T HE B R I TI SH R AI L WAY SY STE M

O U TLI NE S O F I TS EARLY DEVELO P

MENT TO TH E Y EAR 1 8 44

H E N R Y G R O TE L E WI N

B A N B . . . ( CA TA )

D I STR I CT SU E R N TE N D E N T Y O R K A N D MI N E R AL TR N P I , ; AI SU E R N TE N D E N T N OR TH-E STE R N R AI L WAY P I , A

; G94 4 0 7

VA N

LO NDON \ B L A D SO N S LTD . G . E L N , 1 9 1 4

P R E FACE

I T is not a little remarkable that although the English people may claim to be the pioneers of of railways , no adequate history the developments of the British railway system has yet made its appearance . While making no pretence to fill this gap , the author hopes that the information given in this little book may prove useful to those who desire to know the origin of the various little railways which later on developed into the great companies of the present day . The subject of the nationalization of our railways has long been before the public , though hitherto it can hardly be said to have come within the range of practical politics . Recently , however , a Viceregal Commission appointed to consider the Irish rail ways reported in favour of their acquisition by the

State , and now a Royal Commission is sitting to review the whole question with regard to British railways . Under these circumstances special interest attaches to the portions of our railways which are not purchasable under the terms of the of 1 8 Act 44 , and are dealt with in the following

pages . Whilst great pains have been taken to ensure

accuracy , the author is conscious that , amidst the PREFACE many conflicting statements to be found in the various sources of information dealing with t he subject , errors may have crept in he would there fore be much obliged to any reader who would kindly bring them to his notice so that they may be corrected in the event of a further edition being required in the future .

1 , WEST S IDE , MB O OM O S W WI LED N C M N , .

un e 1 1 . j , 9 4 L I ST O F MAPS AN D D I AG R AMS

1 R O F U O R N . DIAG AM MILEAGE A TH I$ED A D C ON R U C C R 1 8 2 1 — 1 8 ST TED EA H YEA , 43 F ran tisp a ge

F AC E PAGE R AILWAYS I N THE D U R HAM DISTR ICT

SCOTTISH R AILWAYS

RA ILWAYS I N THE LAN CASHIR E DISTR IC T

LON D ON RAILWAYS

RAILWAYS AU THOR I$ED I N 1 8 36

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM O F 1 8 36—9

1 839—42

1 842-44

CO MP A R ATIVE TAB L E

THE PASSEN GER TR AI N SER VICES O F 1 8 40 46

I N TR O DU C TI O N

I N the followin g pages an attem pt has been made to give all those interested in our railway system a m sum ary of its earliest development , from which the reader will gather the order in which the various lines came into actual operation , and from which the railway position as regards means of communica tion (as distinct from financial considerations) will be apparent from year to year down to the end of 1 8 44 . During this period the lines forming the nucleus of all our great systems (except the Great Northern)

~ of were op ened wholly or in part , and by the end it the main outlines of our system as we know it - or to day were settled for better worse . In the year 1 844 Parliament passed a most in ter a lia important Act which , , empowered the State at any time after the lapse of 2 1 years from of the passing any Act for a new railway , reckoning 1 8 from the year 44 inclusive , to purchase such ’ 2 railway , at a price equivalent to 5 years purchase of the annual divisible profits of such railway , reckoning these divisible profits by the average of the last 3 years before the notice t o purchase is given .

Four important provisos were , however , attached to the above authority , with a view of safeguarding INTRODUCTION the interests of the enterprising people who had m r of e barked thei capital in this new form transport , viz . i ( . ) The company on whom the State had served notice to purchase had power to demand arbitra tion as regards the terms of purchase if it con sidered these terms inadequate in View of the future of prospects the line .

(ii . ) The Act specially exempts from compulsory purchase branches or extensions of less than 5 miles 1 in length to lines authorized prior to 844 .

(iii . ) In the event of a railwa y consisting of portions authorized both before a n d a fter the year 1 8 a 44 , the State , in exercising its right of purch se of the latter , must purchase the portions sanctioned 1 8 before 44 as well , if the proprietors so demand . f (iv . ) Before the provisions o this Act can be P a rli t ment enforced , another Act of must be passed to confirm the policy of State purchase , and to raise the necessary money

It will thus be seen that all railways sanctioned before the passing of the Act of 1 844 stand in quite a different category from those which were subse quently constructed subject to its provisions and that in the event of State purchase , the terms and arrangements , with regard to the former , would have to be the subject of entirely new legislation . It is therefore to the railways authorized before the passing of this Act that the attention of the reader is directed . E AR LY BR I TI SH R AI LWAY S

TO state who was the originator of our railways is a difficult if not impossible task . The fact is that they were evolved from the crude devices which were adopted for assisting the transit of vehicles employed in forwarding freight from the producing to the consuming points . As early as the seventeenth century a Species of tramroad came into common use in certain mining districts of this country , whereon horses drew on wagons of coal , the wheels of which ran rough wooden logs placed parallel to one another from the mine to the shipping point , and by the aid of this device the load formerly conveyed was more than s doubled . At this period also in the Newca tle of district , the principle way leaves came into force , whereby landowners whose property inter vened between pit and river , allowed these tram t o ways be laid down on their land , and drew a considerable income from those who required access by means of these tramroads over their estates .

This method of transit obtained for about a . century with no substantial advance be yond im p ro vement s in the quality and layin g of the timber of baulks . Towards the end the eighteenth century , - however, cast iron rails were introduced , and in 1 8 0 4 the first steam locomotive , invented by on a Trevithick , was tried a colliery r ilroad at 4 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

T dfil f Merthyr y , but with indi ferent success . For

many years , however , it was firmly held by men of science that no engine with smooth wheels could

draw an appreciable weight , hence the few loco

motives , which the more enterprising colliery owners n had i troduced , had toothed wheels with a rack to

. 1 8 1 work on It was not until about the year 4 , when William Hedley and George Stephenson made their first locomotives at Wylam and Killingworth

Collieries respectively , that the fallacy of this View

was satisfactorily demonstrated . u e The few locomotives in s at this period , however , so t were clumsy and liable to failure , and heir speed f out so slow, that their use for passenger tra fic was

of the question . 1801—21 Although , as we have seen above , horse tramroads were quite common in colliery districts throughout 1 8 0 1 the eighteenth century , it was not until that the first public Railway Act was obtained— that for

the Surrey Iron Railway , from Wandsworth to

Croydon , with a branch to Carshalton , a total length of about 9 miles , with a capital of the

motive power being , of course , horse traction . During the next twenty years various Acts were

passed for the formation of small companies , whose f object was the conveyance of purely local tra fic ,

usually by horse power . In the maj ority of cases f they are o no more than passing interest , but one or two , such as the Gloucester Cheltenham , Bristol Gloucestershire (or Coalpit Heath Railway) were subsequently taken over and remodelled as

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 5 passenger railways by companies formed at a later date , so will be alluded to in a later chapter . 1 8 2 1 The year , however , saw the incorporation 1821 of on Darlin on for n the St ockt gt , maki g and maintaining a railway or tramroad from the River

Tees at Stockton to Witton Park Colliery , with of several branches therefrom , all in the county

Durham . This railway was primarily intended for the conveyance of goods and coal for shipment of at Stockton , and by the advice George Stephenson , e who had b en appointed engineer , powers were obtained in 1 8 23 to make some deviations from the 1823

original plan , and to work both passenger and f freight tra fic by locomotive , this being the first instance of Parliamentary sanction being given for ffi locomotives to work passenger tra c . The amended scheme comprised a main line 25 miles s— long , with four branche to Yarm , Croft , Black Boy

‘ a nd Ha erleases Colliery gg , these being 7} mile , 31 i m les , 3 miles , and 5 miles in length respectively . 1 8 2 8 24 Next year , 4 , the first public railway in 1 Mon la nd Kir int l och Scotland , the k k i l , was t he sanctioned . This small line was projected for purpose of cheapening the transit of coal from the

Monkland Coalfield to Glasgow . It commenced 1 0 i at Palace Crag Colliery , and ran for 2 m les in a north-westerly direction to Kirkintilloch basin of

the Forth and Clyde Canal , whence freight was to

be shipped to Glasgow . The year 1 8 25 is notable for the opening on 1825 September 27th of the main line of the Stockton 6 THE E AR LY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 25 r Darlington Railway , and although upon the fi st day the passengers loaded on trucks were conveyed

by locomotives over the line , steam traction for some years afterwards was confined to the goods f and mineral trains , the passenger tra fic between Stockton and Darlington being conducted by rail

coaches and horses . It was about this period that the possibilities of a general railway system throughout the Kingdom began to be seriously entertained by men of position

and wealth in the business world . Considerable progress had been made in improving the loco motive in the ten years that had elapsed since Stephenson put on rail his first locomotive at

Killingworth , and the more enterprising merchants

began to see the dawn of a new era in transport . The result of this feeling manifested itself in a number of rough surveys being made all over the

country , and projects mooted for connecting several of the principal towns by railway ; whilst it is of interest to note that the maj ority of the main routes which were subsequently constructed were

first conceived about this year . Unfortunately ,

however , the country was just then going through

a severe financial crisis , so that although many men of public Spirit who had wealth to back them spent

considerable sums of money in preliminary expenses , the state of the country was such that it was im possible t o bring the projects before Parliament

with any prospect of success . Thus , what might h 1 8 2 1 8 26 ave been a railway boom in 5 and ,

8 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 26 the construction of a line 30 3 miles long t o connect t wo C c the great Lancashire ities . Lo omotives were

to supply the motive power, but there was a curious stipulation in the first Act that they were not t o be

used in towns . The three remaining railways to be authorized all this year were to be situated in Scotland . The Ballochney R ailway consisted of a short main line

4 miles in length , leading from the Monkland 8c

Kirkintilloch Railway , near Kipps Colliery , to

$ viz Arbuckle , with two branches , the Clarkstown 1 B la ckri branch , g miles long , to gg Colliery , and Whit eri the gg Colliery branch , 3 miles in length . This small system was promoted to facilitate traffic

from the Monkland Coalfield to Glasgow and district . las ow G arnkirk R ailwa The G g y, sanctioned this

year, was similarly intended , and was to complete - the formation of an all rail route from f t he collieries

before mentioned to Glasgow . Its length was 8 1 miles 4 chains , and the line extended from a junction with the Monkland Kirkintilloch at l G a rt sherrie e of Cargil Company , , to the bord rs the

Forth and Clyde and Monkland Canals in Glasgow. The Dundee Newtyle R ailwa y completes the

list of railways sanctioned in 1 8 26 . It was designed 1 0 to form a connection , % miles in length , between

