The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway (B&GR) was the first name of the railway linking the cities in its name and of the company which pioneered and developed it; the line opened in stages in 1840, using a terminus at Camp Hill in Birmingham. It linked with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in Gloucester, but at first that company's line was broad gauge, and Gloucester was a point of the necessary but inconvenient transhipment of goods and passengers onto that became the national standard. Nearly all of the original main line remains active as a trunk route, also known as an arterial line.

Its main line incorporated the Lickey Incline of track climbing a 1-in-37 (2.7%) gradient, northbound (and descending in the other). The climb was a significant challenge for many heavy loads and less powerful engines during the era of steam traction.

Having attracted its own patronage and capital, and accomplished the full transformation and use of land, buildings, labour force, and rolling stock, it was acquired by the Midland Railway in 1846.

First proposals

The idea for a railway line between Bristol and Birmingham was put forward during the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. 78,000 tons of goods were conveyed from Birmingham to Bristol annually, a journey that took nearly a week, and the cost of the journey was high. At a meeting in Bristol on 13 December 1824 subscriptions were taken for a proposed Bristol, Northern and Western Railway. Investors, among which wealthy venture capitalists, were enthusiasts of the scheme and before the fund promoters' prospectus meeting closed, all the 16,000 shares allocated to Bristol were taken up. A further 9,000 shares were created, the subscription fee and paying-up of which was allocated to other locations, and the total amounted to £1.25 million (equivalent to £ million in ), in an era when cheap and plentiful labourers' and professional work would have enabled the construction of thousands of houses or road modifications (e.g. regular bridges) for such a sum. The company surveyed the route in 1825 but there was a financial crisis in 1826 in which investors asked for the project to be suspended, which the company did.

In 1832 the company advanced a new scheme; Isambard Kingdom Brunel was asked to survey a cheap route between Birmingham and Gloucester. He avoided the barrier of the Lickey Hills and his maximum gradient would have been 1 in 300. This scheme too failed to make progress due to lack of funds.

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway proposed

The idea was revived when in 1834 Captain W. S. Moorsom was engaged to survey a route; once again economy was considered to be essential, and his route avoided large towns thus lowered cost of the land. Bypassed townspeople expressed disappointment and Cheltenham was particularly vocal. Moorsom modified his intended route to provide it a station, but that was not considered convenient for the centre of the town, and a branch line was proposed. When the B&GR promoters refused to contemplate the expense of that, Pearson Thompson, a prominent Cheltenham resident and a member of the Gloucester Committee of the B&GR, offered to build it himself at his own expense.

Around Birmingham local politics and geographic factors proved easier; a connection to the London and Birmingham Railway close to the nascent city was agreed, moreover, L&BR agreed to shared use of their Curzon Street station on payment of a toll. As well as giving a direct connection to London, and over the Grand Junction Railway to the north west of England, this avoided the expense of constructing a new terminus in the city.

Moorsom estimated the cost of construction to be £920,000. Moorsom's route did climb the Lickey Ridge directly, involving a long climb. This was divided into two sections: at 1 in 54 worked by a stationary engine, and at 1 in 36 worked by a machine. there was also to be an inclined plane at Gloucester to reach a goods depot at the canal, and another at the connecting line to the L&BR in Birmingham, at 1 in 84.

In the 1836 session of Parliament, the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway's plans were likewise considered, and between Gloucester and Cheltenham the two companies proposed almost identical routing. They came to an arrangement by which they would collaborate in the construction. The line between Gloucester and Cheltenham was to be divided, the Cheltenham end being built by the Birmingham company and the Gloucester end by the C&GWUR. Each would build one of the stations and both would have freedom to run over the whole line and use both the stations. The means of dealing with the complexity of the different gauges was not fully specified at first.

A functional plateway tramroad ran between the two: the Gloucester and Cheltenham Tramroad that opened in 1810. As well as connecting the two, it had an important branch to quarries at Leckhampton, in the hills south of Cheltenham and terminus at the Gloucester docks. Stone for house building was in demand at the time. Acquisition of the tramroad was sought by the B&GR and the C&GWUR; its alignment was unsuitable for a main line railway but its dock trade and access were very attractive. The collaborative approach to building the new main line extended to the issue of acquiring the tramroad, and it was agreed to do so jointly, for the sum of £35,000.

Authorisation

thumb|The Lickey Incline about 1845

At this stage the line was conceived as a toll railway (on which independent carriers would run trains, paying the B&GR a toll for that right). The railway received royal assent for its act of Parliament, the (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. xiv), on 22 April 1836, with authorised capital of £950,000.

The Tewkesbury branch opened on 21 July 1840. It was horse-operated until 1844; doubletrack was installed in 1864 in connection with the construction of the Malvern and Tewkesbury line.

The Bristol and Gloucester Railway opened for passenger traffic on 6 July 1844; it used a platform, intended for the C&GWUR, on the north side of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway station there; the two lines crossed on the immediate approach to the stations.

Absorption by the Midland Railway

thumb|Camp Hill stationOn 24 January 1845 the Great Western Railway offered to buy the two companies; this would have resulted in the broad gauge being extended to Birmingham; and was declined. John Ellis of the Midland Railway encountered Edward Sturge and Joseph Gibbons while they were travelling to a second meeting with the GWR on 26 January. Ellis saw the opportunity and offered that his company would purchase the Gloucester companies, and offered to raise and spend 6% on their (own) capital of £1.8 million if discussions with the GWR were inconclusive. The GWR declined to increase their offer, and the Gloucester companies turned back to Ellis. The matter was ratified in Parliament in the 1846 session, and on 3 August 1846 the amalgamation Bill was passed.

