A railway town , or railroad town , is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site.
80-470: Crewe ( / k r uː / ) is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire , England. The civil parish of Crewe had a population of 55,318 in the 2021 census . The larger Crewe built-up area, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston , Shavington cum Gresty and Wistaston , had a total population of 76,437 in 2021. Crewe
160-585: A specialist technology and arts academy, and St. Thomas More Catholic High School , specialising in mathematics and computing and modern foreign languages. Railway town During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporary, " Hell on wheels " towns, made mostly of canvas tents, accompanied the Union Pacific Railroad as construction headed west. Most faded away but some became permanent settlements. In
240-661: A hub for the inland south and Hallsberg as a hub for the interior middle of the country. For Norway, towns such as Bryne on the west coast, Lillestrøm and Ås in the east and south of Oslo are good examples, while Skjeberg still identifies as a railway town even though no trains stop that any longer. In Victorian Britain , the spread of railways greatly affected the fate of many small towns. Peterborough and Swindon became successful due to their status as railway towns; in contrast, towns such as Frome or Kendal remained small after being bypassed by main lines. Some entirely new towns grew up around railway works. Middlesbrough
320-577: A large border station is Chiasso. Examples of railway cities in France are Tergnier and Miramas. Examples of a railway town by its border station is Cerbère, where the tracks of the Spanish broad gauge end. In Belgium, the town of Montzen is of outstanding importance in railway transport. As of 2021 Lithuanian census , 8 settlements in Lithuania have the legal classification of a Railway Station, with
400-455: A municipal concern. Workers organised their own institutions such as clubs, trade unions and co-operatives to gain independence from company control; they became the basis for political opposition in railway towns. Railway towns due to traffic junctions are Aulendorf, Bebra, Betzdorf, Buchloe, Falkenberg/Elster, Freilassing, Hagen, Hamm, Lehrte, Offenburg, Plattling and Treuchtlingen. Railway towns as locations of depots for pusher locomotives at
480-470: A new town there. The railway company built much of the early town itself in the 1840s and 1850s. Although the nascent town was in the township of Monks Coppenhall rather than the Crewe township, it was known as Crewe from the start. The modern town of Crewe was thus named after the railway station, rather than the other way round. In 1859 the township of Monks Coppenhall was made a local board district , giving
560-515: A presence in the park include Air Products , Barclays , and Fujitsu . The 12 acre Crewe Gates Industrial Estate is adjacent to Crewe Business Park, with smaller industry including the ice cream van manufacturer Whitby Morrison . The Weston Gate area has light industry and distribution. Marshfield Bank Employment Park is to the west of the town, and includes offices, manufacturing and distribution. There are industrial and light industrial units at Radway Green. The town has two small shopping centres:
640-562: A section dedicated to Crewe news. The local radio station is The Cat broadcasting on 107.9FM from the Cheshire College South and West building covering the town along with Nantwich and other local settlements. Other radio stations that cover the area include Cheshire's Silk Radio from Macclesfield, Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire (formerly Signal 1) and Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire from Stoke-on-Trent and BBC Radio Stoke . Cheshire has adopted
720-401: A series of YMCAs in the late nineteenth century in response. In some cases, a railroad town would be started by the railroad, often using a separate town or land company , even when another town already existed nearby. The population of the existing town would shift to the railroad town. This would create a boon for the town company and its railroad founder, which would sell off lots near
800-489: A weekly Mass in Polish ) and two Baptist . There is a museum dedicated to Primitive Methodism in the nearby village of Englesea-Brook . The Jacobean mansion Crewe Hall is located to the east of the town near Crewe Green . It is a grade I listed building, built in 1615–36 for Sir Randolph Crewe . Today, it is used as a hotel, restaurant and health club. There is a multiplex Odeon cinema on Phoenix Leisure Park on
880-550: Is Manchester Airport , which is 30 miles (48 km) away; Liverpool John Lennon Airport is 40 miles (64 km) away. Crewe Heritage Centre is located in the old LMS railway yard for Crewe railway station . The museum has three signal boxes and an extensive miniature railway with steam, diesel and electric traction. The most prominent exhibit of the museum is the British Rail Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train . The Grade II-listed Edwardian Lyceum Theatre
