Rent Room 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.
In Birmingham the line terminated at Curzon Street Station, which
it shared with the Grand Junction Railway (GJR), whose platforms
were adjacent, Rent Room London thus providing a link
to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR), and allowing
through onward travel by rail from London to those cities via Crewe
and Newton Junction.
Early plans
The idea of building a railway line from London to Birmingham had
been mooted as early as 1823 when a company was formed by John Rennie
to build such a line. Rennie proposed to build a line between the
two cities via Oxford and Banbury (the route later used by the Rent Room London Great Western Railway).
Soon afterwards another rival company was formed by Francis Giles
who proposed to build a line via the Watford Gap and Coventry. The
two companies were unsuccessful in achieving Rent Room London
backing for their schemes, and in the autumn of 1830 the two companies
decided to combine their efforts.
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