London North Western Railway

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London and North Western Railway
LNWR No1881.JPG
LNWR No. 1881, a Webb 0-8-0 four cylinder compound - frontispiece from the The Railway Magazine June 1903.
Dates of operation 1846–1923
Predecessor Grand Junction Railway
London and Birmingham Railway
Manchester and Birmingham Railway
Successor London, Midland and Scottish Railway
Track gauge 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)
Circa 1852 illustration of a LNWR passenger locomotive.
LNWR's initials carved in Portland Stone on one of Euston Station's entrance lodges

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a railway company of the United Kingdom which existed between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three railway companies - the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. During the late 19th century the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. In 1923 it became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway, and, in 1948, the London Midland Region of British Railways: the LNWR is effectively an ancestor of today's West Coast Main Line.

Contents

Overview

The LNWR described themselves as the 'Premier Line'.[1] Though disputed by many, it may be thought that it deserved this title because the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first passenger railway in the world, was one of its ancestors through its merger with the Grand Junction Railway.

As the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom,[1] it collected a greater revenue than any other company. It served some of Britain's largest cities: Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, and (through co-operation with the Caledonian Railway) Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also handled the Irish Mail for the Government between Euston and Holyhead.

Formation

The company was formed on 16 July 1846 by the amalgamation of the Grand Junction Railway, London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. This move was prompted in part by the Great Western Railway's plans for a railway north from Oxford to Birmingham.[1] The company initially had a network of approximately 350 miles (560 km),[1] connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.

Successors

The LNWR became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway when the railways of Great Britain were merged in the grouping of 1923. ex-LNWR lines formed the core of the LMS's Western Division.

Nationalisation followed in 1948, with the English and Welsh lines of the LMS becoming the London Midland Region of British Railways. Some former LNWR routes were subsequently closed, notably the lines running East to West across the Midlands (eg Peterborough to Northampton and Cambridge to Oxford), but others were developed as part of the Inter City network, with the main lines from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Carlisle electrified in the 1960s and 1970s with trains now running up to 125 mph. Other lines survive as part of commuter networks around major cities such as Birmingham and Manchester.

Minor lines

Acquisitions

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Locomotives

Main article: Locomotives of the London and North Western Railway

The LNWR's main engineering works were at Crewe (locomotives) and Wolverton (carriages and wagons). The locomotive livery is described as 'blackberry black'.

Electrification

Main article: LNWR electric units

From 1909-1922, the LNWR undertook a large-scale project to electrify the whole of its London inner-suburban network.

Ships

Main article: List of London and North Western Railway ships

The LNWR operated a number of ships on Irish Sea crossings between Holyhead and Dublin, Howth or Kingstown. The LNWR also operated a joint service with the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway from Fleetwood to Belfast and Derry.

Notable people

Chairmen of the Board of Directors

General Managers

  • 1846–1858 — Captain Mark Huish
  • 1858–1874 — William Cawkwell
  • 1874–1893 — George Findlay
  • 1893–1908 — Frederick Harrison
  • 1909–1914 — Frank Ree
  • 1914 — Robert Turnbull
  • 1914–1919 — Guy Calthrop
  • 1919–1920 — Isaac Thomas Williams
  • 1920–1923 — Arthur Watson

Locomotive Superintendents and Chief Mechanical Engineers

Southern Division:

North Eastern Division:

NE Division became part of N Division in 1857.

Northern Division:

Northern and Southern Divisions amalgamated from April 1862:

Preservation

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Ferneyhough, Frank (1975). The history of railways in Britain. Osprey. p. 111. ISBN 0850450608. 
  2. ^ http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/books/books-3/book-0323-aylesbury-railway.htm
  3. ^ http://disused-rlys.fotopic.net/c915644.html
  4. ^ http://www.nlr.org.uk/premline.htm

External links

v • d • e
The "Big Four" pre-nationalisation British railway companies
GWR constituents
LNER constituents
LMS constituents
SR constituents
See also: History of rail transport in Great Britain 1923–1947 · List of companies involved in the grouping
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_and_North_Western_Railway"

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