ABSTRACT

TH E break-up of the Euston Square confederacy and theadmission of the Great Northern in alliance with the Sheffield Company to the north-western parts of England meant that the third epoch in the history of the northern railways of England had definitely commenced. The first epoch, as we have seen, had extended from the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway in 1838 up to 1850, during which period the through traffic between London and the northern parts of the kingdom had all flowed to and from a single Metropolitan terminus-Euston Square. In 1850 a second terminus-King's Cross-had been opened, having physical connection with all parts of the North; but, as we have seen, from 1850 to 1858 — the second epoch — traffic to and from King's Cross had been limited and hampered in the interests of the harddying monopoly of Euston Square. In 1858, however, the deathblow had at last been given to this monopoly by the verdict obtained from Parliament in favour of the establishment of the joint Great Northern and Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire route between London and Lancashire; and so, as has just been said, a third epoch had then commenced-the epoch of the dual control, if you like so to call it-the epoch during which there were two equal through routes for the northern traffic of the kingdom, the one starting from Euston Square, and the other from King's Cross.