Dundee and the hilly country at the back, and thus facilitate the carriage of provisions from and to that

important industrial town , whilst the country folk

were to get the benefit of goods imported to Dundee . The Opening for public traffic of the Monkland 8: THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 9

Kirkintilloch Railway took place in October o f this 18 26 n fl year , horse traction bei g chie y employed . It is interesting to note here that although this , the first of Scottish locomotive railways , has long since c be ome a part of the North British system , and is f only now worked for goods and mineral tra fic , 2 a portion of it , 5 chains in length , between G art sherrie G arn ueen - and q Junctions , to day forms part Of the Caledonian Main Line to Perth and

Aberdeen , that company having long ago obtained mining powers over this section . Only one Act for a new railway marks the year 1 8 2 — rd ossa n J ohnst one R ai wa 1827 7 that for the A r l y , It is particularly instructive as emphasizin g the transition about this period from the idea of canal of to railway carriage . At the beginning the century the difficulties of navigation in the Clyde rendered it desirable to find a means of direct access between a Gl sgow and the sea . A company was therefore formed to build a ship cana l from Glasgow to Ar on drossan , the understanding that the harbour at the latter place should be reconstructed by the a l ndowner , the Earl of Eglinton . Unfortunately , however , the funds of the company where exhausted e u when the canal , b g n at the Glasgow end , had only reached Johnstone , nor was it possible to raise more 1 8 money to complete the undertaking . In 27 a new company Obtained powers to cover the inter vening 22 miles between Johnstone a n d Ardrossan a a by a railway . Apparently , however , fin nci l d fi if culties again beset the company , as it ended by 1 0 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 7 182 only Constructing a main line from Ardrossan to

Kilwinning , 5% miles in length , where it joined the

subsequently projected Glasgow Ayr Railway, part of whose line took up the same route as that of the Johnstone Ardrossan Company together with t wo Fer us ill short branches to Doura and g h . 18 28 1 8 28 n R ailwa In the Clare ce y obtained its Act . 1 This was for a main line , 4 miles in length , extending from a junction with the Stockton and Darlington line at Simp ast ure down to the banks of the Tees M at Port Clarence , Opposite iddlesbrough together

i of a w th three branches , Viz City Durh m branch ,

1 0 l a t n 4 miles long, from the main line Stilli gton by err hill 6 i F y to Crow Trees , Coxhoe , some m les from

a Durham the Byers Green br nch , which led from

err hill , the preceding branch$ at F y to Byers Green 6 miles away ; and the Stockton branch , leading from the main line at Norton to the R iver Tees at ff 2 o . North Stockton , about 5 miles This railway f was primarily designed for mineral tra fic , and in active competition with the Stockton Darlington f Railway for the tra fic west of Shildon . In this connection it may be noted that during this year the Stockton Darlington R ailway obtained s a nction for its extension of 5 miles to Middles

n n . brough , the little more than a fishi g hamlet The year 1 8 28 is also noteworthy as giving Parlia mentary birth to the Ll anelly R ailwa y

Doc a n of k C omp y . The first Act this company , which ma y be taken as the first public railway in a o f W les , with powers traction by steam , was for THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 1 1

of a t L l 18 28 the construction a dock lanel y , and a short 2 railway , about miles long , leading thereto from the country behind for the conveyance of minerals . The first portion Of the B a llochney Railway came into Operation during this year , and was followed by the Opening o f various bra nches of this little system during the three subsequent years . 1 8 2 18 29 In 9 four Acts for new Railways were passed , by far the most considerable being that for the Newcas le a is e R ai wa wa s t C rl l l y, whereby it pro posed to make a line of the hitherto unprecedented 6 1 l length of mi es , to connect these two important northern cities . The other Acts were for the Leigh J c ion R ai wa K eny on un t l y, whereby the missing link of 2 miles between the B olton Leigh a n d Liverpool 85 Manchester systems was to be supplied a in Newton R ailwa the W rr gton y, which formed a branch o f 45 miles from the Liverpool Manchester R ailwa y to the former town ; and the Wisha w C l R ai w T a 1 0 i o t ness l ay . his latter line was m le extension of the small network of lines that was gradually springin g up in the Motherwell district of u f i Scotland , and served to tap new so rces of tra f c for the Monkland Kirkintilloch and Glasgow G arnkirk wa s a t lines , with which it connected the 1 8 2 0 o f north end . Thus , during 9 about 9 miles railway were sanctioned , a total considerably in

a excess of that of any previous ye r . The year 1 830 also witnessed t he pa ssing of four 18 30 b R ai w new railway projects . The Leeds S el y l ay, 20 miles in length , was intended to connect the two 1 2 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 30 s a a nd n town n med , help the tra sit of raw materials for e m r t the L eds anufactu ers from Selby, hen a port of e m som i portance , as well as to facilitate the distribution of coal from the various Collieries near

Leeds . The Wiga n Branch R ailway constituted an off of o 1 0 shoot the Liverpo l Manchester Railway , t o of miles long , the town Wigan , and served a n ro e number of Collieries situated e ut . St Helens R uncorn G a R ai a The . p lw y was an 1 2 independent concern , miles in length , in the

same neighbourhood , passing over the Liverpool

Manchester Railway without a connection , and of intended for the transport freight from the St . t o Helens district the River Mersey at Runcorn . Leicest er wannin on Lastly , we have the S gt ,

another coal railway , promoted in order to bring the 1 6 Leicestershire coals to the county capital , miles i Off, and compete w th the Derbyshire and Notting

hamshire Collieries , from which water carriage had hitherto more than made up the disadvantage in

distance . w However , the cro ning railway event of this year was the Opening for public traffic of the Liver M o 1 pool anchester Railway n September 5th , from which date a service of six passenger trains ran daily M between the Liverpool Road Station , anchester , an d L Edghill Station , iverpool , the average journey 1 s time being 2hours , and the average fare 5 . The Canterbury Whitstable has the honour of bein g the first passenger railway to be opened in THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 1 3

of o 18 30 the South England , that event taking place n of Al May 3rd this same year . though initially a locomotive was employed in addition to winding a engines for the inclines , the former was soon ab n doned and horse traction substituted . This method of e 1 8 op ration obtained until 44 , when the line was relaid for locomotives on being leased to the South s Ea tern Railway Company . On ly three new railways were sanctioned during 1831 1 8 1 the session of 3 , the most important being the U n of North ni o , which formed an extension the z Wigan branch railway , authori ed the previous year , f 1 o r . to the town P eston , 53 miles away Another

viz Manches er 8: railway in Lancashire , the t B o t on t o l , was projected convert the Manchester , r was Bolton Bu y Canal into a railway , but it subsequently decided to build the line parallel to the canal (which the company purchased and re fa ined) for most of the distance of 1 0 miles between the two towns from which the company derived its be name . Lastly , there was the first railway to Dub in t o Kin s sanctioned in Ireland , that from l g

t o n a . w , distance of 5§ miles 1 8 1 With regard to new Openings in 3 , there are to be noted the Middlesborough branch of the Stockton w fl Darlington ; the Dundee Ne tyle , chie y worked by fixed engines and ropes owing t o the heavy gradients ; t he Bolton Leigh and Leigh f Kenyon , these latter a fording through railway communication be tween the town of Bolton and of Liverpool and Manchester . The Operation the 1 4 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 31 two last named railways was undertaken by a Mr H . argreaves , of Bolton , who found the necessary

locomotive power, passenger vehicles and such goods wagons as were not provided by the private owners

using the line . This practice of leasing a line to a c ontractor to work was by no means uncommon in the

early days of railways . It forms a natural transition stage between the first idea that the

railway company should merely provide the road , leaving private parties to work over it with their own vehicles if they cared to do so , and the ultimate conclusion which soon forced itself upon the com p a nies that they must provide the power and retain of control operation in their own hands . G arnkirk Finally , in Scotland the Glasgow Rail e t r fli l way b came available for public a c . Particu ar s n - intere t attaches to the openi g of the last named line , as the event was responsible for the first case of inter

railway competition , the coal:for Glasgow ;from the

Coatbridge district coming by rail all the way, as via again st the j oint rail and canal transit , the M t o onkland line Kirkintilloch , and the Forth of Clyde Canal thence to Glasgow . The result railway access to this district was soon seen in reduction of the rate for the ca rriage of coal from the Monkland 6 t o t o 3 d . on 1 . d . t n . field to Glasgow from 3 . per s 3 per 18 32 The year 1 8 32 was a very lean one as regards l rai way enterprise , the country being no doubt much more taken U p with the passa ge of the Reform Bill

than with railway matters .

1 6 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF marks an iIn p ort ant epoch in the growth of our railways , and shews a definite advance from the stage of railways for merely local needs to that of - railways for the use of long distance travellers . The Grand Junction Railway started from the o f end the Warrington branch railway , previously alluded to , and passed in a southerly direction through Crewe and Stafford to the outskirts of via Wolverhampton , whence it turned east Walsall to Birmingham , passing round the north side of the t o city a terminus at Curzon Street , adjacent to that proposed for the London Birmingham

Railway . The Warrington branch railway , opened this year , was absorbed by the Grand Junction , and of thus the total length its line from Newton , the of L M t o B irmin junction the ondon anchester , , g L B ham was 83 miles . The ondon irmingham line of was rather more direct , but the nature the f country made it more di ficult of construction , and the Opposition of the people of Northampton to the idea of a ra ilway near their town necessitated the of making the Kilsby tunnel , yards in length , thereby adding greatly to the expense of the undertaking . The only other railway sanctioned this year wa s one a purely local , 33 miles long , between London n h Bridge and Gree wic , a special feature of which wa s the fact that it was to be built on arches for

practically the whole distance , so as to avoid interference with the traffic in the numerous streets 0 a of to be crossed , and in the h pe that m ny the

THE BR ITISH RAILWAY SYSTE M 1 7 arches would be used as warehouses or dwelling 18 33 places for the poorer classes of the neighbourhood through which the line passed . Thus in the year 1 8 33 for the first time we get more than 1 0 0 miles of new line receiving Parlia r of l menta y sanction , the mileage the three ines u n of 1 8 previo sly mentioned amounti g to a total 9 .

