Stanley Jenkins: 27 books

Formed in 1864 by the amalgamation of the Oswestry & Newtown, Newtown & Machynlleth, Llanidloes & Newtown and several other railway companies, Cambrian Railways was the largest independent railway in Wales, with a long, winding, single-track main line that extended from Whitchurch in the...

The Chester & Holyhead Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1844, and the promoters were thereby empowered to build an 85-mile line along the North Wales coast, the engineer for the line being Robert Stephenson. The C&HR was, from its inception, intended to form part of a rail...

The Cornwall Railway was authorised on 3 August 1846 with the aim of constructing a broad gauge rail link between Plymouth, Truro and Falmouth. After many vicissitudes, the railway was ceremonially opened between Plymouth and Truro on 2 May 1859. Meanwhile, further to the west, an entirely separate...

LEEDS to CARLISLE – The line from Leeds to Carlisle furnished the Midland Railway with an independent route to Scotland, in opposition to the rival London & North Western line. The railway extends for 113 miles, the easternmost sections having been constructed by the Leeds & Bradford and...

As authorised in 1835, the Great Western Railway extended from London to Bristol, but from the very earliest days, ambitious promoters were planning a whole series of extensions to destinations such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Cornwall and South Wales. These extensions were, in most cases, built...

The obvious success of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway demonstrated that steam railways were a safe, fast and efficient form of transport, and by the end of the 1830s ambitious entrepreneurs were planning a multiplicity of railways up, down and across the land. At first, the new railways were...

Approved in May 1833 at the same time as the London & Birmingham Railway, the Grand Junction Railway was intended to act as a link between the London & Birmingham and the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Built under the guidance of Joseph Locke, the Grand Junction was opened along its complete...

Incorporated by Act of Parliament in 1835 and completed just six years later, the Great Western Railway was a stupendous technical achievement. Extending for 118 miles from London to Bristol, this magnificently engineered line spanned Southern England from the Thames to the Bristol Channel, and was...

Authorised on 8 May 1833, the London & Birmingham Railway was one of Britain’s first great trunk lines. Engineered by Robert Stephenson (1803-1859), the L&BR line was regarded at the time of its construction as ‘the Eighth Wonder of the World’. The route was opened in stages; the first...

The Manchester & Leeds Railway was sanctioned by Parliament in 1836 as a railway commencing at Manchester and terminating at Normanton, from where trains would reach Leeds via the North Midland Railway. Although Leeds is only 35 miles from Manchester, the hilly nature of the surrounding terrain...

The Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway originated during the 'Railway Mania' years of the mid-1840s, when ambitious landowners and industrialists conceived the idea of a main line link between London and the West Midlands industrial areas. With Isambard Kingdom Brunel as its engineer, the...

Situated in Wiltshire on the banks of the River Kennett, the picturesque market town of Marlborough is a place of considerable antiquity, with a history dating back to prehistoric times. Marlborough was once a famous coaching town, but the development of railways during the early Victorian period...

Although, in pre-Grouping days, Oxfordshire was primarily Great Western territory, the county was also served by the Buckinghamshire branch of the London & North Western Railway, which was in many ways a 'foreign' intruder. The line was completed to its western terminus at Oxford Rewley Road in...