Formed by the merger of the Grand Junction Railway , the London & Birmingham and the Manchester & Birmingham in 1846. It was known as the ‘Premier Line’, disputed by many, but as the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom, collecting a greater revenue than any other company and having the Liverpool & Manchester as one of its ancestors (the L&M was a constituent of the GJR), it deserved the title. It served some of Britain’s largest cities, London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh (the Scottish cities were served through cooperation with the Caledonian Railway). It also handled the Irish Mail for the Government between Euston to Holyhead.

The coaches which the company built for Queen Victoria and her descendants are on display at the National Railway Museum.

Its locomotives painted ‘blackberry black’ and coaches in their ‘purple lake’ livery gave it a distinctive appearance amongst the all red Midland Railway, and the green, chocolate and cream of the Great Western. Unfortunately, few LNWR locomotives have been preserved, as most were withdrawn when in the ownership of the LMS.