With regard to new lines opened during this year , the little Cluster of lines in the Motherwell district of Scotland is augmented by the opening of the Colt ness Wishaw ; in the Durham district , the Clarence Railway main line from the Stockton Darlington Railway at Simp a st ure Junction t o Port wi Clarence , th the Stockton branch , commenced Operations ; while in the Lancashire district the n St . Helens Ru corn Gap , as well as the Warrington branch previously alluded to , became available for

f L a L public tra fic . stly , the little lanelly Railway made a start in South Wales with its 2 miles of main line . In the year 1 8 34 a second trunk route was 18 34 iz - author ed , this time in a south westerly direction thus by means of the London S outha mpt on R ailway it was intended to connect the places o e named with n another by a line 77miles long . Two new lines were authorized in the Durham i f . Du ha m J nction f o d strict , viz , the r u , an o fshoot the Stanhope and Tyne at Washington to Rainton , Du ha m under a nd 5 miles southwards , and the r S l . This latter company was promoted to make a a railway from Shincliffe to Sunderl nd , with a 1 8 THE EARLY DE VELOPME NT OF 18 34 branch from Murton to j oin the Hartlepool Railway at Haswell ; and the intention was to work the whole of the 1 6 miles by means of fixed engines

and ropes . A considerable addition was made this year to

the mileage already in operation , especially in the The Durham district . St a nhop e Tyne R ailway

was brought into use in two sections , that from An nfield 1 6 on 1 Stanhope to , miles , May 5th , and M the remainder from edomsley to South Shields , 22 on 1 T miles , September oth . his remarkable railway was constructed on the wayleave

principle , and was not in fact incorporated until 1 8 2 4 , when its name was changed to the Pontop

South Shields Railway . It passes , for the most

r part , through wild moorland count y intersected by ’ b t hat loco steep ravines , the gradients eing such motive working was only possible on the section of

line east of Washington , the remainder being worked - n by self acting inclines and fixed hauling e gines . of Part the original system has now been abandoned ,

but the eastern portion , including the Stella Gill o e b inclines , forms n of the usiest mineral lines in the The kingdom at the present day . Coxhoe to

D a b la Stillington , or City of urh m ranch of the C rence

railway , was brought into use this year , and a passenger service instituted between Coxhoe and

Stockton , which seems to have been worked inter mit t ent ly by steam or horse traction by a con The L tractor . eeds Selby Railway was opened 22nd M L on September , from arsh Lane Station , eeds , THE B R ITISH RAILWAY SYSTE M 1 9

b ffi 18 34 to Sel y , and a considerable coal tra c immediately developed over it from the pits in the Garforth The B district . odmin and Wadebridge Railway e b came into Op ration on Septem er 3oth , with a passenger train service in each direction on alternate days $ of In Ireland , the opening the Dublin Kings town Railway gave the inhabitants their first opportunity of seeing the locomotive at work in their own country . The year 1 8 35 witnessed the successful promotion 18 35 u of the third of our earliest great tr nk routes , this time to the west of England . The Great Western R ailwa y was to form a line 1 1 8 miles long to connect i r London with B r stol and Bath . O igin ally it was intended to j oin the London Birmingham Railway near the present Willesden Junction and use the L E same ondon terminus as that company at uston , but fortunately this project was never carried out . A separate terminus at Paddington was therefore decided upon , although the idea of the original scheme is traceable to-day in the bend of the line towards Willesden in what might otherwise have B been a straight course . y the side of this great scheme (the longest main line hitherto projected by one company) the remaining lines authorized are n insignificant , although five new companies obtai ed their Acts during this year . The Prest on Wyre line proposed to continue railway communication from the terminus of the 20 - North Union at Preston , miles in a north westerly 20 THE EAR LY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 35 i d rection to the fishing hamlet of Fleetwood , and to

a establish harbour and docks at that place , from which a line of steamers could advanta geously run

. of D to Belfast and Glasgow In the County urham , B ra ndlin Jun ction R ai wa 1 the g l y, 5 miles long , was to connect Gateshead with South Shields and

Sunderland , and was named after the principal R B M . . . . promoters , essrs J and W randling , whose original idea was to make the railway as a private o undertaking in their wn hands . In the Metro London o don R ai wa polis , the Cr y l y was to connect the latter town with the London Green

wich Railway , and utilize the bed of the Croydon t o Canal , which was be drained for the purpose . a ma nna n R ai wa In Scotland , the Sl l y was to con tinn e the communication afforded by the Bal lochn ey Railway on to the Union Canal at Ca usewa end 1 y , about 3 miles further , serving various

collieries en route . A small isolated railway of

4; miles in length was also authorized , connecting Pais e and R enfrew o the towns of l y , n the Clyde . Very little in the way of new openings can be 1 8 a b chronicled in 35 , the mile ge eing confined to

of N a 1 the first portion the ewcastle C rlisle , 7miles B H t he in length , from laydon to exham , and Hartlepool R ailway from Thornley and Sou ‘

Hetton to Hartlepool . The latter line includes H b very steep bank at esleden , originally operated

i so fixed engine and ropes , but since improved as t

be workable by locomotives . 18 36 A period has now been rea ched when locomotivi

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 21 railways may be said to be emerging from the 18 36 experimental stage . The increasing fin ancial success of the Liverpool 85 Manchester and other steam railways, together with the approaching completion of the grea t t runk line r L u f om Lancashire to ondon , had beg n to arouse public interest in railways as a possible form of investment from which good profits could be of he derived . In consequence this feeling , and t favourable condition of the money market at that u time , a reg lar boom in railways set in about the

' ‘ 1 8 6 t h i esult year 3 , with e that during this year Parliament authorized 29 schemes for pro viding railway communic United r of Kingdom , involving the const uction some 1 0 0 0 of a miles new line , the great m j ority of which : n c 1 8 2 1 was duly completed Si e , the date of the passin g o f the Act for the first locomotive passenger

railway (the Stockton Darlington) , in a period o f 1 5 years 37 Acts for new railways had been z of 8 60 authori ed , giving an approximate total miles f ee H o line (s diagram) . ence the proposals for the year 1 836 promised to add new railways exceeding

- in mileage the total hitherto authorized . T e aking these proposals in d tail , and dealing only

with such lines as were subsequently constructed , at E s n o nti s R ai least in part , we find in the a ter C u e l way a project to make a line the length of which surpassed that of any one undertaking as yet

contemplated . The main line was to extend from

d via Shore itch to Yarmouth and Norwich , Colchester 22 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 36 of 1 26 and Ipswich , a total miles . A separate con No thern E ast ern cern , the r , was to make a

junction with the Eastern Counties at Stratford , and extend for 30 miles from that point in a northerly

via direction to Bishop Stortford Broxbourne , with the subsequent intention of obtaining further powers whereby this line might be continued to

Cambridge .

Thus were the Eastern Counties , hitherto devoid of n railway communicatio , to be provided for . Midla nd ounties R ai wa In the Midlands , the C l y proposed to connect the London B irmingham Railway at Rugby with the towns of Derby and L L Nottingham , passing through eicester and ough 8 borough , involving the construction of 5 miles of b new line . Communication north of Der y was to be h Mid a n om an supplied by the Nort l d C p y, whose line R was to pass through Clay Cross , Chesterfield , other

ham and Normanton in its course of 74—3; miles s between Derby and Leeds . A mall separate heffie d R otherha m company , the S l , was to cover the 6 miles intervening between R otherham and the

cutlery city . A direct line between Derby and Birmingham was to be provided by the B irmingham Derb Junction y , while access further west was to be provided by the Birmingham Gloucester

Comp any, which company in its turn was to be joined at Gloucester by the Cheltenha m Great m an West ern U nion Co p y, whose line extended from

a junction with the Great Western at Swindon , and

included a branch to the town of Cirencester . As THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 23

18 36 between Cheltenham and Gloucester , the railway b was to be common etween the two latter companies , and the route of the old Cheltenham Gloucester 1 8 0 horse railway , which Obtained its Act in 9, was

l . uti ized , the road being relaid for the purpose The west of E ngland was to be served by the x r R ai wa n B rist ol E et e l y, whose line was to con ect t o those two places , and included short branches - - Weston super Mare and Tiverton . L In the south , communication between ondon and be ou h-E rn Dover was to provided by the S t ast e , R whose line was to extend from edhill to Dover . The intervenin g portion between Croydon and R edhill was to be constructed by the Brighton and - South Eastern Companies j ointly , but partly owing to the number of conflicting schemes brought forward for the exact route to be followed by the

’ ’ Lo 85 o ndon Brighton C mpany s line , that company s i 1 8 6 B ll did not pass during the 3 session , though it - was successful next year ; thus the South Eastern Company ’ s project was temporarily saddled with a - dead end at each extremity .

In the north , through communication between London and Newcastle was to be carried on by Y or North Midla n d means of the k , covering the 2 N 4 miles between ormanton and York , while the ea No th of En and 8 i Gr t r gl , with a main line 7 m les via long , was to extend from York to Gateshead D Darlington and urham .

The Ma n cheste Leeds r , by a somewhat cir cuit ous route of about 5 0 miles in length via Roch 24 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 36 dale , Todmorden and the Calder Valley , was to connect the manufacturing towns on each side of $

the Pennine range , joining the North Midland at Normant on ; and by means of the Hull S elby R ai wa 0 l y, 3 miles long , the chain of railway com munica t ion between the great ports of Hull and L al iverpool was to be completed , though it should be noted that at present it was not proposed to fill the Space in the City of Manchester intervening between the Liverpool Manchester Station at Liverpool Road and the Manchester Leeds S of tation at Oldham Road , on the Opposite side

the town . The new railways in England of lesser importance sanctioned in 1 836 comprise the Newcastle North h ds the F eetwood Prest on t n S iel , l , , Wes Ridi g

' J unction (which in Sp it e of its title only resulted in a 8 little local line , 5 miles in length , from Preston to L A esbur ongridge) , the yl y, and two local London London B a c wa lines , the l k ll (or Commercial) and rmin ha m B rist ol Tha mes unction the Bi g , J . The principal obj ect of the London Blackwall line was to convey steamboat passengers straight from the

docks at Blackwall to the City , and thus save the delays inseparable from the large bend of the River Thames at this point and the crowded navigation ro of the river in the Vicinity of the Pool . The p m ot ers of the Birmingham , Bristol Thames

