton Street, Manchester Bird, Mr. John, Sheffield Birmingham Patent Tube Company, Smithwick, near Birmingham Boam, Henry, Esq., Litchurch Villa, Derby Boddington, W. R., Esq., Borrowash Station Boden, WilUam, Esq., Rowsley, Bakewell. . . Bolland, William T., Esq., Spring Grove, Hunslet Books, Wm., Esq., Croft House, Hinckley ' Boomer, John, Esq., Edlington, Rotherham Booth, C. A., Esq., Watford, Herts 686 LIST OF SUBSCEIBEES. COPIES Booth, D. H., Esq., Pembridge House, Ipswich ... ... ... ... 1 Booth, Richard, Esq., Glendon Hall, Kettering ... ... ... ... 1 Booth, William, Esq., Eastwood, Notts ... ... ... ... ... 2 Borradaile, Frederick, Esq., East Hawkhurst ... ... ... ... 1 Boulger, Rev. John, Pennant, Llanrwst, near Conway .. . ... ... 1 Bowers, T. G-., Esq., Kelston Station ... ... ... ... ... 1 Bowers, William, Esq., Harewood Park, Cheadle ... ... ... 1 Boyer, John, Esq., Quorn House, Leamington ... ... ... ... 1 Bradshaw, William, Esq., M.D., Pepper Street, Nottingham ... ... 1 Bradshaw, W., Esq., Goods Department, St. Pancras ... ... ... 1 Bray, Henry, Esq., Lincoln Street, Nottingham ... ... ... 1 Brentnall, Charles, Esq., The Grange, Normanton, Derby ... ... 1 Briggs, Archibald, Esq., Stanley Hall, Wakefield ... ... ... 1 Briggs, Christopher, Esq., The Lees, Bolton-le-Moors ... ... ... 1 Briggs, John Joseph, Esq., King's Newton, Derby ... ... ... 1 Brocklebank, Ralph, Esq., Chilwall Hall, Liverpool ... ... ... 1 Brocklebank, T., Esq., Springwood, Liverpool ... ... ... ... 1 Brocklebank, T., Jun., Esq., Huskisson Street, Liverpool ... ... 1 Brook, Henry, Esq., North Court Lodge, Blandon ... ... ... -2 Brook, W., Esq., Honley, Huddersfield ... ... 1 Brooks, J. H., Major, Plitwick Manor, Ampthill 1 Brown, Alderman, Daisy Hill, Rawdon, near Leeds ... ... ... 1 Bruxner, Rev. G. E., Thurlaston, Hinckley 1 Brysou, Jameson, & Co., Messrs., Hull ... ... ... ... ... 1 Bunton, John, Esq., Hornsey 1 Burke, James St. George, Esq., Q.C., The Auberies, Sudbury ... 1 Burkett, William, Esq., King's Lynn ... ... ... 1 Butler & Tanner, Messrs., Frome ... 1 Butlin, Thomas, Esq., 25, Camden Square, N.W. ... 1 Buxton, S., Esq., Belper 1 Caldecott, Charles M., Esq., Holbrook Grange, Rugby 1 Calvert, J. M., Esq., Gargrave, near Leeds ... ... ... ... 1 Cammell, Charles, Esq., Norton Hall, Derbyshire 1 Carlile, James W., Esq., Thickhollins, Huddersfield . . ?! Carroll, Geo. F., Esq., Bolton Spa, Tadcaster 1 Cartwright & Warner, Messrs., Loughborough ... 5 Chadwick, G. & Co., Messrs., Masborough 1 Chamberlain, Thomas, Esq., Windsor 1 Chambers, Jos., Esq., Spondon Station ... ... ... ... ... 1 Cheese, Edmund H., Esq., Kington, Herefordshire 1 Claridge, George, Esq., Ampthill ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Clarksou, W. W., Esq., DeMontford Square, Leicester ... ... 1 Clatworthy, J. W., Esq., Long Eaton 1 Clatworthy, William, Esq., Long Eaton ... ... ... ... ... 1 Claye, Aked, Esq., Long Eaton ... ... ... 1 Claye, S. John, Esq., Manor House Works, Long Eaton ... ... 1 Clayton, Nathaniel, Esq. (Messrs. Clayton & Shuttleworth), Lincoln 1 Clouston, Peter, Esq., Park Terrace, Glasfii'ow 1 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. G87 Cock, Edward, Esq., Dean Street, St. Thomas' Street, S.E Cooke, Kupcrt Thomas, Esq., Cecil Koad, Dronfield Cooper, James N., Esq., Bromwich Grange, St. John's, "Worcester . . . Coote, Thomas, Esq., St. Ives, Hunts Corbin, Rev. John, Haringey Park, Hornsey, N. Corbitt, William, Elm Tree Bank, Rotherham Cotton, William, Esq., Midland Railway, Derby... Cox, Charles, Esq., Old Basford, Nottingham ... Cox, William, Esq., Burton Street, Leicester Craven, John, Esq., Care of Craven, Speeding, Bros., Sunderland ... Cross, Robert, Esq., Bakewell Crumpstone, Thomas B., Esq., Bank Street, Leeds Darbishire, Henry Ashley, Esq., Oakdene, Eden Bridge, Kent Darnell, Charles, Esq., Goods Department, Bradford ... Davenport, James, Esq., Springfield House, Merland, near Rochdale Denisou, Lieut. W. E., Carlton Club, London ... Dickinson, Joseph, Esq., Midland Railway Agent, Melton Mowbray... Dickinson, Joseph, Esq., Egston Terrace, Clay Cross ... Dinington, James, Esq., Broome House, Didsbury Duckett, Richard, Esq., Wigglesworth, near Settle Eagle, Edward, Esq., Langley Mill Edmondson, John B., Esq., Miltonville, Crumpsall, near Manchester Ellenshaw, John, Esq., Kirkstall, near Leeds ... Elliott, Admiral, Appleby Castle, Penrith EUis, Charles, Esq., 21, College Hill, London, E.G. Ellis, George Henry, Esq., Southfield, Leicester EUis, John Edward, Esq., The Park, Nottingham Ellis, John & Sons, Messrs., Leicester Evans, Captain