Private company
Birmingham and Gloucester Railway
British railway company (1839–1847)
The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill in Birmingham. It linked with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in Gloucester, but at first that company's line was broad gauge, and Gloucester was a point of the necessary but inconvenient transhipment of goods and passengers onto 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge that became the national standard.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 20, 2026.
Overview
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The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill in Birmingham. It linked with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in Gloucester, but at first that company's line was broad gauge, and Gloucester was a point of the necessary but inconvenient transhipment of goods and passengers onto 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge that became the national standard. Nearly all of the original main line remains active as a trunk route, also known as an arterial line.2
Products and brands
Night mail trains started running from 6 February 1841, by contract to the Postmaster General.
In 1842 the strained UK economy witnessed a massive fall in passenger carryings which continued in 1843. This cut or delayed B&GR outlay due to investor confidence.
The Bristol and Gloucester Railway opened on 8 July 1844. The fact of a through rail route between Birmingham and Bristol, albeit for the time being with a break of gauge at Gloucester, heralded the decades of busy goods traffic.
The Bristol and Gloucester Railway and the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway obviously had a mutual interest, and discussions took place over the amalgamation of the two companies. This was "agreed" on 14 January 1845 but Parliament made way for other Bills to be scheduled (it failed Standing Orders). The two worked in informal collaboration.
From Wikipedia’s article on Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Acquisitions
- Succeeded by Midland Railway1
Controversies and legal
Accidents and incidents
On 10 November 1840, the boiler of locomotive Surprise exploded at Bromsgrove. Two people were killed.
On 26 June 1845, a passenger train from Gloucester, hauled by one of the Philadelphian engines, ran head-on into a slow-moving "heavy, powerful" goods engine which was crossing the line from a siding, via a diamond crossing, at Camp Hill, Birmingham. The driver of the Gloucester train was badly hurt after jumping from his engine. Some passengers suffered minor injuries, mostly from flying glass. Both engines suffered only minor damage. The driver of the goods engine, John Garvie, was deemed at fault, but was discharged by magistrates on the grounds of previous good character. For the same reason the company demoted him to non-driving duties, rather than dismissing him.
From Wikipedia’s article on Birmingham and Gloucester Railway, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3
Links
- WikipediaBirmingham and Gloucester Railway
- More imagesWikimedia Commons
- WikidataQ4916856
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
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