London and Birmingham Railway
|
|
The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom from 1833 until 1846, at which date it became a constituent part of the London and North Western Railway. The railway line that the company built and owned between London and Birmingham was, when it opened in 1838, one of the first intercity railway lines in the world and the first railway line to be built into London.
The line was engineered by Robert Stephenson. It started at Euston station in London, and travelled north-north-westward until reaching Rugby, where it turned west to Coventry and thence to Birmingham.
The opening of the line was delayed by troubles with the construction of Kilsby Tunnel in Northamptonshire. Initially, owing to the lack of power available to early locomotives, trains from Euston were cable-hauled up the relatively steep incline to Camden by a stationary steam engine. The original engine shed, a roundhouse, still stands at Camden, having been, for most of its life, a warehouse, and more recently an arts centre.
In Birmingham the line terminated at Curzon Street Station, which it shared with the Grand Junction Railway (GJR), whose platforms were adjacent, thus providing a link to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), and allowing onward travel by rail from London to those cities.
From 1840, when the Midland Counties Railway made a junction to its line at Rugby, the L&BR also provided through connections from London to the East Midlands and the North East.
In 1846 the L&BR merged with the Grand Junction Railway and a few other companies, to form the London and North Western Railway.
The line is still operating as a major part of the West Coast Main Line.