John, Highfield, Dei'by ... Fawcett, D., Esq., Cambridge ... ;.. Fenton, G. W., Esq., Frisby Station Fernie, Captain and Mrs., Chase Lodge, Hendon Filliter, Freeland, Esq., St. Martin's House, Wareham... Finney, Frederick A., E.sq., Queen's Chambers, Manchester ... Firbank, Joseph, Esq., Newport, Monmouthshire Fleming, Dr. Wm., Rowton Grange, near Chester Fletcher, C. E., Esq., Long Eaton Ford, James, Esq., Wraxall Court, Chairman, Bristol and Portishead Foster, W., Esq., Midland Railway, Ashby-de-la-Zouch Fox, James, Esq., Regent Street, Barnsley ... Fox, James, Esq., Civil Engineer, 32, Albion Street, Leeds ... Fry, Thos. J., Esq., 12, Lower Kevin Street, Dublin Full, A. R., Esq., Crookham House, Newbury ... Fullagar, Frank, Esq., Leicester ... Fullam, John Martinson, Esq., 18, Mellon Street, Hull Gall, James, Esq., The Bank, Eastwood, Notts , 688 LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. COPIES Galton, Douglas, Esq., 12, Chester Street, Grosvenor Place, S.W. ... 1 Gardner, Samuel, Esq., Bawtry ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Garlick, William, Esq., 10, Hyde Terrace, Leeds 1 Garside, Joseph, Esq., Carlton House, Worksop ... 1 Gell, Samuel H., Esq., 6, Clumber Street, ISTottingham 1 George, Thomas, Esq., Littleover Hill, Derby 1 Gething, William, Esq., Mansfield, Woodhouse 1 Gibbs & Canning, Messrs., Tamworth 1 Gill, J. Laurence, Esq., Barrow-on-Soar, Loughboro' 1 Gill, William K, Esq., 25, Polygon Street, Pancras, N.W 2 Gillett, F. C, Esq., The Manor House, Borrowash 1 Gimson, T. F., Esq., 17, Chesham Eoad, Brighton 1 Glover, John, Esq., Tamworth ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Godber, John, Esq., Whybourn House, Hucknall-Torkard ... ... 1 Goddard, Ebenezer, Esq., Oak Hill, Ipswich ... ... ... ... 1 Goddard, Joseph, Esq., Stoneygate, Leicester ... ... ... ... 1 Goldney, Eev. H. ]Sr., Southborough, Tunbridge Wells 1 Goodman, Davenport, Esq., Eccles House, Chapel-en-le-Frith ... 1 Gordon, Alexander, Esq., Ashlendie, Arbroath ... ... ... ... 1 Gower, J. E. Leveson, Esq., Finchampstead, Wokingham, Berks ... 1 Grafton, Samuel, Esq., Beeley, Bakewell 2 Grant, William, Esq., Weir House, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicester. . . 1 Gray, Samuel, Esq., Elmwood House, Calverley, near Leeds ... ... 1 Gray, William, Esq., Annesley Colliery, Nottingham 1 Gregory, Henry G., Esq., Fisherton Mills, Salisbury 1 Grimwade, Edward, Esq., Norton House, Ipswich 1 Gripper, Edward, Esq., Mansfield Eoad, Nottingham 1 Groom, Edward C, Esq., Hoveringham, Notts 1 Grove, William E., M.D., St. Ives, Hunts 1 Grundy, John, Esq., Summerseat, near Manchester 1 Guest & Chimes, Messrs., Brass Works, Eotherham 6 Gutch, John James, Esq., York 1 Gutteridge, Thomas, Esq., 14, Airedale Place, West Street, Leeds 1 Haddon, J. B., Esq., Lubbenham Lodge, Market Hai'borough ... 1 Hage, William, Esq., Bilsthorpe, Newark-on-Trent 1 Hall, Eev. E. M., Spondon, near Derby 1 Hall, Frederick, Esq., Oak Grove, Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield ... 1 Hall, John Charles, Esq., M.D., Surrey House, Sheffield 1 Hall, Joseph, Esq., Yate Station, near Chipping Sodbury 1 Hamilton, William, Esq., 17, Woodside Crescent, Glasgow 1 Hammond, James, Esq., Antcliffe, Skipton 1 Hanbury, John James, Esq., 11, Coupland Street, Beeston Hill, Leeds 1 Harley, Eev. Eobert, F.E.S., Burton Bank, Mill Hill, N.W 1 Harrison, Henry, Esq., J.P., Sharrow, Sheffield 1 Harrison, William, Esq., (Messrs. Harrison & Co.), Eotherham ... 1 Hai'tley, James, Esq., Hay field House, Crossbills, t'fct Leeds 1 Haskett, William, Esq., Plumpton Hall, near Penrith 1 Hatfield, George, Esq., The Hermitage, Braithwaite, Doncaster ... 1 LI&T OF SUBSCIilBERS. 689 COJ'tES Hawkes, H., Esq., Coroner, Northfield ... ... ... ... ••. 1 Hawkins, Nathaniel, Esq., Putloe, near Stonehouse ... ... ... 1 Hay, James, Esq., Kirkby Stephen ... ... ... ... ... 1 Hays, J. C, Esq., Railway Station, Clay Cross 1 Heath, D., Esq., Midland Company, Sheffield ... ... ... ... 1 Heelis, Thomas, Esq., Woodlands, near Skipton, Yorkshire ... ... 1 Hemingway, E., Esq., 74, Douglas Street, Litchurch, Derby ... ... 1 Heushaw, A., Esq., Brecon ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Herbert, Thos., Esq., The Park, Nottingham 1 Hewetson, John, Esq., 1, Lansdown Terrace, Hull ... ... ... 1 Hey gate. Sir Frederick William, Bart., 43, Eaton Square, London 1 Heymann, Henry, Esq., Stoney Street, Nottingham ... ... ... 2 Higgins, Colonel, Picts Hill, Bedford ... ... ... ... ... 1 Hives, Thomas, Esq., Rutland Hotel, Hkeston ... ... ... ... 