The Story of the Cambrian
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C. P. Gasquoine >> The Story of the Cambrian
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[Picture: From left to right: The late MR. JOHN WARD, Mr. T. Savin's
partner in the construction of several of the Cambrian Railways; The late
MR. JOHN SAVIN, who assisted his brother in the construction of the Welsh
Coast and other Railways]
Still, it considerably expedited construction. The works came into the
new hands in October 1859, and so far as the chief portions of the
undertaking went, progress became quite satisfactory. As is so often the
case, in these affairs, it was an unexpected development over a detail
that caused the greatest perturbation. Another difference arising on the
board, this time regarding certain engagements entered into about the
site of the station at Oswestry, Sir Watkin, who appears to have had
certain misgivings as to the conduct of the business, being out-voted at
a meeting of the directors, just before Mr. Savin came into possession of
the works, in his turn left the room and a few days later sent in his
resignation. He was replaced in the chair by Mr. David Pugh, M.P., of
Llanerchyddol Hall, Welshpool, who continued to act in that capacity
till, on his death in 1861, he was succeeded by Mr. Whalley.
On the line, however, the navvies went doggedly digging on, despite
atrocious weather. By May 1st, 1860, the track was sufficiently complete
from Oswestry to Pool Quay to be opened for traffic to that point, and
advertisements began to appear announcing "cheap trains" for
excursionists to the "far-famed and commanding heights of Llanymynech
Hills." In the middle of the month a more venturesome journey was
attempted and, by the grace of God, safely accomplished. The last link
in the iron road had just been laid, a mile or two from Welshpool, and
one fine evening, "shortly after six o'clock" (as a local journalist
records) "the 'Montgomery' was attached to a number of trucks, with rough
seats placed on them for the occasion. Every available space was filled
by a number of Poolonians who were in waiting. The train then slowly
proceeded along the beautiful valley of the Severn to the Cefn Junction
{43} (that is to be) with the Shrewsbury and Welshpool line, where more
trucks were attached, and a considerable addition to the passengers made.
Soon Welshpool was reached, and the shrill whistle of the engine--for the
first time heard in that beautiful locality--was all but overpowered by
the cheers of the assembled people. The train was brought to a
standstill on the very spot where, some years ago (we are afraid to say
how many) the first sod was cut. Congratulations were passed, and crowds
of the very old, and the very young, to whom an Engine heretofore had
been a figment of imagination, gazed with wonder at 'The Montgomery'
while their more travelled neighbours adjourned to the Bowling Green,
where Mr. R. Owen made a short pithy speech. He very properly
acknowledged the business-like activity of Messrs. Davies and Savin, to
whom the public were so largely indebted for the arrival of a locomotive
at Welshpool. Mr. Webb, on behalf of the contractors, suitably
responded; and the proceedings were cut short by a warning whistle from
the engine, on which sat Campbell, the locomotive superintendent, who
very prudently wished to get back over the rough road before the shades
of evening overtook them. The train then went off for Pool Quay at a
smart pace, considering that the rails were unballasted, and with the
trucks loaded with juveniles, many of whom perhaps had this day their
first trip by railway. In Welshpool the bells rang out merry peals, and
cannons were fired, and everything betokened the hilarity of the
inhabitants."
What the Board of Trade would say nowadays to a heavily-ladened train of
passengers being run at a "smart pace," or any other, over an
"unballasted" road, can be left to the reader's imagination!
Anyhow, the line being finally finished off to the last nut and bolt, was
soon approved of by the Government Inspector, Colonel Yolland; and
everything was ready for the formal opening on Tuesday, August 14th.
"The day (says a contemporary account) proved most auspicious. Early in
the morning the weather was very dull, but before the middle of the day
it cleared up, and turned out most bright and cheerful. At about a
quarter to eleven o'clock the Mayor and Corporation of Welshpool met at
the Town Hall, and from thence proceeded (headed by the Montgomeryshire
Yeomanry Band) to the Railway Station by eleven, in time for the train
that was to convey them, together with the directors, shareholders, and
general public to Oswestry.
"As may be readily supposed, a monster train was required for this
purpose, and an immense number of carriages were in readiness. After
some delay, the passengers took their seats, and the train started for
Oswestry. The Corporation were followed by the Montgomeryshire Militia
Band, and the 2nd Montgomeryshire Rifle Volunteers, who proceeded to
Oswestry by the same train.
"As the train proceeded on its course, and arrived at the various
stations, it was hailed with the most enthusiastic greetings from those
who assembled along the line as spectators on this occasion.
