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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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LMS Route: Grand Junction Railway LMS Route: Birmingham
New Street to Lichfield LMS Route: Birmingham-Soho-Perry
Barr-Birmingham
Vauxhall & Duddeston Station: lnwrvd1505
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View of Vauxhall station serving as the Grand Junction
Railway's temporary Birmingham terminus in 1837. The drawing, which is full of
detailed technical errors, shows just one platform that would have been used
for both arrivals and departures. This was a common design feature in early
railways (see images 'lnwrk160' and 'lnwrlave1374') as passenger traffic was not
anticipated to be very demanding. In fact the first return train from
Birmingham to Liverpool didn't occur until the 4th July 1837 In fact the first
railways were built on the premis that the main revenue earning traffic was
freight. It is believed that the bridge in the distance is Duddeston Mill Road.
The fact that the artist did not know too much about railways can be seen by
the fact that there are FIVE rails shared between two sets of tracks on the
right. The platform in the centre of the four road shed was in all probability
for railway staff rather than passengers being too narrow to accommodate the
hustle and bustle of arriving or departing traffic.
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