end of term specials, one from King's Cross and the other from Liverpool, to Ampleforth College. This lasted until 28 April 1964. The closest freight traffic to the original concept was chalk from quarries at Burdale and Wharram bound for steelworks on Teesside. This underwent spectacular boom and bust in the 1920s, petering out in the 1950s, which spelled the line's death-knell. As for through Hull-Tyneside trains, the junction at Driffield tells its own story – it was facing the "wrong way". No source talks of through traffic, even in wartime. The closest thing to through traffic were scenic excursions which used the line as a scenic part of a scenic route or in some cases toured the line's stations' floral displays. Often such trains' locomotives traversed the line tender-first because the trains arrived the "wrong way" from Hull or Doncaster and would resume travelling the "right way" after a second reverse at Malton. Furthermore, no source comments on how it could be that conscientious staff could find the time to keep beautiful gardens. Two very occasional traffics added to the line's diminishing income: special trains for royalty and enthusiasts, both of which gathered publicity beyond their revenue. The latter were a phenomenon of the 1950s, with the best recorded running along the line (and others) on 2 June 1957 and 23 June 1957. The King and Queen arrived at by train on 6 July 1948. As with the summer Scarborough to Tyneside trains mentioned above, other royal trains touched the north end of the line when making double-reverses to get to events in Ryedale. Amalgamation In the early 1850s The Leeds Northern (LNR), York, Newcastle and Berwick and York and North Midland railways were considering amalgamation, and in 1853 the M&DJR was admitted to that group of companies; and became part of joint traffic agreements. In 1854 an act of parliament allowing the YN&BR, LNR and Y&NMR companies to amalgamate into a new "North Eastern Railway" (NER) was passed; the association of M&DJR was formally announced at the first meeting of the NER, where, the distribution of income was decided to be based on traffic receipts over the next 5 years; the M&DJR obtained one director of a board of seventeen, and the company ceased to exist as an independent entity from 1 September 1854. In 1863 agreements relating to the merger of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR)