Birmingham and Gloucester £22,618 Bristol and Gloucester £25,589 Bristol and Exeter £18,592 Eastern Counties £39,171 Great Western £89,197 Great North of England £20,526 {256} Grand Junction £22,757 Glasgow, Paisley and Greenock £23,481 London and Birmingham £72,868 London and South Western £41,467 Manchester and Leeds £49,166 Midland Counties £28,776 North Midland £41,349 Northern and Eastern £74,166 Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester £31,473 South-Eastern £82,292 In some cases, Porter explains, the sums here given contain the expenses of surveying and other disbursements which necessarily precede the obtaining of an Act of incorporation. On the other hand, they include only the costs defrayed by the proprietors of the railway, and not the expenses incurred by parties opposing the Bills. Nor do they include the expenses incurred in connection either with rival schemes or with schemes that failed altogether; though, in these instances, of course, there would be no chance of recouping the outlay out of rates and fares. No fewer than five different companies, for instance, sought for powers to construct a line from London to Brighton, and the amounts they expended are given by John Francis as follows:-- Rennie's line £72,000 Stephenson's £53,750 Cundy's £16,500 Gibb's £26,325 South-Eastern £25,000 ------- Total £193,575 Another company, the name of which is not given by Francis, had so vigorous a fight that they spent nearly £500,000 before they got their Act; but still worse than this was the fate of the Stone and Rugby Railway, whose promoters spent £146,000 on attempts made in two successive sessions to get an Act (the Committee on the first Bill sitting {257}on 66 days) and then failed. In another instance the promoters expended £100,000 with a like result.