town of Old Cumnock. The supporters of the Nithsdale scheme did not give up, and resolved to try again in the 1846 session. They dissolved the original GD&CR and established a new one under the same name; the route would now join the Caledonian line at Gretna, rather than running independently to Carlisle. With several new branches added to the scheme, the capital was once again to be £1.3 million. However it emerged that the British and Irish Union Railway was proposing a line to connect Carlisle and Portpatrick, from where the short sea route to the north of Ireland started. The B&IUR planned to run between Dumfries and Carlisle, along an alignment that the GD&CR intended to use; the Caledonian Railway was also considering using this route. In fact in the 1846 session a huge number of railway schemes were being proposed, many of them fanciful, but most of them requiring attention to consider what strategies might be necessary to avoid loss of the GD&CR's own scheme. And finally, authorisation Most of these schemes fell away when the financial bubble burst, and on 13 August 1846 the Glasgow Dumfries and Carlisle Railway was authorised. Disastrously, the Act gave the Caledonian Railway rights to a "perpetual lease" of the line between Gretna and Annan. The first ordinary meeting of shareholders took place on 8 September 1846, and it was agreed that an objective was eventual amalgamation with the GPK&AR. Money was desperately short, and contracts were let for construction of the main line beyond what funds were available to pay; the numerous branches included in the Act were still considered definite intentions, as was a long line from Dumfries to Portpatrick; there was no match between available money and the ambition of these schemes. The GPK&AR was running its own railway and making a good profit, and it was persuaded to buy up unissued GD&CR shares; immediate amalgamation was considered, but the GD&CR was too demanding in its terms and the idea was postponed. Relations with the Caledonian Railway were more often hostile than friendly, and it was a considerable relief when the GD&CR obtained an Act on 9 June 1847 repealing the authorisation for the CR to lease the Gretna to Annan section. Opening, in stages The GD&CR proceeded with construction contracts in a state of considerable financial difficulty, and on 21 August 1848 a special train for directors