92-709: Midland Hotel is the name of several English hotels. Many were former railway hotels constructed by the Midland Railway . It may refer to: Midland Railway The Midland Railway ( MR ) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 . The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby , where it had its headquarters. It amalgamated with several other railways to create
184-514: A branch led to the MR Nottingham station. The Great Northern Railway by then passed through Grantham and both railway companies paid court to the fledgling line. Meanwhile, Nottingham had woken up to its branch line status and was keen to expand. The MR made a takeover offer only to discover that a shareholder of the GN had already gathered a quantity of Ambergate shares. An attempt to amalgamate
276-516: A demand from passengers came as something of a surprise to the directors, but a carriage was hastily built, and very soon the line was carrying about 60 passengers a day and their fares were repaying one per cent of the capital. In time, both first and second class was provided. On payment of the fare at the departure station, each passenger would receive a metal token marked with the destination. This would be given up on arrival and reused. Small four-wheeled wagons and coaches, painted plain blue, comprised
368-763: A few miles north of Matlock in 1849. However the M&;BR had become part of the LNWR in 1846, thus instead of being a partner it had an interest in thwarting the Midland. In 1863 the MR reached Buxton, just as the LNWR arrived from the other direction by the Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway . In 1867 the MR began an alternative line through Wirksworth (now the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway ), to avoid
460-557: A gradient of 1 in 17 against the load The line was standard gauge, with fish-bellied rails on half-round oak cross-sleepers, but longitudinal timbers were used in Glenfield Tunnel. Construction began almost immediately but soon ran into trouble, particularly with the tunnel. Initial boring had suggested that it would not need a lining. However, it turned out that about 500 yards (460 m) would be through sand, requiring much more expensive construction, and in fact doubling
552-655: A junction with the 4 ft 2in gauge Ticknall Tramway at Worthington to the foot of the Swannington incline. Leleux states that it never made a physical connection with the L&;SR. However Hartley states that by November 1833 the first loads of coal from the Coleorton Railway were being worked up the Swannington incline, though by teams of horses due to problems with the winding engine., and Clinker states that L&SR traffic returns show 138 tons of coal from
644-554: A sixteen-mile line could be built for £75,540. Subscriptions amounting to £58,250 were raised at this meeting. The remainder of the £90,000 necessary for the construction of was raised through Stephenson's financial contacts in Liverpool . The act of incorporation for the line, the Leicester and Swannington Railway Act 1830 ( 11 Geo. 4 & 1 Will. 4 . c. lviii), obtained royal assent on 29 May 1830. Authorised share capital
736-523: A total of £140,000. The engineer for the railway was Robert Stephenson , with the assistance of Thomas Miles, while George Stephenson raised part of the capital for the line from businesspeople in Liverpool. The line was to run from West Bridge, in Leicester, at a location alongside the navigable River Soar; the intention was to be able to continue the transit of coal by water. The line was to run to
828-545: Is a marvel of Gothic Revival architecture , in the form of the Midland Grand Hotel by Gilbert Scott , which faces Euston Road , and the wrought-iron train shed designed by William Barlow . Its construction was not simple, since it had to approach through the ancient St Pancras Old Church graveyard. Below was the Fleet Sewer, while a branch from the main line ran underground with a steep gradient beneath
920-636: The Bedford to Hitchin Line , joining the GN at Hitchin for King's Cross. The line began its life in a proposition presented for the shareholders by George Hudson on 2 May 1842 as: "To vest £600,000 in the South Midland Railway Company in their line from Wigston to Hitchin." a full decade before realisation. The delay was partly due to the withdrawal of GN's interest in the competing scheme,
1012-639: The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway found a place elsewhere in Hudson's empire with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway , though he later returned. The MR was in a commanding position having its Derby headquarters at the junctions of the two main routes from London to Scotland, by its connections to the London and Birmingham Railway in the south, and from York via the York and North Midland Railway in
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#17327646890531104-514: The London, Midland and Scottish Railway at grouping in 1923. The Midland had a large network of lines emanating from Derby, stretching to London St Pancras , Manchester , Carlisle , Birmingham , and Bristol . It expanded as much through acquisitions as by building its own lines. It also operated ships from Heysham in Lancashire to Douglas and Belfast . A large amount of the Midland's infrastructure remains in use and visible, such as
