auties and its piscatorial
delights.

Less rapid success attended a similar enterprise a dozen miles away.
While the good folks of Llanfyllin were pushing on with their branch, the
residents of Llanfair Caereinion were asking themselves why they, too,
should not have their railway. Here, also, the initial problem was one
of route; but, instead of a somewhat easily disposed-of rivalry on the
part of a competitive company, the crux here was the measure of support
which could be won from the owner of the Powis estate, through which it
would almost inevitably, in some form or another, have to pass. In July
1862 Mr. R. D. Pryce of Cyfronaith, who was much interested in the
development of the Llanfair district, asked the Earl of Powis to receive
a deputation, but to a proposal that the line should go by the Black Pool
dingle his lordship found himself unable to agree. The promoters were
disappointed, for it seemed at the time, that no other way was feasible.
But a month later another route was discovered, by way of Newton Lane,
Berriew and Castle Caereinion and so by Melinyrhyd Gate to Llanfair; or,
as an alternative suggestion, from Forden or Montgomery by the "Luggy
Brook."

A meeting was held at Llanfair at which Mr. Edwin Hilton explained a
scheme which was estimated to cost 60,000 pounds, of which 20,000 pounds
should first be raised in ordinary shares, the rest to be made up
afterwards of preference shares and debentures. But nothing directly
came of it, and it was not until October, 1864, that another proposal was
formulated, this time of more ambitious character. This was a variation
of the original Shrewsbury and West Midland route, which Llanfyllin had
already laughed out of countenance, starting from Welshpool and making
its way through Llanfair over (or rather under) the Berwyns to the Great
Western system by the Dee. Mr. David Davies, on being consulted,
favoured a 2ft. 3in. guage, though he advised that enough land should be
taken and bridges built to accommodate an ordinary guage later if found
necessary. The minimum speed on the narrow guage was to be fifteen miles
an hour, and it was estimated that the average receipts would work out at
5 pounds per mile.

Amongst the leading advocates of this scheme was Mr. Russel Aitken, a
well-known civil engineer of Westminster, the home of many Welsh railway
projects in those days. He got into correspondence with Lord Powis about
it, pointing out that, as a be