London and North Western Railway

The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway. In the late 19th century the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the world.

In 1923 it became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway, and, in 1948, the London Midland Region of British Railways: the LNWR is effectively an ancestor of today's West Coast Main Line.

Overview

The LNWR described itself as the Premier Line. This was justified as it included the pioneering Liverpool & Manchester Railway of 1830, and the original LNWR main line linking London, Birmingham and Lancashire had been the first big railway in Britain, opened throughout in 1838. As the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom, it collected a greater revenue than any other company.

At its peak just before World War I, it ran a route mileage of more than 1,500 miles, and employed 111,000 people. At the core of the LNWR system was the main line network connecting London Euston with the major cities of Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, and (through co-operation with the Caledonian Railway) Edinburgh and Glasgow. This route is today known as the West Coast Main Line. The LNWR also ran the main connection between Britain and Ireland via the North Wales Main Line to Holyhead and handled the Irish Mail. A ferry service also linked Holyhead to Greenore in County Louth, where the LNWR owned the 26-mile Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway, which connected to other lines of the Irish mainline network at Dundalk and Newry.

Arriva TrainCare

Arriva TrainCare, formerly LNWR is a railway rolling stock maintenance company. Formed in 1993 by Pete Waterman, it is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains a Deutsche Bahn company.

History

In 1993, Pete Waterman formed LNWR to provide maintenance for locomotives and rolling stock for specialist and charter operators from premises in Crewe. In 1999, it began maintaining rolling stock for train operating companies. In 2004 a facility in Leeds was opened to service Freightliner Class 66s, this was later sold to Freightliner.

In November 2008, LNWR was sold to Arriva UK Trains. Following a restructure, DB Schenker's facilities in Bristol, Cambridge, Eastleigh and Newcastle also became part of LNWR.

Today as well as servicing trains for Arriva UK Trains subsidiaries, it services rolling stock for Bombardier Transportation (CrossCountry and Virgin Trains Class 220/221 Voyagers), Freightliner (Class 86s and 90s) and Siemens (London Midland Class 350s). It also conducts heavy overhauls on rolling stock.