London and Birmingham Railway
Introduction
This line is open. It received its act in 1833, was opened in 1838 and it now forms part of the West Coast Main Line.
The company merged on 1 Jan 1846 with the Grand Junction Railway (opened 1837) and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway to form the London and North Western Railway.
Dates
| / /1833 | [London and Birmingham Railway] Line authorised |
| / /1838 | [London and Birmingham Railway] Line opened |
| /12/1844 | [London and Birmingham Railway] [Leamington Branch] opened from Coventry to Milverton (for Leamington Spa). |
| / /1846 | [London and Birmingham Railway] Authorisation for an extension from Milverton to Leamington Spa. |
Locations along the line
These locations are along the line.
Statue of Robert Stephenson, by Carlo Marochetti, dating from 1870, outside Euston Station. ...Bill Roberton 23/06/2016
Freightliner 90045 at the front of the Lowland Sleeper at Euston on 9th February 2018. It only made it as far as Tring where it was declared a ...Colin McDonald 09/02/2018
92044 Couperin with the recently arrived Lowland Sleeper in April 2017. This locomotive still has the two tone grey livery and 'tunnel rings' ...Colin McDonald 04/04/2017
86101 Sir William Stanier on arrival at Euston with the up Lowland Sleeper on 6th December 2017. ...
John Yellowlees 06/12/2017
London Overground Class 378s stabled alongside Willesden depot on 10 May 2014 seen from a passing train. The locomotive standing beyond the EMUs ...John McIntyre 10/05/2014
View south east over Willesden depot from the platform at Willesden Junction High Level station in July 2005 as a northbound Voyager passes on the ...John Furnevel 20/07/2005
The busy shed yard at 1A Willesden, thought to have been taken in 1960. Locomotives present include 3F 0-6-0T 47304 and G2 0-8-0 49070. ...K A Gray //1960
Fowler 3P 2-6-2T no 40010 in the sidings alongside Willesden shed in the summer of 1961. ...K A Gray 21/08/1961
Bletchley based G2 0-8-0 no 48898 stands in the sidings alongside Willesden shed in the summer of 1961. ...K A Gray 21/08/1961
45552 Silver Jubilee alongside the coaling plant at Willesden in August 1964. ...John Robin 25/08/1964
Freightliner 66534 'OOCL Express' powers north through platform 5 at Harrow & Wealdstone Station with a near full consist of containers in the ...David Pesterfield 16/05/2011
London Overground 378229 calls at Harrow and Wealdstone (shared with the Bakerloo line) on 28 July with a service for Watford Junction. ...Bill Roberton 28/07/2014
Having run light from Doncaster to Crewe the previous day, 86101 heads south through Harrow & Wealdstone on 20 October with the Crewe to Euston leg of ...Michael Gibb 20/10/2007
Harrow and Wealdstone is the northern terminus of the Bakerloo Line with parallel platforms on the WCML. A London Underground train reverses in the ...Bill Roberton 28/07/2014
A London bound Pendolino rushes through Watford Junction on 16 June 2017. ...John McIntyre 16/06/2017
Freightliner 66538 passes Watford Junction on 16 June 2017 whilst working an intermodal service between Lawley St (Birmingham) and London Gateway ...John McIntyre 16/06/2017
On my previous visit to Watford Junction the DC electric service was being provided by Class 501s but that was in 1976. On 16 June 2017 the service is ...John McIntyre 16/06/2017
321401 at Watford Junction, thought to be in 1989 when the Class 321/4 was introduced. It ran in Network South East colours, although it operated on ...Graham Morgan //1989
The Nickey Line between Hemel Hempstead and Harpenden carried traffic until 1979 when the Hemelite building block factory at the western end ...Mark Dufton 26/12/1978
Clayton Class 17 diesels were not a successful design and all but one were scrapped in the 1970s. The escapee was D8568 which was purchased in 1972 by ...Mark Dufton 07/08/1976
Call that a train ... tee, hee ... 350242 at Berkhamsted on 17 September 2010. ...Veronica Clibbery 17/09/2010
An up WCML express at speed in Tring cutting in the 1960s. ...Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //
The small locomotive shed at Leighton Buzzard, a sub of 1E Bletchley, thought to have been photographed around 1959/1960. The 2-road shed stood to the ...K A Gray //
A Friday morning at Leighton Buzzard station in February 2009. View north just after the rush hour. ...Andrew Wilson 13/02/2009
Jubilee 45641 Sandwich approaching Linslade Tunnel, north of Leighton Buzzard, with an up WCML freight in August 1964. [Ref query 4521] ...John Robin 23/08/1964
66.198 hauls an empty car train North at Bletchley on 20th February 2015. Notice the mothballed flyover in the background, and the platform extension ...Ken Strachan 20/02/2015
A down Pendolino rushes through Bletchley on a hot Monday evening in July 2013. ...Ken Strachan 15/07/2013
66198 heads North through Bletchley on 20 February with a train of enclosed car carrying wagons. ...Ken Strachan 20/02/2015
A perfectly functional station on a distinctly more human scale than its near neighbour at Milton Keynes [see image 27917]. Bletchley, seen here in ...Ken Strachan 10/06/2011
A Southern service to East Croydon waits to start its journey at Milton Keynes Central on 16 June 2017. ...John McIntyre 16/06/2017
A Voyager at MK Central heading for London - there seemed to be such a service every two minutes. Something to do with Christmas, perhaps. [see image ...Ken Strachan 23/12/2016
View from the footbridge at Milton Keynes Central on 28 April 2014. The bridge is being refurbished and made slightly narrower internally by wall ...Ken Strachan 28/04/2014
Pendolino 390103 in WW1 Remembrance livery, London bound at Milton Keynes Central on 12 April 2015. ...John Steven 12/04/2015
Train 384E, topped and tailed by DB 66's, is an RHTT from Bescot TMD to Euston. It was seven minutes early as it sprayed its way towards Hanslope ...Ken Strachan 13/10/2017
