Coventry's first railway 1838

According to "Warwickshire Railways", Coventry Station opened to passengers on 9 April 1838. A few weeks earlier, on 23 February 1838, The Coventry Standard reported: We understand that a steamer, with four travelling carriages, arrived at the Coventry Station of the London and Birmingham Railway, yesterday, from Birmingham, about 12 o'clock, and immediately returned. Some of the Directors and their friends occupied the carriages. On 23 March 1838, The Coventry Herald reported: The London and Birmingham Railroad,

Coventry Herald - Friday 13 April 1838 COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE, &c. FURTHER OPENING OF THE London & Birmingham Railway. (From the Sun of Tuesday.) Considerable progress has been made in this most important undertaking since the opening of the first portion of the line from London to Tring, a distance of thirty-one and a half miles. Yesterday morning a further portion, to Denbigh Hall, making in all forty-eight miles from London, was for the first time opened to the public, and a great number of persons prompted by curiosity or led by business, started with the half-past seven o'clock train, from the station at Euston-square. At this terminus the entrance gates, and other buildings connected with the depot, have progressed very rapidly since our last notice, and when completed they will present a very elegant and appropriate appearance. The police arrangements, as indeed is the case with all the Railway lines which have hitherto been opened, are excellent, and tend to much to the security and comfort of the passengers. At few minutes after the time appointed, the train, which was of great length, left the station, and proceeded at a very rapid rate up the inclined plane. The delay in attaching the rope is much less than at the outset, and the plan is, we understand, found to work extremely well. The carriages have lamps affixed to obviate the inconvenience arising from passing through the tunnels. We may observe here that much has been said of the nuisance of tunnels, but it appeared to us that, with the exception of the temporary darkness, and a slight change in the temperature, not very remarkable at this season, we did not observe anything to which the most fastidious or delicate traveller could object. After passing under the Edgware-road at Kilburn, the line proceeds along Kensal-green, between which and Wormwood Scrubbs, a second short tunnel occurs. From this to the first station at Harrow, the traveller proceeds through the diversified and richly cultivated landscape which the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis presents. Having passed the next station, the great Watford Tunnel with lofty shafts appears in view. This tunnel is nearly a mile length, and is one of the most extraordinary efforts of engineering skill that can be imagined. The average time occupied passing through is 2

BIRMINGHAM, Monday Morning. The opening of this great line of Railway communication from Birmingham to the metropolis, took place this day at nine o'clock, a.m. Although the line may now be said to open, there still remains a distance of 37 miles, from Rugby to Denbigh Hall, unfinished, over which passengers and their luggage are conveyed by coaches altogether under the control and direction of the Railway Company. The intermediate coaching distance will, it is expected, gradually diminish as the works advance, till the whole line is completed, when perfect railway communication, with its numerous tributary branches, north and south, will extend from one side of the island to the other, thus bringing within ten hours' travel, & connecting two of the greatest sea-ports in the world. Although the road between Birmingham and Rugby on the one side, and London and Denbigh Hall the other, may now be said to be in the most complete working order, still there are many parts of the line, as regards embellishments and erections, unfinished, particularly at the Birmingham end. The buildings in course of erection at the point where the Grand Junction and Birmingham and London meet, are on a truly magnificent and extensive scale, and when finished will cover an area of about twenty acres of ground. This, however, will comprise a spacious enclosed yard and stores for warehousing goods, a large engine house, capable of holding sixteen engines, with their tenders. At the entrances to this building are two immense tanks, which, when filled, contain 200 tons of water, supplied by the Birmingham Waterworks Company. There is likewise on this area a beautiful range of booking-offices, with separate waiting-rooms at either end for the passengers by the first and second class carriages. In addition to these buildings there is a noble edifice in course of erection at the main entrance to the station, intended as a general office for the meetings of the Directors, and a suite of rooms on the ground floor, which is set apart for refreshments, supplied to the passengers by Mr. Dee, of the Royal Hotel. One of the most striking features of the grand station is the magnificent shedding, supported by elegant pillars, erected by Mr. Bramah, the extreme lightness and beauty of which excites general admiration. It is capable of covering not less than sixty carriages, and is built on the same plan as that at the Euston-square terminus, but is much more spacious. The Commissioners of Birmingham intend to clear away several of the narrow and filthy streets in the immediate neighbourhood of the station, forming a grand thoroughfare to the centre of the town, and from the spirit with which the plan is taken up, there is every reason to believe that will be conceived and executed in a spirit worthy of the body with which it originates, and the great undertaking which called it into existence. To work the seventy miles of road now opened, the Company have already at their command about twenty-six powerful engines, a supply of steam power which, there is little reason to doubt, will obviate much of that inconvenience, and prevent many of those accidents which have marked the working of the Grand Junction line. Availing themselves of the hints which these mishaps have suggested, the Directors have likewise a numerous and effective body of police, who are placed under the direction of an active, experienced, and intelligent superintendent. The men on this establishment have been carefully selected

