rs were granted by Parliament, in 1843, to construct not less than
2883 miles of new railways in Britain, at an expenditure of about
forty-four millions sterling! Yet the mania was not appeased; for in the
following session of 1846, applications were made to Parliament for
powers to raise 389,000,000 pounds sterling for the construction of
further lines; and powers were actually conceded for forming 4790 miles
(including 60 miles of tunnels), at a cost of about 120,000,000 pounds
sterling. During this session, Mr. Stephenson appeared as engineer for
only one new line,--the Buxton, Macclesfield, Congleton, and Crewe
Railway--a line in which, as a coal-owner, he was personally
interested;--and of three branch-lines in connexion with existing
companies for which he had long acted as engineer. At the same time, all
the leading professional men were fully occupied, some of them appearing
as consulting engineers for upwards of thirty lines each!

One of the features of the mania was the rage for "direct lines" which
everywhere displayed itself. There were "Direct Manchester," "Direct
Exeter," "Direct York," and, indeed, new direct lines between most of the
large towns. The Marquis of Bristol, speaking in favour of the "Direct
Norwich and London" project, at a public meeting at Haverhill, said, "If
necessary, they might _make a tunnel beneath his very drawing-room_,
rather than be defeated in their undertaking!" And the Rev. F.
Litchfield, at a meeting in Banbury, on the subject of a line to that
town, said "He had laid down for himself a limit to his approbation of
railways,--at least of such as approached the neighbourhood with which he
was connected,--and that limit was, that he did not wish them to approach
any nearer to him than _to run through his bedroom_, _with the bedposts
for a station_!" How different was the spirit which influenced these
noble lords and gentlemen but a few years before!

The House of Commons became thoroughly influenced by the prevailing
excitement. Even the Board of Trade began to favour the views of the
fast school of engineers. In their "Report on the Lines projected in the
Manchester and Leeds District," they promulgated some remarkable views
respecting gradients, declaring themselves in favour of the "undulating
system." They there stated that lines of an undulating character "which
have gradients of 1 in 70 or in 80 distributed over them in short
lengths, may be positively _better_