1196-563: The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway in 1912. It had running rights on some lines, and it developed lines in partnership with other railways, being involved in more 'Joint' lines than any other. In partnership with the GN it owned the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway to provide connections from the Midlands to East Anglia, the UK's biggest joint railway. The MR provided motive power for
1288-763: The Midland Counties Railway , the North Midland Railway , and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway , the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway joined two years later. These met at the Tri-Junct station at Derby, where the MR established its locomotive and later its carriage and wagon works. Leading it were George Hudson from the North Midland, and John Ellis from the Midland Counties. James Allport from
1380-655: The Midland Main Line and the Settle–Carlisle line , and some of its railway hotels still bear the name Midland Hotel . The Midland Railway originated from 1832 in Leicestershire / Nottinghamshire , with the purpose of serving the needs of local coal owners. The company was formed on 10 May 1844 by the Midland Railway (Consolidation) Act 1844 ( 7 & 8 Vict. c. xviii) which merged
1472-728: The North British Railway had built the Waverley Line through the Scottish Borders from Carlisle to Edinburgh. The MR was obliged to go ahead and the Settle to Carlisle opened in 1876. The Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway opened for goods traffic on 1 December 1879 and for passenger traffic on 1 March 1880. By the middle of the decade investment had been paid for; passenger travel
1564-615: The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway , and was a one-third partner in the Cheshire Lines Committee . In 1913, the company achieved a total revenue of £15,129,136 (equivalent to £1,880,400,000 in 2023) with working expenses of £9,416,981 (equivalent to £1,170,440,000 in 2023). With the onset of the First World War in 1914, unified Government control of the Midland, and all the main line railways,
1656-551: The Bedford and Leicester Railway, after Midland purchased the Leicester and Swannington Railway and the Ashby Canal and Tramway, which were to have been the feeder lines. With the competition thwarted there was less rush to have this line as well as its branch lines to Huntingdon (from Kettering) and Northampton (from Bedford) finished. Both these branches were subsequently built by independent companies. While this took some of
1748-578: The Bristol to Birmingham route. While the two parties were bickering over the price, the MR's John Ellis overheard two directors of the Birmingham and Bristol Railway on a London train discussing the business, and pledged that the MR would match anything the Great Western would offer. Since it would have brought broad gauge into Curzon Street with the possibility of extending it to the Mersey, it
1840-698: The Coleorton Railway were conveyed on the L&SR in November 1833 and assumes that this used the incline. The Coleorton Railway ceased working during 1860, and part of its course was operated as a siding from the Ashby to Derby line, which opened in 1874, following a similar alignment to the Ticknall Tramway. Other branches were made: they were the Bagworth Colliery branch, opened in July 1832;
1932-603: The Ibstock Colliery branch, opened in 1832; the Long Lane (Whitwick) Colliery branch, opened in 1833; and a branch to Snibston Colliery, opened in 1833. Two further branches to Snibston were built up to 1850; they were followed later by the Nailstone Colliery branch, opened in 1866, and Ellistown Colliery Branch, opened about 1875–1876. Five locomotives were built by Robert Stephenson and Company for
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#17327646890532024-400: The L&SR on 1 January 1847. The Midland Railway had acquired 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 miles of railway, eight locomotives, six carriages, and twelve goods vehicles. The line was not physically connected to any other railway. In July 1847 the Midland got Parliamentary authorisation to make a new railway from Leicester to Burton, incorporating part of the L&SR into the route. The L&SR
2116-408: The L&SR. They made a generous offer and they took possession in 1847. At first the Midland Railway line and the L&SR were not connected, but the Midland Railway constructed a route from its main line to Burton, using part of the L&SR. The MR by-passed the inclines for its new route, but most of the other parts of the L&SR continued in use until 1966. The MR Burton line continues in use at
