London and North Western Railway
LNWR No. 1881, a Webb 0-8-0 four cylinder compound – frontispiece from The Railway Magazine June 1903
Dates of operation	1846–1922
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)

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. In 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.

Overview[link]

Illustration of a LNWR passenger locomotive, c. 1852

LNWR office on The Quay, Waterford, Ireland. 1910

The LNWR described itself as the Premier Line.^[1]

As the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom,^[1] it collected a greater revenue than any other company. It served most 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[link]

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[link]

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 (e.g. Peterborough to Northampton and Cambridge to Oxford), but others were developed as part of the Inter City network, notably the main lines from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Carlisle, collectively known in the modern era as the West Coast Main Line. These were electrified in the 1960s and 1970s, and further upgraded in the 1990s and 2000s, with trains now running at up to 125 mph. Other LNWR lines survive as part of commuter networks around major cities such as Birmingham and Manchester.

Minor lines[link]

• Victoria Tunnel (Liverpool), opened 1849
• Canada Dock Branch from Edge Hill railway station on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway through northern Liverpool to Canada Dock, opened in 1866

Acquisitions[link]

LNWR's initials carved in Portland Stone on one of Euston Station's entrance lodges

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

• Anglesey Central Railway, 1876
• Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway (partnership with the Midland Railway) 1873
• Aylesbury Railway,^[2] 1846
• Bedford and Cambridge Railway, 1865
• Birkenhead Railway, 1861 (jointly with GWR)
• Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stour Valley Railway, 1847 (the Stour Valley Line)
• Brynmawr and Blaenavon Railway, 1869
• Brynmawr and Western Valleys Railway, 1902 (jointly with GWR)
• Buckinghamshire Railway,^[3] 1847
• Cannock Chase Railway, 1863
• Cannock Mineral Railway, 1869
• Carnarvon and Llanberis Railway, 1870
• Carnarvonshire Railway, 1870
• Central Wales Railway, 1868
• Central Wales and Carmarthen Junction Railway, 1891
• Central Wales Extension Railway, 1868
• Chester and Holyhead Railway, 1858
• Cockermouth and Workington Railway, 1866
• Conway and Llanrwst Railway, 1867
• Cromford and High Peak Railway, 1862
• Denbigh, Ruthin and Corwen Railway, 1879
• Fleetwood, Preston and West Riding Junction Railway, 1867 (jointly with Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
• Hampstead Junction Railway, 1867
• Harrow and Stanmore Railway, 1899
• Huddersfield and Manchester Railway and Canal, 1847
• Knighton Railway, 1863
• Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, 1921
• Lancashire Union Railway, 1883 (jointly with Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
• Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, 1859
• Leeds, Dewsbury and Manchester Railway, 1847
• Ludlow and Clee Hill Railway, 1892 (jointly with GWR)
• Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway, 1849 (jointly with Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway)
• Merthyr, Tredegar and Abergavenny Railway, 1862

• Nerquis Railway, 1866
• Newport Pagnell Railway, 1875
• North and South Western Junction Railway, 1871 (jointly with the Midland Railway and the North London Railway)
• North London Railway, 1909 (NLR retained own Board)
• Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne and Guide Bridge Railway, 1862 (jointly with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway)
• Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Railway, 1885 (jointly with Midland Railway, Caledonian Railway and Glasgow and South Western Railway)
• Preston and Wyre Railway, 1847 (jointly with Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)
• Rugby and Leamington Railway, 1848
• St George's Harbour, 1861
• St Helens Canal and Railway, 1864
• Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway, 1862 (jointly with GWR and West Midland Railway)
• Shrewsbury and Welshpool Railway, 1864 (jointly with GWR from 1865)
• Shropshire Union Railways and Canal, 1847
• Sirhowy Railway, 1876
• South Leicestershire Railway, 1867
• South Staffordshire Railway, 1861
• Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway, 1866
• Trent Valley Railway, 1847
• Tenbury Railway, 1866 (jointly with GWR from 1869)
• Vale of Clwyd Railway, 1867
• Vale of Towy Railway, 1884 (jointly with GWR from 1889)
• Warrington and Stockport Railway, 1859
• Watford and Rickmansworth Railway, 1881
• West London Extension Railway, 1859 (jointly with GWR, LSWR and LBSCR)
• Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway, 1877 (jointly with Furness Railway from 1878)
• Whitehaven Junction Railway, 1866

Locomotives[link]

The LNWR's main engineering works were at Crewe (locomotives), Wolverton (carriages) and Earlestown (wagons). Locomotives were usually painted green at first, but in 1873 black was adopted as the standard livery. This finish has been described as "blackberry black".