1 Hubson, J. A., Esq., Derby ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Hobson, Matthew, Esq., Field House, Hkeston 1 Hodgkinson, E., Esq., Clay Cross ... ... ... ... ... 1 Holdsworth, Thomas, Esq., Alma House, Clay Cross, Chesterfield ... 1 Holland, C. B., Esq., Ashcroft, Sheffield I Holly, William, Esq., Ockbrook 1 Holmes, Alfred W., Esq., Milford Lodge, Derby 1 Hopes, William, Esq., Brampton Crofts, Appleby ... ... ... 1 Howard, James and Frederick, Messrs., Bedford ... ... ... 1 Howe, John Henry, Esq., 26, Green Lane, Kettering ... ... ... 1 Hubbersty, Philip, Esq., Wirksworth ... ... ... ... ... 1 Hudson, Edward, Esq., East Cliff, Sheffield 1 Hudson, James, Esq., St. Andrew's Place, Peni'ith ... ... ... 1 Hunter, John, Esq., Belper ... ... ... .y ... ... ••■ 1 Hurtley, Henry, Esq., Malton ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Hyatt, Edward, Esq., North View, Castle Donington 2 Ind Coope & Co., Messrs., Brewers, Burton-on-Trent ... ... ... 1 Ismay, Imrie & Co., Messrs., Water Street, Liverpool ... ... ... 2 Jackson, George, Esq., Mount Pleasant, Greenodd, near Ulverston ... 1 Jackson, J. P., Esq., Stubben Edge, Chesterfield ... ... ... 1 Jarratt, Rev. Robert, Bourton-on-the-Hill Rectory, Moreton-in-Marsh 1 Johnson, Rev. J. L., Malton, Yorkshire ... ... ... ... ... 1 Johnson, Joseph, Esq., 16, Napier Street, Leicester ... ... ... 1 Johnson, William, Esq., Rickerscote, Stafford ... ... ... ... 1 Johnstone, David, Esq., Greenock ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Joicey, John, Esq., Newton Hall, Stocksfield-on-Tyne ... ... ... 2 Jones, Joseph T., Esq., Dent Head, Sedbergh, Yorkshire ... ... 1 Joyce, Francis, Esq., Silsoe, Ampthill, Beds ... ... ... ... 1 Kind, J., Esq., Thurgarton Station 1 King, Joseph, Esq., 20, Burton Terrace, York ... ... ... ... 1 Kirby, John, Esq., Humberstone, Leicester ... ... ... ... 1 Kirkstall, The, Forge Co., Kirkstall Forge, Leeds 2 Y y 690 LIST OP SUBSCRIBERS. Kirtley, William, Esq., Locomotive Department, London, Chatliam, and Dover Railway ... ... ... ... ... 1 Knight, J. P., Esq., General Manager, London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, London Bridge 2 Lace, E. J,, Esq., Ptone Gappe, Cross Hills, Leeds 1 Lancaster, John, Jua., Esq., South Bank, Milverton, Leamington ... 1 Leather, J. Towlerton, Esq., Leventhorpe Hall, Leeds 1 Leslie, C. S., Esq., Hassop Hall, Bakewell 1 Lewis, Henry, Esq., Annesley Colliery, Nottingham 1 Lewis, James W., Esq., Radnor House, Arboretum Street, Nottingham 1 Liddell, Charles, Esq., 24, Abingdon Street, Westminster 1 Liddell, Matthew, Esq., Prudhoe Hall, Prudhoe-on-Tyne 1 Lisle, A. P. de, Esq., J.P., Garendon Park, Loughborough 1 Litherland, William, Esq., 25, Bold Street, Liverpool 1 Litler, Henry W., Esq., Wallerscourt, near Leamington 1 Little, Messrs. James & Co., Barrow-in-Furness 4 Locket, George, Esq., Highwood House, Mill Hill, Hendon, N.W. ... 1 Lowe, E. J., Esq., F.R.S., Highfield House, near Nottingham ... 1 Lowe, Henry, Esq., Norfolk Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham 1 Lowe, J. L., Esq., Engineer's Office, Derby 1 Lowther, Sir Charles, Bart., Swillington House, Leeds 1 Lucas, Edward, Esq., Dronfield, near Sheffield 1 Lumsden, Sir James, Bart., Arden, N.B 1 Macdonald, L., Esq., The Elms, Draycott, near Derby 1 Macfarlane, W. A. C, Esq., The Hollies, EUesraere, Shrewsbury ... 1 Mackie, John, Cliff House, Crigglestone, near Wakefield 2 Macleod, Mrs., Ben Rhydding 6 McDonald, J. Allen, Esq., 19, Millstone Lane, Leicester 1 Mclnnes, John, Esq., Heath Bank, Wallersley, Cheshire 1 Mcintosh, James, Esq., Duneevan, Oatlands Park, Weybridge ... 5 McVeagh, Mrs. Mary, 2, Burlington Street, Bath 1 Mainwaring, S. K., Esq., Oteley, Shrewsbury 1 Mann, Thomas Alfred, Darley Hall, Barnsley 1 Manton, H. J., Esq., Northfield 1 March, J. O., Esq., Leeds 1 Mather, Myles Edward, Esq., Glen Druidh, Inverness 1 Matthews, John, Esq,, Burton-on-Trent 1 Maw, Matthew, Esq., Cheaton Hall, Kirton, near Lindsay 1 Mawby, J. Esq., Frizzinghall Station, near Shipley, Yorkshire ... 1 Mawkle, Thomas, Esq., Norwood Cottage, Casterton, Kirkby Lonsdale 1 Maxwell, W. H., Esq., M.D., The Munchies, Dalbeattie, Dumfries ... 1 Meakin, George, Esq., Hanley, Staffordshire 1 Mellor, George, Esq., 2, Grove Terrace, Osmaston Road, Derby ... 1 Mellor, Richard, Esq., Westfield Lodge, Huddersfield I Mercer, John, Esq., Kirkby 1 Middlemore, Mrs., Thorngrove, Worcester (per W. P. Price, Esq.) ... 1 Mills, John Robert, Esq., 11, Bootham, York 1^ LIST OP SUBSCEIBERS. 691 COPIES Millward, Eichard, Esq., J.P., Thurgarton Priory, Southwell, ITotts... 1 Milne, Samuel, Esq., Burton Joyce ... ... ... ... ... 