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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Coventry to Leamington
Route History
For Nuneaton to Coventry
click here and for Coventry to
Leamington click here.
Line History
The Warwick and Leamington Union Railway was incorporated on
18th June 1842 to build an 8½ mile single branch line from Coventry to
the two towns. Each town in its own way being considered important by the
promoters of the company. Warwick was the county town and the political centre
of the county whilst Leamington was the fashionable inland Spa. The London to
Birmingham Railway took over the WLUR on 3rd April 1843 prior to its opening
9th December 1844. The terminus was located at Milverton, half-way between the
two towns, whilst there was one intermediate station at Kenilworth. Preston
Hendry and Powell Hendry in 'LMS Stations' note that although the GWR in 1852
had broken the monopoly of the LNWR at Leamington, the L & B's successor,
the construction of the Rugby to Leamington branch and the linking of the two
lines as a through route restored a measure of importance. The development of
Leamington as a fashionable outer suburb to Birmingham was likened by Preston
Hendry and Powell Hendry to being a modest version of the Blackpool and
Manchester relationship. The doubling of the lines to Kenilworth Junction, the
construction of the 'cut off' to Berkswell, the opening of the branch to Weedon
all took place in the early 1880s reflecting the growth in traffic.
Robin Leach in 'Rails to Kenilworth and Milverton' notes
that Kenilworth had become a popular tourist attraction being the destination
of factory outings, foreign visitors as well as the 'more local well-to-do's'.
This growth was by necessity serviced by the LNWR and it was recorded on August
Bank Holiday in 1884 that 3000 people arrived by train with 5 excursions trains
alone from Birmingham, one of which carried an estimated 1300 passengers. To
put this into context, the population of Kenilworth was just 4150. Harry Jack
in 'Locomotives of the LNWR Southern Division' notes the number of passenger
trains on the line during the first 20 years of its life. In 1844 there were 6
trains each way during the week with 2 on Sundays. The following year, 1845,
saw 7 weekdays with 2 on Sundays. The period 1850 to 1863 saw 9 trains each way
during the week whilst the number of services running on a Sunday grew from 2
in 1850, 3 in 1852 to 4 in 1863.
The opening of the Kenilworth to Berkswell branch to freight
on 2nd March 1884 coincided with the opening of the doubled line from
Leamington to Kenilworth. In 1916 the LNWR doubled the line from Coventry to
Gibbet Hill leaving just a short section, Gibbet Hill to Kenilworth Junction,
as a single track branch. Rumour had it that this was a deliberate attempt by
the LNWR to keep out the GWR presumably as their locomotives were alleged to be
wider and out of gauge. Photographs taken in the early 1960s at Coventry
Station of a GWR 2-8-0 coming off the branch put paid to the issue of gauge.
The more likely reason is that the cutting at Gibbet Hill was very deep and the
construction work would, in the view of Robert Dockray, the LNWR's surveyor,
required great judgement and care. The cost of excavating the cutting would
therefore have been quite expensive so the alternative of a short single line
would have been a cheaper and viable option.
Robin Leach quotes Robert Dockray's letter in full as it
describes the route in detail from Coventry to Milverton. The line was surveyed
in 1847 just 10 weeks after the proposed doubling of the line was authorised by
an Act of Parliament. As Robin Leach writes, it is an interesting letter
because Dockray undertook the survey just after three years after the original
line was complete. The letter provides a comprehensive picture of the line
before doubling, an eventuality which was only in part to be carried out and
nearly four decades later when the southern part of the line was doubled.
THE WARWICK & LEAMINGTON RAILWAY
The following appeared in the Coventry Herald on 13th
December 1844
On Monday last, this line, connecting Coventry, Kenilworth,
Leamington, and Warwick, by means of the London & Birmingham Railway, with
the Metropolis, was opened. The line is about nine miles long, and 10 from
town, being within four hours’ journey of the Metropolis. It has been
constructed under the superintendence of Mr Robert Stephenson, is what is
technically termed a single line, has cost £170,000, and has taken
eighteen months to complete. On Monday week, the Directors of the London and
Birmingham made an experimental trip over it, accompanied by Major-General
Pasley, the Government Inspector of railways, starting by the six o'clock a.m.
train from London, and after examining the most important points upon the line,
reached Leamington at twelve, and partook of a cold collation. They returned by
special train to town, General Pasley expressing himself highly satisfied with
the works and general engineering. One of the main advantages of this extension
will be the facilities it will confer on the inhabitants of the southern
districts of Warwickshire for the economical supply of coals.
The line is of a singular construction, being a continued
series of ascents and descents, forming an undulating surface from terminus to
terminus. Kenilworth, the only station between Coventry and Leamington, is five
miles from the former, and three and three quarters from the latter, is
situated on the outskirts of the town. The Leamington station is elegantly
constructed in the Roman Doric style, and is situated in the main road between
Leamington and Warwick, in the parish of Milverton, near to Emscote. A
continued series of cuttings and embankments occur throughout the distance. The
branch diverges, by a sharp curve, out of the main line at Coventry, and
preserves an undulating course to Leamington, a perpetual impetus being kept up
between the ascents and descents. One of the principal works is that of the
Milburn viaduct, prettily situated in the middle of a valley, and composed of
seventeen arches of red brick, faced with stone. Then following a timber bridge
of fifty feet span, uniting the roads of Leek Wooton, Hill Wooton, and
Stoneleigh, with Guy's Cliffe so named after the celebrated Earl of Warwick.
The Avon viaduct, a beautiful structure, is composed of nine arches of sixty
feet span, in the neighbourhood of the Honourable BG Percy. The Leamington
station is somewhat inconveniently placed at a distance of one mile from both
Leamington and Warwick, and the fact of its being only a single line is
probably attributable to the high price of land in this neighbourhood, which in
some instances had to be purchased at £700 and £800 per acre.
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