Accidents[link]

Major accidents on the LNWR include:-

• 1861 – Wootton bridge collapse; 2 killed
• 1867 – Warrington rail crash; 8 killed, 33 injured
• 1868 – Abergele rail crash; 32 killed
• 1873 – Wigan rail crash; 13 killed, 30 injured
• 1894 – Chelford rail accident; 14 killed, 48 injured
• 1912 – Ditton Junction rail crash; 15 killed
• 1915 – Weedon rail crash; 10 killed, 21 injured

Electrification[link]

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

Ships[link]

The company also operated steamers on Windermere

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[link]

Chairmen of the Board of Directors[link]

• 1846–1852 — George Glyn, later 1st Baron Wolverton
• 1852–1853 — Major-General George Anson
• 1853–1861 — Marquess of Chandos, later 3rd Duke of Buckingham and Chandos
• 1861 — Admiral Constantine Richard Moorsom
• 1861–1891 — Richard Moon, Sir Richard from 1887
• 1891–1911 — The Lord Stalbridge
• 1911–1921 — Gilbert Claughton, Sir Gilbert Claughton from 1912
• 1921–1923 — Hon. Charles N. Lawrence, later Baron Lawrence of Kingsgate

Members of the Board of Directors[link]

• John Pares Bickersteth^[4]
• Frederick Baynes^[4]
• John Albert Bright^[4]
• Ralph Brocklebank^[4]
• Sir Thomas Brooke, 1st Baronet^[4]
• Philip Henry Chambres^[4]
• William E. Dorrington^[4]
• Edmund Faber, 1st Baron Faber^[4]
• Alfred Fletcher^[4]
• Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh^[4]
• Theodore Julius Hare^[4]
• The Hon. A. H. Holland-Hibbert^[4]
• Sir William Houldsworth, 1st Baronet^[4]
• J. Bruce Ismay^[4]
• Lieut-Col. Amelius Lockwood, 1st Baron Lambourne^[4]
• The Hon. William Lowther^[4]
• Brigadier-General Lewis Vivian Loyd^[4]
• Miles MacInnes^[4]
• Edward Nettlefold^[4]
• David Plunket, 1st Baron Rathmore^[4]
• Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland^[4]
• Henry Ward^[4]

General Managers[link]

• 1846–1858 — Captain Mark Huish
• 1858–1874 — William Cawkwell
• 1874–1893 — George Findlay
• 1893–1908 — Sir Frederick Harrison (knighted in 1902
• 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[link]

Southern Division:

• 1846–1847 — Edward Bury
• 1847–1862 — James McConnell

North Eastern Division:

• 1846–1857 — John Ramsbottom

NE Division became part of N Division in 1857.

Northern Division:

• 1846–1857 — Francis Trevithick
• 1857–1862 — John Ramsbottom

Northern and Southern Divisions amalgamated from April 1862:

• 1862–1871 — John Ramsbottom
• 1871–1903 — Francis William Webb
• 1903–1909 — George Whale
• 1909–1920 — Charles Bowen Cooke
• 1920–1921 — Hewitt Pearson Montague Beames
• 1922 — George Hughes (ex-Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway)

Preservation[link]

• Sections of the former L&NWR are preserved as the Battlefield Line Railway, Nene Valley Railway and Northampton & Lamport Railway, the latter giving the name Premier Line to its quarterly journal.^[5]

See also[link]

• Rail transport in Great Britain
• The Nicky Line
• Croxley Rail Link
• Loughborough Top Shed

References[link]

• Reed, M.C. (1996). The London & North Western Railway. Penryn: Atlantic Transport. ISBN 978-0-906899-66-3

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: London and North Western Railway

• L&NWR Whistle
• London and North Western Railway Society
• GNR / LNWR Joint Railway Leicestershire