Junction were more ambitious , and by making a short line 3 miles in length from Kensington to the L ondon Birmingham Railway near Willesden , THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 25 together with a junction with the Great Western at 18 36 of the crossing the latter line , hoped to provide a west end terminus for passengers to and from those

systems . By the purchase of the Kensington Canal and following the example of the London Croydon l i Company in substituting rai for water , it was n tended to gain access to the River Thames at Chelsea while a further extension from Kensington

to Knightsbridge was strongly advocated , but was never carried out owing to the great financial difficulties encountered by the company almost

from its conception . Tait Va e R ailwa In Wales the l y was sanctioned , thus providing a direct line from the works and pits in the Vicinity of Merthyr Tydfil to the port of if Card f, the scheme with small branches comprising 1 of 4 miles new line . Dundee Arbroa h R ailwa In Scotland , the t y was w to connect the two to ns named , and continued by Arbr h R ai wa means of the oat Foriar l y, access was 2 provided to the latter place , 3 miles from Edinbur h Leith Newhaven Dundee , The g , Comp any proposed to construct 24 miles of loca l i line in the suburbs of the Scott sh capital . L astly , Ireland was represented by two railways , U ster R ailwa the l y, which proposed to connect l Ar 6 Be fast with magh , 3 miles distant , and the Dub in Dro heda n l g , a li e running 32 miles in a northerly direction from Dublin . It will readily be seen from the foregoing that the first serious attempt was being made in this year t o c 26 THE E ARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 36 give the more important places in England t he of advantage railway facilities , and this was to be W done entirely by private enterprise , ithout assist

ance in any direction from the Government . To this fact we may attribute the s omewhat haphazard way in which the early railways were scattered about t he o the country , and absence of any indication f a general scheme for laying out the railways of s this country to the best advantage , such a took s o place , for instance , in France under the auspice f

the State . Those who were willing to take the risk of investing their money in the early railways naturally looked for a substantial and immediate r co retu n for their enterprise , and were more n cerned with preserving the field of operations for their own particular company than in considering the general problem of the lines on which the railway system should in future be developed for fo of . r the benefit the community at large Thus , our better or for worse , the nucleus of present system of railways may be traced in the rail ways san ctioned in the Parliamentary session of 1 6 83 . The new mileage brought into Operation this year 28th the is comparatively unimportant . On June first section of Newcastle Carlisle Railway was

extended 75 miles from Hexham to Haydon Bridge , while on July 1 9t h public traffic was started at the other end of the line by the opening of the 20 mile

section from Carlisle to Greenhead . The first portion of the Durham 8: Sunderland Railway from

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 27

s 18 36 the South Dock to Murton , 7 miles , came into

Operation on August 9t h . a s In Scotl nd , the Johnston Ardro san line was on n 1 0 t h opened Ju e , though as yet only worked by

. horse power . At the close of the year the inhabit ants of London had the Opportunity for the first , of e f time s eing a railway working in their midst , or in December the London Greenwich Railway commenced carrying passengers for the miles

between London Bridge and Deptford . 1 8 fl of 1837 Turning to the year 37, the in uence the o of bo m the previous year is still in evidence , with the result that some 45 0 miles of new line were s pa sed by the legislature , amongst which are included some schemes unsuccessfully introduced t o i Parliament dur ng the previous session . The project involving the longest mileage was of a nche ter Birmin ha Railwa that the M s g m y, for a line from Manchester to j oin the Grand Junction f at Chebsey , a short distance north of Sta ford , which ,

Ma cclesfiel together with branches to Crewe and d, of made up a distance 72 miles . It was apparent that the circuitous route between Birmingham and

Manchester over the Grand Junction , Liverpool Manchester Railways via Newton Junction must be improved in order to properly deal with the large traffic that must develop between Manchester and rO osals o the south , and several p p were set n foot to s achieve this object , tho e finding most favour being the Manchester Birmingham and Churnet Valley

. The Grand Junction , however, was Schemes 28 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 37 naturally lot h to lose a considerable part of its f prospective tra fic , and for a time successfully

Opposed all its rivals . Eventually , after several

Parliamentary contests , a compromise was arrived t a whereby the Manchester Birmingham scheme ,

sanctioned this year , was cut down to a line from Manchester to Crewe via Stockport and a branch Ma cclesfield to , reciprocal running powers being t o of granted each company over the lines the other . An other very important scheme was that for the Lon n B r h n R ailwa w do ig t o y, hich failed to obtain 1 8 6 its Act in 3 . This line was to extend from the Croydon Railway via Redhill (from which point - the South Eastern Railway was to start , as pre viousl w y noticed) to Brighton , ith branches to of 61 Shoreham and Newhaven , a total extent miles . The activity of the Lancashire district was again shown by the sanction of the Lancaster Prest on Junc ion R ailwa 20 t y, which amounted to a mile extension of the North Union the Chester Crewe a nd hes er Bir enhea d 20 1 C t k Companies , 3 and 43 and B ol on miles in length respectively , the t Prest on R ailwa s - y . The last named was originally intended to carry the communication provided by the Manchester Bolton Railway on to Preston by an independent line throughout some 20 miles in of length , but owing to the Opposition the North

Union Company , who regarded the Bolton Preston of Company in the light an invader , the latter line t was curtailed a the northern end , and a junction s formed with the North Union at Euxton , acce s being THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 29

18 37 obtained by running powers for the last 534 miles into the town of Preston over the rails of the North

Union Company . A second east and west route through the Pennine range was authorized by the for Manches er heffie R ai a 0 Act the t S ld lw y, 4 miles i n length . u B i ho A In the D rham district , the s p uckla nd Weardale R ailway practically formed a 20 mile extension of the Stockton Darlington from Shildon up the Wear Valley to Frost erly with a reat North of E branch to Crook , while the G ngla nd Clarence Hartlep ool J un ction R ailway was in tended to fill in the gap of 8 miles between the

systems from which the company derived its title . Ma or r isl In Cumberland , the ryp t Ca l e was to 28 connect the places named by a line miles long . The Birmingham Gloucester Company obtained powers to make a short branch of 2 miles from Ash C Tewkes r hurch to y , and the Great Western Act of 1 837 authorized a deviation from the original p rOp osal and extension to a separate terminus at

Paddington , instead of j oining up with the London

Birmingham .

In Scotland , two important lines were successfully projected to j oin Glasgow with the sea coast . The as ow Pais n o r Gl g , l ey, Kilmar ck Ay had a main of 0 line 4 miles in length between Glasgow and Ayr , covering as between Johnstone and Kilwinning the route of the unfortunate Ardrossan Johnstone o D Railway previously noticed . A branch fr m alry

to Kilmarnock was also included in the scheme , 30 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 37while the 63 miles between Glasgow and Paisley was t o and w a be constructed used jointly ith the Gl sgow, Paisley Greenock C omp any whose line from Paisley was to follow the south bank of the Clyde for of 1 most the 7miles thence to Greenock .

In Ireland , a trunk railway 73 miles in length

was sanctioned from Dublin , reaching in a south

westerly direction to Kilkenny , under the title of reat Leinster Muns er R ai wa the G t l y, while the C ork P assage R ailway constituted a little local

line 6 miles in length . Reviewing the successful projects for the year 1 8 37as a whole , it is noticeable that the maj ority are complementary to or form natural extensions to the system of railways sanctioned up to the end of 1 8 6 of 3 . From this date , therefore , until the end the period dealt with in this book the new railways of proposed become less importance , whereas the

actual Openings become of greater interest . In connection with the latter phase of railway 1 8 m development , the year 37is re arkable for the of our Opening first great trunk line , the Grand w Junction , as ell as for a portion of its sister G company , the London Birmingham . The rand t h a Junction was opened throughout on July 4 , n unusual proceeding in those days with an under i takin g o such magnitude . From this date through passenger trains were run between Birmingham and via w u n Manchester and Liverpool Ne ton J nctio , giving an approximate journey time of 43 hours between Birmingham and these great Lancashire THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 3 1

of 18 37 towns , and such was the popularity the railway that the available locomotives were fully occupied in dealing with the coaching traffic durin g the first few months of. its operation ; hence the company did not commence to carry goods traffic until the following year , after the locomotive power had been augmented. It is interesting to note that the officials of the Post Office were fully alive to the of of advantages the new form transit , and made immediate use of the Grand Junction Railway for mails , with the result that letters dispatched from 8 m London by coach at p m . to Bir ingham were L delivered in iverpool before noon the next day . The opening of the fir st portion of the London Birmingham Railway quickly followed that of the 2 — Grand Junction , the 42, mile section between Euston and Boxmoor being available for public f 2 1 6 tra fic as from July oth , while on October th the extension of 73; miles to Tring was completed . The greater difficulty of the character of the works necessary for the construction of the London Birmingham Railway was responsible for the tardy completion of this line compared with the Grand f Junction . A good instance of this di ference is to be found in the fact that on the London B irming ham three tunnels exceeding 1 0 0 0 yards in length had to be encountered at Primrose Hill , Watford , and Kilsby , whereas the construction of the Grand o ll Juncti n required no tunnel at a . Very little else in the way of new lines opened e ns r mai to be chronicled for this year . The New 3 2 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 37castle Carlisle made short extensions at each end f iz o v . its system , , to the canal basin at Carlisle , I B lo don R edheu h o mile in length , and from y to g , n

the south bank of the Tyne opposite Newcastle , The 33 miles distant . Byers Green branch of the Clarence Railway appears to have been brought into

’ Operation this year , adding 5 miles to this company s 85 system , while in Scotland the short Paisley ffi Renfrew started operations , the passenger tra c

being worked by horse power . Thus , owing to the 8 of new 7 miles stretch the Grand Junction , the mileage brought into use in any one year for the first time in the history of our railways exceeded 1 0 0 1 8 t o , the total for 37in fact amounting about 1 2 5 miles . The reaction following upon the boom had now

1838 set - 1 8 8 in , with the result that in 3 only two new

. a railways were authorized Scotl nd , indeed, first - a via boasted a scheme of class import nce , , a railway to connect its two principal cities of E dinburgh Gl asgow by a line 47miles in length Ta V i but the insignificant w ale R a lwa y, a purely local line of little more than 2 miles in length in

North Devon , was the sole English representative .

The new railways Opened during this year ,

however , marked a great advance in the facilities

for travelling throughout the country . The London Birmingham Railway was pushed forward 1 6} miles from Tring to Denbigh Hall on t h on n n April 9 , which date also the wester portio

of 2911; miles from Birmingham to Rugby was made

34 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 38 Local railways to be opened this year included M 1 0 the anchester Bolton , miles , in May ; the

f 6 t miles on I st She field Rotherham , , October 3

the Durham Junction (from Washington to Rainton) , on 2 th 8c 5 miles , August 4 the Dundee Arbroath ,

1 7 4} miles , from Craigie , outside Dundee , to Arbroath , o 6th n October , and lastly the London Greenwich

mile extension from Deptford into Greenwich .