"The arrival of the train at Oswestry was made the signal for a general
discharge of artillery, such as is customarily used on these occasions,
and added to this was the discharge of a great number of fog-signals.
The bells of the Old Church, too, rang out their merriest peals. At the
Station an immense concourse of people had assembled, and the Welshpool
Corporation was received by the Mayor and Corporation of Oswestry, who
had been escorted to the Station by the Rifle Corps, headed by their
band. The Pool Corporation received a hearty greeting from their civic
brethren in Oswestry, and the Montgomeryshire Rifles formed in column
opposite the Oswestry Corps, and each presented arms, when the Oswestry
Band struck up "God save the Queen." They all then proceeded, in the
following order, to the Powis Hall:--
Banner. Banner.
Band and Members of the Oswestry Rifle Corps.
Band and Members of the 2nd Montgomeryshire Rifle Corps.
Band of the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry.
The Mayor and Corporation of Welshpool.
The Mayor and Corporation of Oswestry.
Tradesmen, Shareholders, etc.
Drum and Fife Band.
Navvies, etc.
"At the Town Hall the Corporation had most hospitably provided for their
refreshment. Punch and wine of the choicest and best descriptions were
abundantly supplied, under the management of Mr. Atkins, and Mrs.
Edwards, of the Queen's Head Hotel, Oswestry. The company present
included the Oswestry Corporation, the Welshpool Corporation, the
directors of the railway, the Second Montgomeryshire Volunteers, and the
Oswestry Volunteers."
The special train then returned to Welshpool, where Mrs. Owen of
Glansevern declared the line opened. Then the inevitable procession, and
the not less inevitable "cold collation" and speech making, and dancing.
Only one untoward incident marked the day. Owing to the crush to board
the returning train from Oswestry, the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry and
Montgomeryshire Militia bands got left behind, and the Oswestry Rifle
Corps musicians, who had been more successful in the scramble, had to do
all the blowing for their stranded comrades. But, it is recorded, they
blew with triple vigour, as well they might!
Oswestry was now, at long last, connected with Montgomeryshire, but there
were those who felt in no mood for rejoicing in that event. Among the
residents of the Severn Valley were those who, like the redoubtable Mr.
Weller "considered that the rail is unconstitootional and an inwader o'
privileges." They solemnly shook their heads and deplored the doom of
the mail-coach. What, they asked, was to become of Tustin? Tustin had
driven the mail coach from Shrewsbury every morning, summer and winter,
starting from the Post Office at 4 a.m., and covering the score of miles
to Welshpool in about two hours. To see him and his fine horses arrive
at the Royal Oak was a source of daily pride to Welshpolonians. "In the
summer mornings," says a writer in the "Licensing Victualler's Gazette"
in 1878, looking back upon those days, "there was always a number of
people up to see the mail arrive, and the cordial and cheery welcome
given to those passengers who alighted to partake of breakfast at the
hotel, by the buxom and genial landlady, Mrs. Whitehall, was a thing to
be remembered and talked about. She was the pink of what such a woman
should be, and the fame of her cuisine reached very far beyond the county
in which she lived." Later in the morning, the thirteen miles between
Welshpool and Newtown were done in little more than an hour. But "the
days of coaching were drawing to a close even in Wales; the iron horse
was slowly to elbow one coach and then another off the road, putting them
back as it were, nearer and nearer to the coast; until even Tustin and
his famous Aberystwyth mail had to succumb. But they made a gallant
fight of it, and died what we may call gamely." In recent years the
coach, or its modern counterpart, the charabanc and motor bus, have come
into something of their own again, and are providing, in turn, a new form
of competition with the railways.
In 1860, long distance highway traffic did seem doomed, for the "iron
horse" could cover the ground in what then appeared a prodigious pace.
Six trains ran each way between Oswestry and Welshpool on week-days and
two each way on Sundays, while excursion fares advertised in connection
with a Sunday School trip from Oswestry to Welshpool held out the
alluring advantage of "covered carriages, 1s.; first-class, 2s." for the
double journey--a figure to make the mouth of the present day passenger
water! It was hardly so necessary then, as it has proved to be on recent
occasions, to the writer's personal knowledge, for groups of mourners
travelling to a funeral to contrive to save a few pence by taking
"pleasure party" tickets!
