 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.