These lines call for no particular remark , with the of t he exception Durham Junction , whose works included a particularly fine Viaduct over the River

Wear near Penshaw, called the Victoria Bridge , in ’ of honour the $ueen s Coronation , and which for many years formed part of the main East Coast

route to the north . The total mileage opened during the year 1 838 0 0 therefore exceeded 2 , amounting to nearly double of See that the previous year . ( diagram . ) 1839 The results of the Parliamentary session of 1 839

were but. slightly better than those of the previous

year as regards new railways , the total mileage only 0 amounting to 5 odd miles , shared by three different

companies . The B rist ol Gl oucest er C omp any was to provide of a direct route from Bristol to the north , which the portion beyond Gloucester was already approach 8: ing completion . By utilizing the Cheltenham

Great Western Union line for the last 7miles , from

Standish Junction to Gloucester , and relaying the old Coalpit Heath horse railway , sanctioned in 1 8 28 of as a locomotive line , the actual new mileage THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 3 5

s this scheme wa reduced to 22 . A great contro versy arose as to whether this company should be on or constructed the broad narrow gauge , its original intention of formin g a north and south route as an extension of the Birmingham

Gloucester marking it as a narrow gauge concern , while its actual termination at Bristol and Standish a t wo me nt junctions with broad gauge lines .

Eventually it was , in the first instance , constructed on the broad gauge principle under the auspices of

r . Mr . B unel The Gosport branch of the London S outh Western R ailway (which title the London Southampton Railway assumed this year) was to serve the town of Portsmouth by an extension of 1 6 miles from the main line at Bishopstoke to

Gosport . The long standing rivalry between Southampton an d Portsmouth manifested itself strongly when the question of providing these towns

with railway facilities arose , and as soon as the London Southampton Railway scheme was successfully launched the inhabitants of the naval port projected a direct Portsmouth and London line . The expense of constructing such a line through very heavy country proved a serious drawback , while it

was felt that for some years to come , at any rate , Portsmouth could be efficiently served by a branch of the London Southampton . The latter course o was , therefore , wisely adopted n condition that the hated name of Southampton should be removed from a the title of the railway comp ny serving both places . 36 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 39 The only other new company obtaining an Act D rh m this year was the West u a , which constituted

’ a 53 mile extension of the Clarence Company s

Byers Green branch , and was to be worked by ropes and fixed engines on account of the switchback

nature of the country traversed . The results achieved in the sessions of 1 836 and 1 837began t o show in the many new lines Opened 1 8 in part at any rate during the year 39. Of the t he older schemes , however , Newcastle Carlisle was finally completed on May 2 1 st by an extension 3 miles long from Blaydon across the Tyne to a terminus in Newcastle proper on a site nowoccupied by the Forth Goods Station of the North-Eastern

Railway . In the same month the Durham Sun derland Company started public traffic over the f o r i . c . remaining portion thei line , , from Murton to f 8 2 3 Shincli fe , miles , and the 7; mile extension from t o Murton j oin the Hartlepool Railway at Haswell . 1 8 Again , on March th this latter company was brought into touch with the Clarence Railway near Ferryhill by the Opening of the Great North of

England Clarence Hartlepool Junction . Considerable progress was made by the London - South Western Company , who Opened a further 8 B miles to asingstoke , and a southern portion of 1 2 their line from Southampton to Winchester, miles , o 1 0 th 1 n June , thus leaving only the 9 mile gap

between Basingstoke and Winchester for completion .

Progress on the third great trunk line , the Great

Western , was slow, and so far as the travelling THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 37 public were concerned was confined t o the 7mile 18 39 extension from Maidenhead (Taplow) to Twyford . On June 5t h the London Croydon Company commenced public Operations with a passenger service between West Croydon and London Bridge , a of 1 0 1 our e distance 3 miles , the last 3 miles of the j n y being made over the metals of the London 8: Green c wich Company . As the latter ompany were run - n ning a quarter hourly service in each directio , the junction at Corbet ’ s Lane was even then a busy of place . The points were course worked by hand , but a sort o f lighthouse was erected at the spot from which a lantern showed a White light for Greenwich trains to pass , and a red light for Croydon train s , this be ing the first authenticated case of any system of i junction signall ng . 1 8 6 Of the projects sanctioned in 3 , the Eastern Coun ties made a humble beginning by Opening a 1 0 3 mile stretch from a temporary terminus at t o 20 h . Devonshire Street , to Romford n June The other large undertakings which began work M dl in a small way were the i and Counties Company, who Opened their line of 1 6 miles between Derby and n o th Notti gham n June 4 ; the Manchester Leeds , M as between Oldham Road Station , anchester, and 1 on t h Littleborough , 4 miles , July 4 and the Glas m gow, Paisley , Kil arnock Ayr , whose commence ment as a public carrier was confined to its southern 1 1 extremity from Ayr to Irvine , miles , on August st h . The Birmingham Derby Junction followed the 38 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

1839 example of the Grand Junction in opening the

whole of its line from Derby to Hampton Junction ,

39 miles distant , simultaneously , the event occurring 1 2 on August th . It should here be noted that the i of t o or ginal intention the company i connect Derby and the North with Birmingham and the West was n ot out on directly carried , as second thoughts the directors conceived the idea that to compete with the Midland Counties Railway for the traffic passing between London and the North would be more profitable than to merely confine their attention f to their legitimate North and West tra fic . Hence at the last moment Parliamentary powers were obtained to make a line from the original main route at Whitacre to join the London Birmingham at

Hampton , and the portion of the original route , m from Whitacre to Bir ingham , was temporarily

neglected . That portion of the York North Midland Railway extending some 1 5 miles from York to a junction with the Leeds Selby Railway near ot h Milford , was opened on May 3 , and a service of passenger trains immediately established between L f York , eeds and Selby , while a considerable tra fic started in coal from the Garforth Pits to the

Cathedral City . In the Newcastle District a great advance in

travelling facilities took place . Apart from the of extension the Newcastle Carlisle Railway, to

which allusion has already been made , the Newcastle Nort h Shields Railway was Opened throughout THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 39

i o 18 39 from Manors to North Shields , 7miles d stant , n

1 . June 8th Again , the Brandling Junction began t o on 1 8 th operate trains for the public June , as ’ 6 between South Shields and Monkwearmouth , miles on t h away . This was followed , September s , by the completion of the system between Gateshead and via South Shields , Brockley Whins , and a direct connection to the Sunderland line . Including the Wea rmout h 8 Dock branch , about more miles were thus brought into use . A connection between the Newcastle 85 Carlisle line at R edheugh and the

Brandling Junction Railway was also made this year , f but used only for freight tra fic . This short link involved a very steep incline of 1 in 20 up the R edheu h was Rabbit Banks , since the g station situated but slightly above river level , whereas the Brandling Junction line was on the high ground in

Gateshead . This historic incline , at first worked by ‘ I O e two stationary engine and p , and afterwards by or more pilot engines , has quite recently been rendered unnecessary by the construction of a deviation line , and is therefore now abandoned . Minor openin gs f i include the Aylesbury Railway , an o fshoot 7m les of long the London Birmingham , by which company it was worked ; the G reaseborough branch of the Sheffield Rotherham ; and a 3 mile extension of the Llanelly Railway towards orf r Pontardulais . The Arbroath F a Railway was rd opened on January 3 , and the Dundee Arbroath completed by the extension of 23 miles from its 2 th temporary terminus into Dundee on June 4 . 40 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 1 39 8 of Lastly , in Ireland the first portion the Ulster 8 Railway , from Belfast to Lisburn , miles in length , ffi 1 was started for public tra c on August 2th . It will thus be seen that about 220 miles of new

’ railway were brought int o operation in the year r

1 8 sli h l r e of t e 39, thus g t y xceeding the total h

previous year 4 1 8 40 In the year 1 840 the low water mark of rail

is ~ rea ched way enterprise , for in that year not a c single new railway ompany was promoted . A period of financial depression had set in after the of 1 8 6 Wa s O ffi boom 3 , and it nly with great di culty that some of the concerns then authorized obtained

money to complete their undertakings . The View was largely held that all the railways which could be hoped to pay had now been made or were at any of str rate in course con uction in fact , the more pessimistic section of the public Interested in railways went so far as to suggest that the promotion of new

lines had been overdone , giving as an example the needless expenditure of capital incurred by the Great Western and London South-Western Companies in building lines nearly parallel from London to

Reading and Basingstoke . However , if the stag nation in the promotion of new lines in 1 8 40 is to

be lamented , we have at the same time to record the Opening of a number of new railways whose mileage together more than double the total o f any year within the period under review— a natural result of those years in which we have seen the zeal for

railway promotion so rife .

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 41

18 40 Taking the original trunk lines first , the Opening on May 1 1 t h of the 1 9 mile portion between Basing stoke and Winchester completed the main line of the - London South Western Railway throughout . The t o Great Western , in contrast the leisurely progress

hitherto recorded , made considerable strides , ex on ot h tending 5 miles to Reading March 3 , thence 20 1 to Steventon , 3 miles , on June st , on to Far rin don 1 0 on 20 th g Road , miles , July , and finally to 1 Hay Lane , 3 miles further , near Wootton Basset , 1 6 on December th . A start was also made at the western end of the system by the opening of the 1 1 Bristol to Bath section , 3 miles in length , so that at the end of the year the 27mile stretch be tween

Bath and Hay Lane alone remained to be completed , this part including the famous Box Tunnel . Perhaps the most striking of the new lines to be opened this year were the Midland Counties main line and the North Midland , as the completion of these systems led to the first case of fierce competition between rival companies for passenger traffic on lines in operation . The Midland Counties Company commenced public traffic over the 2 1 mile section th on from Trent to Leicester on May s , and June 3oth the remaining 20 miles to Rugby was brought into Operation ; meanwhile the North Midland line was opened for the 40 miles between Derby and Rother on 1 l th ham May , and the remaining 33 miles completed to Leeds on the same date as the final of section the Midland Counties . This was the signal for a great fight between the Birmingham

