the Grand Junction Canal began buying shares in order to obtain financial control of the Grand Union. A close working relationship developed with the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union to help stave off competition from the railways, but toll receipts spiralled downwards, from £7,551 in 1848 to £3,108 in 1858, £1,024 in 1875 and just £742 in 1885. Dividends followed this trend, reaching 0.05 per cent in 1885. Costly repairs were carried out on both of the tunnels, which interrupted traffic while the work was done, and the company managed to build an ice-boat and a dredger, but by 1884, they were almost penniless. Takeover In late 1886 or early 1887, the Grand Junction company inspected the Grand Union Canal and the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union Canal, and then wrote to both, about the possibility of measures to improve and increase traffic. Both indicated they were prepared to sell out to the Grand Junction, who then offered £5,000 for the two. The canals replied with a counter offer of £25,000, since they had a large asset in their water supplies, but no agreement was made. In 1893, the company met with Mr Fellows, of the carrying company Fellows Morton & Clayton, who suggested that if the locks at Foxton and Watford were made wider, and the canal was dredged, conditions would be much better, and they would be able to run large steam boats, which would allow them to compete with the railways. After making enquiries, Fellows was offered both of the canals for £20,000, and after further discussion with the Grand Junction company, they asked him to act as their agent and buy both. He negotiated a price of £10,500 for the Grand Union, and £6,500 for the Leicestershire and Northamptonshire Union, with £250 to be paid to the clerk who acted for both companies. An Act of Parliament to authorise the takeover was passed in 1894, and the transfer of ownership took place on 29 September. After takeover, the canal became known as the Leicester Line of the Grand Junction Canal. The Grand Junction dredged the canals they had bought, and negotiated with the Leicester, the Loughborough, and the Erewash Canal, to fix tolls for through traffic. They then talked to Fellows Morton & Clayton again, and revived the plans to allow them to work wide-beam barges over the Grand Union route. Plans for an inclined plane at Foxton