But, as yet, no "pleasure" or any other party could proceed by rail
beyond Welshpool. Work on the remaining link, had begun; but at the
Newtown end, where arrangements had been entered into for a working
alliance with the Newtown and Llanidloes Railway. At the Welshpool end
circumstances were not so propitious. The original surveys had been made
by way of Berriew, but this necessitated carrying the line through part
of the Glansevern domain, and, as the late Earl of Powis had jocularly
remarked, in connection with the planning of a neighbouring line, the
_beau ideal_ of a railway is one that comes about a mile from one's own
house and passes through a neighbour's land.
[Picture: Kilkewydd Bridge, near Welshpool, as recently re-built.
Reproduced from the "Great Western Magazine."]
So it was to the other side of the valley that Mr. Piercy had, at length,
to carry his measuring instruments, and, crossing the Severn at
Kilkewydd, climb the long incline to Forden. Before this was finally
accomplished the dissolution of partnership between the contractors had
taken place, and while Mr. Davies transferred his attention to some
adjacent railway schemes, Mr. Savin took into partnership Mr. Ward of the
Donnett, Whittington, near Oswestry, and the name of "Savin and Ward"
was, for some years, to become as familiar in the railway world as had
previously been that of "Davies and Savin." The four mile stretch
between Newtown and Abermule was in working order and trains were running
over this isolated section of the Oswestry and Newtown system, but the
remaining gap between Abermule and Welshpool had still to receive its
finishing touches, when the term set in the agreement for completion
expired.
Mr. Savin was able to cite not only the "worst weather that anyone can
remember," but the procrastination over the arrangement and transfer of
the lease as ample justification for the delay in fulfilling the
engagement. Moreover, other matters were arising which tended to
distract the attention of the directors from any passing squabble as to
dates. The "overbearing leviathians" might have been quelled some years
earlier, but they had not been killed, and at the beginning of 1861,
movements were again afoot in North-Western circles to secure an
extension of the Minsterley branch to Montgomery, while under the
Bishop's Castle Railway Bill, which was going through the Committee of
the House of Lords, the London and North Western Railway, apparently
trading on the payment made to the Oswestry and Newtown Company for
access to Welshpool by way of Buttington, sought a further reciprocal
arrangement by which, if the Oswestry and Newtown availed themselves of
the powers to subscribe to, lease, or work the Bishop's Castle line, the
North Western was to obtain the right to run over the Oswestry and
Newtown metals into Newtown, the latter Company being given a _quid pro
quo_ in the shape of similar advantage over the Shrewsbury and Welshpool
line. It seemed an innocent enough proposal on the surface, but it did
not blind the astute Mr. Whalley to the danger of certain developments
favourable to North Western interests. The clause, as it happened, had
been inserted in the absence of any representatives of the Oswestry and
Newtown Company, and this objection was carried into the committee room.
For hours the arguments swayed to and fro. Numbers of witnesses,
including officials of the Oswestry and Newtown, gave evidence; and, in
the end, the anticipated compromise was affected, by withdrawals all
round. The Bishop's Castle Railway lost the support of the Oswestry and
Newtown, but the sinister designs of the North Western upon Newtown were
finally scotched, and the local Company, of which Mr. Robert B. Elwin was
now General Manager, and Mr. B. Tanner, who had not long succeeded Mr.
Hayward, on his resignation, in that capacity on the Llanidloes and
Newtown, secretary, could go forward with greater confidence.
On Monday, May 27th, the first train, drawn by the engine "Leighton," and
conveying a party of invited guests and the engineers, passed safely over
Kilkewydd bridge, amidst a fusillade of fog signals, and thus the last
and most formidable of the engineering exploits on the new length of line
was accomplished. The bridge had been constructed in remarkably short
time, and a contemporary record of this auspicious incident duly mentions
that "the speedy completion of so complicated and troublesome a task is
mainly due to the indefatigable exertions of Mr. John Ward, one of the
contractors, and Mr. James Marshall, the resident superintendent." Early
the next month Colonel Yolland inspected the whole length from Welshpool
to Newtown, pausing to express his special approbation of the Kilkewydd
bridge {51} as "the best constructed on the line," and it was now open to
the Company publicly to announce that from June 10th a through service of
trains would run from Oswestry to Newtown and on to Llanidloes.
