to the 1888 session of Parliament to build a connecting line from the Midland Railway near Ashwell (in the vicinity of Oakham) and Bourne. The E&MR was to build this with Midland financial help, and the following year the Midland would take over the entire western section. Traffic from the eastern section would be directed via the Midland. At a stroke this would have cut the GNR out of much of the traffic, even though it had constantly been friendly and supportive of the E&MR when the Midland had treated it shabbily. This was "extraordinary conduct" by the E&MR. R. A. Read was a director, friendly to the Midland but prone to "rash and elaborate schemes", and Wrottesley attributes these schemes to him. Nevertheless, the new line was sanctioned on 28 June 1888, although a junction to the GNR at Little Bytham was inserted to mollify the GNR. In the months following the passage of the Act, wiser counsels prevailed, and the E&MR, Midland and GNR boards negotiated a more congenial arrangement. The Midland and GNR would become joint owners of the western section; the eastern section would be unaffected for the time being. The route of the Bourne connecting line to the Midland would be varied, to meet the Midland at Saxby; the connection to the GNR main line at Little Bytham would be retained; and the connecting line west of that point would be Midland property, not E&MR. Ordinary shareholders in the E&MR would get £47 for every £100 worth. A joint committee met at King's Cross on 5 March 1889; it was a Midland and Great Northern Joint Committee, but at this stage no such designation was applied to the railway itself. Eastern and Midlands Railway in chancery At the moment when the future seemed satisfactory, the E&MR was plunged into crisis. For some years it had been paying only modest dividends, and profitability had not always been adequate to support outgoings. W. Jones had been hiring carriages to the company and for some time had not been paid. On 27 June 1889 he obtained judgment in his favour, but the company had no money to comply. At the time there was a system established since 1867 intended to keep a railway in operation for the convenience of the public in this situation: in effect to trade out of bankruptcy. The "rash" R. A. Read was appointed