RARE Engraved Illus 4pg Letter Stationary Birmingham UK Railway Station 1850s

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RARE Engraved Illus 4pg Letter Stationary Birmingham UK Railway Station 1850s:
$85.00

RARE Original Engraved Stationary / Letterhead
Lovely Engraved Scene
Central Railway Station
Birmingham, EnglandSigned Umfreville - engraver
Published by James Granger - 40 Islington
ca. 1850s
Folds open - 4 pgs.

For offer, a very nice old piece of staionary! Fresh from an old prominent estate. Never offered on the market until now. Vintage, Old, Original - NOTa Reproduction - Guaranteed !! I am listing several of these that came together from an old Victorian era estate in Rochester, NY.

Opens up - 4 pgs. Unused. Printer imprint and date at bottom of scene. Measures just under 8 x 5 inches when closed. In very good / excellent condition. Please see photos and scans for all details and condition. If you collect19thcentury art history, English writing, letters, steel engraved prints, etc.this is a nice one for your paper or ephemera collection. Combine shipping on multiple offer wins! 4013

The first railway stations
1839 map, showing the warren of streets lost to the new station, including Peck Lane, New Inkleys and Dudley Street (Note that north is not at the top of the map.)New Street station was built in central Birmingham by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) between 1846 and 1854, on the site of several streets in a marshy area known as "The Froggery"; it replaced several earlier rail termini on the outskirts of the centre, most notably Curzon Street, which had opened in 1838 and was no longer adequate for the level of traffic.[6] Samuel Carter, solicitor to both LNWR and the Midland Railway, managed the conveyancing.
The LNWR originally shared the station with the Midland Railway; however, in 1885, the Midland Railway opened its own extension alongside the original station for the exclusive use of its trains, effectively creating two stations side by side. The two companies' stations were separated by a central roadway, Queens Drive.[6] Traffic grew steadily and, by 1900, New Street had an average of 40 trains an hour departing and arriving, rising to 53 trains in the peak hours.[7]
Original LNWR stationLondon and Birmingham Railway (New Street Station) Act 1846
Birmingham New Street station as pictured in the Illustrated London News on 3 June 1854
The station in 1855, featured in the New Survey of the Borough of Birmingham. Great Queen Street, running along the south face of the building, would become Queen's Drive, in the middle of the joint station.In 1846, the LNWR had obtained an act of Parliament, the London and Birmingham Railway (New Street Station) Act 1846 (9 & 10 Vict. c. ccclix), to extend their line into the centre of Birmingham, which involved the acquisition of some 1.2 hectares (3 acres) of land and the demolition of around 70 houses in Peck Lane, The Froggery, Queen Street and Colmore Street.[8] The Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion chapel, on the corner of Peck Lane and Dudley Street, which had only been built six years before,[9] was also demolished.[10] The station was formally opened on 1 June 1854,[11] although the uncompleted station had already been in use for two years as a terminus for trains from the Stour Valley Line, which entered the station from the Wolverhampton direction. On the formal opening day, the LNWR's Curzon Street station was closed to regular passenger services and trains from the London direction started using New Street.[6]
The station was constructed by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co. and designed by Edward Alfred Cowper of that firm, who had previously worked on the design of the Crystal Palace. When completed, New Street had the largest arched single-span iron and glass roof in the world, spanning a width of 211 feet (64 m) and being 840 ft (256 m) long.[6][11] It held this title for 14 years until St Pancras station opened in 1868. It was originally intended to have three spans, supported by columns; however, it was soon realised that the supporting columns would severely restrict the workings of the railway. Cowper's single-span design, was therefore adopted, even though it was some 62 feet (19 metres) wider than the widest roof span at that time.[12][13] George Gilbert Scott praised Cowper's roof at New Street, stating "An iron roof in its most normal condition is too spider-like a structure to be handsome, but with a very little attention this defect is obviated. The most wonderful specimen, probably, is that at the great Birmingham Station…"[14] When first opened, New Street was described as the "Grand Central Station at Birmingham" by Richard Foster.[15]
The internal layout of tracks and platforms was designed by Robert Stephenson and his assistants; the station contained a total of nine platforms, comprising four through and five bay platforms.[6] The main entrance building on Stephenson Street incorporated Queens Hotel, designed by John William Livock, which was opened on the same day. It was built in an Italianate style and was originally provided with 60 rooms. The hotel was expanded several times over the years and reached its final form in 1917, with the addition of a new west wing.[11][16] The scale of the station at this time was documented in the station's entry in the 1863 edition of Bradshaw's Guide:[17]
The interior of this station deserves attention from its magnitude. The semicircular roof is 1,110 feet long, 205 feet wide and 80 feet high, composed of iron and glass, without the slightest support except that afforded by the pillars on either side. If the reader notices the turmoil and bustle created by the excitement of the arrival and departure of trains, the trampling of crowds of passengers, the transport of luggage, the ringing of bells and the noise of two or three hundred porters and workmen, he will retain a recollection of the extraordinary scene witnessed daily at Birmingham Central Railway Station.
The roof of the original station was strengthened with additional steel tie bars during 1906–07, as a precaution following the collapse of a similar roof which killed six people at Charing Cross station in 1905.[18]