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Chap. XL] London & North Western Connections. 139'
letter on the through train question in the Eastbourne Standard. I kept on hammering at the subject during subsequent years by letters to the newspapers, and otherwise, down to 1903, by which time the matter had taken such root in the public mind that a through service from Manchester to East-Bourne via Brighton was inaugurated on July 23, 1904, by a Mayoral banquet at the Grand Hotel, East-Bourne, to which representatives of the 2 Railway Companies and others were invited. I claim a little credit for having correctly judged of the possibilities of the movement because, started with the reluctant consent of the Brighton Company as an experiment for the 3 summer months of July, August and September, it was extended, first for another month, and then for 2 more months till the 31st of December, and is now permanent throughout the year. It has brought a large number of desirable people from the North into East-Bourne, and has enabled the inhabitants of Sussex to increase their knowledge of the geography of the Midlands and North of England.
The Town having secured permanent connection with the L.N.W.R. Company I thought in February 1905 I would have a try at the Great Western, especially because they were already running through trains from Oxford and Birkenhead to Dover via Reading and Redhill, and it would be easy for one or two through-carriages to be sent to Brighton and East-Bourne off the trains running through Redhill. I received a sympathetic reply from Mr. Inglis, the General Manager of the G.W.R., to the effect that his Company had tried to move in the matter but that " the suggestion has not met with much favour." He added, however, that the whole matter was engaging the best attention of his Board, and that conferences-with the Brighton Company were taking place. This, it will be observed, was 5 years ago. Let me express-the hope that the conferences are still taking place, and that within the next 5 years the Brighton Company will abandon their popish principles of non possnmus.
Tramways must occupy a niche in this chapter. I have always advocated the introduction of Tramways- |
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