SECTION 10
#1732765827293960-718: Is Entroncamento. Simeria in Romania grew into a city through new railway facilities. After the First World War, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy disintegrated and the state of Czechoslovakia was created. In 1920, Czechoslovakia was granted some areas of Austria close to the border, including the railway station of the Lower Austrian town of Gmünd with the surrounding district. From this the new town České Velenice developed. The reason for drawing
1040-494: Is a five-minute walk from the shopping centre. It has a weekly footfall of approximately 100,000 visitors. A planned redevelopment of Crewe's town centre, including the current bus station and main shopping area, was abandoned because of "difficult economic conditions" during 2008. There were also plans to revamp the railway station which involved moving it to Basford . This was pending a public consultation by Network Rail scheduled for autumn 2008, but no such public consultation
1120-560: Is in the Domesday Book , where it is written as Creu . The original settlement of Crewe lies to the east of the modern town. It was a township in the parish of Barthomley . The original settlement of Crewe later became known as Crewe Green to distinguish it from the newer town to its west. The town of Crewe owes its existence to Crewe railway station , which opened in 1837 on the Grand Junction Railway . When
1200-518: Is in the centre of Crewe. It was built in 1911 and shows drama, ballet, opera, music, comedy and pantomime. The theatre was originally located on Heath Street from 1882. The Axis Arts Centre is on the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) campus in Crewe. It relocated from the university's Alsager Campus when it closed. The centre has a programme of touring new performance and visual art work. The Axis centre closed at
1280-661: Is known as the West Coast Main Line . The LNWR's network also extended into Wales and Yorkshire . 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 company was formed on 16 July 1846 by the London and North Western Railway Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. cciv), which authorised the amalgamation of
1360-546: Is located less than a mile from the town centre, although it was not incorporated into the then Borough of Crewe until 1937. It is one of the largest stations in the North West and is a major interchange station on the West Coast Main Line . It has 12 platforms in use. The station is served by several train operating companies : Crewe is on the A500 , A530 and A534 roads; it is located less than 5 miles (8 km) from
1440-550: Is on Pyms Lane to the west of town. As of early 2010, there are about 3,500 working at the site. The factory used to produce Rolls-Royce cars, until the licence for the brand transferred from Bentley's owners Volkswagen to rival BMW in 2003. There is a BAE Systems Land & Armaments factory in the village of Radway Green near Alsager , producing small arms ammunition for the British armed forces. The headquarters of Focus DIY , which went into administration in 2011,
1520-671: Is perhaps best known as a large railway junction and home to Crewe Works ; for many years, it was a major railway engineering facility for manufacturing and overhauling locomotives, but now much reduced in size. From 1946 until 2002, it was also the home of Rolls-Royce motor car production. The Pyms Lane factory on the west of the town now exclusively produces Bentley motor cars. Crewe is 158 miles (254 km) northwest of London , 28 miles (45 km) south of Manchester city centre, and 31 miles (50 km) southeast of Liverpool city centre. The name derives from an Old Welsh word criu , meaning ' weir ' or 'crossing'. The earliest record
1600-770: The Tea & Sugar train ran weekly. The Hamilton suburb of Frankton is located at the junction of the North Island Main Trunk and the East Coast Main Trunk . Frankton was originally an independent borough but it merged with Hamilton Borough in 1917. In the 20th century, Frankton was a busy railway town, with both industrial and passenger uses. Frankton includes a historic area of 1920s pre-fabricated cottages originally built for railway workers. London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway ( LNWR , L&NWR )
1680-586: The Chester and Holyhead Railway and became responsible for the lucrative Irish Mail trains via the North Wales Main Line to Holyhead . On 1 February 1859, the company launched the limited mail service, which was only allowed to take three passenger coaches, one each for Glasgow, Edinburgh and Perth. The Postmaster General was always willing to allow a fourth coach, provided the increased weight did not cause time to be lost in running. The train
SECTION 20
#17327658272931760-704: The Dearne Valley Railway ) and at the same time absorbed the North London Railway and the Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company , both of which were previously controlled by the LNWR. With this, the LNWR achieved a route mileage (including joint lines, and lines leased or worked) of 2,707.88 miles (4,357.91 km). The company built a war memorial in the form of an obelisk outside Euston station to commemorate
