Share dealing reached such a pitch as to make our recent .com bubble look small in comparison.
Even though the East of England was very much a rural community with a sparse widely spaced population funds were easily raised to bring the new technology to the region.
In 1845 Eastern Counties railways opened its Norwich to Ely and Cambridge lines to be followed later that year by the completion of the service to London.
Competition in the early days was ruthless to the extent that Northern & Eastern and the Eastern Counties both operated different lines to Cambridge from London. One from Liverpool Street and the other from Kings Cross.
However, like all bubbles it burst and it is considered to have started with the raising of interest rates by the Bank of England in 1845 followed swiftly by the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. Thus allowing cheep imports of corn from America depressing the UK rural economy. Not good timing for East Anglian railways.
However, early steps were taken to overcome the difficulties in the Eastern Counties railway company but with unforeseen consequences when in October 1845 the corrupt politician and entrepreneur George Hudson was asked to take over the Chairmanship of Eastern Counties and tried unsuccessfully to promote a line from London via Ely and Lincoln to York. For a brief period he tripled the half-yearly dividends from 2 percent to 6 percent. The sum of £515,000 was paid out in dividends when only £225,000 was available by taking from the capital instead of revenue. Subsequently he was charged with embezzling £600,000 from his own companies and bribing MPs.
Eventually in 1862, following the near collapse of the various East Anglian railway companies, it was agreed by Parliament to allowed to merge of into one entity, thus the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was born. Succeeded by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER), British Railways (BR) and the current situation following privatisation.
Looking at the map you can see the consequence of all the growth of the railways and glimpse at the subsequent rationalisation programme imposed upon the network following the publication of Dr Beeching’s report “The Reshaping of British Railways” in 1963. Overall more than 12,875 km (8,000 miles) of track, 2,000 stations and 70,000 jobs were lost. |