2208-634: The LNWR was settled before the Settle and Carlisle was built, but Parliament refused to allow the MR to withdraw from the project. The MR was also under pressure from Scottish railway companies, which were eagerly awaiting the Midland traffic reaching Carlisle as it would allow them to challenge the Caledonian Railway 's dominance on the West Coast traffic to Glasgow and Edinburgh. The Glasgow and South Western Railway had its own route from Carlisle to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock, whilst
2300-540: The LNWR, in what became known as the Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee . Continuing friction with the LNWR caused the MR to join the MS&;LR and the GN in the Cheshire Lines Committee , which also gave scope for wider expansion into Lancashire and Cheshire, and finally a new station at Manchester Central . In the meantime Sheffield had at last gained a main-line station. Following representations by
2392-463: The Leicester and Hitchin railway cost £1,750,000 (equivalent to £222,460,000 in 2023). By 1860 the MR was in a much better position and was able to approach new ventures aggressively. Its carriage of coal and iron – and beer from Burton-on-Trent – had increased by three times and passenger numbers were rising, as they were on the GN. Since GN trains took precedence on its own lines, MR passengers were becoming more and more delayed. Finally in 1862
2484-520: The MR joined with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway (M&BR), which was also looking for a route to London from Manchester, in a proposal for a line from Ambergate . The Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway , it received the Royal Assent in 1846, in spite of opposition from the Sheffield, Ashton-Under-Lyne and Manchester Railway . It was completed as far as Rowsley
2576-672: The MR was a connection between Sheffield and Manchester, by a branch at Dore to Chinley , opened in 1894 through the Totley and Cowburn Tunnels, now the Hope Valley Line . In the 1870s a dispute with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) over access rights to the LNWR line to Scotland caused the MR to construct the Settle and Carlisle line, the highest main line in England, to secure access to Scotland. The dispute with
2668-419: The Midland Railway supplied a proper branch train of six-wheel carriages hauled by a Midland 0-6-0 tender locomotive. The cross-sleepers were found to cause difficulties, especially in cuttings, and some sections were replaced with stone blocks. However the stone blocks required constant packing to maintain line, level and gauge, and were considered to be harder riding than timber sleepers. Nevertheless, some of
2760-548: The Midland Railway, successor to the Midland Counties Railway, made an offer to purchase the L&SR. The motivation of the Midland Railway was partly to exclude competing railways that might take on the L&SR. The offer was excellent, and the L&SR shareholders agreed on 20 August 1845. The Midland Railway (Leicester and Swannington Railway Purchase) Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. ccxliii) ratified it as from 27 July 1846. The Midland began working
2852-624: The Midland counties, and only the second south of Manchester, after the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway . A second act for the company, the Leicester and Swannington Railway Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. lxix), was obtained on 10 June 1833 giving authority to increase the share capital by £10,000. There was a third act of 30 June 1837, the Leicester and Swannington Railway Company Act 1837 ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. lxvi), which authorised £40,000 increase in share capital, making
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2944-432: The Midland, but it still had designs on Manchester. At the same time the LNWR was under threat from the GN's attempts to enter Manchester by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway . In 1850 the MR, though much more secure, was still a provincial line. Ellis realised that if it were to fend off its competitors it must expand outwards. The first step, in 1853, was to appoint James Allport as general manager, and
3036-839: The Old Groby Quarry, close to the centre of Groby village. Later extensions linked to other quarries in and near Groby: the Castle Hill Quarry (after 1870), the Bunney Hill Quarry, the Sheet Hedges Wood Quarry (1890s), and the Dowry Quarry (1907 to 1916). The wagons were hauled by a stationary engine at the summit of the hill beside the Ratby Road. The loaded wagons were pulled there from the quarries and then they ran downhill to
3128-539: The authorised line was called for. In addition, a rebate was offered to other coal owners whose workings were near to the open section but not connected by rail; the rebate was in recognition of the cost of road transport from those pits to the railway, and of the breakage of coal due to the additional transhipment. The rebate proved very effective and those pits forwarded considerably increased quantities. The usual train consisted of twenty-four wagons of 32 long hundredweight (1.6 t ) each. The idea that there would be
