The origin of this project has been already mentioned.
In December, 1835, a public meeting was held in Worcester, over which the Mayor, J. W. Lea, Esq., presided; at which it was fully determined to proceed with this Railway, which was to go from Gloucester to Worcester, on the western side the river; to cross the Severn at Worcester, thence direct to Kidderminster, and afterwards to Birmingham in one direction and Wolverhampton in another. The capital was to consist of 800,000 shares of £50 each. The shares were taken up pretty freely, and the bill was read a second time, and went into committee in March, 1837. It was strenuously opposed there by the Birmingham Canal Company, and by several landowners. The preamble was, however, declared proved. The committee divided on the point, and the numbers were—for, 15; against, 14. General Lygon, the chairman of the committee, was most indefatigable in promoting the undertaking. The bill was thrown out on bringing up the report in the House of Commons, by a majority of 165 to 88. The principal argument used against it was that it would destroy the beauty of the county of Worcester. Its defeat was principally owing to the landowners. It was attempted to be revived in the following year, but without success.
In 1840 the Railway Commissioners were engaged in determining what would be the most desirable route for a grand trunk line which should connect the metropolis with the Welsh coast, so that the quickest possible communication might be made with Ireland. One project was to carry a line from Port Dynllaen, in Brecknockshire, to Didcot, on the Great Western line; and in this the people of Worcester felt much interested.
1840—March 17—A public meeting was held in Worcester in favour of this line; and in the absence of the Mayor, Mr. Chalk, who was in London to present the address of congratulation from the town council to Her Majesty, John Dent, Esq., was called to the chair. A report from the Chamber of Commerce on the subject of the meeting was read by Mr. Alderman Edward Evans, and it was resolved to procure subscriptions in order to obtain another survey of the line of country from the Royal Commissioners. A similar meeting was held in the next week at Evesham.
The Chester and Holyhead route, though the longest by several miles, was eventually preferred by the Commissioners, because Holyhead was the better harbour and starting point for vessels.
In 1842 a branch railway was projected to connect Evesham with the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway at Eckington, but it was strenuously opposed by the owners of lands through which it must have passed, and was thereupon abandoned.
The railway mania of 1845 of course did not leave Worcestershire uninfected. No fewer than twenty-seven schemes, having more or less reference to this county, were advertised in the Worcester papers, with long statements of imaginary advantages and abundance of “provisional directors.” The Welsh Midland; Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow; Worcester, Warwick, and Rugby; and Worcester, Hereford, Ross, and Gloucester, were those which found most favour with the Worcester public. A great number of meetings were held in reference to them all over the county, and every scheme was enthusiastically received everywhere; it is quite useless, however, to allude to them further, as, without a single exception, they were utterly resultless, excepting in abstracting money from the pockets of people who could ill afford to lose it. The 30th November was at Worcester, as at all other places, a day of great excitement—the promoters of the various schemes which had just started into existence having, before twelve o’clock on that night (Sunday), to deposit their plans and sections with the clerks of the peace. Plans for no less than thirty-six railways were deposited at the office of the Clerk of the Peace for this county, [156] and thirteen with the Clerk of the Peace for the city.
The early part of the year 1846 was occupied with “amalgamations” and “arrangements;” then came the ordeal of standing orders, and very few survived that. In some instances ingenious engineers had made rivers run up-hill, and canals swim over bridges, instead of allowing the bridges to bestride the canals; while in many cases the most trivial error of misdescription or omission to serve a notice was sufficient to extinguish a scheme of real utility. Then ensued the panic and “winding up”—very few of the scripholders ever obtaining any return out of their deposits. Only six of all the projects connected with Worcestershire received the sanction of the legislature, and only three of the rest were resuscitated in the coming season; these were the Shropshire Union (Shrewsbury to Worcester), the Worcester and Hereford (Midland Company’s project), and the Worcester, Tenbury, and Ludlow. The last mentioned, however, seemed only to have been continued for speculating purposes, and was speedily withdrawn. The Worcester and Hereford line was warmly supported by the citizens of Worcester in a public meeting held in February, 1847, but it was thrown out on standing orders; and the Shropshire Union was also abandoned.
OXFORD, WORCESTER, AND WOLVERHAMPTON.
The first meeting at Worcester with reference to railway communication between that city and the metropolis, viâ Oxford, was as follows: