"If we compare the railway with the best lines of common road, it may be fairly stated that in the case of a level railway the work will be increased in at least an eightfold degree. The best horse is sufficiently loaded with three quarters of a ton on a common road, from the undulating line of its draught, while on a railway it is calculated that a horse will easily draw a load of ten tons. At Lord Elgin's works, Mr. Stevenson, the celebrated engineer, states that he has actually seen a horse draw twenty-three tons thirteen cwt. upon a railway which was in some parts level, and at other parts presented a gentle declivity! "The formation of a railway, if it creates no improvement in a country, certainly bars none, as all the former modes of communication remain unimpaired; and the public obtain, at the risk of the subscribers, another and better mode of carriage, which it will always be to the interest of the proprietors to make cheap and serviceable to the community. "On undertakings of this kind, when compared with canals, the advantages of which (where an ascending or descending line can be obtained) are nearly equal, it may be remarked that public opinion is not easily changed on any subject. It requires the experience of many years, sometimes ages, to accomplish this, even in cases which by some may be deemed obvious. Such is the effect of habit, and such the aversion of mankind to any thing like innovation or change. Although this is often regretted, yet, if the principle be investigated in all its ramifications, it will perhaps be found to be one of the most fortunate dispositions of the human mind. "The system of cast-iron railways is as yet to be considered but in its infancy. It will be found to be an immense improvement on the common road, and also on the wooden railway. It neither presents the friction of the tram-way, nor partakes of the perishable nature of the wooden railway, and, as regards utility, it may be considered as the medium between the navigable canal and the common road. We may therefore hope that as this system develops itself, our roads will be laid out as much as possible on _one level_, and in connection with the great lines of communication throughout the country." Such were the modest anticipations of Edward Pease respecting railways in the year 1821. Ten years later, an age of progress, by comparison, had been effected. Some time elapsed before any active steps were taken to proceed with the construction of the railway. Doubts were raised whether the line was the best that could be adopted for the district, and the subscribers generally were not so sanguine about the undertaking as to induce them to press it forward.