1840-661: The District Railway at Earl's Court and over the route to Richmond. With the Bakerloo Tube Line being extended over the Watford DC lines , the railway was electrified at 630 V DC fourth rail . The electricity was generated at the LNWR's power station in Stonebridge Park and a depot built at Croxley Green. The LNWR became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) railway when
1920-597: The Grand Junction Railway acquisition of the North Union Railway in 1846, the London and North Western Railway operated as far north as Preston. In 1859, the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway amalgamated with the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and this combined enterprise was leased to the London and North Western Railway, giving it a direct route from London to Carlisle. In 1858, they merged with
2000-592: The Grand Junction Railway , London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway . This move was prompted, in part, by the Great Western Railway 's plans for a railway north from Oxford to Birmingham. The company initially had a network of approximately 350 miles (560 km), connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester. The headquarters were at Euston railway station . As traffic increased, it
2080-496: The Inter City network , such as the main lines from London to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Carlisle, collectively known in the modern era as the West Coast Main Line . These were electrified in the 1960s and 1970s, and further upgraded in the 1990s and 2000s, with trains now running at up to 125 mph. Other LNWR lines survive as part of commuter networks around major cities such as Birmingham and Manchester. In 2017 it
2160-473: The M6 motorway . Bus services in Crewe are operated predominantly by D&G Bus ; their routes link the town with Congleton (route 42), Leighton Hospital (12), Macclesfield (38), Nantwich (84X) and Northwich (31/37). Stagecoach Merseyside & South Lancashire runs route 84 to Chester and First Potteries operate a single service (route 3) running to Stoke-on-Trent, via Kidsgrove. The closest airport to Crewe
2240-606: The Midland Railway , which based all their engineering works, as well as their company headquarters, in the town; a large area of the town was built by the company architect, Francis Thompson . Crewe grew greatly after the Grand Junction Railway Company moved there in 1843; the two rural towns that became Crewe had a population of 500 in 1841 and the population had reached more than 40,000 by 1900. The railway town of 'New Swindon' displaced
2320-533: The comprehensive school model of secondary education, so all of the schools under its control cater for pupils of all levels of ability. Until the late 1970s Crewe had two grammar schools , Crewe Grammar School for Boys, now Ruskin High School and Crewe Grammar School for Girls, now the Oaks Academy (formerly Kings Grove School). The town's two other secondary schools are Sir William Stanier School ,
2400-615: The station at a substantial profit, often before the railroad ever arrived at the new townsite. Such is the case with Durango , Colorado . In the spring of 1880, William Bell of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad scoured the La Plata County area in the vicinity of Animas City, located on the Animas River . When negotiations to acquire land through the local homesteaders fell through, Bell acquired property downstream to
2480-663: The unitary authority , Cheshire East Council ; at parish level, since 4 April 2013, local matters have been dealt with by Crewe Town Council , which is based at 1 Chantry Court, Forge Street, Crewe, CW1 2DL. Crewe applied for City status as part of the Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours in 2022. The application was unsuccessful and Crewe remains a town. Like most of the United Kingdom, Crewe has an oceanic climate , with warm summers and cool winters and relatively little temperature change throughout
Crewe - Misplaced Pages Continue
2560-758: The 1870s successive boomtowns sprung up in Kansas , each prospering for a year or two as a railhead , and withering when the rail line extended further west and created a new endpoint for the Chisholm Trail . Becoming rail hubs made Chicago and Los Angeles grow from small towns to large cities. Sayre, Pennsylvania and Atlanta, Georgia were among the American company towns created by railroads in places where no settlement already existed. In western Canada, railway towns became associated with brothels and prostitution, and concerned railway companies started
2640-581: The 1890s, bringing the total to 15. The LNWR described itself as the Premier Line. This was justified, as it included the pioneering Liverpool and 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 railway company of its era. With
