Excerpt from The Midland Railway, Its Rise and Progress: A Narrative of Modern Enterprise The last fifty years have witnessed a mighty and beneficent revolution in the Midlands of England. A few men of enterprise have led others on to a work which has revived trade, created new industries, enriched at once the landlord and the peasant, the manufacturer and the merchant, and promoted the happiness and well-being of the nation. And in this service the Midland Railway has been especially concerned. When the Author inquired for the beginning of the history of the Midland Railway - when he tried to find the source of the highest tributary stream of events - his friends of the Midland Railway Company were unable to help him. The oldest official records were searched in vain. Sir James Allport, then the General Manager, and Mr. E. S. Ellis, the Chairman, could tell much; but they could not say where the Midland Counties Railway, the first of the three lines that eventually were amalgamated to form the Midland Company, had its initiation. Fortunately the required clue was, unexpectedly, discovered. One day, riding in a train with Mr. Robert Harrison, of Eastwood, near Nottingham, that gentleman suggested to the Author that in the private books of his firm - Messrs. Barber, Walker and Co., - some facts bearing on the subject might perhaps be ascertained. He would have them searched. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.