D 42 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 40 Derby Junction and the Midland Counties for the f tra fic between London and Derby , and places north

thereof . The Birmingham Derby Junction had the of advantage being first in the field , having , as

we have seen , opened to Derby in the previous

August . The Midland Counties however, had the s horter route by about 9 miles , and had made an agreement with the North Midland prior to Opening whereby the latter company should hand all its f t o South tra fic the Midland Counties , but on the of appeal the Birmingham Derby Junction , the

ultra ii/e Law Courts set it aside as being v s . Thus a violent and unrestrained competition set in between

the two companies , involving rate cutting which neither company could properly afford (at one period of the contest the Birmingham and Derby Company s for first - only charged 2 . a class through passenger

between Derby and Hampton , as against the local fare of Space does not permit of a full account of the various phases of this interesting event in early railway history ; suffice it to say that after many futile endeavours to arrange terms a solution t o 1 8 was ultimately come in 44, whereby the three companies interested were all amalgamated as one of Midland l concern under the title the Rai way . The completion of the York 8: North Midland M on Railway from ilford to Burton Salmon , May 1 1 t h on , and to j oin the North Midland at Altofts , o ot h f n June 3 , a forded a through railway route for on the first time between London and York, and the THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 43 same date the Hull Selby line was brought into 18 40 a Operation , and the great E st Coast port brought of into touch with the rest the railway system . Of railways already partially opened the Eastern Counties abandoned its temporary terminus at Devonshire Street in favour of a station at Shore one ditch , mile nearer the City , and on the same date , ot h June 3 , extended its Operations to Brentwood , 6 miles from Romford , its previous termination . M L on th The anchester eeds opened October s , N of from ormanton to Hebden Bridge , a distance 2 n of 1 0 7miles , leavi g a gap miles between that place and its western portion at Littleborough to be subsequently finished . New companies opened throughout include the L 20 o ancaster Preston Junction , 3 miles , n June 2 th r t o 5 ; the Preston Wy e , from Fleetwood 1 on 1 6 8: Preston , 93 miles , July th ; the Chester 1 on 2 rd Birkenhead , 4 miles , September 3 and the 1 8 I st Chester Crewe , 3 miles , on October , the last named having been absorbed by the Grand Junction . The important Birmingham Gloucester line was of fir of opened in sections , that the st portion 333 miles between Bromsgrove and Cheltenham o 2 t h taking place n June 4 , to be followed , on 1 of September 7th , by an extension 73 miles north wards to a temporary station at Cofton Farm , which in o D 1 turn was abandoned n ecember 7th , when the line was taken the remaining 6 miles into Camp Hill i Station , Birmingham . The southern end of th s system , which , it will be remembered , was to be 44 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 40 shared by the Great Western Cheltenham Union , was opened from Cheltenham t o Gloucester on t November 4 h . A start was made by the London Brighton Company on May 1 1 th with its little Brighton t o 6 Shoreham branch of miles in length . Other companies partially opened include the Manchester t o Birmingham from London Road , Manchester , th Heaton Norris , for Stockport , 53 miles , on June 4 M the Maryport Carlisle , from aryport to Aspatria , s 1 7mile , on July 5th the Northern Eastern from a junction with the Eastern Company at Stratford t o 1 6 1 th Broxbourne , miles , on September s ; and a small local line from Seghill t o Percy Main on

the River Tyne .

In London , the Opening of the Blackwall Railway la th from the Minories to B ckwall , 33 miles , on July 4 ,

presented a novel feature , as the trains were drawn

by a continuous rope actuated by a steam engine .

On starting from the London end , the train was made up with a carriage for each intermediate

station and two for Blackwall , and these were For detached at the proper point . the return

journey , each carriage was attached to the rope

at the several stations , and started for London

together , arriving at their destination at intervals corresponding with the distances between the

stations . Taft In Wales , the Vale Railway opened the

southern half of its line from Cardiff to Newbridge , a of 1 8 distance 5 miles , on October th , and the THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 45

Llanelly made a further 5 mile extension up country 18 40 to P a rkry n in March .

As regards Scotland , the Glasgow, Paisley, Kilmarnock Ayr completed its main line of 40 i v z . miles in sections , from Irvine to Kilwinning , 3 on 2 rd w miles , March 3 , from Kilwinning to Ho wood , 1 on 20 t h 3 miles , July , and from Howwood to on r 1 t h Paisley , 53 miles , August , the portion between Glasgow and Paisley to be shared with the Greenock Company being brought into use on July 1 4th . The Slamannan Railway , which extended from the B allochney line for 1 23 miles in an easterly Ca usewa end direction to y , came into operation in of August , from which date a service two passenger trains per day in each direction was instituted between Glasgow and Ca usewa yend via the Garn B a llochne kirk , y and Slamannan Railways , whereby the journey time between Glasgow and Edinburgh was reduced to between 4 and 5 hours , the final stage from Ca usewa yend to Edinburgh being accomplished by canal . In revien the railway position from the

’ of of 1 8 0 travellers point View at the end 4 , we see that the 5 0 0 miles of new line brought into use during that year enabled a great advance to be made in the facilities of communication For instance , Glasgow was now for the first time brought 2 L within a 4 hour journey of ondon , the route being L from Euston to Fleetwood , over the ondon u Birmingham , Grand J nction , North Union , and

Preston Wyre Railways , whence a fast steamer 46 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

1840 or plied two three times a week to Ardrossan , r via where the t ain was again taken for Glasgow, the Ardrossan and Johnston (now worked by loco ’ 8: motives) and Glasgow Ayr Companies lines .

Towns as far apart as Hull , Liverpool , Gloucester L and ondon were all connected by railway . Thus , although it must be confessed that some of the

routes were very circuitous , the progress made had been such as to surprise those who had witnessed the opening of the Liverpool 85 Manchester Railway 1 0 only years previously , and from this time forward a general system of railway communication may

be said to have been established throughout England , of as distinct from a collection merely local lines . R ’ The attached table , compiled from obinson s - for 1 8 0 of Time table 4 , gives a good idea the speed and frequency of the passenger train services on o f some the more important railways at this date . on Before passing to the next year , it is interesting to note that the York 8c North Midlan d Company took an early opportunity of profiting by the lesson being given by the Birmingham 85 Derby Junction and the Midland Counties Company on the evils of of 8: competition . The completion the York North Midland to join the North Midland included a curve for northwards traffic towards Leeds thus by running powers over the larger company ’ s system M L from ethley to eeds , the York Company were able to give a service of trains between Leeds and York independent of the line of the Leeds 8: Selby

Company , whose route from Milford to Leeds had

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 47

To 18 40 hitherto been indispensable . avoid competition , t o therefore , the York Company agreed lease the

85 on Leeds Selby mutually favourable terms , with the result that the through service between York ’ and Leeds by the Selby Company s lin e was with drawn in favour of the York 8: North Midland route via Methley . The fin ancial depression which had overtaken the 1841 country and had left its mark so severely on new 1 8 1 railway schemes continued in 4 , so that only two insignificant additions to the existing lines were ort e sanctioned during this year . The N h m 85 Eastern Company obtained leave to make a 6 mile

branch from Broxbourne to Hertford , while in ilsont own Scotland a new local railway, called the W , Mornin side Colt ness g , was to form a continuation

\ of the Wishaw and Colt ness for about 9 miles in a - north easterly direction . The disappointing record as regards the projection of off new lines is , however , set to some extent by the important additions which were made to the

lines already in Operation . In the first place , the opening o f the Great Western from Hay Lane to 1 i on Ma I st Chippenham , 3 m les , y 3 , and a similar on distance to Bath a month later , at last com let ed p that great system from end to end . Nor

of 8: was this all , for by means the Bristol Exeter

Company , who opened their first portion of 34 miles from Bristol to B ridgwater (including the Weston -M 1 super are branch) on June 4th , it was possible et i to g considerably further west by ra lway . The 48 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 1841 stations of the Great Western 85 Bristol 85 Exeter

Companies adjoined at Bristol , and to save working expenses it was agreed that the former company should operate the latter until completion and for

5 years subsequently . The missing link of 1 0 miles on the Manchester 8:

Leeds Railway , which included the Summit tunnel , c on I st was ompleted March , from which date that company ’ s trains ran through from Manchester to

Leeds , passing over the lines of the North Midland Company for the last 9 miles of the j ourney from L Normanton to the eeds Station in Hunslet Lane . t he new i Of companies , the longest n mileage to start operations this year was the Great North of

England , whose 443 miles stretch from York to Darlington (including part of the Stockton 8c ’ Com an S Darlington p y Croft branch , which had been for f o purchased) , was opened freight tra fic n th o 1 5 t January 4 and for passengers n March 3 . Thus was the communication carried from London as far north on the east side of England as Darling t o 8c n , whence by using the Stockton Darlington ,

8c 8: Stockton Hartlepool , Hartlepool , Durham 85 Sunderland Brandling Junction Railways , it was

possible to reach Gateshead by railway . Owing of to the roundabout nature this route , however, and the necessity of crossing the towns of Sunderland and

West Hartlepool , the coach was still the most expeditious form of conveyance between Darlington

and Newcastle . A small portion of the Manchester 8: Sheffield THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 49

18 41 Railway , viz . 73 miles from Ardwick to Godley , made its appearance on the public time bills for the first 1 time as from November 7th , access to their portion of the London Road station in Manchester being obtained by running powers over the Manchester

85 Birmingham line from Ardwick . The London Brighton Railway was opened in via two sections , , from the Croydon Railway to Hay

’ 28 on ul 1 2th ward s Heath 3 miles , J y , and from

’ Hayward s Heath for the remaining 1 3 miles t o on 2 1 st Brighton September , upon which date the

Shoreham branch was joined to the main system . The Cheltenham 85 Great Western Union began public traffic on Ma y 3 1 st with the southern portion of i their line , from Sw ndon to Cirencester , the engineerin g difficulties of the Sapperton tunnel and St roa d valley precluding any further advance for some time . This company was leased to the Great

Western , who purchased it two years later . As regards extensions of railways hitherto only f partially opened , the northern portion of the Ta f

Vale from Newbridge to Merthyr , 9 miles , was on 2 1 st of completed April , and the Dinas branch 3 miles on June 1 0 t h ; the Northern 8: Eastern Railway advanced 7 miles from Broxbourne to t h S elbrook Harlow on Aug . 9 , and a further 5 to p on November 22nd ; the Gosport extension of the London 85 South-Western was brought into use o 2 t n November 9 h . Minor openings for 1 8 41 include the first section of the Bolton 8: Preston (worked by the Manchester 5 0 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF 18 41 85 Bolton) from Bolton to Rawlinson Bridge near on th Chorley , 93 miles , February 4 the Stockton 85 H B artlepool , from illingham Junction on the H 8 o Clarence Railway to West artlepool , miles , n 1 0 th February , from which date a passenger train service was started from Stockton t o Hartlepool in connection with the trains of the Stockton 85 Darlington Company ; the Chilton branch of the Clarence Railway Opened in June ; the Heywood

of M 85 L 1 branch the anchester eeds , only 3 miles in

length , Opened in April a small extension of the a d Of Blackwall line to Fenchurch Street , n the Birmingham 85 Gloucester from Camp Hill t o join the London Birmingham Railway near their M terminus in the idland city . 85 In Scotland , the Glasgow, Paisley Greenock was brought into use as between the two last-named 1 6 on 1 st places , miles distant , March 3 , while in

Ireland , the Ulster Railway extended its Operations L 1 on from isburn to Lurgan , a further 3 miles , 8 t November h . Altogether about 275 miles of new line were

brought into use during the year , and served further to consolidate the network of railways which was

springing up throughout the country . 18 42 We have now reached a stage when for a short while the Railway enterprise of the country may be said to have attained a state of fairly stable equili

ri m b u . The advantages afforded by the railways sanctioned in the palmy days of the railway boom the were being actually experienced , and although THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 5 1 general opinion was that more ra ilways would have 18 42 to be made in due course in order to provide for of wa s parts the country up till now neglected , it felt that no undue haste should be used in order to accomplish this object , and there was little indica tion of the extraordinary change which was t o take r ul place three years late , c minating in the Railway of Mania of 1 846 . The question through com munica t ion between England and Scotland and of Ireland , however, was engaging a good deal attention , and a Parliamentary commission ulti mately appointed to select among the many rival p rOp osals that one which would best meet all requirements , but this did not mature until after the period with which we are dealin g . 1 8 2 Three new railways were sanctioned in 4 , two of which would have been unnecessary if the p ro ject s of companies already sanctioned had been carried out according to the original intention . The of n Great North England , findi g difficulties

’ in the way of completing their line north of Darling t on i o f , acquiesced n the formation a new company,

Newcast e 85 Da in on nction the l rl gt Ju , to connect of their line with that the Durham Junction , by of 2 making a railway about 5 miles in length , including a short branch o f 2 miles from Belmont to G iles at e a station in the city of Durham at g .