2720-575: The 3,719 of its employees who died in the First World War. After the Second World War, the names of the LMS's casualties were added to the LNWR's memorial. The LNWR were also involved in the mass manufacture of replacement legs in the mid 19th century and the early 20th century. This is due-to the routine demand for prostheses for disabled staff. Serious injuries that resulted in the loss of limbs were common at this time with over 4,963 casualties in
2800-594: The German Reichsbahn established the station Neu Bentschen, which functions as a border station and as a junction for three lines leading to the west. Since there was no larger town near the new station, the Deutsche Reichsbahn had a railway settlement built, which subsequently grew into a town. It was given the name Neu Bentschen (today Zbąszynek). An example of a railway town in Portugal
2880-611: The LNWR owned the 26-mile (42 km) Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway , which connected to other lines of the Irish mainline network at Dundalk and Newry. The LNWR also had the Huddersfield Line connecting Liverpool and Manchester with Leeds , and secondary routes extending to Nottingham , Derby , Peterborough and South Wales . At its peak just before World War I , it ran a route mileage of more than 1,500 miles (2,400 km), and employed 111,000 people. In 1913,
2960-715: The Park (previously held at Tatton Park in 2018) in Queens Park. The 2020 event, which had been due to take place on 12 September, was cancelled on 20 May, due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North West and ITV Granada from the Winter Hill TV transmitter. The weekly Crewe Chronicle and the daily Sentinel newspapers cover the town. Cheshire Live, an online news source that covers news across Cheshire, also has
3040-521: The Rio Grande in La Plata County , still passes by the townsite. In Denmark , Sweden and Norway , a related concept is the stationsby or "station town". Stationsbyer are rural towns that grew up around railways, but they were based on agricultural co-operatives and artisan communities rather than on railway industries. Among the Swedish towns mostly influenced by railways include Alvesta as
3120-650: The Victoria Centre and the Market Centre. There are outdoor markets throughout the week. Grand Junction Retail Park is just outside the centre of town. Nantwich Road provides a wide range of secondary local shops, with a variety of small retailers and estate agents. The Market Centre is the largest shopping centre in Crewe. It is situated in the heart of the town centre with a few national retailers, including B&M , Poundstretcher and Peacocks . There are three large car parks nearby and Crewe bus station
3200-663: The border was the meeting of the railway lines to České Budějovice and Prague in České Velenice. Zhuzhou used to be a small town that sits next to the Xiang River in Hunan. The mining of Anyuan Coal Mines in Pingxiang, Jiangxi requires a rail line to transport the coals out of the coalfields and Zhuzhou became the destination. The railway transformed Zhuzhou into a prosperous industrial city in Hunan Province and one of
3280-653: The chances of promotion depend upon subserviency to the Tory political demands of the Management, they have created a state of political serfdom in the works." In December 1889, Liberal statesman William Ewart Gladstone wrote a letter to the Chronicle condemning the company's behaviour in the town. The railway provided an endowment towards the building and upkeep of Christ Church. Until 1897 its vicar, non-conformist ministers and schoolteachers received concessionary passes,
Crewe - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-459: The company achieved a total revenue of £17,219,060 (equivalent to £2,140,160,000 in 2023) with working expenses of £11,322,164 (equivalent to £1,407,230,000 in 2023). On 1 January 1922, one year before it amalgamated with other railways to create the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), the LNWR amalgamated with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (including its subsidiary
3440-476: The edge of the town centre, as well as a Mecca bingo hall and a Tenpin bowling alley. Queens Park is the town's main park; £6.5 million was spent on its restoration in 2010. It features walkways, a children's play area, crown green bowling, putting, a boating lake, grassed areas, memorials and a café. Jubilee Gardens are in Hightown and there is also a park on Westminster Street. In 2019, Crewe hosted Pride in
3520-527: The editor of the Crewe Chronicle published charges against Webb, saying "That through the action, direct and indirect, of Tory railway officialism, the political life of Crewe is cramped and hindered beyond recognition". In November 1889, Crewe Town Council debated a motion which accused LNWR managers of working with Crewe Tories "to crush Liberalism altogether out of the town": "... by intimidation and persecution of your Liberal workmen, and by making
