ight of passing trains the engineers had little
doubt. The canal already crossed it, and though in making soundings the
surveyors once lost their 35 foot rod in the morass, this, was near the
canal bank, and it did not deter them in their efforts to discover a
means of securing the railway from similar disaster. The average depth
of the moss was found to be twelve feet, but there were areas where it
was only nine feet deep, and at most 17 feet, and when the bottom was
reached it was discovered to be sand.

So, proceeding merrily, Mr. George Owen first drained the site of the
line by means of deep side and lateral drains filled with brushwood and
grig. He then laid strong faggots three feet thick and from eight to
twelve feet long, and over these placed a framework of larch poles
extending the entire width of the rails. The poles were then interlaced
with branches of hazel and brushwood and upon this the sleepers and rails
were laid, the whole being ballasted with sand and other light material.
And, in the end it proved a triumph for courage and ingenuity. Though
there might be some slight oscillation, heavy trains have been running
over this interesting two or three mile stretch for many a long year
without the slightest mishap.

Not to be outdone by little Ellesmere, another "first sod" was turned at
Oswestry on September 4th, 1862, by Miss Kinchant of Park Hall, and Miss
Lloyd, daughter of the Mayor of the borough, on the Shelf Bank field,
hard by the existing terminus of the Oswestry and Newtown Railway, with
which the new line was to be connected. The streets were in gala dress,
and while the leading citizens fared sumptuously on the Wynnstay Arms
bowling green, and disported themselves at a "rural fete," tea was served
to "the poorer women of the town and neighbourhood." In addition to the
residents many came from Ellesmere in wagons drawn by a decorated
traction engine,--significant emblem of the new power which was shortly
to bring the two neighbouring and ever friendly places within a quarter
of an hour's distance of each other.

Work now went ahead on both sections of the line, under the personal
supervision of Messrs. Thomas and John Savin and Mr. John Ward, and by
the spring of 1863 the railway was ready for traffic over the eleven
miles between Ellesmere and Whitchurch. The honour of being the first
passengers to make the journey belongs, appropriately enough, to the late
Capt. Jebb and his company