1 Milner, Henry, E-sq., Mill Hill Station 1 Minney, Joseph, Esq., Bulwell Station ... ... ... ... ... 1 Mitchell, Joseph, Esq., F.E.S.E., 6Q, Wimpole Street, London ... 1 Mitchell, J. H., Esq., 12, Upper Wimpole Street, W 1 Mosley, Sir Tonman, Bart., EoUeston Hall, Burton-on-Ttent 2 Murgatroyd, Thomas, Esq., Skipton ... 2 Mylne, J. E., Esq., 27, Oxford Square, Hyde Park, W 1 Nail, Joseph, Esq., The Grange, Papplewick, Notts 1 Nash, Charles, Esq., Canons Marsh, Bristol ... ... ... ... 1 Neilson & Co., Messrs., Hyde Park Locomotive Works, Glasgow ... 2 Neumann, Henry, Esq., Winnington, North wich ... ... ... 2 New, David, Esq., J.P., Waverley House, Waverley Street, Notting- ham ... ... 1 Newsum, Henry, Esq., Timber Merchant, Lincoln 1 Newton, G. B., Esq., Secretary, North London Eailway, Euston Station 2 Newton, William, Esq., The Square, East Eetford ... ... ... 1 Nicholson, Benjamin, Esq., Annan... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Nicholson, Joshua, Esq., Leek ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Nicholson, William & Son, Messrs., Builders, Leeds ... ... ... 1 Nunneley, Joseph, Esq., Market Harborough 1 Oliver, Thomas, Esq., Kimberley, near Nottingham 2 OUis, F., Esq., Bristol 1 Orchard, C, Esq., Bristol ... 2 Ord, Mrs. J. E., Langton Hall, Leicestershire ... ... ... ... 1 Owen, James, Esq., Keddleston Eoad, Derby ... ... 1 Paget, Alfred, Esq.,, West Street, Leicester 1 Paget, Joseph, Esq., Stuffyn Wood Hall, Mansfield 1 Paley, Edward G., Esq., Lancaster ... ... ... ... 1 Palmer, Sir Geoffrey, Bart., Carlton Park, Eockingham, Leicestershire 1 Parker, John, Esq^ Finedon, Northamptonshire ... 1 Parker, Eev. William, Comberton Eectory, Pershore ... 1 Parkinson, George, Esq., Eye Croft, Crosshills, rui Leeds ... .... 1 Pattenson, Eev. E. C, Melmerby Eectory, Penrith ... ... .-. 1 Payton, Anthony, Esq., Chesterfield ... 1 Pearson, Thomas John, Esq., Park Yilla, Worksop 1 Peat, Edward, Esq., Beehive Mills, Lenton, Nottingham 1 Peckover, Algernon, Esq., Sibaldsholme, Wisbeach 1 Peel, Thomas, Esq., Hornby Station, Lancaster 1 Peill, Eev. John Newton, Newton Tone Eectory, near Salisbury ... 1 Penrhyn, Eev. Thomas, Huy ton Vicarage, Liverpool ... ... ..,. 1 Peters, Charles Augustus, Esq., Duffield, near Derby ... 2 Phillips, H. E., Esq., Albert Gate Yard, Knightsbridge 1 Pochin, Henry D., Esq., Barn Elmes, Barnes ... 1 Potter, P., Esq., Sawley .... ._. 1 692 LIST OP SUBSCRIBEES. COPIES Potter, Thomas, Esq., Trowell, Nottingham ... ... ... ... 1 Powell, Samuel, Esq., Craven Lodge, Harrowgate ... ... ... 2 Powell, William F., Esq., Cluniter Dunoon, Argyleshire 1 Purvill, William, Esq., The Laurels, Sunningfield, near Hendon, N.W. 1 Pake, Herbert, Esq., Eichmond Yillas, Swansea 1 Ramsden, Sir James, Bart., Barrow-in-Furness ... ... ... ... 1 Ratcliff, Robert, Esq., Scalpcliffe House, Burton-on-Trent 1 Rawdon, Richard T. Williamson, Esq., Leeds 1 Rawlings, John, Esq., The Birches, Saltby, Birmingham 1 Rawson, George, Esq., 5, Lanesfield, Clifton, Bristol 1 Rawson & Best, Messrs., Solicitors, Leeds ... ... ... ... 1 Rayner, Edward W., Esq., 16, Exchange Buildings, Liverpool ... 1 Read, A., Esq., Rowsley, Bakewell... ... ... ... ... ... 1 Reay, Stephen, Esq., Secretary, London and North Western, Eustou 1 Roes, Richard J., Esq., Somerset and Dorset Railway, Glastonbury ... 1 Reeves, Robert, Esq., Ashton's Green, Parr, St. Helens 2 Renals, John, Esq., Lenton Works, Nottingham 1 Renshaw, W., Esq., Wellingborough Station 1 Richardson, James P., Esq., Morecambe 1 Rigby, J. & Co., Messrs., Neptune Works, Temple Street, Manchester 1 Rigby, T., Esq., 6, Prince of Wales Road, Hendon, N.W 1 Roberts, Joshua, Esq., Alfreton 1 Robertson, Samuel, Esq., 9, Portland Square, Bristol 1 Robinson, E. S., Esq., Sneyd Park, Bristol 1 Robinson, Henry Martin, Esq., The Newlands, Leamington 1 Rodger, James, Esq., Clairmont Gardens, Glasgow 1 Rodgers, James, Esq., 64, Wood Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch 1 Ross, E., Esq., Sec, Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway 1 Rowntree, John S., Esq., 28, The Pavement, York 1 Rushton, Joseph, Esq., J. P., Monk's Manor, Lincoln 1 Sale, Rev. Richard, St. Lawrence, Ramsgate 1 Salmon, Mr. James, Sheffield 1 Salt, Sir Titus, Bart., Saltaire, Yorkshire 1 Salt, Titus, Esq., Jun., Milner Field, Yorkshire 3 Saner, James, Esq., Craven Lodge, Nightingale Lane, S.W 1 Sankey, Richard, Esq., Bulwell Pottery, Nottingham 1 Seal, Stephen, Esq., Cosbench House, Darfield 1 Shackletou, Messrs. James & Sons, Hebden Bridge, near Manchester 1 Shand, Mason & Co., Messrs., 75, Upper Ground Street, Blackfriars 1 Sharpe, R. F., Esq., Haselour Station ... ... ... ... ••• 1 Shepperd, G., Esq., Bristol ^ Sherbrook, Henry, Esq., J. P., Oxton Hall, near Southwell, Notts ... 