Chapter I: Front Matter

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This ebook was transcribed by Les Bowler.

[Picture: Vauxhall Station, Grand Junction Railway, Vauxhall, Birmingham]

DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO THE CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS OF THE
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY.

* * * * *

DRAKE'S
ROAD BOOK
OF THE
GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY

FROM
BIRMINGHAM TO LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER,
ILLUSTRATED BY AN
ACCURATE MAP, AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS:

To which is appended

THE VISITER'S GUIDE
TO
BIRMINGHAM, LIVERPOOL, AND MANCHESTER.

* * * * *

TO THE

CHAIRMAN AND DIRECTORS

OF THE

GRAND JUNCTION RAILWAY COMPANY,

THIS

Second Edition

OF

THE ROAD BOOK,

IS,

BY PERMISSION, RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,

BY THE

AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER.

ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION.

THE courteous reception given to the First Edition of the Grand Junction Road Book, and the substantial proofs of approbation which a rapid sale has afforded, render it a duty as proper as it is pleasant, for the Author and Publisher to return their joint thanks for the liberal patronage already bestowed on their work; and to engage a continuance of the same, by their assurances that in the present edition every possible improvement has been carefully effected in its various departments. Spirited wood and steel engravings {v} of the most important spots on the line have been introduced, and much new and interesting matter supplied. The whole of the information concerning fares, regulations, stations, and accommodation in towns on the route, has been recast, corrected, and enlarged; and a brief but comprehensive directory added, under the head of "VISITER'S GUIDE," page 97, containing lists of public buildings; institutions of all kinds; places of worship of all denominations, with names of the officiating ministers; principal show rooms and manufactories; times of arrival and departure of mails at the post office; hackney coach fares; bankers, inns, boarding houses, omnibus offices, newspapers, canal conveyances, waggon warehouses, packets, &c., &c., for Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool. The exceeding utility of this new division of the volume will be obvious to every one. The Map has also been revised, and greatly improved; and the "GRAND JUNCTION ROAD BOOK" again makes its bow to the public, in full expectation that its old fame and new merits will be rightly appreciated.

* * * * *

_Birmingham_, _September_ 1, 1838.

SONNET BY WORDSWORTH, ON STEAM BOATS, VIADUCTS, AND RAILWAYS.

MOTIONS and means, on land and sea at war
With old poetic feeling; not for this,
Shall ye, by Poets even, be judged amiss!
Nor shall your presence, howsoe'er it mar
The loveliness of nature, prove a bar
To the mind's gaining that prophetic sense
Of future change that point of vision, whence
May be discover'd what in soul ye are.
In spite of all that beauty may disown
In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
Her lawful offspring in Man's art; and Time,
Pleased with your triumphs o'er his brother Space,
Accepts from your bold hands the proffer'd crown
Of hope, and smiles on you with cheer sublime.

[Picture: Map of the route of the Grand Junction Railway]