Enter stage left: a double Voyager heads for London - probably from Holyhead - on the Northampton avoiding line. ...Ken Strachan 13/10/2017
Rarely have I seen a brick building survive so well with the roof, awning, doors, and windows in such a state. But it reminds us of this former WCML ...Ken Strachan 17/09/2010
This former WCML station is just behind Watford Gap services on the M1. The modern, fast, large, and well maintained Pendo contrasts first with the ...Ken Strachan 17/09/2010
Rugby is now confirmed as the only station where it is safe to put your head into a gap in a Pendolino. Seriously, I have never thought of Rugby as a ...Ken Strachan 27/11/2015
Baby no longer on board: two ladies lead their young charge away from a Birmingham-bound 350 at Rugby on 2 December. I had abandoned my car and used ...Ken Strachan 02/12/2015
The 0702 to London Euston blinks in the early morning March sunlight at Rugby [see image 36505]. If winter comes, can spring be far behind? (Yeats, I ...Ken Strachan 25/03/2011
A Voyager heads south empty stock through Rugby platform 4, while passengers await a Pendolino on platform 5. ...Ken Strachan 30/08/2013
The 1821hrs to Nuneaton was sorely in need of the second coach which is usually provided at weekends. The 'surplus' passengers were directed to catch ...Ken Strachan 12/09/2018
Far be it from me to get into an argument as to whether Coventry is classier than Nuneaton; but 67005 'Queen's Messenger' certainly looks more ...Ken Strachan 12/03/2016
The 19.00 Virgin Trains London Euston - Wolverhampton pulls into Coventry on 6 July 2014. ...Ken Strachan 06/07/2014
Little and large: One of the ubiquitous 153s for Nuneaton crosses with a Cross-Country Voyager service on a wet day at Coventry station in September ...Ken Strachan 04/09/2010
The 0717hrs to Birmingham New Street - or Wolverhampton, according to the destination blind - slows to a halt at Canley on 12th September 2018. The ...Ken Strachan 12/09/2018
An up Pendolino passes through Canley, in the south western suburbs of Coventry, on 21 March 2014 [see image 46744 for the view in the opposite ...Ken Strachan 21/03/2014
This almost planar sculpture on the booking office wall at Canley depicts a kangaroo and its joey; as you would expect in Coventry. ...Ken Strachan 21/03/2014
Surrounded by steel: Coventry certainly looks like an industrial city as a Birmingham-bound Voyager passes the location once occupied by the main ...Ken Strachan 21/03/2014
Heading west for Birmingham, 323207 arrives at Tile Hill on 24 March 2007. The new bridge has replaced the level crossing which used to be just in ...John McIntyre 24/03/2007
The leafy suburbs of Birmingham on 11 November. London Midland 350110 with a lunchtime working to New Street calls at Hampton-in-Arden. [See image ...Ken Strachan 11/11/2014
The original station at Hampton-in-Arden, was opened by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1838 as plain Hampton. It sat well back from the track and ...Ken Strachan 12/05/2015
This up Pendolino is accelerating away from a stop at Birmingham International on 12 May. It has just passed the original Hampton station [see image ...Ken Strachan 12/05/2015
The Great Way Round, Hampton-in-Arden, November 2014. When the ticket office is closed, passenger access to platform 2 (for Birmingham) is down the ...Ken Strachan 11/11/2014
158818, leading the service to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, reversing at Shrewsbury and dividing at Machynlleth, waiting to depart from Birmingham ...David Bosher 21/05/2016
London North Western EMU 350104, in the old London Midland livery, departing Birmingham International for New Street on 18th August 2018....
Peter Todd 18/08/2018
158831 departing Birmingham International on 18th August 2018 with a two car DMU to Holyhead, of all places, running via Shrewsbury and Wrexham. It ...Peter Todd 18/08/2018
A London Midland service to Birmingham New Street with 350130 arrives at Birmingham International on 28 April 2010. ...John McIntyre 28/04/2010
It's not every day that you see an Arriva Trains Wales service in Birmingham. 158.834 passes through a wet Stechford non-stop as it works from ...Ken Strachan 10/05/2014
Looking out from the ticket hall at Stechford down to platform 1, with a 323 about to depart for Birmingham New Street. Comprehensive security ...Ken Strachan 10/05/2014
Thank goodness it's warmed up since March! A wintery view looking East at Adderley Park on 24th March, with the former Morris car factory to the right ...Ken Strachan 24/03/2013
A Pendolino (destination unknown) heading East, about to pass through Adderley Park station at speed on 24 March. Notice the icicles hanging from the ...Ken Strachan 24/03/2013
The gentleman on the right seems to be quite keen to be somewhere warmer, but the 14.35 to Birmingham New Street will only give him 6 minutes of ...Ken Strachan 24/03/2013
Seen from a passing train on 18 June 2009, the remaining building of Birmingham Curzon St station, the first terminus of the line from Euston. This is ...John McIntyre 18/06/2009
Birmingham Curson Street's remaining building, the terminus of the London and Birmingham Railway, viewed from the lines which replaced it, taking the ...John Yellowlees 18/09/2016
The 1837 Birmingham station terminus at Curzon Street, built for the London and Birmingham Railway. The London Euston terminus had Doric columns ...Ewan Crawford 30/06/2004
A future stop for HS2? They'll have to take the boards off the windows first... [see image 22382] ...Ken Strachan 21/07/2011
Books
 Great Railway Journeys: London to Birmingham By Rail (Through Time) |  London and Birmingham Railway: 150 Years On | London and Birmingham: A Railway of Consequence |