3600-655: The end of the spring 2019 season with the withdrawal of MMU from the Crewe campus. The Box on Pedley Street is the town's main local music venue. Both the Lyceum Theatre and the Axis Arts Centre feature galleries. The private Livingroom art gallery is on Prince Albert Street. The town's main library is on Prince Albert Square, opposite the Municipal Buildings. Crewe has six Anglican churches, three Methodist , one Roman Catholic (which has
3680-574: The foot of gradient lines are Altenhundem or Neuenmarkt. Railway towns with large border stations are Freilassing or Weil am Rhein. Knittelfeld is a railway town based on main workshops, with the Austrian Federal Railways as by far the largest employer. Arnoldstein was once an important border station to Italy. Examples in Switzerland are Olten or as the location of a railway depot for push locomotives Erstfeld. One place with
3760-452: The largest of them being Panemunėlis (Railway Station) [ lt ] , which is larger than the nearby town of Panemunėlis . With its marshalling yard and other railway facilities on the international Brussels/Amsterdam-Luxembourg-Metz line, Bettemburg has gained great importance in transit traffic through Luxembourg. After World War I , the city of Bentschen (today Zbąszyń) was ceded by Weimar Germany to Poland . Subsequently,
3840-674: The most important rail hubs in China. Changchun in China was built by the Japanese, then occupying Manchuria, as a 'model town' as part of Japan's imperialist modernisation. The first railway town at Changchun was begun by the Russians in 1898, but it excluded Chinese residents. A second major railway town was designed and built from 1905 by the South Manchuria Railway , inspired by Russian railway towns such as Dalian . It
3920-410: The neighbouring parish of Crewe rather than the borough of Crewe until 1936. The borough boundary was significantly enlarged in 1936 to absorb the parish of Church Coppenhall and parts of several other neighbouring parishes, including the area of Crewe parish around the railway station. The reduced Crewe parish to the east of the town formally changed its name to Crewe Green in 1984. During World War II
4000-544: The neighbouring pre-existing town after the Great Western Railway moved there; a market town of 2,000 in 1840 became a railway town of 50,000 in 1905. Railways became major employers, with 6,000 people employed by them in Crewe in 1877 and 14,000 in Swindon in 1905. The growth of railway towns was often in the mould of the ' paternalistic employer ' providing housing, schools, hospitals, churches and civic buildings for their workers, similar to Cadbury's Bournville ; there
4080-636: The railroad arrived in August 1881, the train stopped in a jubilant Durango, not Animas City. The railroad pushed on up the Animas River, reaching Silverton in July 1882, passing through Animas City without a stop. Animas City subsisted as a de facto suburb of the Durango area before annexation by Durango in 1948. The Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad , a heritage railroad and successor to
SECTION 50
#17327658272934160-597: The railways of Great Britain were merged in the grouping of 1923. Ex-LNWR lines formed the core of the LMS's Western Division. Nationalisation followed in 1948, with the English and Welsh lines of the LMS becoming the London Midland Region of British Railways . Some former LNWR routes were subsequently closed, including the lines running east to west across the Midlands (e.g. Peterborough to Northampton and Cambridge to Oxford ), but others were developed as part of
4240-406: The route for the railway was being planned, alternative routes and locations for the main station in this area were considered; Winsford , 7 miles (11 km) to the north, had rejected an earlier proposal, as had local landowners in neighbouring Nantwich , 4 miles (6 km) away. The company then settled on the route through Crewe and the station was built in fields near Crewe Hall . The station
4320-449: The school having been established in 1842. The company provided a doctor's surgery with a scheme of health insurance. A gasworks was built and the works water supply was adapted to provide drinking water and a public baths . The railway also opened a cheese market in 1854 and a clothing factory for John Compton who provided the company uniforms, while McCorquodale of Liverpool set up a printing works. The railway station remained part of
4400-640: The site of a transport hub for the Phase 2a High Speed 2 (HS2) railway line, which received royal assent in 2021 with planned completion in 2027. The plan included a new HS2 railway station, surrounded by a commercial hub providing 37,000 jobs and 7,000 homes by 2043. However on 4 October 2023, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the cancellation of this phase of the HS2 development at the Conservative Party Conference . Crewe railway station
4480-472: The site once occupied by the works has been sold and is now occupied by a supermarket, leisure park, and a large new health centre. There is still an electric locomotive maintenance depot to the north of the railway station, operated by DB Cargo UK . The diesel locomotive maintenance depot , having closed in 2003, reopened in 2015 as a maintenance facility for Locomotive Services Limited , having undergone major structural repairs. The Bentley car factory
