ing at the rate of L153 per day. On April 9, 1838, the trains reached
Rugby, and on Aug. 14, the line was completed to Daddeston Row, the
directors taking a trial trip on the 20th. There were only seventeen
stations on the whole line, over which the first passenger train ran on
Sept. 17.--The prospectus of the Grand Junction Railway (for Liverpool
and Manchester) was issued May 7, 1830, and the line from Vauxhall
Station to Newton (where it joined the Manchester and Liverpool line)
was opened July 4, 1837. The importance of this line of communication
was shown by the number of passengers using it during the first nine
weeks, 18,666 persons travelling to or from Liverpool, and 7,374 to or
from Manchester, the receipts for that period being L41,943.--The
Birmingham branch of the South Staffordshire Railway was opened Nov. 1,
1847; the Birmingham and Shrewsbury line, Nov. 12, 1849; and between
Dudley and Walsall May 1, 1850. The Stour Valley line was partially
brought into use (from Monument Lane) Aug. 19, 1851, the first train
running clear through to Wolverhampton July 1, 1852. The line to Sutton
Coldfield was opened June 2, 1862, and the Harborne line (for which the
Act was obtained in 1866) was opened Aug. 10, 1874. The Act for the
construction of the Birmingham and Lichfield line, being a continuation
of the Sutton Coldfield Railway, passed June 23, 1874; it was commenced
late in October, 1881, and it will shortly be in use. The Bill for the
Dudley and Oldbury Junction line passed July 15, 1881. A new route from
Leamington to Birmingham was opened in Sept. 1884, shortening the
journey to London.

_Midland_.--The Derby and Birmingham Junction line was opened through
from Lawley Street Aug. 12th, 1839. The first portion of the Birmingham
and Gloucester line, between Barnt Green and Cheltenham, was opened July
1, 1840, coaches running from here to Barnt Green to meet the trains
until Dec. 15, 1840, when the line was finished to Camp Hill, the
Midland route being completed and opened Feb. 10, 1842. The first sod
was cut for the West Suburban line Jan. 14, 1873, and it was opened from
Granville Street to King's Norton April 3, 1876. This line is now being
doubled and extended from Granville Street to New Street, at an
estimated cost of L280,400, so that the Midland will have a direct run
through the town.

_Great Western_.--The first portion of the Oxford and Birmingham Railway
(between here and Banbury) was opened Sept.