The Midland Railway

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The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. The Midland Railway had a large network of lines centred on the East Midlands, with its headquarters based in Derby. Initially connecting Leeds with London (St Pancras) via the East Midlands by what is now the Midland Main Line, it went on to connect the East Midlands with Birmingham and Bristol, and with York and Manchester. It was the only pre-grouping railway to own or share lines in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, becoming the third largest railway undertaking in the British Isles (after the Great Western and the London & North Western), the largest coal haulier, the largest British railway to have its headquarters outside London, and (after the Great Central railway moved its HQ to London in 1907) the only railway serving London not to have its headquarters there and the only Midlands-based railway directly serving Southern England and South Wales.

The Midland Railway Consolidation Act was passed in 1844 authorising the merger of the Midland Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway, and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway. These met at the Tri-Junct station at Derby, where the railway also established its locomotive and later its carriage and wagon works. Leading it were the dynamic but unscrupulous George Hudson from the North Midland, and John Ellis from the Midland Counties, a careful businessman of impeccable integrity. From the Birmingham line James Allport found a place elsewhere in Hudson's empire with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, though he later returned. The line was in a commanding position having its Derby headquarters at the junctions of the two main routes from London to Scotland. This by virtue of its connections to the London and Birmingham Railway in the south, and, in the north, the lines from York, via the York and North Midland Railway.

After the merger, London trains were carried on the shorter Midland Counties route. The former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was left with the traffic to Birmingham and Bristol, at that time still an important seaport. The original 1839 line from Derby had run to Hampton-in-Arden railway station, but the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway had built a terminus at Lawley Street in 1842, then in 1851 the Midland 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 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. Morever, the C&GWU was owned by the Great Western Railway, which wished to extend its network by taking over the Bristol to Birmingham route.

While the two parties were bickering over the price, the Midland's John Ellis overheard two directors of the Birmingham and Bristol Railway on a London train discussing the business, and took it on himself to pledge that the Midland 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 was something that the other standard gauge lines wished to avoid, and they pledged to assist the Midland 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. At this time Lawley Street became a goods depot.

After Hudson's departure, the Midland was in financial difficulties. Opposition to the Great Northern bill had cost a fortune, a great deal of maintenance was overdue, and the Lincoln and Peterborough lines were still to be paid for. Added to this, the Great Northern was taking much of the traffic from the North-East, particularly as the Midland was dependent on the LNWR from Rugby into London. Thanks to the control that had been exercised by John Ellis, there was no impropriety in the company's accounts, and it was due to his business acumen that the Midland survived and prospered.

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway

Origins

Although Birmingham was served by an extensive canal network, indeed, it is suggested they were a factor in its growth as an engineering centre, there were technical problems since Birmigham was on rising ground. As early as 1824, Birmingham businessmen had been looking at the possibilities of the railway. The London and Birmingham Railway and the Grand Junction Railway had obtained their Acts of Parliament in 1833 and a scheme for a line to Gloucester and Bristol was in the air. The North Midland Railwayhad been floated in 1833 and a proposal was made to connect to its terminus at Derby George Stephenson surveyed the route in 1835. The bill envisaged the line as running through Whitacre to meet the London and Birmingham Railway with a junction at Stechford to travel into the latter's terminus at Curzon Street. It would also run from Whitacre to Hampton-in-Arden, where it would join the L&B for connections to London.

The promoters came into conflict with those of the Midland Counties Railway even before the bills were presented to Parliament since the lines would compete with each other. In the end, the Birmingham and Derby line agreed to withdraw their branch to Hampton if it the Midland Counties withdrew their line along the Erewash valley. With the active support of the Prime Minister Robert Peel, the member for Tamworth, the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway Bill passed through Parliament on 19th May 1836. The Hampton branch had been removed, but when the Midland Counties presented their bill, it still contained the Erewash line (although it was later dropped on the insistence of the North Midland Railway). The Birmingham and Derby people therefore presented a fresh bill in 1840 for the branch as a separate line which later became known as the Stonebridge Railway.

Construction

George's son Robert Stephenson took on the post of engineer, with an assistant, John Birkinshaw. Some 42 miles (68 km) long, it would need seventy eight bridges and two viaducts, with a cutting at the approach to Derby, consideration being given to the danger of flooding by the River Trent and there was no gradient steeper than 1 in 339. The rails were single parallel form, 56 lb (25 kg). per yard, set in chairs upon cross sleepers. Although the standard gauge was used to match the other railways it was associated with, the rails were actually set at 4 ft 9 in (1.45 m) apart to allow extra play.

