In article ,
Phil Clark wrote:
I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

2nd leg of the west coast route, linking (IIRC) the London and Birmingham
with the Lancaster and Carlisle. Merged into the London and North Western
in the 1840s.

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting
money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair)

In article , (Mark
Brader) wrote:

Colin Rosenstiel writes:
Wasn't it an LNWR precursor?

Colin is perhaps thinking of the Grand Junction Railway, which ran
from Birmingham to Warrington or thereabouts.

Indeed. TVM.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Andrew Robert Breen wrote:
Phil Clark wrote:
I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

2nd leg of the west coast route, linking (IIRC) the London and Birmingham
with the Lancaster and Carlisle. Merged into the London and North Western
in the 1840s.

It was the Grand Junction Railway that ran north from Birmingham.
--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p9632798.html
("Toffee apple" 31 008 at Colchester, 20 Apr 1980)

In article ,
Chris Tolley wrote:
Andrew Robert Breen wrote:
Phil Clark wrote:
I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

2nd leg of the west coast route, linking (IIRC) the London and Birmingham
with the Lancaster and Carlisle. Merged into the London and North Western
in the 1840s.

It was the Grand Junction Railway that ran north from Birmingham.

Drat. You're right.

I think there /was/ a Grand Trunk Railway mooted for UK, but IIRC it
was one of the first or second mania schemes.

--
Andy Breen ~ Not speaking on behalf of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth
Feng Shui: an ancient oriental art for extracting
money from the gullible (Martin Sinclair)

In message , Mark Brader
writes
Ian Jelf:
(The company ran the original Toronto - Montreal line before Canada
became a Dominion as such when Ontario and Quebec were the provinces
of Upper and Lower Canada respectively. It was an important factor
in joining the two very different provinces.)

Canadian history nitpick: Upper and Lower Canada were already history
when the Grand Trunk was started in the 1850s.
My apologies, Mark. It *was* late when I wrote it and it's a *long*
time since I had to write essays about the parti bleu and parti rouge
and so on!

Sorry if I sounded like an uninformed Imperialist! ;-))
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Phil Clark wrote:
I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

Thanks,

Phil

Amazing! I was only in that same spot last week (waiting for a grand
old lady on the 159 route) thinking exactly the same thing. It is is
an impressive position, very high up on the building. Looks like it is
made of solid marble and that it will be there until the building gets
demolished.

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 22:46:48 GMT, Phil Clark
wrote:

I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

Thanks,

Phil

As others have noted, a Canadian railway (mostly). Chairman for a
while was Edward Watkin of Great Central fame. He seems to have
rescued GTR from collapse at one stage, but not permanently.
I believe it originally used a non-standard gauge, one broader than
usual, but how broad I do not know.
Watkin being his usual self got involved in other major events such as
the purchase of the Hudson Bay Company by the British Government, and
an attempt to run a telegraph line across Canada which did succeed but
was beaten to the post by a US route.
All this was around 1863 when he was still General Manager of the
Manchester Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later GCR).
Am I an historian, I hear you ask? No, but I have had to do a lot of
research whilst building up a talk with slides on how the railway came
to Gerrards Cross where the station celebrates its centenary next
year.

Guy Gorton

Guy Gorton writes:
I believe [the Grand Trunk] originally used a non-standard gauge,
one broader than usual, but how broad I do not know.

It was 5'6" (1.676 m), but at the time that was the local standard
gauge. It was called the "provincial gauge" and applied in the
Province of Canada -- today's southern Ontario and southern Quebec.
North American railways did not converge on the 4'8½" (1.435 m)
standard gauge until after the Civil War in the US. From a quick
look, I think http://www.vwl.uni-muenchen.de/ls_komlos/northam.pdf
would be a good source if you want to read about this process in
detail.

According to other Internet sources, the law requiring provincial
gauge was repealed in 1870 and the GTR converted in 1873.
--
Mark Brader | A standard is established on sure bases, not capriciously
Toronto | but with the surety of something intentional and of a logic
| controlled by analysis and experiment. ... A standard is
| necessary for order in human effort. -- Le Corbusier

My text in this article is in the public domain.

On Mon, 21 Nov 2005, Guy Gorton wrote:

On Sun, 20 Nov 2005 22:46:48 GMT, Phil Clark
wrote:

I noticed the other day that on the gable end of a building on Warwick
House Street, by the junction with Cockspur Street (and opposite the
Two Chairmen pub) there are the word "Grand Trunk Railway".

Does anyone know what this was, and was it a London railway, or was
this the London office of a national or regional company?

As others have noted, a Canadian railway (mostly). Chairman for a while
was Edward Watkin of Great Central fame. He seems to have rescued GTR
from collapse at one stage, but not permanently. I believe it originally
used a non-standard gauge, one broader than usual, but how broad I do
not know. Watkin being his usual self got involved in other major events
such as the purchase of the Hudson Bay Company by the British
Government, and an attempt to run a telegraph line across Canada which
did succeed but was beaten to the post by a US route. All this was
around 1863 when he was still General Manager of the Manchester
Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (later GCR).

Am I an historian, I hear you ask? No, but I have had to do a lot of
research whilst building up a talk with slides on how the railway came
to Gerrards Cross where the station celebrates its centenary next year.

Hang on - it came *via Canada*?



tom

--
When I see a man on a bicycle I have hope for the human race. --
H. G. Wells