1 Shipp, Daniel, Esq., Wisbeach ... ... ... ... ... ••• 1 Sidgwick, J., Esq., Skipton 1 Sim, William, Esq., 4, St. Bernard's Crescent, Edinburgh ... ... 1 Slaughter, Mihill, Esq., Stock Exchange, E.C 1 Smedley,Messrs., Bros., Eagle Iron Works, Belper 1 LIST OP SUBSCRIBERS. 693 COPIES Smilter, William Lionel, Esq., Upperthorpe, Sheffield... ... ... 1 Smith, Dr. Charles, 10, Surrey Street, Sheffield 1 Smith, Euan, Esq., 120, Shakspeare Street, Nottingham 1 Smirh, Francis Nicholas, Esq., Wingfield Park, Derby ... ... 1 Smith, George Belk, Esq., 11, Melbourne Place, Bradford ... ... 1 Smith, George Fereday, Esq., Grovehurst, Tunbridge Wells ... ... 1 Smith, George Walker, Esq., Gordon House, Everton, near Bawtry... 1 Smith, H. Etherington, Esq.,.Norris Hill, Ashby-de-la-Zouch ... 1 Smith, J. Stores, Esq., J.P., Sheepbridge Works, Chesterfield ... 1 Smith, Messrs. Samuel, & Co., Goswell Eoad, London ... ... ... 1 Smith, William, Esq., Regent Street, Derby 1 Smith, William, Esq., Westwood House, Broccobark, Sheffield ... 1 Smith, William Seth, Esq., Langley, Guildford ... ... ... ... 1 Smythies, Eev. E., Hathern Rectory, Loughborough 1 Somerville, William, Esq., jun., Wiltsbridge, Bristol ... ... ... 1 Spokes, Sir Peter, Knight, Reading ... ... ... 1 Sprent, William, Esq., Chester Hou.se, Fareham, Hants I Spruce, Samuel, Esq., Albert Road, Tamworth 1 Statham, Mrs., Green Bank, Belper 1 Statham, William, Esq., Green Bank, Belper 1 Steel, Thomas, Esq., Bank Buildings, Sunderland ... ... ... 1 Stenson, Joseph, Esq., 16, Coventry Place, Leeds ... ... ... 1 Stephenson, B., Esq., 25, Tavistock Square, London ... ... ... 1 Stock, T., Esq., J.P., The Priory. Northfield, near Birmingham ... 1 Stolly, William, Esq., Ockbrook, Derby 1 Stretton, Clement E., Esq., Glen Magna, Leicester ... ... ... 1 Strickland, Edward, Esq., 2, All Saints' Court, Bristol ... ... 1 Strutt, Hon. Arthur, Milford House, Derby ... ... ... ... 1 Sudbury, William, Esq., Derby Road, Ilkeston ... ... ... ... 1 Sulman, Thomas, Esq., Essex Street, Strand ... ... ... ... I Sutcliflfe, Rev. T., 68, Belmont Street, Southport 1 Swain, Joseph, Esq., De Montford Square, Leicester ... 1 Symonds, F., Esq., Melton Mowbray 1 Taggart, Robert, Esq., Tarn House, Ilkley 1 Tanner, Harbert, Esq., Seathsvaite Cottage, Frome ... ... ... 1 Tarbotton, M. A., Esq., The Park, Nottingham 1 Taylor, H. Dyson, Esq., Greenhead Lane, Huddersfield ... ... 1 Taylor, John, Esq., Queen's Road, Nottingham ... ... ... ... 2 Taylor, John, Esq., Longwood, Bingley, Yorks ... ... ... ... 1 Taylor, Robert, Esq., Hill Foot House, Harrogate ... ... ... 1 Taylor, William, Esq., Raleigh Street, Nottingham ... ... ... 2 Tennant, Thomas Robert, Esq., The Hall, Kild wick, Leeds ... ... 1 The Right Worshipful the Mayor, Nottingham 1 Thomas, Rev. W. Jones, J.P., M.A., Llan Thomas Hay, Hereford ... 1 Thompson, E. Vaughan, Esq., Bedford Row, London 1 Thornley, Robert, Esq., Brooklands, Bromsgrove 1 Todd, Matthew, Esq., 60, Horton Road, Bradford 1 694 LIST OF SUBSCRIBEES. Tolme, Thomas, Esq., 15, London Gardens, Bayswater... Tombs, Samuel, Esq., Sainfc Andrew House, Droitwich Toplis, F. S., Esq., Bristol Town Hall Library, Mansfield, per Isaac Heywood, Esq., Librarian Tretheroy, Henry, Esq., Silsoe, Beds ... ... Trueman, Henry, Esq., The Lea, Esher, Surrey... Tuckwood, G., Esq., Beaumont Terrace, Lincoln Turner, John, Esq., Cononley, via Leeds ... Turner, Messrs. W. & Son, Caledonian Works, Sheffield Tyzack, William, Esq., jun., Abbey Dale House, Shefiield Underwood, T., Esq., ISTewstead Grove, !N'ottingham Unwin, George, Esq., 109 a. Cannon Street, E.G. Vaughan, George, Esq., Surbiton Grange, near Leicester Venables, G., Esq., Q.C., Mayfair, W Vergette, William, Esq., Peterborough Vivian, Messrs. H. H., & Co., George Street, Birmingham Waddington, J. H., Esq., Orsdall, Retford Wainwright, William, Esq., Hoe Place, Woking, Surrey Wainwright, W. J., Esq., Secretary, Glasgow and South Western Walker, Frederic, Esq., Oakley House, Abingdon, Berks Walker, Geo. & Son, Headingly, Leeds .... Walker, J. B., Esq., Park Drive, Nottingham Walker, John, Esq., 68, Cornhill, London, E.C Walker, William, Esq., Dethick, Cromford, Derby Walker, William, Esq., Lea Wood, Cromford, Derby Walker, William, Esq., Park Valley, ISTottingiham Wall, George, Esq., Dale Eoad, Kentish Town, N.W Wallis, John, Esq., Kettering ... ... ... Ward, W. G., Esq., The Park, Nottingham