4560-426: The somewhat unusual states of affairs: "The place which is Crewe is not Crewe, and the place which is not Crewe is Crewe." The population expanded rapidly to reach 40,000 by 1871. In 1877 the Crewe local board district was incorporated to become a municipal borough . The town has a large park, Queen's Park (laid out by engineer Francis Webb ), the land for which was donated by the London and North Western Railway ,
4640-429: The south under more favorable conditions in the name of the Durango Land and Coal Company. By the end of the year, a Durango newspaper reported all of "Animas City is coming to Durango as fast as accommodations can be secured". The population, at the time estimated between 3,000 and 5,000 people, crammed into the little "box town", where the only permanent structures were saloons, dance halls, restaurants and stores. When
4720-403: The standard livery. This finish has been described as "blackberry black". Major accidents on the LNWR include: Minor incidents include: The LNWR operated ships on Irish Sea crossings between Holyhead and Dublin , Howth , Kingstown or Greenore . At Greenore, the LNWR built and operated the Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway to link the port with the Belfast–Dublin line operated by
4800-405: The strategic presence of the railways and Rolls-Royce engineering works (turned over to producing aircraft engines) made Crewe a target for enemy air raids, and it was in the flight path to Liverpool . The borough lost 35 civilians to these, the worst raid was on 29 August 1940 when some 50 houses were destroyed, close to the station. Crewe crater on Mars is named after the town of Crewe. Crewe
4880-430: The subsequent transfer of the provincial capital from historic city of Gongju made Daejeon grew into a major transportation hub in Korea. Korail 's headquarters is located in Daejeon. When the Trans-Australian Railway was built across the Nullarbor Plain in the 1910s, a series of towns were erected in South Australia and Western Australia to accommodate Commonwealth Railways ' employees. To provide supplies
SECTION 60
#17327658272934960-449: The successor to the GJR. It has been suggested that their motivation was to prevent the rival Great Western Railway building a station on the site, but the available evidence indicates otherwise. Webb took a great interest in local politics and was "the most influential individual in the town". "Described just before his retirement as 'the King of Crewe', Webb came to exercise control over the working lives of over 18,000 men - one third of
5040-484: The total LNWR workforce. Over half these lived in Crewe, around 8,000 being employed at the locomotive works. Several recreational and sporting organisations were a direct result of Webb's influence and others received benefit from his support." These included the LNWR Cricket Club (established in 1850) and the Crewe Alexandra Athletic Club (established in 1867). However, Webb's influence allegedly also extended to intimidation of Liberal Party sympathisers. In September 1885,
5120-408: The town its first form of local government. The district's name was changed from Monks Coppenhall to Crewe in 1869. Townships were redefined as civil parishes in 1866, and whilst the local board district was renamed in 1869 the civil parish was not. As such, there was a Crewe district which contained the parish of Monks Coppenhall, but did not contain the parish of Crewe. An old, local riddle describes
5200-401: The use of the water trough designed by John Ramsbottom . It was introduced on a section of level track at Mochdre, between Llandudno Junction and Colwyn Bay. The company inherited several manufacturing facilities from the companies with which it merged, but these were consolidated and in 1862, locomotive construction and maintenance was done at the Crewe Locomotive Works , carriage building
5280-522: The year of 1910 on the LNWR alone, and over 25,000 injuries across the whole industry, manufacturing prostheses resulted in self-sufficiency for the company. From 1909 to 1922, the LNWR undertook a large-scale project to electrify the whole of its London inner-suburban network. The London and North Western Railway London inner-suburban network, encompassed the lines from London Broad Street to Richmond, London Euston to Watford, with branch lines such as Watford to Croxley Green . There were also links to
5360-404: The year. The railways still play a part in local industry at Crewe Works , which carries out train maintenance and inspection. It has been owned by Alstom since 2021. At its height, the site employed over 20,000 people, but by 2005 fewer than 1,000 remained, with a further 270 redundancies announced in November of that year. Currently Alstom employs 6000 people across the UK and Ireland. Much of
