royal assent on the same day (6 June 1844) as the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway's Act: a clause in the M&CR's Act established that the powers (such as compulsory purchase) given the L&CR under their Act had priority, provided that these powers could not be exercised to prevent the M&CR acquiring the bare minimum of land required for its branch. Litigation then ensued, but although the M&CR lost the case, it succeeded in reaching its Crown Street land by a branch from the Canal line, and opened its station there on 30 December 1844; trains backed into and out of the station. In May 1845, the four railway companies (Caledonian, L&C, M&C, N&C) finally agreed upon a site for their joint station, but the Maryport negotiators insisted that they should pay only a moderate share of the cost, as they already owned a station close by, which (they argued) might have been extended to form the joint station. Some dispute followed and in September 1846, it was arranged that the joint station should be built at once entirely at the cost of the L&C and the Caledonian; the resulting Citadel station opened in September, 1847. The approach tracks from the south were crossed on the level at least three times by every M&C train movement into or out of Crown Street; if the M&CR train continued to London Road, it made a fourth crossing. This was naturally objected to by the L&CR, which considered the Crown Street station illegal; moreover they required the land for the further development of goods facilities in connection with the Citadel station, and had obtained parliamentary powers to purchase it. The M&C had agreed in writing to sell the land at cost price; it was willing to sell the site for £7,000 but any dispute as to the true value could be settled by a referee appointed by the Board of Trade. Hudson, once he became the lessee of the M&CR demanded a much higher sum: not just for the land (about six acres), but as compensation for the loss of the passenger traffic and coal trade which it was claimed would follow if the Crown Street station was lost and a new station had to be built at Bogfield (the cost of which he also asked the L&CR to meet). At a two-day hearing held at Carlisle in January 1849 to ascertain the true