page_title: Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway
section_title: A GWR route at last
hierarchical_section_title: Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway / A GWR route at last
caption_attribution_description: English: Wellington Railway Station (in Wellington) taken on the platform.
context_page_description: The Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway was authorised in 1846. It agreed to joint construction with others of the costly Wolverhampton to Birmingham section, the so-called Stour Valley Line. This work was dominated by the hostile London and North Western Railway, which used underhand and coercive tactics. The section between Shrewsbury and Wellington was also built jointly, in this case with the Shropshire Union Railway.
  The S&BR opened from Shrewsbury to its own Wolverhampton terminus in 1849. The Stour Valley Line was still delayed by the LNWR, but the S&BR eventually got access to it in 1852. By this time it was obvious that the LNWR was an impossible partner, and the S&BR allied itself to the Great Western Railway, which reached Wolverhampton in 1854. The S&BR merged with the GWR in 1854. With the S&BR and other absorbed railways, the GWR obtained a through route between London and the River Mersey at Birkenhead, and to Manchester and Liverpool by the use of running powers.
context_section_description: The opening of the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway in 1854 finally gave the S&BR access southwards to the GWR, and the LNWR was at last powerless to frustrate the S&BR in the Birmingham area. The Wolverhampton Junction Railway was an essential part of the connection. It was three-quarters of a mile long and connected the southward course of the S&BR at Stafford Road Junction into the Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway, at Cannock Road Junction. It was wholly owned by the Great Western Railway.
  Its course passed through the S&B locomotive and carriage works at Stafford Road; this was quite new, and many modern buildings were demolished to make way for the new connecting line. It opened in on 14 November 1854, at the same time as the BW&DR. It was mixed gauge; OW&WR broad gauge trains required access to Victoria Basin, and the headshunt into the Basin sidings was the northernmost point of the GWR broad gauge.
caption: Wellington station
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