Again , the slow progress made by the Eastern ot Counties , which had only g as far as Brentwood , 1 8 L miles from ondon , although five years had now elapsed since the company obtained its Act , 52 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

18 42 t he induced local inhabitants to take the initiative , with the result that the Y armouth 85 Norwich om a n r C p y was incorporated to make a ailway , 20 miles in length , between the two places named . Another local scheme successfully introduced into Parliament was purchased by the London 85 of Birmingham Company , and comprised a branch

9 miles from their system at Coventry to Leamington .

Turning to new facilities made available this year, the first place must be given t o the South-Eastern

Railway , whose main line from Redhill as far as i e Ashford was opened in three sections , . . from Red 1 on Ma 26th hill to Tonbridge , 93 miles , y ; Ton H 1 on 1 st bridge to eadcorn , 5 miles , August 3 ; and 1 0 l 1 st Headcorn to Ashford , 3 mi es , on December . Not less important was the opening of the Edin burgh 85 Glasgow Railway throughout on February 2 1 st from the Haymarket Station at Edinburgh to ’ 6 $ $ueen s Street , Glasgow, 4 miles , an unusually of long stretch line to be Opened at once . The Manchester 85 Birmingham Company having at last completed the great Viaduct over the town of

Stockport , brought into use its line from Heaton 2 1 roth Norris to Sandbach , miles in length , on May , joining up the missing link of 5 miles to the Grand

Junction Railway at Crewe three months later, from which date the detour via Newton Junction for

Manchester passengers going South was avoided . f 1 85 An extension o 2 miles of the Bristol Exeter, o ul I st from Bridgwater to Taunton n J y , should be noted and amongst minor additions come t he

THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 53 1 2 completion of the original Birmingham 85 Derby 84 scheme by the direct line from Whitacre to Lawley of Street , Birmingham , the construction which had been postponed , under circumstances already related in connection with the competition with the Midland Counties ; a branch of the Manchester 85 Leeds to 2 Oldham , 3 miles from their main line ; a mile extension of the Northern and Eastern from Spel brook t o Bishop Stortford ; a 4 mile extension of the Manchester 85 Sheffield from Godley to Dinting (for Glossop) and lastly the opening of the Shildon tunnel by the Stockton 85 Darlington and the deviation lines in connection therewith in order to avoid the steep rope incline between Shildon and

West Auckland . Altogether about 1 5 0 miles of new line were brought into Operation , showing a substantial S decrease from the totals of previous years . ( ee diagram . ) Some signs o f a revival in interest as regards the 1843 promotion of new railways manifested themselves of 1 8 r during the Parliamentary Session 43 , du ing which some 8 0 miles of additional lines were sanc t io e n d. A glance at the railway map of England for the year 1 842 will at once reveal the fact that the part of the country lying to the east of the London 85 Birmingham 85 Midland Companies Railways appears to have been neglected by the of new promoters lines . As a matter of fact the idea of a direct rail way between London and York had been under 54 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

1843 consideration for many years , and the well l known engineers , Rennie , Cundy , Wa ker, and Gibbs had all surveyed routes with t his end in

View, and in this way the principal towns of the dl East Mi ands , such as Cambridge , Peterborough

and Lincoln , were to be provided for . It was felt ,

however , that as the purely agricultural country through which such a line would pass would provide f but a small local tra fic , the expense of such a large

scheme at present could hardly be justified , taking also into consideration the competition that would ensue with the existing composite route to the

via 85 North the London Birmingham , Midland a Counties and North Midland Railw ys . The directors of these companies nevertheless must have been convinced that their monopoly of the North and South traffic could not continue in the i definitely , apart from local needs of the count es

of . Lincoln , Huntingdon , Cambridgeshire , etc , for railway accommodation ; but in order to retain f their interest in the tra fic as long as possible , the London 85 Birmingham successfully promoted a Bill this session to make a line 47miles in length from their main line at Blisworth through Northampton (which town had now repented of its folly in Opposing the passage of the London 85 Birmingham through

its midst) to Peterborough . e In addition to this considerable project , thr e 1 0 extensions , each about miles in length , of existing z viz of lines , were authori ed, the Oxford branch

the Great Western , Maidstone branch of the South THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 55

18 43 Eastern , and an extension of the Northern and

N w . Eastern main line to e port In the Metropolis , the London 85 Greenwich Company held the key to of the approach three companies , the Croydon , - Brighton , and South Eastern , all of Whose trains ran ’ over the London 85 Greenwich Railway from Corbet s

Lane Ju nction to the terminus at London B ridge . The toll for this facility had been a constant source of dispute between the Croydon and Greenwich on of Companies , with the result that the opening - the South Eastern Company , the Croydon Company joined forces with the latter and Obtained leave to make a short lin e of 1 3 miles in length from near Corbet ’ s Lane to a new terminus in the Old Kent rid of Road , and thereby themselves all necessity

’ f r o the use of the Greenwich Company s line . The diminution in mileage as regards the new lines

to be Opened continues . The Eastern Counties , after protracted interruptions of their works by bad

weather and want of money , at last opened their line on M from Brentwood to Colchester , 333 miles , arch

2 th . e of 7 Th re , in fact , it stuck , and the great original scheme for 1 26 miles of line from London — to Yarmouth and Norwich , less than half the 5 1 mile stretch from London to Colchester— was

ever completed . It may however be noted that most of the originally proposed route was sub

sequently covered by other independent companies , l such as the Eastern Union , and the East Suffo k , not r to mention the Yarmouth and No wich , to which

allusion has already been made . 56 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF The South-Eastern was extended from Ashford to 1 e on 28th Folkestone , 5 mil s distant , June , from which place a large traffic to and from the Continent was at once developed , necessitating the employ - ment of two steamers daily in cross Channel services . B 85 Ma 1 u i The ristol Exeter , on y st , bro ght nto use u of a f rther portion new line , extending 9 miles beyond Taunton to a temporary station at Beam s Bridge , on the north ide of the large tunnel under the ridge which here divide s the county of Somerset 85 from Devon . The Maryport Carlisle Company of opened another portion their railway , this time 1 1 a stretch of miles from the Carlisle end to Wigton , on May 1 0 th .

In Scotland the Glasgow, Paisley , Kilmarnock 85 Ayr completed its system with the inauguration on April 4th of the Kilmarnock branch for public f 1 1 iniles tra fic , thus adding to the undertaking . Of lesser importance we may rank the completion of 85 the Bolton Preston line from Chorley to Euxton , on 22nd of 5 miles , June the Hertford branch the 85 e 1 st Northern Eastern , on Octob r 3 ; and the Bishop Auckland and Weardale as between the junction with the Stockton 85 Darlington near h on e Shildon and Crook , whic took place Novemb r

8 th .

1 0 0 of All told , new miles railway were brought 1 8 into use during the year 43 , acting for the most e part as f eders for the larger systems , but mention must be made of the competition for the Manchester and Preston traffic which arose on the completion THE B R ITISH R AILWAY SYSTE M 57

1 3 of the Bolton 85 Preston undertaking between that 84 company and the North Union . The route of the latter company was longer but 85 well established , whereas the Bolton Preston

’ Co mpany s trains (worked by the Manchester 85 Bolton Company) had to use the North Union line 6 con for the last miles into Bolton , and were sequently delayed . After a short and sharp struggle , wherein rates were cut and the bad example set by the Midland Co mpanies and Birmingham 85 Derby Junction Companies followed t o the detriment of both companies , wiser counsels prevailed , and an b was amalgamation arranged etween them , which made legally effective next year . The time had now arrived when the attention of 18 44

Parliament , whose actions had hitherto been confined fl of u chie y to particular phases railway working , s ch

o f o as the conveyance mails by railway , was seri usly turned to the consideration of the railway system of the country as a whole . As a result , therefore , of o f the deliberations a Royal Commission , a com prehensive Act was passed in this year , the most important portion of which was devoted to the question of the possible purchase of the ra ilways by the State . The terms on which this purchase might be carried out have already been outlined in the introduction to this book , and as it is not proposed to deal with any of the subsequently constructed ra ilways which come under the provisions of this l ffi t o ’ Act , it wi l su ce draw the reader s attention to the new lines brought into Operation this year . 5 8 THE EARLY DEVE LOPMENT OF

1844 The Opening of the Newcastle 85 Darlington Junction from Darlington to Belmont on June 1 8th (the Rainton-Durham section had been Opened on 1 April 5th) , at last formed direct communication or between Newcastle , rather Gateshead , and

London . This happy event was celebrated by the L usual banquet , to which the ondon guests arrived by special train starting from Euston at 5 a m and m arriving at Gateshead at p , passing over the o f f v lines eight di ferent companies , at an a erage S of of peed 45 miles an hour , exclusive stoppages ,

a fine performance for those days . In the West of England the Bristol 85 Gloucester on 8 th was opened throughout July , thus giving direct connection between B ristol and the North of

85 England , while the final portion of the Bristol

Exeter from Beam Bridge to Exeter , was brought Ma 1 1 into use on y st , whereby a main line of 94 miles under the control of one company was secured to the

