Railway fares (1846)

Post date: Apr 08, 2012 7:34:15 PM

The Bradford Observer of 23rd April 1846 carried an article, at a time when new railway schemes were less fashionable than they had once been, arguing that

Such facts make one falter in the wish to interdict the new railway schemes. They indicate the tendency of old railway companies, when unchecked by competition, to degenerate into huge monopolies; and they excite the wish that competing companies, which cannot with prudence construct their lines at present, should be allowed, by means of a tithe of their deposits, to have priority of right to the field of which they have partially taken possession, and to make their lines at a future favourable opportunity.

The article is particularly scathing of Mr. Hudson's railway companies and the following table is presented in which the Wateringbury line from London comes out very favourably in the comparative pricing: