eir duty in "splendid isolation." It was
only gradually that limb after limb was added, and subsequently
constructed railways were incorporated or absorbed, until the
consolidated system obtained the rather attenuated proportions with which
we are familiar to-day, stretching from Whitchurch, on the Cheshire
border, to Aberystwyth, on the shores of Cardigan Bay, with its two chief
subsidiary "sections," one (including some half dozen miles of the
original track) from Moat Lane Junction to Brecon, and another from Dovey
Junction to Pwllheli; shorter branches or connecting lines from Ellesmere
to Wrexham, Oswestry to Llangynog, Llanymynech to Llanfyllin, Abermule to
Kerry, Cemmes Road to Dinas Mawddwy, Barmouth Junction to Dolgelley, and
two lengths of narrow gauge line, from Welshpool to Llanfair Caereinion
and Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge, altogether exactly 300 miles.

Such, in briefest outline, denotes how "the Cambrian" began and what it
has grown to be; but there is little virtue in a mere recital of
statistics, and the writing of "history," of the kind once defined by the
late Lord Halsbury as "only a string of names and dates" would be no
congenial task to the present author. Nor, happily, is it necessary to
confine oneself to such barren and unemotional limits. It is not in the
record of train miles run, of the number of passengers and the weight of
the merchandise carried, or even in the dividends earned, or not earned
(though these factors are not without their value to the proprietors)
that the chief interest in the story of a railway lies. {2} Very often
it is the tale of unending trial and difficulty and even apparent failure
which holds for the spectator the largest measure of romance, and such is
certainly the case of what, at one time, was, with quite as much
sympathetic affection as contempt, popularly called "the poor old
Cambrian." There were times when the difficulties which faced its
constructors appeared to be absolutely insuperable. What with the
enormous weight of its cradle, measured in gold, and the continual
quarrels of its nurses, the undertaking was well nigh strangled at birth.
Even when the line was actually opened for traffic a burden of financial
difficulty rested upon Directors and Managers that might have crushed the
spirit out of many a stout heart.

Judged by the maturer experience of long years, it is wonderful to think
that, even under the most careful management, the Company