ABSTRACT
Nor is it only at a single point or two that one company is in correspondence with another. At Bristol, said Mr. Allport in evidence before the Royal Commission, our trains are placed in connection with the trains from the extreme westfrom Cornwall and Devonshire. At Gloucester the Midland comes into connection with the South Wales system, stretching from Milford Haven, Swansea, Cardiff, and Monmouthshire. At Worcester there are lines approaching from another part of the system of the Great Western, and from Hereford and South Wales. At Birmingham the Midland system comes in contact with the main artery of the London and North Western system ; and at Burton they are flanked by the North Staffordshire Company. At Eckington they are in connection with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company ; at Normanton with the North Eastern system ; and at Oakenshaw with the Lancashire and Yorkshire line. I t is easy to see how impossible it is " t o fit a train running from south to north with all these various branch connections, the main line having far more important sources of traffic to accommodate than the few passengers who may be brought in by the branch lines of other companies. The principle to be recognised is the accommodation of the greatest number, and this can be accomplished only by the apparent occasional neglect of the few. To attempt to run trains so as to suit all the branches would throw the whole system out of gear-would be impossible."
