deep level line planned by the DR. On 12 September 1901, the DR-controlled board of the B&PCR sold the company to the MDETC. In the same month, the B&PCR took over the Great Northern and Strand Railway (GN&SR), a tube railway with permission to build a line from Strand to Finsbury Park. The routes of the B&PCR and GN&SR were subsequently linked and combined with part of the DR's tube route to create the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR). Yerkes' final purchase was the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) in March 1902 for £360,000 (£ today). The BS&WR had permission to construct a line from Paddington to Elephant & Castle and, unlike his other tube railway purchases, construction work had started in 1898. Substantial progress had been made before it was stopped following the collapse of the BS&WR's parent company, the London & Globe Finance Corporation, due to the fraud of its managing director Whitaker Wright in 1900. With a varied collection of companies under his control, Yerkes established the UERL in April 1902 to take control of them all and manage the planned works, and took the position of chairman. On 8 June 1902, the UERL took over the MDETC and paid off the company's shareholders with cash and UERL shares. Finances The UERL was set up with an initial capitalisation of £5 million (£ today). The company was backed by three merchant banks, Speyer Brothers in London, Speyer & Co. in New York and Old Colony Trust Company in Boston, each of which was to receive £250,000 from the capital raised. Almost 60 per cent of the initial share offering was bought in the United States, with a third sold in Britain and the rest mainly in the Netherlands. Further capital was soon needed for the construction works and additional share and bond issues followed. The UERL eventually raised a total of £18 million (£ today). Like many of Yerkes' schemes in the United States, the structure of the UERL's finances was highly complex and involved the use of novel financial instruments. One method, used by Yerkes to raise £7 million, was "profit-sharing secured notes", a form of bond which was secured against the value of shares. They were sold at a 4 per cent discount, paid 5 per cent interest and were due for repayment in 1908. The assumption was that shares would inevitably