Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway (GNR ) was a British railway company that existed from 1846 to 1922. The length of the route network was 1692 km. Its main line ran from London via Hitchin, Peterborough, and Grantham to York, with an alternative route from Peterborough via Boston and Lincoln to Bawtry south of Doncaster, and branch lines to Sheffield and Wakefield. Today Much of the GNR main line is the East Coast Main Line. The main workshops were in Doncaster.
History
The first section of the GNR was opened in 1848 between Louth and Grimsby in 1849 followed the route from Peterborough to Doncaster via Lincoln. Opened in 1850, the GNR the routes London - Peterborough and Doncaster - York. 1852, the main route between London and Doncaster was completed in the same year the London King's Cross Central Station was opened.
The opening of the direct route Peterborough - Grantham - Retford took place in 1853 and by buying other companies or by acquiring the rights pushed the GNR to Bradford, Cambridge, Halifax, Leicester and Nottingham before. 1857 met the GNR with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway ( MS & LR) an agreement and was then able to offer high-speed trains from London to Sheffield to Manchester. From 1858, the Midland Railway used the GNR main line to the south of Hitchin section.
In the late 1850s, the GNR had access to all the major cities in West Yorkshire. The profits from the transportation of coal between this area and London led the Great Eastern Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to plan your own original route from Doncaster by Lincolnshire. The British Parliament rejected this plan in 1865 and 1871, however. The GNR turn, founded in 1865 together with the MS & LR and the Midland Railway ( MR), a joint subsidiary, the Cheshire Lines Committee ( CLC) to control rail traffic in the corridor between Manchester and Liverpool.
The GNR grew up in the 1870s on, with the construction of new CLC routes and the expansion of the route network in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire, was the operation in this region, together with the London and North Western Railway. By purchasing the Eastern and Midlands Railway in 1889 (together with the MR), obtained the GNR access to Norfolk.
In order to provide direct trains to Scotland, cooperated the GNR 1860 with the North Eastern Railway and the North British Railway; the three companies acquired rolling stock with uniform technical specifications in order to allow a continuous operation on the East Coast Main Line. The most important express trains went from 1862 until at 10 clock from London King 's Cross and Edinburgh Waverley. In the 1870s, these trains were known as the Flying Scotsman. 1879 led the GNR one of the world's first dining car, from 1881 they converted the wagons with vacuum brakes.
The GNR was also active in the suburbs of North London. In 1867 she took over the Edgware, Highgate and London Railway to turn off potential competition. The route took originally from Finsbury Park via Finchley Edgware, 1872 was a branch line added to High Barnet. Following a decision taken in 1875 agreement with the North London Railway, the GNR had let pervert the right trains to Broad Street station in the City of London.
Most profit the GNR obtained with the freight, mainly with the transport of coal. To this end, it established large freight yards in Doncaster, Colwick ( Nottingham ), New England ( Peterborough ) and Ferme Park ( London).
With the entry into force of the Railways Act 1921, the GNR went on in the London and North Eastern Railway on 1 January 1923.