Mr. Piercy had, with
great energy, got his plans ready and taken them to London, but they were
surreptitiously removed from his room at the hotel, and the matter was
hung up for a year. In the meantime, as we have already noted, the line
of route was changed. In the following year, however, he duly deposited
the plans for the railway from Shrewsbury to Welshpool, with a branch to
Minsterley, already mentioned. Although strongly opposed, at every
stage, including Standing Orders, Mr. Piercy succeeded in carrying the
Bill through both Houses, and it received the Royal assent. It was in
the Select Committees on this Bill that he first made his reputation as a
witness in Parliamentary Committees. After this he was engaged upon
nearly all the projects for introducing independent railways into Wales,
all of them meeting with fierce opposition. For several days
consecutively he was as a witness under cross-examination by the genial
Mr. Serjeant Merewether, and other eminent counsel, but so little headway
were they able to make against Mr. Piercy that, upon one occasion, when a
Committee passed a Bill of his, Mr. Merewether held up his brief-bag and
asked the Committee whether they would not give that too to Mr. Piercy.
{16}

[Picture: The late MR. GEORGE OWEN, Engineer of the Cambrian Railways for
many years]

In 1858 Mr. Piercy was formally appointed engineer to the Company. With
the assistance of Mr. George Owen, the cordial co-operation of Messrs.
Davies and Savin, and under the enthusiastic leadership of Mr. Whalley,
he was destined to carry these undertakings into being, and to nurture
them in their infancy, and thus to join the little group of pioneer
workers who, in their several capacities, may, in special degree, be
termed the parents of the Cambrian.

CHAPTER II. A BIRTHDAY PARTY.

"_A birthday_:--_and now a day that rose_
_with much of hope, with meaning rife_--
_A thoughtful day from dawn to close_."

--JEAN INGLEOW.

With the advent of the young Montgomeryshire engineer, and his cordial
co-operation with the Montgomeryshire contractor, the public began
eagerly to count the days, or at any rate, the months, before the due
arrival of the first Montgomeryshire railway. The prospects of a
punctual delivery were eminently propitious. In his first report, Mr.
Piercy was able to announce substantial progress with the work, which was
being carrie