3220-545: The cart driver, and the engine struck it. Mr Baxter the line manager suggested the use of a steam trumpet or whistle and by Mr George Stephenson's instructions such an appliance was at once constructed by a local musical instrument maker and it worked satisfactorily. If this is factual, it would appear to be the creation of the first steam whistle. However many factories used steam power supplied by stationary steam engines to drive mill machinery, and it seems remarkable that steam whistles had not been in use to indicate for example
3312-518: The cities concerned were provided with a rail service, it would make it more difficult to justify another line. They were approved while the bill for the direct line was still before Parliament, forming the present day Lincoln Branch and the Syston to Peterborough Line . The Leeds and Bradford Railway had been approved in 1844. By 1850 it was losing money but a number of railways offered to buy it. Hudson made an offer more or less on his own account and
3404-532: The coalfields that became its major source of income. Passengers from Sheffield continued to use Rotherham Masborough until a direct route was completed in 1870. Meanwhile, it extended its influence into the Leicestershire coalfields, by buying the Leicester and Swannington Railway in 1846, and extending it to Burton in 1849. After the merger, London trains were carried on the shorter Midland Counties route. The former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway
3496-404: The colliery owners. There was to be one tunnel, at Glenfield , just over a mile in length. Nine underbridges and one overbridge would be needed, and sixteen level crossings over public roads. The line was to be single throughout, except at stations. The terrain was difficult, and due to the limited power of locomotives at the time, the line was built with two rope-worked inclined planes. One
3588-600: The company saying that he would be willing to make a line from the Coleorton colliery area to the L&SR at Peggs Green if the L&SR would meet the parliamentary costs of obtaining an authorising act of Parliament. The L&SR agreed to this arrangement and the Coleorton Railway received its authorising act of Parliament, the Coleorton Railway Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4 . c. lxxi), on 10 June 1833. It opened in 1834, using horse traction. It ran from
3680-466: The completion of the Grand Union Canal towards Rugby – were all supportive of Leicester's development. As early as 1790 a railway connection from Swannington was proposed: [On 12 July 1790] a meeting was held at the castle of Leicester in order finally to determine upon a general plan of navigation in this country. Lord Rawdon opened the business of the meeting... and laid before them
3772-471: The council in 1867 the MR promised to build a through line within two years. To the MR's surprise, the Sheffield councillors then backed an improbable speculation called the Sheffield, Chesterfield, Bakewell, Ashbourne, Stafford and Uttoxeter Railway. This was unsurprisingly rejected by Parliament and the Midland built its "New Road" into a station at Pond Street. Among the last of the major lines built by
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3864-660: The decision was taken for the MR to have its own terminus in the Capital, as befitted a national railway. On 22 June 1863, the Midland Railway (Extension to London) Bill was passed: The new line deviated at Bedford, through a gap in the Chiltern Hills at Luton , reaching London by curving around Hampstead Heath to a point between King's Cross and Euston. The line from Bedford to Moorgate opened for passenger services on 13 July 1868 with services into St Pancras station starting on 1 October 1868. St Pancras station
3956-508: The descent occupying eight or nine minutes. The Swannington incline was 48 chains in length on a gradient of 1 in 17. It was operated by a stationary steam engine. The engine developed problems at the end of November 1833, and arrangements were had to be made to get horses to haul wagons up the incline. The working of the incline was entirely suspended on 7 March 1834, when the Breedon Hill lime and Peggs Green coal traffics stopped using
4048-435: The directors, the company's only open second-class carriage and ten new coal wagons with improvised seats, conveying in all about 400 passengers. It left West Bridge at 10:00 and reached Bagworth at 11:00 "A slight delay was caused by the engine chimney striking the roof of the tunnel at a point where the platelayers had temporarily raised the track to pack a 'low' place. The train was halted specially at Glenfield Brook to enable
4140-543: The end of November 1833. There had previously been plans to extend at Leicester across the Leicester Canal to Soar Lane. The decision was taken to revive the Soar Lane branch on 22 October 1832. On 10 June 1833 the necessary act of Parliament was secured; an opening bridge was required over the Leicester Canal. The branch was brought into use on 4 October 1834. The Bagworth incline was 43 chains in length and
4232-460: The estimated cost of the tunnel. During its construction, on 5 April 1831, one of the contractors, Daniel Jowett, fell down a working shaft and was killed. Three separate contractors gave up their contracts and had to be replaced. The novelty of a tunnel attracted the interest of local people and in March 1832 temporary gates were placed at the entrances "so as to keep out intruders on Sundays until
