Between the years 1836 and 1839, when there were many railway acts
applied for, traffic-taking became a lucrative calling. It was necessary
that some approximate estimate should be made as to the income which the
lines might be expected to yield. Arithmeticians, who calculated traffic
receipts, were to be found to prove what promoters of railways required
to satisfy shareholders and Parliamentary Committees. The Eastern
Counties Railway was estimated to pay a dividend of 23½ per cent.; the
London and Cambridge, 14½ per cent.; the Sheffield and Manchester, 18½
per cent. One shareholder of this company was so sanguine as to the
success of the line that in a letter to the _Railway Magazine_ he
calculated on a dividend of 80 per cent. Bitter indeed must have been
the disappointment of those railway shareholders who pinned their faith
to the estimates of traffic-takers, when instead of receiving large
dividends, little was received, and in some instances the lines paid no
dividend at all.