- Lady of the Lake 2-2-2 Locomotive Class
- The most famous engine in the ‘7ft 6in Single’ or ‘Problem’ class
 was No.531 Lady of the Lake, since it was awarded a bronze medal at the International Exhibition in 1862. As a result, its name came to be used colloquially as the class name.
- Lamp Iron
- A bracket to mount a lamp. There will be a number of Lamp Irons on the front of locomotive, as later the pattern of lamps indicated the Train Class.
- Lamp Lighter
- A person whose job is to light gas or oil lamps, normally as evening approaches and it starts to become dark.
- Lamp Socket
- Lamps on LNWR locomotives were not hung on lamp irons; they had a peg on the base which fitted into a socket on the running plate or on the smoke box.
- Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (LYR)
- Incorporated in 1864. This line, opened in 1847, provided an outstanding example of a local railway developing into a revenue earner. Its earnings were almost as much as those of the Great Eastern and Great Northern railways; both of which had more than double the Lancashire and Yorkshire’s 600 miles of route. It was merged with the London and North Western Railway in 1921.
- Lancaster & Preston Junction Railway (LPJR)
- The stretch of line between those two towns which now forms part of the West Coast Main Line. Opened for public traffic on 26th June 1840, leased to the Lancaster Canal Company from 21st September 1842, and to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway from December 1844. Bitter disputes ensued until the LPJR was finally absorbed into the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway on 1st August 1859 and thus eventually became part of the LNWR in 1879.
- Lancaster & Carlisle Railway (LCR)
- Incorporated in 1844. Opened in 1846. Leased to LNWR in 1859 and vested in the company in 1879.
- Lansdowne side gangways
- Side gangway, wider than normal, used on Travelling Post Offices and similar vehicles. George Lansdowne patented his “improved gangway” on 26th July 1864 and for 14 years, until the patent expired, the Post Office paid a royalty of 15 shillings (75p) per gangway. Of course, this was long before passenger-carrying carriages were provided with gangway connections, but the first gangways between pairs of twin saloons, dining saloons etc. were arranged as side gangways. The inconvenience of side gangways was soon realised, and centre gangways soon became the standard for passenger stock, but side gangways remained in use for Post Offices (which had no need to couple with ordinary carriages) until the 1960s.
- Large Bloomer 2-2-2 Locomotive Class
- The most famous engines on the Southern Division were the ‘Bloomers’. They were inside-cylinder inside-frame single-wheelers and were designed by McConnell. The first to appear were the so-called ‘Large Bloomers’, introduced in 1851. See also Extra Bloomer, Large Bloomer, and Small Bloomer
- Large Jumbo 2-4-0 Locomotive Class
- A term usually applied to a class of 2-4-0 passenger tender engines with 6ft 6in driving wheels introduced by Webb in 1887 and officially described as ‘Improved Precedent’ class because they were a rebuilt and improved version of an earlier design, the first engine of which carried the name ‘Precedent’. Ramsbottom’s ‘Newton’ class 6ft 6in engines were also rebuilt into ‘Improved Precedents’, the two types then being identical. The word ‘Jumbo’ was probably coined because the engines were able to haul very large trains, and the word ‘Large’ set them apart from the similar engines with smaller driving wheels.
- Laycock’s ventilators
- Proprietary type of ventilator fitted to carriage roofs from 1895 onwards, designed to both admit and expel air, and often called ‘torpedo ventilators’ because of their shape.
- Leicester & Swannington Railway (LSR)
- Not part of LNWR.
- Level Crossing
- A place where a road (or, rarely in this country, a railway) crosses a railway line at the same level. Road level crossing gates were required by law from the very outset of railways, and a railway would not be authorised without the requirement to fence the line and provide gates and attendants. Many level crossings on important lines were later replaced by overbridges. Lifting barriers began to replace hinged gates in the 1950s and the first automatic half-barrier level crossing was introduced in 1961. Despite modernisation and closures there are still many hundreds of gated crossings extant today.
- Lever Frame
- A frame that holds levers. The levers usually control points and signals. The action of the levers is often restrained by interlocking.
- Lever Reverse
- Reversing Gear was originally controlled by a screw mechanism, which required much hard work when shunting. Lever Reverse controlled the Reversing Gear through a simple lever which is held in various positions using a notched plate. The new device was not without its problems, as it could kick back like a mule!
- Lime Street, Liverpool
- The Liverpool terminus of the LNWR, opened by the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1836 when Crown Street, the original station, was seen to be inadequate for the traffic expected on the route to Birmingham and the South.
- Lincrusta
- A thick, embossed type of wallpaper.
- Line Side
- Next to the track.
- Liverpool & Manchester Railway (LMR)
- Incorporated 1826. One of the earliest railways, and following the Rainhill Trials the first to adopt steam locomotives (such as Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’) as opposed to “fixed engines“. Opened 1829, amalgamated into the Grand Junction Railway in 1845, which in turn was absorbed by the LNWR in 1846. Still an important route today.
- Liverpool Road, Manchester
- The original Manchester terminus of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, used only for goods once the connection to the Manchester and Leeds Company’s station, Victoria, was opened in 1844.
- Livery
- The external paint colour and style of decoration on railway locomotives and vehicles. Includes decoration such as lining and crests. Each railway company had its own particular ‘house style’ although this did change over time.
- L.N.W.R.S.
- London and North Western Railway Society.
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