4324-479: The gradient 1 in 29. It was self-acting: the loaded wagons descended by gravity, pulling up the lighter, empty ones by means of a hemp rope. The rope passed around a large horizontal pulley at the top. When a train from Leicester arrived at the Bagworth station at the foot of the incline, the locomotive was detached and the empty wagons connected to the rope. The loaded waggons had been brought by another locomotive to
4416-446: The junction with L&SR, speed being controlled by a brakesman. Two horses were aboard for the downhill journey; they drew empty wagons back up the incline. Sir George Beaumont owned lands and colliery workings at Coleorton, to the northwest of Swannington. He had anticipated that the Leicester and Swannington Railway would be extended to Coleorton, but the L&SR directors decided not to do so. On 28 September 1832 Beaumont wrote to
4508-658: The line gave the MR an exit to the north, which became the start of the Settle and Carlisle line, and it gave the MR a much more convenient station at Leeds Wellington . In spite of the objections of Hudson, for the MR and others, the "London and York Railway" (later the Great Northern Railway ) led by Edmund Denison persisted, and the bill passed through Parliament in 1846. In 1851 the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway completed its line from Grantham as far as Colwick , from where
4600-562: The line with the GN was foiled by Ellis, who managed to obtain an Order in Chancery preventing the GN from running into Nottingham. However, in 1851 it opened a new service to the north that included Nottingham. In 1852 an ANB&EJR train arrived in Nottingham with a GN locomotive at its head. When it uncoupled and went to run round the train, it found its way blocked by a MR engine while another blocked its retreat. The engine
4692-435: The line. The first was Comet , shipped from the works by sea and canal. The second engine, Phoenix , was delivered in 1832; both had four-coupled wheels. Phoenix was sold in 1835 to work in the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway . The next were Samson and Goliath , delivered in 1833. They were initially four-coupled, but were extremely unstable and a pair of trailing wheels were added. This 0-4-2 formation
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#17327646890534784-412: The magnitude of the undertaking: Although but a single line 16 miles long, it was only the fifth line to be authorised in England and was opened six years before Birmingham was connected to London by rail. The Glenfield Tunnel was by any standard a major undertaking, and in 1830 called for great courage on the part of the engineer and the proprietors. When completed it was the first locomotive railway in
4876-444: The merger of the standard gauge Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and the broad gauge Bristol and Gloucester Railway . They met at Gloucester via a short loop of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway . The change of gauge at Gloucester meant that everything had to be transferred between trains, creating chaos, and the C&GWU was owned by the Great Western Railway , which wished to extend its network by taking over
4968-550: The next was to shake off the dependence on the LNWR to London . Although a bill for a line from Hitchin into King's Cross jointly with the GN , was passed in 1847 it had not been proceeded with. The bill was resubmitted in 1853 with the support of the people of Bedford, whose branch to the LNWR was slow and unreliable, and with the knowledge of the Northamptonshire iron deposits. The Leicester and Hitchin Railway ran from Wigston to Market Harborough , through Desborough , Kettering , Wellingborough and Bedford , then on
5060-420: The north end of Swannington village, together with three colliery branches, to Whitwick , Ibstock and Bagworth . In addition there was to be a branch in Leicester to the North Bridge, although that was never made. The colliery branches, and the land acquisition for them, were authorised by the Leicester and Swannington Railway Act 1830, but the actual construction of them would be the financial responsibility of
5152-421: The north. Almost immediately it took over the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway and the Erewash Valley Line in 1845, the latter giving access to the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire coalfields. It absorbed the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway in 1847, extending the Erewash Valley Line from the latter between Chesterfield and Trent Junction at Long Eaton , completed to Chesterfield in 1862, giving access to
5244-486: The outline of a plan, viz., the [River] Soar to be made navigable to Loughborough , and a cut, or railway, from Swannington and the neighbourhood to the Bason at Loughborough. In the 1820s the Leicester Navigation was carrying 56,000 tons of coal annually for Leicester and 59,000 tons for other markets. There was good quality coal nearby around Swannington but no usable transport link, so it was cheaper to bring coal thirty miles by canal from South Derbyshire. William Stenson