Wardle, William, Esq., Winsbill, Burton-on-Trent Warren, Frederic, Esq., The Priory, Saint Ives, Hunts Warry, George, Esq., Shapwick House, Shapwick, Bridgwater Warwick, J. A., Esq., Ockbrook Watson, John, Esq., The Manor House, Brigstock, Thrapstone Weatherburn, Eobert, Esq., Caruforth ... ... Westinghouse Continuous Break Company, Liverpool... Weston, William, Esq., Eastwood, Notts Weymouth, Dr., MiU Hill, N.W Wheatley, Richard, Esq., Royds House, Mirfield Whitaker, Rev. E. Wright, Stantou-by-Bride, Derby Whitaker, AV., Esq., Honorary Secretary, Midland Railway Literary Institute, Derby ... White, John, Esq. (of Arddaroch, Dumbartonshire), 53, Princes Gate Whitworth, Sir Joseph, Bart., Stancliffe, Matlock Wickes, John, Esq., Sparkhill, Birmingham Wild, John R., Esq., Annesley Grove, Nottingham LIST OF SUBSCEIBEES. 695 COPIES Wildgoose, Robert, Esq., Lea Mills, Cromford, Derby 1 Williams, Alfred, Esq., Salisbury 1 Williams, Charles, Esq., Salisbuiy 1 Willink, W. W., Esq., 3, Hyde Park Street, London 1 Wilson, George, Esq., Sharrow Mills, Sheflfield 1 Wilson, William, Esq., Kirkby Stephen, Westmoreland 1 Winn, AVilliam, Esq., 46, London Road, Gloucester 1 Winnington, Major Edward, The Shrubbery, Stanford, Worcester ... 1 Winterbottom, James, Esq., 4, Gotham Vale, Bristol ... ... ... 1 Wombell, John, Esq., Bookseller, Ilkeston 1 Wood, Edmund S. W., Esq., Watlands, Langport, Stafford 1 Wood, G. J., Esq., Secretary of Chesterfield and Boythorpe Colliery 1 Wood, John, Esq., 48, Liversage Street, Derby ... ... ... ... 1 Wood, Joseph, Esq., Kirkgate, Shipley, near Leeds ... ... ... 1 Wood, William, Esq., 1, Edge Lane, Liverpool ... ... ... ... 1 Woodiwiss, A., Esq., Derby ... ... ... ... 1 Woolley, John, Esq., 15, Oxford Road, Dukinfield 1 Worsley-Worswick, R., Esq., Normanton Park, Hinckley ... ... 1 Wright, F. Beresford, Esq., Aldercar Hall, Langley Mill, Notts ... 1 Wright, FitzHerbert, Esq,, J.P., The Hayes, Swan wick, Alfreton ... 1 Wright, G. A., Esq., Bingley Station • 1 Wrigley, N. Richard, Esq., The Mount, Horsford, Leeds 1 Young, Alexander, Esq., Tokenhouse Yard, E.G. 1 Young, A. N., Esq., Lloyd's, Loudon 1 696 THE BEN RHYDDING HYDROPATHIC KSTABLISHMIENT AND SANATORITOTM . BEN EHTDDING FROM THE NOETH-EAST. ♦ '••♦ Directors of the Ben Rhydding Hydropathic Establishment Company, Limited : JOHN AEMITSTEAD, Esq., Illdey, near Leeds. THOMAS BELL, Esq., Aigbiirth, Liverpool. W. H. CONYEES, Esq., Leeds. T. B. PEASE FORD, Esq., Leeds. GEORGE RADFORD, Esq., Liverpool. H. H. WALKER, Esq., Br£.^ford. Resident Physician W. CUBITT LUCEY, M.D., CM., ...C.S., Eng. Secretary : W. CAMPBELL DOWNIE, Ben Rhydding, near Leeds. 697 BEN HHYDDING, The trustees of the late Dr. Macleod having transferred to a limited company the well-known Hydropathic Establishment and Sanatorium of Ben Rhydding, the Directors of the Company wish to lay before the public the following brief prospectus. This establishment, which attained to such wide-spread fame under the superintendence and management of the late Dr. Macleod, will be conducted on exactly the same principles as heretofore. Every means and appliance which art can suggest, and science approve, will be used in the treatment of the sick and ailing. Every care will be taken of the dietary, which, as ever, will be good, plain, and abundant. The Directors are anxious that the reputation and popularity of the establishment should depend, and depend alone, on the good done and received under the system pursued by it. To the attainment of this end new and improved baths of every de- scription are now being added, and the latest and best electric apparatus is constantly ready for use. To those seeking health and relaxation, I'ather than a remedy for actual disease, Ben Khydding offers many and well-known advantages. Its unri- valled situation, its beautiful grounds, to which the Directors hope to make important additions, the delightful walks and rides in its neighbourhood, whether along the far-famed Valley of the Wharfe, or over the breezy Yorkshire Moors, present attractions rarely equalled. In all their im- provements the Directors have in view the comfort and welfare of visitors, as well as of patients, in winter as in summer; and it is hoped that, by the execution of their plans, the establishment may be made as pleasant a rest- ing place in winter as in the brighter months of summer. The opening of the direct route to Bradford next spring, will greatly im- prove the communication with that town and those other great manufac- turing and commercial centres of the West Riding and Lancashire, the routes from which lie through