5440-399: Was MP for Swindon for twenty years. Crewe was a 'company town' for its first few decades as workers moved in their thousands from other parts of the country. Most social amenities and organisations were sponsored by the railway, but moves such as the establishment of a town council in 1877 slowly reduced company influence and the railway company began to consider spending on town amenities as
5520-420: Was a "very rigid and unimaginative control" of the workers by GWR in Swindon. Workforces were loyal and obedient; industrial action in railway towns was rare because the workforce depended on the company. Railwaymen dominated local politics in railway towns, particularly Francis Webb 's 'Independent Railway Company Party' in Crewe and George Leeman in York. The chief mechanical engineer of GWR, Daniel Gooch ,
5600-466: Was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connected four of the largest cities in England; London , Birmingham , Manchester and Liverpool , and, through cooperation with their Scottish partners, the Caledonian Railway also connected Scotland's largest cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh . Today this route
5680-411: Was announced that the new franchisee for the West Midlands and semi-fast West Coast services between London and North West England would utilise the brand London Northwestern Railway as an homage to the LNWR. The LNWR's main engineering works were at Crewe (locomotives), Wolverton (carriages) and Earlestown (wagons). Locomotives were usually painted green at first, but in 1873 black was adopted as
5760-463: Was based on a rectangular system that contrasted with the circular walled town of old Changchun, and grid patterns became the standard for Chinese railway towns. The SMR developed dozens of railway towns in north-east China from 1906 to 1936, such as at Harbin and Mukden. Daejeon City in South Korea was a small village before the 1900s, the construction of Gyeongbu Line and Honam Line , and
5840-505: Was described by author Alan Garner in his novel Red Shift as "the ultimate reality". Crewe was mentioned in 1984 as the setting of the 19th episode The Flying Kipper , in the first series of Thomas & Friends . Crewe is within the United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency of Crewe and Nantwich . Crewe is within the ceremonial county of Cheshire . Since April 2009 Crewe has been administered by
5920-573: Was done at Wolverton and wagon building was concentrated at Earlestown . 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 . A ferry service also linked Holyhead to Greenore in County Louth, where
6000-509: Was done. The plan was abandoned and maintenance work was carried out on the current station instead. Cheshire East Council developed a new regeneration master plan for Crewe, which included the opening of a new Lifestyle Centre, with a new swimming pool, gym and library. After a £3 million refurbishment, the Crewe Market Hall re-opened its doors on 19 May 2021, the start of many new developments in Crewe. Crewe had been planned as
6080-466: Was greatly expanded with the opening in 1849 of the Great Hall, designed by Philip Charles Hardwick in classical style. It was 126 ft (38 m) long, 61 ft (19 m) wide and 64 ft (20 m) high and cost £150,000 (equivalent to £19,650,000 in 2023). The station stood on Drummond Street. Further expansion resulted in two additional platforms in the 1870s with four more in
6160-469: Was in the town. Off-licence chain Bargain Booze is also Crewe-based. It was bought-out in 2018 by Sir Anwar Pervez ' conglomerate Bestway for £7m, putting drinks retailing alongside its Manchester-based Well Pharmacy . Several business parks around the town host light industry and offices. Crewe Business Park is a 67-acre site with offices, research and IT manufacturing. Major corporations with
6240-510: Was in the township of Crewe, but the land north-west of the station was in the neighbouring township of Monks Coppenhall, which formed part of the parish of Coppenhall . The company built its main locomotive works to the north of Crewe railway station, and a " railway colony " soon started developing in the area north-west of the station. In 1840 Joseph Locke , chief engineer of the Grand Junction Railway, produced plans for
6320-559: Was the first new town to be developed due to the railways, growing from a hamlet of 40 into an industrial port after the Stockton and Darlington Railway was extended in 1830. Wolverton was fields before 1838 and had a population of 1,500 by 1844. Other examples of early railway towns include Ashford (Kent), Doncaster , Neasden and Rugby . Derby came to be dominated, first by the North Midland Railway , and later
6400-411: Was timed to leave Euston at 20.30 and operated until the institution of a dedicated post train, wholly of Post Office vehicles, in 1885. On 1 October 1873 the first sleeping carriage ran between Euston and Glasgow, attached to the limited mail . It ran three nights a week in each direction. On 1 February 1874 a second carriage was provided and the service ran every night. In 1860, the company pioneered
#292707