from the Blackburn and Darwen Railway, building up on each side of the blockage. The situation was eventually defused when the L&YR withdrew their train. The General Manager of the ELR, Richard Hacking, wrote to The Times newspaper expressing his annoyance at the L&YR's tactics. He claimed to have received a letter from the company sent on 9 March 1849 informing him of proposed changes to operational procedures resulting from a near-collision at Clifton Junction. The first change was that ELR trains would at all times give way to L&YR trains on the Manchester and Bolton line; a stop signal was to be placed along the ELR line from the junction, to be activated whenever a L&YR train was in sight. The second change was that "for the safety of the public" all ELR trains would be required to stop before the points at the junction, where all passenger tickets to Manchester would be collected by L&YR employees. A daily return would be required of all passengers and other freight booked from Salford "for the purpose of keeping regularly and balancing punctually the accounts of the two companies". Hacking claimed to have replied stating that the near-collision had occurred because the L&YR's engine driver had ignored a signal at Clifton Junction, and that the ELR would not accept the changes requested by the L&YR. The ELR refused to supply tickets at any point, although they considered it reasonable to supply more information on their traffic using the L&YR line. Hacking stated that he had received a letter from the L&YR porter at Clifton requesting that all ELR trains stop at Clifton Junction so that tickets could be collected by L&YR staff, and that all ELR goods trains would have to supply invoices at the junction. In his letter he concluded that the purpose of the L&YR's demands was to impede the flow of ELR traffic to Manchester and onwards to Yorkshire. Hacking's account of the events of 12 March is similar to that reported by The Times. He claims to have travelled to Clifton to witness an L&YR clerk being prevented from collecting tickets, and to have then continued on another train to Manchester. On his arrival there, he saw L&YR employees ready to pull up the rails to the ELR platform, although the rails were left intact. He then mentions returning to Clifton after hearing that L&YR employees had