it. No change will be made in the management of the medical department, which will continue as before under the direction of Dr. Lucey. The following statement will give a concise view of the treatment adopted at Ben Rhydding. Hydro-Therapeutics are employed in functional diseases ; in stopping the degeneration of the tissues; in restoring nerve power; in removing effete matter from the system ; in developing vital force in weakened or exhausted constitutions, and in retarding the too rapid advance of old age, arising from the wear and tear of professional and commercial life. But, when structures have become diseased, or morbid matters deposited in them, when the organise been chronically poisoned by constitutional or blood diseases, and when organic matters natural to the system are wanting, — then with Hydro-Therapeutics is associated local, special, and general Medical Treatment. This combination is not only the most rational, 698 but it is also found to be the most efficient and satisfactory, and to it Ben Bhydding owes mucb of its celebrity and success. Such being the general principles and practice, patients are received at Ben Rhydding suffering from all non-contagious diseases, whether they be functional or organic in their nature ; and the success which has attended the treatment justifies the assertion that it is at once safe, pleasant, and efficient. The Compressed-air Bath, wherein the Patient may sit or lie at rest and ease, reading or engaged in any light needlework, whilst the pressure of the surrounding air is gradually increased, and the air itself condensed to the extent of about double that of the ordinary atmosphere, is in daily use. The curative powers of this bath are remarkable in Chronic Bronchitis, Asthma, Emphysema, Pleurisy, ending in Contraction of lungs or chest, Palpitation, and certain other affections of the Heart, Amenorrhoea, and Deafness arising from congestion or thickening of the lining membrane of the Eustachian tube. The use of the Laryngoscope now brings diseases of the throat and wind- pipe under direct observation, and thereby enables the Physician to detect and cure diseases which medical science formerly failed to subdue. At Ben Bhydding, the local treatment of throat affections has been successfully combined with a tonic course of Hydro-Therapeutics ; and many cures have thus been effected, which only a few years ago were considered to be impos- sible, and which even now would be hopeless under any other system. The continuous and interrupted Galvanic Currents are employed in the manner taught by Drs. Duchenne-de-Boulogne; Mayer of Berlin; Moritz Rosenthal of Vienna ; Russell, Reynolds, and Althaus in this country, and the other distinguished writers on this subject. The remedies exhibited and the pi'actice pursued at Ben Rhydding have been shown by a very large experience to be exceedingly valuable in the cure of diseases incidental to women. The Ben Rhydding water possesses the rare quality of containing Potash as one of its ingredients, which makes it specially useful in cases of Gout, Rheumatism, and certain Diseases of the Kidneys. Ben Rhydding is not only resorted to by those requiring medical atten- tion and hydropathic treatment, but is largely and regularly frequented by that class of visitors periodically desiring healthful pleasure and recreation ; and by such no place of residence in the kingdom is capable of being more beneficially enjoyed. GENERAL REGULATIONS. Breakfast is on the tatle, in the dining-room, at eiglit a.m. ; dinner at two p.m. ; and tea at seven p.m. During November, December, January, and February, the breakfast hour is half -past eight instead of eight. Bells are rung inside and outside of the house a quarter of an hour before, and at the time for commencing each meal. 699 Meals are not served in private rooms within half an hour before or half an hour after the pubUc meals. There are prayers in the drawing-room every morning immediately after breakfast. At eight o'clock on Sunday evening the inmates and servants of the establishment assemble in the dining-room, where a simple service is conducted by the Physician, con- sisting of hymns, prayer, and the reading of a sermon. The Bilhard-room is open from ten a.m. to ten p.m. The Secretary or Housekeeper will afford every attention and information to Patients and Visitors, as well as to those intending to become such. A book is kept for the purpose of entering all complaints in regard to negligence, in- attention, or any other irregidarity, and these complaints will be promptly attended to. PLACES OP WOESHIP IN ILKLEY. Parish Church. — Divine service at 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. St. Margaret's, Queen's Road. — Divine service at 10.45 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. Congregational Church. — Divine ser'S'ice at 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. Wesleyan Chapel. — Divine service at 10.30 a.m. and 6.0 p.m. Roman Catholic Chapel, Myddleton Lodge.