5336-416: The passenger carriage was attached to these and the corresponding return loaded trips. Apparently, special passenger trips were run for a few weeks after opening, until the novelty of a train journey had worn off. At first only Bagworth colliery was connected to the line, and accordingly income from mineral traffic was far below what was planned. Pressing ahead with the construction of the northern section of
5428-424: The passengers, especially the ladies, to remove the effects of the enforced sojourn in the tunnel." The return journey conveyed two wagons of coal in addition. The general public were able to travel to Bagworth and back by a second special train at 16:30. On the next day, the ordinary train service started; this usually consisted of three empty wagon trains each weekday, leaving West Bridge at 08:00, 13:00 and 16:30;
5520-447: The permanent gates can be put up". A formal opening of the first part of the line took place on 17 July 1832; a passenger journey for proprietors and directors and their friends only, ran from the West Bridge terminus in Leicester to the summit level at Staunton Road crossing, a distance of 11 miles 55 chains (19 km). The inaugural train was drawn by the locomotive Comet and consisted of an open wagon specially covered in for use of
5612-414: The present day. The industry of Leicester was dominant in the county and the region generally, but it was limited by poor transport links. The developing industry brought about a huge demand for coal. During the closing years of the eighteenth century, the opening of turnpikes , and improvements to the River Soar – the Loughborough Navigation in 1778; the Leicester Navigation in 1791) and then in 1814
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#17327646890535704-432: The pressure off the route through Rugby, the GNR insisted that passengers for London alight at Hitchin, buying tickets in the short time available, to catch a GNR train to finish their journey. James Allport arranged a seven-year deal with the GN to run into King's Cross for a guaranteed £20,000 a year (equivalent to £2,410,000 in 2023), . Through services to London were introduced in February 1858. The construction of
5796-435: The problem of the Ambergate line. The section from Wirksworth to Rowsley, which would have involved some tricky engineering, was not completed because the MR gained control of the original line in 1871, but access to Manchester was still blocked at Buxton. At length an agreement was made with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) to share lines from a branch at Millers Dale and running almost alongside
5888-483: The railways in protest against a rate increase. However the traffic resumed on 11 May. Traffic at Swannington was never heavy, and the collieries there were soon worked out. The Coleorton Railway had been made to bring coal and other minerals from Worthington to Swannington, being transshipped to the L&SR, but this traffic ceased in 1860. Calcutta Colliery was the last to be closed, in 1892, but it had to continue being pumped out to prevent inundation of other pits in
5980-436: The rolling stock. For many years facilities for passengers remained primitive; tickets were procured at local inns; passenger carriages were attached to goods trains. At West Bridge carriages were drawn into a siding by horses once they had been detached from the goods wagons. It was well into the 1870s before a platform was provided, and the conveyance of passengers at the rear of coal trains continued until 1887. From that time
6072-446: The same day as the Leicester and Swannington Railway, joining the line about halfway between Glenfield and Ratby. The junction was made by a turntable into a loop siding off the L&SR main line. The branch closed around 1843. After the L&SR had been upgraded by the Midland Railway, the Groby branch was re-opened around 1866–1870. A proper running junction with sidings was put in place. The branch ran northward for over three miles, to
6164-428: The start and end of the working day. Clinker is dismissive of this story for several reasons; in particular the board minutes recorded considerable detail of trivial events, yet this is not reported. The L&SR had not faced competition for some time, but in 1835 the Midland Counties Railway was proposed, for a line from collieries in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire to Leicester and Rugby. The Midland Counties Railway
6256-420: The station to join the Metropolitan Railway , which ran parallel to what is now Euston Road. The construction of the London Extension railway cost £9,000,000 (equivalent to £1,022,840,000 in 2023). From the 1820s proposals for lines from London and the East Midlands had been proposed, and they had considered using the Cromford and High Peak Railway to reach Manchester ( See Derby station ). Finally