Great Western . The Yarmouth 85 Norwich Company commenced t o work on April 3ot h with its single line of 20 3 miles is between the towns named , and it interesting to note that from the beginning use was made of the e lectric telegraph system , then in its infancy, to o regulate the crossing of train s n the single line . Of lesser mileage we may note the opening of the Maidstone branch o f the South-Eastern Railway on September 24t h the Oxford branch of n on 1 2th t he L the Great Wester , June eaming

t o o L 85 n branch f the ondon Birmingham , on

60 THE EARLY DE VELOPME NT OF

18 44 was used as an experimental track for Webb and

’ Sa muda s of Atmospheric system working , whereby of the use locomotives was entirely dispensed with , and which was actually in Operation for a short time on L 85 D the ondon Croydon , alkey Extension and

other railways . 85 In Ireland , the Opening Of the Dublin Drogheda Railway gave access by train for 3 2 miles north of 1 i of Dublin , while the 3 mile Dalkey extens on the Dublin 85 Kingstown Company was worked on the o t atmospheric system from its start n March 29 h . To 1 0 i of w sum up , about 9 m les new miles rail ay

were brought into Operation during the year , bringing up the total mileage of the railways t o 21 5 0 odd

miles . Of the lines , therefore , sanctioned by Parlia ment prior to 1 844 (amounting to about

miles) , eliminating those which were never t o be carried out , little remained completed , and it is hoped that the reader will by the aid of the attached maps have been able to gain a clear im of of pression the early railways our country , which are expressly exempted from purchase by the State of 1 under the terms this important Act . l u In conc usion , appended , will be fo nd a table of Of the main lines England at the present day, in which the mileage coming under t he provisions of the Act is separated from the portions of t he

1 Ce t a ea o se a a s s u a s t h e W t b 8: r in rly h r r ilw y , ch hi y P k e a n d t he H a e R a a e e o ve t e ic ring yl ilw y , which w r c n r d int o lo co mo t ive lin es o n be ing jo in e d up t o t he Ma in R a il wa S st e m s ubse ue t t o t h e ea 1 8 a ve $ been y y q n y r 44 , h se o m t e p urp o ly i t d . THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 6 1

18 44 original exempted systems . The important part played by the proviso regarding exemption of 5 mile branches or extensions subsequently constructed is Specially noticeable in the case of the London of L 85 - terminal extensions the ondon South Western , - E South Eastern and Great astern Companies .

TOTAL - So uth E astern 85 Ch atha m R ailway N V L . O. 85 D . N E To (i) MAI LI , ICTORIA D OVE R

11 N N E N CR o ss ( ) MAI LI , CHARI G TO D OVE R ’ Cha ring Cro ss t o Co rbet s Lan e Jun ctio n ’ Co rbet s La n e Jun ctio n t o To n bridge To n bridge t o Do ver

L d B i to 85 Sou h Coast R ail on on , r gh n t

LON D ON B RI D GE To B RIGHTON - L ondon 85 South Western R ailwa y (i) WATE RLOO TO SOUTH AMP TON (ll) BASIN GSTOK E (WOR TI N G) TO P L Y MOUTH ’ i s o t o x e e . a v W rting E t r, St D d ’

x e e . a s t o o e E t r, St D vid , C wl y

n o n . B ridge Ju cti (G . W ) Co wley B ridge Jun ctio n t o Ply o F a m uth , ri ry

G reat Western R a ilway

1 D D N N E N $ N E O L D ( ) PA I GTO TO P A C , VIA ROUTE Pa ddingto n t o E x eter 3 26 3 E x eter t o Pen za nce 1 3 2 3 VI A N E W R U E R ea DO . O T ( ding t o a n o n Co lo a d n t o n T u t , g Ju c i ) 3 3

a e fo wa t 20 8 C rri d r rd 374 i, 5 } 95 } 62 THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF

Miles san ctioned I hnor in cur to 1 844 . 1 8 44. f Brought o rwa rd 374 3 5 20 3 8 95 1 G reat Western R ailway (con tin ued) (ii) WOOTTON BASSE TT To 1 78 3 1 78 3 D To K E N E D V A OL D (iii) DI COT BIR H A , I R OUTE Didcot t o O xford O x ford t o Chester t o Birkenhea d N E W R E l Do . VIA OUT (O d O a k t o B a n u o u o 6 6 b ry , Aynh J ncti n) 43 43

G reat Centra l R a ilway MAN CHE STE R To MARYLE B ON E Ma nchester t o Sheffield 2 1 0 3 Sheffield t o Ma rylebon e 1 693 - London 85 North Western R ailway (i) EUSTON To CA R LISLE Eusto n t o R ugby R ugby t o Sta ffo rd Sta ffo rd t o La nca ster La n ca ster t o Ca rlisie (n ) CRE WE TO H OLYH E AD Crewe t o Chester Chester t o Ho lyhea d Midland R a ilway

ST. N To E (i) PA CRAS CARLISL , VIA STAVE LE Y AN D E R E WASH VAL L E Y a n a s t o e es e o St . P cr L ic t r (Wigst n Junctio n) Leicester (Wigston Junction) t o Trent Trent t o Cla y Cross Cla y Cro ss t o Leeds Le eds t o Ca rlisle (u) CLAY CR OSS TO BRISTOL

G reat Northern R ailway ’ K I N G S CR OSS TO DON CASTE R (SHAF TH OL ME JUN CTION ) 1 6 0 3 1 6 0 3

Ca rried forwa rd 8 70 3 1 6 6 83 25 383 THE BRITISH RAILWAY SYSTEM 63

Miles sanctioned

1 8 44. 1 8 44. Brought fo rwa rd 8 70 3 1 66 8 1 25 3 8 3 G rea t E astern R ailway i E E E M H ( ) LIV RPOOL STR T TO YAR OUT , VIA I P SWICH Liverpoo l Street t o Co lchester Co lchester t o Ya rmouth ( 11) B E THN AL G RE E N To YA R MOUTH VIA NORWICH Bet hna l G reen t o Newp o rt Newpo rt t o No rwich 1 43 3 Norwich t o Ya rmouth - North E astern R ailway DON CASTE R (SHAF TH OLME JUN CTION ) TO B E R WICK Sha ft ho lme Junctio n t o Yo rk ' (Cha lon er s Whin J unctio n) ’ York (Cha lon er s Whin Junction) t o F erryhi ll (Tursda le Junction) F erryhi ll (Tursdale Ju n ction) t o e a s e via a N wc tl , Durh m Newca stle t o H ea t o n So uth J unc tio n Hea ton South J unction t o Berwick

La ncashire 85 Yorkshire R a ilway LIVE R P OOL TO NORMAN TON Liverpo o l t o Ma nches ter (direct) Ma n chester t o No rma nt o n (G o ose Hill Junct io n) 5 0 3

1 0 943 1 9 70 3 3 0 65 3

— N o rm Dista nces ma rked f included ext ensions o f o rigina l system under 5 miles in length which a re exempted f f t h 1 8 Act ro m purcha se under t he terms o e 44 .

I N DE $

I n t he fo llo wing index t he o rigina l Co mpa nies a re groupe d u e t he a e o f t he ea o a n o ea s or o n nd r n m Gr t C mp y wning , l ing , w rki g ese da t he ra ilwa y a t t he pr nt y .

E NG LAND. Da te of Da te of h eap First See pa ges - N OR TH EASTE R N Sto ckto n 85 Da rlingto n Cla ren ce Newca stle 85 Ca rlisle Le e d s 85 S elby H a rtlepo o l R a ilwa y 85 Do ck . Durha m Jun ctio n Durha m 85 Sunderla nd B ra n dling Jun ctio n Newca stle 85 No rth Shi elds Hull 85 S elby Yo rk 85 No rth Midla nd Grea t No rth O f E n gla nd ea o o f n a a e e 85 Gr t N rth E gl nd , Cl r nc H a rtlepo o l Junctio n B isho p Auckla nd 85 Wea rda le Wes t Durha m . Po n to p 85 So uth Shi elds (Sta nho p e 85 Tyn e) N ewca stle 85 Da rlin gto n Jun ctio n Sto ckto n 85 H a rtlepo o l Blyth 85 Tyn e (S eghill t o Percy Ma in ) - LON D ON 85 NORTH WE STE RN B o lto n 85 Leigh Live rpo o l 85 Ma n ches ter Leigh 85 K en yo n Jun ction Wa rrin gton B ra n ch Wiga n B ra n ch . e en s St . H l 85 R un co rn Ga p N o rth U n ion Gra n d Jun cti on Lo ndon 85 Birmin gha m 66 INDE$

- Da te of Da te of LON D ON 85 NOR WE E RN TH ST I mn b FE M See pagec continued a ( ) p or t ion . 0 p ening. Aylesbury 1 8 3 6 1 8 39 La nca ster 85 Preston Junctio n 1 8 3 7 1 8 40 Chester 85 Crewe Ma nchester 8: Birmingha m

MI DLAN D Leicester 85 Swa nningto n 1 8 3 0 1 8 3 2 Birmingha m 85 Glo ucester 1 8 36 1 8 4 0 Birmingha m 85 Derby J unction I 839 Midla nd Counties No rt h Midla nd 1 8 40 Sheffield 85 R o therha m 1 8 3 8 Bristo l 85 Glo ucester 1 8 39 1 8 44

G RE AT WE STE RN a n e 1 8 28 1 8 I Ll lly i 3 3 I O , 7 ea es e o o 85 B i St O l 1 8 1 8 8 1 Gr t W t rn (L nd n ) 35 3 9 . 3 3 s o 85 x e e 1 8 6 1 8 1 2 Bri t l E t r 3 4 3 . 4 7

e e a 85 G ea es e U o . 2 2 Ch lt nh m r t W t rn ni n . 49

G RE AT E ASTE RN a s e ou es 2 1 E t rn C nti . 37 o e 85 a s e 2 2 N rth rn E t rn » 44 o o 85 a a 2 L nd n Bl ckw ll 4 . 44 a ou 85 o w 1 8 2 1 8 2 8 Y rm th N r ich 4 44 5 . 5

LAN CASHIRE 85 YORK SHIR E Ma nchester 85 B o lto n 1 8 3 1 1 8 3 8 Ma nchester 85 Leeds 1 8 36 1 8 39 B olton 85 Presto n 1 8 3 7 1 8 4 1

- LON D ON 85 SOU TH WE STE RN B o n 85 a e e 1 8 2 1 8 1 I dmi W d bridg 3 34 5 . 9 on o n 85 ou a o 1 8 1 8 8 1 L d S th mpt n 3 4 3 7» 33 Ta w Va le 1 8 3 8 - SOUTH EASTE R N 85 CHATHAM C a n e u 85 s a e 1 8 2 1 8 0 1 2 t rb ry Whit t bl 5 3 7, 1 8 1 8 6 Lo n do n 85 Greenwich . 33 3 ou - a s e o o 85 o e 1 8 6 1 8 2 2 2 S th E t rn (L nd n D v r) 3 4 3 , 5

N D N B N 85 H LO O , RIGHTO SOUT COAST Cro ydo n Lo ndo n 85 Brighto n

G RE AT CE N TR AL Ma nchester 85 Sheffield 1 83 7 1 8 4 1

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