CHAP. XV. THE LINE DIVERTED. 307 



tory to an application being made to Parliament in the j 

 ensuing session. 



The principal alterations made in the new line were 

 at the London end ; the terminus being changed from 

 Maiden Lane to a large piece of open land adjoining the 

 Regent's Canal the site of the present London and 

 North- Western Goods Station ; and also at Watford, 

 where the direction of the line was altered so as en- 

 tirely to avoid the parks of Lords Essex and Clarendon. 

 This latter diversion, however, inflicted on the public 

 the inconvenience of the Watford Tunnel, about a mile 

 in length, and on the company a largely increased out- 

 lay for its construction. The Hemel Hempstead and 

 Goddesden valleys were also avoided, and the line 

 proceeded by the towns of Berkhampstead and Tring. 



It was expected that these alterations would have the 

 effect of mitigating, if not of entirely averting, the 

 powerful opposition of the landowners ; but it was 

 found, on the contrary, to become more violent than 

 ever, although the grounds of complaint in regard to 

 their parks and residences had been almost entirely 

 removed. The most exaggerated alarms continued to be 

 entertained, especially by those who had never seen a 

 railway; and although there were a few country gentle- 

 men who took a different view of the subject, when the I 

 bill for the altered line was introduced into Parliament 

 in the session of 1832, the owners of nearly seven-eighths 

 of the land required for the railway were returned as 

 dissentients. It was, however, a noticeable fact, that 

 Lords Derby and Sefton, who had so vehemently 

 opposed the Liverpool Railway in all its stages, were 

 found among the assentients to the London and Bir- 

 mingham line. The scheme had, it is true, many 

 warm friends and supporters, but these were princi- 

 pally confined to classes possessing more intelligence 

 than influence. Indeed, the change which was rapidly 

 taking place in public opinion on the subject of rail- 



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