6348-475: The stone blocks continued in use until at least 1885. The remainder of the line from Staunton Road to Ashby Road opened on 1 February 1833 or a few days before that. From Ashby Road to Long Lane, Coalville, was opened on 22 April 1833 for coal traffic and on 27 April 1833 for passengers, completing the intended extent of passenger operation, as from that point to Swannington would be used for mineral traffic only. The continuation to Swannington probably opened at
6440-400: The symbols of Birmingham, Derby, Bristol, Leicester, Lincoln and Leeds. The wyvern , a legendary bipedal dragon, was used extensively as an emblem by the Midland, having inherited it from the Leicester and Swannington Railway . The MR, which used a wyvern sans legs (legless) above its crest, asserted that the "wyvern was the standard of the Kingdom of Mercia", and that it was "a quartering in
6532-444: The time of Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and Leicester ( c. 1278 –1322), the most powerful lord in the Midlands, who used it as his personal crest, and was recorded in a heraldic visitation of the town in 1619. Leicester and Swannington Railway The Leicester and Swannington Railway (L&SR) was one of England's first railways, built to bring coal from West Leicestershire collieries to Leicester, where there
6624-450: The top, and they were attached to the other end of this rope. Their greater weight pulled the empty ones to the top. In the middle of the incline there was a passing place and from this loop to the top there were three rails, the centre rail being common to both up and down movements; the object of this was to account for the width of the wheel and the position of the rope. 10 or 12 loaded waggons of about 6 tonnes each were run down at one time
6716-527: The town arms of Leicester". The symbol appeared on everything from station buildings and bridges down to china, cutlery and chamber pots in its hotels, and was worn as a silver badge by all uniformed employees. However, in 1897 the Railway Magazine noted that there appeared "to be no foundation that the wyvern was associated with the Kingdom of Mercia". It has been associated with Leicester since
6808-403: The vicinity. Coal was brought down the incline for the pumping engine, until electric pumps were installed in 1947, and the incline was closed on 14 November 1947. In 1843 a serious accident took place on the Bagworth incline. A train of goods wagons and an empty passenger carriage was being lowered down the incline when it slipped from the incline rope, and ran at high speed down the incline and
6900-486: The whole system was so overloaded that no one was able to predict when many of the trains would reach their destinations. At this point Sir Guy Granet took over as general manager. He introduced a centralised traffic control system, and the locomotive power classifications that became the model for those used by British Railways. The MR acquired other lines, including the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway in 1903 and
6992-400: Was Atlas, the first ever six-coupled inside cylinder design. These engines were more stable than their outside cylindered counterparts. So far all the engines had been provided by Stephenson, but the directors decided to try one of Edward Bury 's locomotives. An 0-4-0 , Liverpool, was delivered in 1834 but it proved unequal to the loads hauled by Atlas. The next engine bought for the line
7084-462: Was Vulcan, an 0-6-0 by Tayleur and Company . The last two were constructed by the Haigh Foundry , Ajax , 0-4-2 and Hector , 0-6-0 . The historian Clement Stretton relates that towards the close of the year 1833 a collision took place between a train at a cart crossing the line near Thornton. The engine was “Samson”. The engine driver had a horn but could not attract the attention of
7176-408: Was also used for Hercules, the next engine to enter service. These were the first six-wheeled goods engines with inside cylinders and, after the flanges were taken off the centre pairs of wheels, were so satisfactory, that Stephenson decided never to build another four-wheeled engine. By 1834, traffic had increased to such an extent that more powerful engines were needed and the next to be delivered
7268-485: Was at Bagworth; on a gradient of 1 in 29 it was self-acting, loaded wagons descending pulling up empty wagons. Originally it was to have been powered by a stationary steam engine. The top level was the summit of the line at an altitude of 565 feet (172m). The engine was built by the Horseley Coal and Iron Company ., and was equipped with a very early example of a piston valve . The other was near Swannington, on
7360-409: Was authorised on 21 June 1836. The line opened on 4 May 1840. The Leicester Navigation immediately suffered from the competition and lowered its rates considerably. This put the cost of coal from those regions below that for which West Leicestershire products could be sold, forcing their owners to reduce their own prices. The L&SR was in turmoil, looking for an alternative business, and in 1845