Gough reports:

<blockquote>The Midland worked the service on the short section between Abbot's Wood Jcn and Worcester from its commencement. When the loop to Stoke Works Jcn was completed the company began to divide its passenger trains and run one section direct and one via Worcester. The trains separated and rejoined at the two junctions. By 1855 the service on the original line consisted of two trains in each direction between Bromsgrove and Abbot's Wood, making connections with trains running via the loop. From 1 October 1855 these services were withdrawn, and all regular passenger trains ran via Worcester. Goods trains and excursion traffic continued to run via Dunhampstead [the original main line]. The Dunhampstead line was re-opened for regular traffic on 1 June 1880 to allow some through trains to by-pass Worcester, but the intermediate stations were not re-opened for passenger traffic.

On 26 June 1845, a passenger train from Gloucester, hauled by one of the Philadelphian engines, ran head-on into a slow-moving "heavy, powerful" goods engine which was crossing the line from a siding, via a diamond crossing, at Camp Hill, Birmingham. The driver of the Gloucester train was badly hurt after jumping from his engine. Some passengers suffered minor injuries, mostly from flying glass. Both engines suffered only minor damage. The driver of the goods engine, John Garvie, was deemed at fault, but was discharged by magistrates on the grounds of previous good character. For the same reason the company demoted him to non-driving duties, rather than dismissing him.

Topography

  • Gloucester; opened 4 November 1840; closed 12 April 1896;
  • Churchdown; opened August 1842; closed September 1842; reopened 2 February 1874; closed 2 November 1964;
  • Badgworth; opened 22 August 1843; closed October 1846;
  • Hatherley Junction; divergence of curve to Banbury line (1906–1956);
  • Lansdown Junction; convergence of Banbury and Cheltenham Direct line (1881–1962); divergence of GWR line to St James station (1847 – 1966);
  • Cheltenham; opened 24 June 1840; sometimes known as Cheltenham Spa Lansdown; still open;
  • Cheltenham High Street; opened 1 September 1862; closed 1 July 1910
  • Swindon (Gloucestershire); opened 26 May 1842; closed 1 October 1844;
  • Cleeve; opened 14 February 1843; closed 20 February 1950;
  • Ashchurch; opened 24 June 1840; closed 15 November 1971; reopened 2 June 1997; still open; divergence of Tewkesbury branch (1840 – 1964); divergence of line to Evesham (1864–1963);
  • Ashchurch flat crossing (1864–1957);
  • Bredon; opened 24 June 1840; closed 4 January 1965;
  • Eckington; opened 24 June 1840; closed 4 January 1965;
  • Defford; opened 24 June 1840; closed 4 January 1965;
  • Besford; opened November 1841; closed after August 1846;
  • Pirton or Kempsey; opened November 1841; closed November 1844;
  • Wadborough; opened November 1841; closed 4 January 1965;
  • Worcester Junction; opened November 1850; renamed Abbot's Wood Junction March 1852; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Abbotswood Junction; divergence of spur towards Worcester (1850 -);
  • Norton; opened November 1841; closed August 1846;
  • Spetchley; opened 24 June 1840; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Bredicot; opened November 1845; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Oddingley; opened September 1845; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Dunhampstead; opened November 1841; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Droitwich; opened 24 June 1840; renamed Droitwich Road 1852; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Dodderhill; opened November 1841; closed 5 March 1844;
  • Stoke; opened about September 1840; soon renamed Stoke Works; closed 1 October 1855;
  • Stoke Works Junction; convergence of line from Droitwich Spa (1852 -);
  • Bromsgrove; opened 24 June 1840; still open;
  • Lickey Incline;
  • Blackwell; opened 5 June 1841; closed 18 April 1966;
  • Barnt Green; opened 1 May 1844; still open; convergence of Redditch branch (1859–);
  • Croft Farm; opened 17 September 1840; closed 17 December 1840;
  • Cofton; opened 17 October 1840 as temporary northern terminus; closed 17 December 1840; reopened November 1841; closed December 1843
  • Longbridge; opened November 1841; close 1 May 1849; reopened 1918; closed by 1927; reopened 8 May 1978; still open; convergence of Halesowen Railway (1883 – 1964);
  • Northfield; opened 1 September 1870; still open;
  • King's Norton; opened 1 May 1849; still open; divergence of West Suburban Line (1885 -); divergence of dive under to West Suburban Line (1876 – 1967);
  • Lifford East Junction; convergence of Lifford curve;
  • Lifford; opened ?; closed November 1844; reopened 28 September 1885; closed 30 September 1940;
  • Hazelwell; opened 1 January 1903; closed 27 January 1941;
  • Moseley; opened November 1841; renamed King's Heath 1 November 1867; closed 27 January 1941;
  • Moseley; opened 1 November 1867; closed 27 January 1941;
  • Brighton Road; opened 1 November 1875; closed 27 January 1941;
  • Camp Hill; opened by December 1844; renamed Camp Hill and Balsall Heath December 1867; renamed Camp Hill 1 April 1904; closed 27 January 1941; divergence of connecting line to London and Birmingham Railway (1841 -);
  • Camp Hill; opened 17 December 1840; closed 17 August 1841; closed to goods traffic 1970.

Connecting line to London and Birmingham Railway

  • Camp Hill (second station); above;
  • Bordesley Junction; convergence of joint line from GWR (1861–);
  • St Andrews Junction; divergence of connecting line to Birmingham and Derby Junction line, (1866–);
  • Gloucester Junction with London and Birmingham Railway.