Meanwhile, in the search for new markets, the Reading had stretched into New England, having chosen that territory in the hope of increasing its tonnage without a desperate struggle with its neighbors.[243] The most available subject for control was the Boston & Maine, which reached from Northampton and Boston, Massachusetts, to Portland, Maine, was independent of the large trunk lines, and had a profitable local business of its own. Purchases of this railroad’s stock were quietly made; and in October, 1892, the public was surprised by the election of Mr. McLeod to the presidency, although, as it subsequently transpired, an actual majority of Boston & Maine stock was not secured.[244] It was obvious that nothing could be gained from the new arrangement unless the gap between the Reading and the Boston & Maine should be filled; and so, even before the purchase of stock in the latter was begun, the lease of the Poughkeepsie Bridge across the Hudson was put through,[245] and a controlling interest was bought in the stock of the Central, New England & Western. The last-named road extended from Hartford, Connecticut across the Poughkeepsie Bridge to Campbell Hall, 145½ miles, and connected at this point with the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie & Boston, a road controlled in the interest of the Reading. This completed a through route from Philadelphia to Hartford. Later the Central, New England & Western Railroad Company and the Poughkeepsie Bridge Railroad Company were consolidated into the Philadelphia, Reading & New England, with Mr. McLeod as president;[246] and a controlling interest was purchased in the New York & New England Railroad, which ran from Poughkeepsie via Hartford and Providence to Boston,[247] and afforded another entrance into New England. All this involved a very great extension of the Reading system. The lease of the Lehigh Valley had connected it with Buffalo; the subsequent consolidations brought it into every New England state, and gave it a total mileage of, roughly, 5000 miles. Danger lay in two directions. First, it was possible that even the union of the Lehigh, Jersey Central, and the Reading might fail to secure a profit for the mining end of the business, and second, the financing of the New England deals might be so conducted as to put the parent road into a very difficult situation.