Articles of Agreement dated 1st July 1849

n.p. n.p. 1849, 1841. Four sheets of vellum with fine 19th century law copyist's italic handwriting. 715x570mm. The sheets are bound together at the foot of each sheet with green ribbon and thread. The seal of the South Staffordshire Company (on red wax) is rather cracked while that of the LNWR is on red seal paper. The final page of the document is a plan. The whole is lovely condition, clean, fresh and clear. This is an agreement between The London and North Western Railway Company and The South Staffordshire Railway Company. The LNWR had been formed in 1846 out of the merger of various smaller railway companies. The 1830s and early 1840s had been a chaotic time in the creation of the rail industry as many different companies were vying for new lines and the huge profits they could bring. The present agreement is to enable the South Staffordshire Railway to run its traffic over over line owned by the LNWR between Walsall Junction and Birmingham and to use LNWR buildings at Vauxhall near Birmingham. Documents such as this demonstrate the complexity of the British rail system in the 19th century with its large number of micro-agreements creating a vast web of train traffic.