The first train started precisely three minutes past nine, (London time,) and as it cleared the station, was greeted with hearty cheers by immense crowds of persons who had assembled on every point which could command a view of its progress. At thirteen minutes past nine the train passed the Yardley viaducts, moving through a beautiful country at a rapid rate

Coventry Herald - Friday 13 April 1838 THE RAILWAY. In another part of our paper will found full and interesting particulars of the opening of the London and Birmingham Railway, on Monday last, the 9th of April. In addition to these particulars we may observe that the curiosity of the inhabitants of Coventry and its vicinity to witness this additional feature in the new era travelling, was most intense on the occasion ; for from the immense number of persons collected along all parts of the line, the day appeared to have been made an universal holiday. For an hour or two before the arrival of the first train, every eligible position for obtaining a view of the road was taken up by multitudes, anxious to obtain for the first time in their lives a glance at this novel, self-moving, but huge apparatus. At about five minutes before ten, the first train from Birmingham made its appearance, and the brilliant style in which it went along, gliding with the ease and velocity as it were on a sea of glass, elicited admiring bursts of applause from the crowds of spectators assembled to form a first opinion on travelling by steam. As it approached the station, within the distance of a few yards the pace gradually slackened, and finally stopped for the exchange of passengers, which occupied about six or eight minutes, and the train proceeded forward to Rugby. Another train arrived from Birmingham at a few minutes before two o'clock ; and at about a quarter-past four the first train from London made its appearance, heavily loaded. It will be observed that this was considerably beyond the time at which they were expected ; but the delay is accounted for by the loss of time in the repeated changings of passengers and luggage from the trains to coaches, and from coaches to trains, for the distance from Denbigh Hall to Rugby. The distances, where no such process was required, were performed with an extraordinary punctuality to the regulated time for starting and arrival, especially when it is considered to have been the first day's business on the line. The train from London to Birmingham reached the Coventry station a little after nine in the evening. The day being fine, was in perfect keeping with the temper of the spectators, and the scene was altogether cheerful and animated. Some temporary erections for the supply of eatables, and to meet the demands of the thirsty, were set up on the turnpike road near the station ; but with one exception

What goes around comes around. The original Birmingham station was located in Curzon Street. That site, including remnants of the original station building will be the location of the Birmingham HS2 station. There are some artists impressions of this new station in the latest edition of Modern Railways.

The project for a line of railway from London to Birmingham in 1824 was inopportune. The scheme was set aside for five years, railways were not considered safe investments and the public were not yet infected by the railway mania. The year 1830 saw two rival schemes offered, one through Coventry, one through Banbury/Oxford. The choice was left to George Stephenson, he opted for Coventry, more likely to pay, being more direct, and less mileage. Opposition was on every side - Northampton for one, the Freemen of Coventry another, but it did cross their land. The station, and the line kept at some distance, did not have to pay town rates. By escaping the city they got into the Fletchamstead valley, and easier levels, the tunnel passing through the neck of the ridge kept costs down. But it was thrown out by the House of Lords in 1832, but by paying people higher from 250,000 to 750,000 they went ahead. May 1833, under five contracts, the line completed in 1838. The building at the top of Station Road becoming the original station on the Coventry side, a shed on the other, the house near the bridge the booking office, a decent way down the bank a line of steep flights of stairs. The design of railway carriage, three stage coaches into one vehicle. About 1860 extensive alterations. the distance from the town a great drawback.

Robert Stevenson was chief engineer at a salary of £1500 per annum. The line was formally opened on 15th Sept 1938. The line was extended eastwards in 1860, the Station Master was Mr McIver, who seldom wore the staff uniform, he was dressed in black with top hat.