— Divine service at 10.0 a.m. and 3.0 p.m. Society of Friends' Meeting House. — Divine service at 10.30 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. EOTJTES TO BEN RHYDDING. From Leeds. — By the North Eastern Railway from the New Station, via Arthington, or by the Midland Railway, from Wellington Station, via, Apperley. From Bbadfokd. — By the Leeds and Bradford branch of the Midland Railway, via Apperley. From Hakkogate. — By the North Eastern Railway, via Arthington. From London. — By the Great Northern from King's Cross Station, or by the Midland from St. Pancras Station. By this latter route passengers do not require to change stations at Leeds ; and those by the former would escape doing so by getting out at Holbeck Junction, Leeds. The trains of the Metropolitan RaUway from Paddington and the City run to King's Cross and St. Pancras. From Edinburgh. — By the North British and North Eastern Railway from the North Bridge (Waverley) Station, via Thirsk Junction and Ai-thington. From Glasgow. — By the Caledonian and Midland Railways, via Carlisle, Ingleton, and Shipley. From Dublin. — By railway to Kingstown, thence by steamer to Holyhead, or by rail- way via Chester to Leeds, and thence by the Midland or North Eastern line. From Belfast. — By steamer to Fleetwood, thence to Bradford by the Lancashire and Yorshire Railway, and on to Ben Rhydding by the IVIidland Railway ; or by railway to Kingstown, and thence forward by the last route. From Livekpool.— From Lime Street Station by the London and North Western Railway to Leeds, and thence by the Midland or North Eastern Railway ; or from Exchange Station by the Lancashire and Yorshire Railway to Bradford, and thence by the Midland Railway.- From Manchester.— From Victoria Station by the London and North Western Rail- 700 way to Leeds, and thence by the North Eastern or Midland to Ben Ehydding ; or by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to Bradford, and thence by the Midland Railway. From Birmingham.— From New Street Station by the Midland Railway, via Derby and Leeds. From Hull. — By North Eastern Railway, via Leeds. The distance by railway from the principal towns, and the number of hours usually occupied in the journey, are shown in the following table : — List. fr. Ben Time by 1st Rhydding. class Trains. Dist. fr. Ben, Time by 1st Rhydding. cla.ss Trains. Miles. Hrs. Min. Leeds ... 17 1 Bi-adf ord ... 16 1 Harrogate . . . ... 18 1 London ... 207i . 6 Edinburgh ... ... 228 6 30 Glasgow rpi- ji" ... 236 ii. - i_ 6 45 Miles. Dublin, via Holyhead 236 Belfast, via Fleetwood — Liverpool ... ... 89 Manchester... ... 5"^ Birmingham . . . 130 Hull 70^ Hrs. Min. 12 14 3 2 4 2 The preceding are the most direct routes to Ben Rhydding. The times of departure of ti'ains vary each month, and the intending visitor must, of couree, refer for these to " Bradshaw's Guide." Ben Rhydding is situated on a southern slope of the broad \Tilley of the Wharfe, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and in the vicinity of Bolton Abbey, about sixteen miles from Leeds, and about one mile and a half from the village of Ilkley. It occupies a position about midway between London and Edinbijrgh in one direction, and between Liverpool and Hull in the other, and is, therefore, of easy access from different parts of the country . Visitors to Ben Rhydding come by R.\ilway to the Ben Rhydding Station, which is within a few hundred yards of the house. Letters to be directed " Ben Rhydding by Leeds." , For a fidl description of Ben Rhydding and its Methods of Treatment, see "Bex RnYDDiNG, the Asclepion of England," price One Shilling. London: R. Hard- ivicke, 192, Piccadilly, W. UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY ^ ^ 'SI -< .^ '^y 6: 33 — Y< >&Aav«aiii^ ^ ? NIVERJ//>. v>;lOSANCElff. o -^ ^!>i i ^^WMr'^'^^ ^^ t 33 -r ■-'JlJjnVil AilJ;MiMiiU> -ilDhV-SOl^" l 1 so 'I N(13WV CO > -< snjwv IJ Jll I J» ^ 1 1 r fiktn Tn .a.n.. 3 1158 01029 0897 ^ ^. ^ r5 ^ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACIUTY AA 001 007 875 6 tn .^MFl'NIVfW//, ^^ S '^«iiojnvojo>' in '^^mmmv^ ^ i"^ > =; & = B(n^ "'7>- .'Ujijyjj' ^ ^ S^ '^ ^ ^ujnyj-jo ^OFCAIIFO;?^ ^M[•UNIVERVA %133NVS01^ AWEUNIVER5/A §