7452-569: Was engaged on the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . Stephenson and his son Robert Stephenson , then 25, visited Leicester by invitation in the Autumn of 1828. George Stephenson agreed to become involved in making a railway line from Swannington to Leicester; the first formal meeting to project the line was held at the Bell Inn in Leicester on 12 February 1829. At a further meeting on 24 June 1829, Robert Stephenson stated that
7544-409: Was great industrial demand for coal. The line opened in 1832, and included a tunnel over a mile in length, and two rope-worked inclined planes; elsewhere it was locomotive-operated, and it carried passengers. When it was built, the L&SR was the only railway in the area, but the Midland Railway (MR) was formed and had a main line through Leicester, opened in 1840 and its directors decided to acquire
7636-497: Was imposed through the medium of the Railway Executive Committee. The Midland retained its private sector independence, being given income to match 1913 levels, but was required to undertake huge volumes of military traffic, largely freight, with little opportunity to maintain the network and rolling stock. At the end of the war, the railways were worn out and it was obvious that resumption of pre-war business
7728-530: Was impossible. The Government passed the Railways Act 1921 by which all the main line railways were amalgamated into one or other of four new large concerns, in a process known as the "Grouping". The Midland Railway was a constituent of the new London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) from the beginning of 1923; it was the largest joint stock company in the world. The MR operated ships from Heysham to Douglas and Belfast . The coat of arms combines
7820-420: Was increasing, with new comfortable trains; and the mainstay of the line – goods, particularly minerals – was increasing dramatically. Allport retired in 1880, to be succeeded by John Noble and then by George Turner. By the new century the quantity of goods, particularly coal, was clogging the network. The passenger service was acquiring a reputation for lateness. Lord Farrar reorganised the expresses, but by 1905
7912-436: Was left with the traffic to Birmingham and Bristol , an important seaport. The original 1839 line from Derby had run to Hampton-in-Arden : the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway had built a terminus at Lawley Street in 1842, and on 1 May 1851 the MR started to run into Curzon Street . The line south was the Birmingham and Bristol Railway , which reached Curzon Street via Camp Hill . These two lines had been formed by
8004-467: Was part-owner of Long Lane Pit near Whitwick (close to present-day Coalville ). Frustrated by the situation, he visited the industrial north-east of England in 1827 and observed the success of the Stockton and Darlington Railway . Seeing a railway as a solution to his local difficulty, he enlisted the support of the wealthy weaver John Ellis , and together they travelled to see George Stephenson , who
8096-595: Was progressing slowly through the Lake District, and there was pressure for a direct line from London to York. Permission had been gained for the Northern and Eastern Railway to run through Peterborough and Lincoln but it had barely reached Cambridge . Two obvious extensions of the Midland Counties line were from Nottingham to Lincoln and from Leicester to Peterborough. They had not been proceeded with, but Hudson saw that they would make ideal "stoppers": if
8188-518: Was shepherded to a nearby shed and the tracks were lifted. This episode became known as the "Battle of Nottingham" and, with the action moved to the courtroom, it was seven months before the locomotive was released. The London and Birmingham Railway and its successor the London and North Western Railway had been under pressure from two directions. Firstly the Great Western Railway had been foiled in its attempt to enter Birmingham by
8280-464: Was something that the other standard gauge lines wished to avoid, and they pledged to assist the MR with any losses it might incur. In the event all that was necessary was for the later LNWR to share Birmingham New Street with the Midland when it was opened in 1854, and Lawley Street became a goods depot. The MR controlled all the traffic to the North East and Scotland from London. The LNWR
8372-402: Was wrecked. The company decided to discontinue the use of the incline for passenger traffic. Passengers had to disembark from their trains and walk up or down the incline to rejoin the train. The L&SR did not make any branch lines itself, although from the beginning, mine and quarry owners were encouraged to make their own connecting mineral lines from their workings. This branch opened on
8464-544: Was £90,000. The act prescribed that the company might carry goods, that is, operate as a carrier and not merely as a provider of the route for independent carriers. George Stephenson was consulted about the track gauge to be selected for the line, as compared to that of the Canterbury and Whitstable line, and is quoted as saying: "Make them of the same width; though they may be a long way apart now, depend upon it they will be joined together some day." Williams stresses
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