No further formal opening seems to have been arranged, but, though the
day was, like so many that had so proceeded it, very wet, rapidly
organised celebrations took place at some spots. Montgomery had already
taken its share in the opening to Welshpool, but it was now to have a
festival of its own, as was only fitting, since that ancient borough may,
in no small sense, be regarded as one of the ancestral homes of the
"Cambrian." It was here, as we have seen, that Mr. Piercy had largely
acquired his interest and skill in railway engineering, while at the
office of Mr. Charles Mickleburgh. A committee, with Mr. W. Mickleburgh
as hon. secretary, and treasurer, had little difficulty in getting
together some 150 pounds as a celebration fund. A programme was as
quickly organised, including, of course, a procession and a dinner, but
to this was added another little ceremony,--the presentation by Mrs. Owen
of Glansevern, now a familiar central figure on these occasions, of a
silver bugle to Captain Johns and his gallant men of the Railway
Volunteers. The instrument bore the inscription,--"Presented by Anne
Warburton Owen, of Glansevern, to the Third Montgomeryshire (Railway)
Rifles, 1861." Above was an appropriate design, on the dexter side a
representation of the locomotive engine "Glansevern," and on the sinister
a railway viaduct with a train passing over.
The occasion was singularly appropriate, for no small part in the
initiation and maintenance of the Corps belongs to the little group of
railway men who were associated with Montgomery, the Mickleburghs, Mr.
George Owen, Mr. Piercy and others. In after years it was the habit of
their children to ask these gallant men whether they had "ever really
killed anyone" with their formidable swords, and some of them were wont
to answer that, perhaps not, but they had taken their part in the "battle
of Aberystwyth," a somewhat mysterious affair among the plum stalls in
the market-place, possibly still remembered by men well advanced in
years. In any case, we may be quite sure they would have acquitted
themselves worthily if called upon, and they did indeed provide an
inspiring note to all such ceremonial festivities. On this auspicious
day of the opening of the line, to Mr. Ashford, the trumpeter of the
Corps, fell the honour of sounding the first blast, and amidst the cheers
of the countryside, some 600 ladies and gentlemen fell to dancing "to the
music of the Montgomeryshire Yeomanry and Militia Bands, and the capital
band of the Welshpool Cadet Corps, composed of the young gentlemen of Mr.
Browne's academy."
And so, at long last, trains were to run through from Oswestry to
Llanidloes. Six left Oswestry every weekday, the first timed to depart
at 7 a.m., passing all the intermediate stations (including Arddleen, now
added to the original five) to Welshpool without a stop, though this
"express" was taken off the daily list some months later, and only ran on
fair days. Four trains made the reverse journey from Llanidloes to
Oswestry; while two trains ran each way on Sundays--a more generous
service even than that afforded to-day! The Cambrian, as someone said,
might still be a child, but it was a rapidly growing child. The guiding
hand was at work, and additional limbs were shaping themselves, both at
the Newtown and Oswestry end of the system, with such rapidity that we
can best deal with them one by one.
[Picture: The late MR. WILLIAM MICKLEBURGH, in the uniform of the
Montgomeryshire Railway Volunteers; The late CAPT. R. G. JEBB, of
Ellesmere, a prominent promoter of the Oswestry and Whitchurch Railway
and one of the first passengers to travel on the line]
CHAPTER V. FROM THE SEVERN TO THE SEA.
"_Wales is a land of mountains. Its mountains explain its isolation
and its love of independence; they explain its internal divisions;
they have determined, throughout its history, what the direction and
method of its progress were to be_."--THE LATE SIR O. M. EDWARDS.
I.
So far the lines already opened or under construction only traversed the
valley of the Severn. It was now proposed to penetrate the uplands which
lie between the banks of Sabrina and the shores of Cardigan Bay. It was
a somewhat formidable undertaking. "The mountains of Carno," wrote the
philosophic Pennant, "like the mountains of Gilboa, were celebrated for
the fall of the mighty." On their steep slopes, in 1077 Gruffydd ab
Cynan and Trahaiarn ab Caradoc had wrestled for the sovereignty of North
Wales. Across their shoulders, some four centuries later, had marched
the English troops of Henry IV. to their camp near Machynlleth, in a vain
effort to subjugate the redoubtable Welsh chieftain, Owain Glyndwr. Now
the mighty heads of the mountains were, at last, to shake and submit to
the incursion of another invader, more insistent and more powerful than
any that had gone before, and a Montgomeryshire engineer and contractor
were to conquer where an English King had failed. In one respect only
was their experience akin. Henry's army had become dissolved by the
continuance of bad weather which gave them all cold feet. The rain, that
falls alike upon the just and unjust, was to hamper Mr. David Davies's
army of navvies, but never to deter them from reaching and abiding at
Machynlleth.
