LONDON & GRAVESEND RAILWAY

LONDON. 5 Shares of £20. black. No 4481-85. Large vignette on the back depicting "The Proposed Gravesend Rail Road as it would appear in Greenwich Park from the Observatory Hill", G. Landmann Esq., Engineer.The proposal in 1835 was for a 25-mile-long line from Greenwich to Gravesend, a port on the south bank of the Thames estuary. The line was to have a connection with the London and Greenwich Railway, which was to allow the Gravesend line to use its station in the borough of Southwark (now London Bridge station). The company sold 30,000 shares of £5 each (£1 paid), and there were applications for no less than 80,000 shares. However, the company was replaced later in 1835 by a new company, the New Gravesend Railway Co., with some new directors, but all shares in the original company being replaced with shares in the new. In 1836 Parliament declined to pass the bill for this later company, which was liquidated, and it was not until 1845 that there was a rail service from London to Gravesend, to replace the coach-service, with the present station opening in 1849. One of the rarest and with the large vignette of the back, also one of the prettiest of all early British rails.

Condition: EF