Evolution of the Railway 221 



that in those cases, iron rail-ways are in general preferable to 

 a canal navigation. 



" On a rail-way well constructed, and laid with a declivity 

 of 55 feet in a mile, one horse will readily take down waggons 

 containing from 12 to 15 tons, and bring back the same 

 waggons with four tons in them. . . . 



" This useful contrivance may be varied so as to suit the 

 surface of many different countries at a comparatively 

 moderate expense. It may be constructed in a manner much 

 more expeditious than navigable canals ; it may be introduced 

 into many districts where canals are wholly inapplicable ; 

 and in case of any change in the working of the mines or 

 manufactures, the rails may be taken up and put down again, 

 in a new situation, at a moderate expense." 



Thomas Gray, writing in 1821, warned investors in canal 

 shares that the time was " fast approaching when rail- ways 

 must, from their manifest superiority in every respect, 

 supersede the necessity both of canals and turnpike roads, 

 so far as the general commerce of the country was concerned." 

 He further expressed the conviction that " were canal pro- 

 prietors sensible how much their respective shares would be 

 improved in value by converting all the canals into rail- 

 ways, there would not, perhaps, in the space of ten or twenty 

 years remain a single canal in the country." 



Blinded by their prosperity, however, the canal companies 

 failed to adopt the necessary measures for ensuring its con- 

 tinuance, though the Duke of Bridgewater himself saw suffi- 

 cient of the new rival to get an uneasy suspicion of what 

 might happen. " We may do very well," he is reported to 

 have said to Lord Kenyon, when asked about the prospects 



of his canals, " if we can keep clear of those tram-roads." 



Unfortunately for the canal interests, though fortunately 

 for the country, the qualified tram-roads were not to be 

 kept clear of, but, with the encouragement they got from 

 those they afterwards impoverished, were to bring the Canal 

 Era to a close, and to inaugurate the Railway Era in its place. 