In the initial stages of the new invasion all went well. So rapidly were
the Parliamentary preliminaries negotiated that, on July 27th, 1857,
while the promoters of the neighbouring Oswestry and Newtown Railway were
still wrangling over their internecine rivalries, Royal Assent was given
to the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway Bill, authorising the Company to
raise a capital of 150,000 pounds in 10 pound shares and loans to the
extent of 50,000 pounds. The total length of the proposed line was 22.5
miles and the works were to be completed within five years.
A month later the first ordinary meeting of the Company was held at
Machynlleth. Sir Watkin presided over a most harmonious gathering, in
striking contrast to some of the meetings which had assembled further
east, and the directors in their report, read by Mr. D. Howell, who was
to act as secretary until the amalgamation of the company in the Cambrian
Railways in 1864, had little to say beyond offering congratulations to
the shareholders on the speedy passing of their measure through
Parliament. The report seems to have been adopted without comment, and
the only other business was to appoint the board,--Earl Vane, Sir Watkin
Williams Wynn, Mr. R. D. Jones, Mr. C. T. Thurston, Mr. J. Foulkes,
Aberdovey, and Mr. L. Ruck. {54}
In a little over twelve months from that date the Company were in a
position to begin operations. The contract had been let to Messrs.
Davies and Savin (Mr. Benjamin Piercy again acting as engineer), and at
the end of November, 1858, the first sod of the new link in the extended
chain was turned amidst great popular rejoicings. So speedy had been the
preparations that no time availed to procure a more ornamental implement,
and the Countess Vane had to use an ordinary iron shovel for the purpose!
A contemporary record gives the following account:--
"The Cutting of the First Sod was very properly fixed to take place at
Machynlleth, not only out of compliment to the noble Earl and Countess
Vane, but also to increase the interest of the inhabitants of this
locality in the undertaking. The morning was ushered in by the bells of
the parish church ringing out most musically, the firing of cannon, and
similar demonstrations of good-will; and although in the early part of
the morning the rain fell heavily, yet towards the time fixed for the
proceedings to commence, bright Sol shone cheerfully over the beautiful
hills and valleys of Montgomeryshire, and made everything look cheerful,
as befitted the occasion. Two o'clock was the time fixed for cutting the
first sod, but previously to this time a large procession was formed at
the Town Hall, and proceeded to the ground in the following order:--
Band.
The Directors.
Flags and Banners.
The Demonstration Committee.
Flags and Banners.
The Shareholders, Visitors, and Well-wishers of the Company.
Contractors and Persons bearing the Barrow and Spade.
Flags and Banners.
The Children of the National and Vane Infant Schools.
Flags and Banners.
Band.
Miners and Quarrymen, headed by their Captains, all wearing Sashes.
Band.
First Friendly Society.
Flags and Banners.
Second Friendly Society.
Flags and Banners.
"On their arrival at the Schools the procession passed under a
well-formed archway of evergreens and flowers, very massive in structure,
over which were the mottoes,--'Success to the Newtown and Machynlleth
Railway,' and 'Commercial and Agricultural prosperity.' At the entrance
to the ground was another archway erected, over which was the
motto--'Peace and Prosperity.' On reaching the spot where the ceremony
was appointed to take place a large enclosure was railed out, at one end
of which was a pavilion for the accommodation of the ladies, which was
well filled. The parties had not long taken their allotted places before
Lady Vane came upon the ground, and was welcomed in a way that must have
been very gratifying to her, indeed it could not have been otherwise, for
it is generally admitted that a kinder-hearted lady does not exist in the
Principality, and she is most highly and deservedly popular, and well may
Earl Vane be proud of possessing such a wife. She was accompanied by
Lord Vane, and the young family, who appeared all thoroughly to enjoy the
occasion."
[Picture: The late EARL OF POWIS, a prominent supporter of some of the
earlier Montgomeryshire Railway Schemes; The late MR. DAVID HOWELL,
Secretary to the Newtown and Machynlleth Railway Co. from its
inauguration till its amalgamation in the consolidated Cambrian Railways
Co. in 1864]
After speeches by Lord and Lady Vane, her ladyship "having put on a pair
of gauntlets, which were presented by the Committee of Management,
proceeded to cut the first sod, which, having been deposited in the
barrow presented by Messrs. Davies and Savin, the contractors, was
wheeled to the end of the plank, after which Mrs. E. D. Jones, of
Trafeign, performed the same ceremony, and was followed by Lord Seaham,
and the other junior olive branches of the family. The bands played in
their best style, and the cheering was most deafening, and thus ended
this portion of the day's proceedings."
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