Page:Engines and men- the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men (IA enginesmenhistor00rayniala).pdf/47

 and an investing public was scrambling to get money on all sorts of wild railway enterprises. A smash came in October of 1845, when there were 47 completed lines, 118 being constructed, and 1,263 being projected. Under a later Act to facilitate the abandonment of railway bubble schemes, 1,560 miles of designed routes were abandoned. By the year 1864 thirteen large companies monopolised about three-quarters of the railway traffic of the kingdom. The Great Eastern had taken over or leased 26; the Great Western, 115; the London & North Western, 59; the Midland Railway, 35; and the North Eastern, 41. Big business was getting hold of the railways, big money was being made by all the interests concerned, except one, the most vital interest of all, human labour. It was regarded as a mere chattel, ta be purchased as cheaply as possible and worked as heavily as possible, as we shall see later. Most companies had same regard for their horses, but they had none for their men.

In 1852 very important correspondence had taken place between the Midland and London & North Western, and the Great Northern and Midland, with a view to amalgamating all three railways into one national system. The North Western was the world's biggest corporation, a gigantic undertaking, as big as the other two combined then, and it is interesting to recall that chairmen and secretaries in those letters in 1852 recognised their competition was wasteful. They were running two tracks and two depots in one town, and in general duplicating all the expense of structure and maintenance. It would be in the national interest, they said, to design one cohesive system and pool their interests. But Parliament proved hostile to the project of amalgamation.

The period 1860 to 1870 saw a steadying of the feverish cult railways. There were scores of companies possessing running powers, and any part of Great Britain could be crossed in a day. They "carried Scotsmen to London by the light of a winter's day," as Macaulay said, and coaching houses and famous hostelries became forgotten. The sound of the horn became a novelty on the roads, but everywhere was the whistle of steam power. Thousands