252 History of Inland Transport 



for the greater part of eight months before the difficulty 

 was overcome. By the time the tunnel was completed the 

 cost of construction had risen from the original estimate of 

 ^90,000 to over ^300,000, this enormous expenditure having 

 been incurred, not because it was necessary for the line, as 

 first designed, but to meet the opposition and spare the feelings 

 of the then short-sighted dwellers in the town of Northampton. 



The London and Birmingham Railway, with its terminus 

 at Euston, was eventually opened for traffic throughout in 

 September, 1838. It was, of course, one of the lines subse- 

 quently amalgamated to form the London and North- Western 

 Railway. 



The first Bill of the Great Western Railway, applied for in 

 1834, was strenuously opposed and defeated. The second 

 Bill, brought forward in the following session, was less 

 strenuously opposed, and was duly passed. In the interval 

 the opposition of the dissentient landowners had been " con- 

 ciliated " ; and, commenting thereon (in 1851), John Francis 

 says : 



" The mode by which the opposition of landholders was 

 met bears the same sad character as with other railways. 

 Every passenger who goes by the Great Western pays an 

 additional fare to meet the interest on this most unjust 

 charge ; and every shareholder in this, as in other lines, 

 receives a less dividend than he is entitled to from the same 

 cause. Nor does the blame rest with the conductors of the 

 railway. They were the agents of the shareholders and were 

 bound to forward their interests. The principle of the case 

 to them was nothing. They were bound to get the Act at 

 the cheapest possible rate, and if the law gave their rich 

 opponents the power of practically stopping the progress of 

 the line, and those opponents chose to avail themselves of 

 the law, the shame rests with the proprietor of the soil, and 

 not with the promoter of the railway. Fancy prices were 

 given for fancy prospects, in proportion to the power of the 

 landowner. Noblemen were persuaded to allow their castles 

 to be desecrated for a consideration. There can be no doubt 

 it was, indeed, all but demonstrated that offers were made 

 to and accepted by influential parties to withdraw their 

 opposition to a Bill which they had declared would ruin" them, 

 while the smaller and more numerous complainants were 



