"Martin Edwards" wrote
The original reason was that politicians had nothing to do with it,
except to pass private Acts of Parliament to facilitate the haphazard
planning of dozens of private operators. The Settle-Carlisle route, now
a tourist attraction, was unnescessary even at the time, but the owner
of the comapny concerned just had to have a route to Scotland.

The L&NWR were obstructive in allowing the Midland to work its Scottish
traffic via Clapham, Ingleton, Tebay and Shap, so the Midland obtained an
Act permitting it to build the Settle and Carlisle as an indepenedent route.
The L&NWR suddenly became reasonable, and offered attractive conditions for
the Midland to work its traffic via Ingleton, provided that the S&C was
dropped. The Midland presented an Abandonment Bill to Parliament, but it
didn't pass, and, pressed by the North British and the Lancashire &
Yorkshire, the Midland had to build the S&C - though at least they built it
well.

Peter