London and North Western Railway
LNWR crest
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| Dates of operation | 16 July 1846–31 December 1922 |
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| 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 |
| Length | 2,667.5 miles (4,292.9 km) in 1923 |
| Headquarters | Euston railway station |
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century the L&NWR was the largest 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.
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. The company initially had a network of approximately 350 miles (560 km), connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.
The headquarters were at Euston railway station. As traffic increased it was greatly expanded with the opening in 1849 of the Great Hall, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick in classical style. It was 126 ft (38 m) long, 61 ft (19 m) wide and 64 ft (20 m) high and cost £150,000 (equivalent to £14,030,000 in 2015). The station stood on Drummond Street. Further expansion resulted in two additional platforms in the 1870s, and four more in the 1890s, bringing the total to 15.
The LNWR described itself as the Premier Line. This was justified as it included the pioneering Liverpool & Manchester Railway of 1830, and the original LNWR main line linking London, Birmingham and Lancashire had been the first big railway in Britain, opened throughout in 1838. As the largest in the United Kingdom, it collected a greater revenue than any other railway company of its era.
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