ing sight of the guard
perched on behind. When the train came to the next station there was a
general stampede and most of the passengers refused to go any further.
A few of them were obliged to go on, and the reduced weight and
lessened friction removed all further danger."

After the above period the Great Northern Company came upon the scene
in Hertfordshire; but frightened not a few people by the formidable
character of its undertaking near Welwyn, for before the famous
Digswell Viaduct had spanned the picturesque valley of Tewin, or the
tunnels had pierced the last barrier of the hills, it is said that many
persons who had invested heavily in Great Northern shares, began to
tremble in their shoes, owing to the enormous expense, and a person
with enough foresight and judgment might have bought up, for a small
amount, shares enough to have made him a wealthy man for the rest of
his life!

The railway did not touch the neighbourhood of Royston until much of
the novelty of the change, and also of the opposition to it had passed
away. The opposition to it here was therefore one of a competitive and
interested character, rather than of prejudice against {178} George
Stephenson and his iron horse. Owing to the opposition of Lord
Mornington in the interest of the Great Eastern Railway Company, the
Royston and Hitchin Railway was prevented running into Cambridge, and
ran only as far as Shepreth, hence the joint use of a part of the line,
after it was carried on to Cambridge.

The first effect of a railway in any neighbourhood was felt upon the
conveyance and upon the price of the necessities of life. Reference
has already been made in an earlier sketch to the difficulties of
getting coals from Cambridge, thirteen miles along bad roads to
Royston, and it may be added that the first year after the railway to
Royston was opened, the price of coal was so much reduced that the gain
to the townspeople was calculated to be sufficient to pay all the rates
for the year!

The shares of the Royston and Hitchin Company, whose work of
construction involved much less difficulty than the part of the main
line already referred to, were at one time sold at a discount though
carrying a guaranteed six per cent. dividend, and they are now worth, I
suppose, about 80 per cent. more than they cost.

The accommodation at first was not as luxurious as it is now. Some of
the carriages on this line, were at first open at the sides like cat