16 SEPTEMBER 1995, Page 31

Rain-spotter

Sir: Gavin Stamp's memory is playing him false (Arts, 26 August). Edward Watkin had nothing to do with the construction of the railway between Blackfriars and Far- ringdon. It was the work of the South-East- ern Railway's hated rival, the London, Chatham and Dover, and Watkin's bitter personal foe, James Stoats Forbes.

How Watkin intended to get from Manchester London Road to Paris Gare du Nord may well have been via the Great Central (as far as Banbury), the Great Western (as far as Reading) and then by the South-Eastern through Redhill, Ton- bridge and on to the Channel Tunnel, thus cutting out London altogether. Watkin died in 1901.

Tom Carter

16 New Cross, Somerton, Somerset