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History of Curzon Street station

Birmingham to London Line

The first train arrived from London on 17 September 1838. Passengers were issued with gauze spectacles to protect their eyes as the train passed through tunnels. One of these tunnels was the impressive Kilby Tunnel, south east of Rugby. This tunnel in itself was a massive feat of engineering and over 30 million bricks were used in its construction and the structure weighed almost 120 tons.

  • The line was engineered by Robert Stephenson.
  • The London to Birmingham railway line took 20,000 men over 4 years to complete.
  • The cost of line was £19,000 per mile (around £1.8 million in today's money).
  • Once completed the project cost around £6 million (£500 million today)
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