372 



THE RAILWAY MANIA. 



CHAP. XVII. 



shortly after entirely abandoned in favour of locomotive 

 power. 1 



One of the remarkable results of the system of rail- 

 way locomotion which George Stephenson had by his 

 persevering labours mainly contributed to establish, was 

 the outbreak of the railway mania towards the close of 

 his professional career. The success of the first main 

 lines of railway naturally led to their extension into 

 many new districts ; but a strongly speculative tendency 

 soon began to display itself, which contained in it the 

 elements of great danger. 2 In the sessions of 1836 and 

 1837, seventy-six Acts were obtained, authorising the 

 construction of 1458 miles of new railway at an expen- 

 diture of 25,680,000^.; and by the end of 1837 notices 

 were given of seventy-five more Bills, to authorise the 

 formation of 1230 additional miles of railway at an 

 estimated cost of about 19,000,000/. This was more 

 than the means of the country could fairly bear. The 

 shares of many companies went to a discount ; and a 

 collapse took place, which, together with the restrictions 

 imposed by Parliament on the obtaining of new Acts, 

 had the effect, for a time, of placing a wholesome 

 restraint on further speculation. During the sessions of 



1 The question of the specific 

 merits of the atmospheric as com- 

 pared with the fixed engine and loco- 

 motive systems, will be found fully 

 discussed in Robert Stephenson's able 

 * Report on the Atmospheric Railway 

 System,' 1844, in which he gives the 

 result of numerous observations and 

 experiments made by him on the 

 Kingstown Atmospheric Railway, 

 with the object of ascertaining whe- 

 ther the new power would be applicable 

 for the working of the Chester and 

 Holyhead Railway, then under con- 

 struction. His opinion was decidedly 

 against the atmospheric rail way sys- 

 tem. 



2 The traffic cases got up by the 

 professional advocates of some of the 

 Bills applied for in 1836 and 1837 

 were of the most fallacious character, 



as has been proved by the actual re- 

 sults. Traffic-taking was one of the 

 arts by which extraordinary profits 

 were' then proved. Thus in 1836, 

 the traffic case of the Eastern Counties 

 Railway showed that there would be a 

 clear profit on the outlay of 23 J per 

 cent. ! the York and North Midland, 

 of 13^ ; and the London and Cam- 

 bridge, of 14|- per cent. During the 

 session of 1837 the traffic-takers grew 

 bolder, and reached their highest 

 nights. Thus, the promoters of the 

 Sheffield and Manchester Bill " proved" 

 a traffic which was to yield a net profit 

 of 18 per cent, on the outlay. One 

 of the fortunate shareholders in the 

 company, in a letter to the ' Railway 

 Magazine,' even went so far beyond 

 the. traffic -taker, as to calculate on a 

 dividend of 80 per cent. ! 