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway Locomotives

The B&DJR ordered twelve 2-2-2 passenger locomotives in 1838 and two four-coupled goods in 1841 from various makers:
2-2-2 Passenger Locomotives
Mather, Dixon and Company of Liverpool: 'Barton','Tamworth' and 'Hampton'.
Charles Tayleur and Company, The Vulcan Foundryof Newton-le-Willows: 'Derby', 'Burton', 'Birmingham'.
R and W Hawthorn Ltd of Newcastle-upon-Tyne: 'Anker','Tame', Blythe'
Sharp, Roberts and Company of Manchester: 'Derwent, 'Trent', 'Dove'.
All had 12 inch by 18 inch cylinders and 5 foot 6 inch drivers. First to be delivered in 1839 were those from Mather Dixon, with 'Tamworth' being used for the inaugural run.
0-4-2 Goods Locomotives
Thompson & Cole, Little Bolton,: 'Kingsbury', 'Willington'.
These had 5 foot driving wheels.

The B&DJR opened on 12th August 1839 with the line into Hampton, where the trains would reverse for Birmingham. There were six stations in addition to Hampton and Derby. These were Coleshill (later renamed Maxstoke), Kingsbury, Tamworth, Walton, Burton and Willington. From the start the joint use of Curzon Street terminus, with the London and Birmingham, gave problems. In 1842 a new line was opened with a new terminus at Lawley Street. This proceeded to Whitacre via Castle Bromwich, Water Orton and Forge Mills (later remamed Coleshill). The line from Whitacre to Stechford which had not been built, was abandoned, and that to Hampton was reduced to single track. Strong competition between the line and the Midland Counties Railway for transport, particularly of coal, to London, almost drove both of them out of business. The B&DJR offered a time from Derby to London of around seven hours, but when the MCR began operating it was able to make the journey in an hour less. The B&DJR lowered its fares but this simply resulted in a price war. In a war of 'dirty tricks', the MCR made an agreement with the North Midland for exclusive access to its passengers. In retaliation the Birmingham board opposed a bill that the MCR had submitted to Parliament. Both lines were in dire straits and paying minuscule dividends. The North Midland was also suffering severe financial problems arising from the original cost of the line and its buildings. At length George Hudson took control of the NMR and adopted Robert Stephenson's suggestion that the best outcome would be for the three lines to merge. Hudson foresaw that the directors of the MCR world resist the idea and made a secret agreement with the B&DJR for the NMR to take it over. This would of course take away the MCR's customers from Derby and the North and, when news leaked out, shares in the B&DJR rose dramatically. Hudson was able to give the MCR directors an ultimatum, and persuaded the line's shareholders to override their board and the stage was set for amalgamation.

Birmingham and Gloucester Railway

Origins

The idea for a line had been mooted during the construction of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. There was already a horse-drawn coal railway between Bristol and Gloucestershire, however a line running the whole distance to Birmingham was suggested. At that time, the canal journey from Birmingham to Bristol took almost a week, and the road journey, which due to expense and road quality was only really suitable for passengers, took the best part of four days. Several surveys were completed in the ten years after 1824. Brunel in 1832 surveyed a line well to the east of its present track, but due to lack of finance the scheme was suspended and he withdrew. The line, as it is now, was surveyed by Captain W S Moorsom. All observers recognised the challenge that the Lickey Ridge posed to the construction of the railway.

Other lines, such as the C&HPR had previously been built up steeper inclines, worked by stationary steam engines or by gravity, however the Birmingham and Gloucester was a mechanised commercial railway, and was intended to be worked by steam locomotives. Both Stephenson and Brunel said that a general purpose steam locomotive could not work such a gradient. Due to the Lickey problem, many investors remained sceptical and withheld funds; certain landowners asked excessive prices for land needed to construct the railway. In addition, the people of Bromsgrove protested about the proximity of the 'iron beast' to the town. Eventually it was decided that the incline could be worked by a system of ' banking engines'. Deals were struck with recalcitrant landlords and Bromsgrove station was built almost two miles outside the town, in Aston Fields. The line was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1836, just eleven years after the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.

Construction

The line was completed between Cheltenham and Bromsgrove on 24 June 1840. In 1841 it had reached as far as Camp Hill where it joined the London and Birmingham Railway to the latter's Curzon Street terminus in Birmingham. Intermediate stations were at Cheltenham, Ashchurch, Spetchley, Droitwich and Bromsgrove, with halts at Bredon, Eckington, and Defford. At its southern end, it joined the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway at Cheltenham to run on mixed gauge tracks into Gloucester, the first ever "joint line". The line was essentially straight along its length, the average curve being 80 chains (1,609 m) radius. The ground was mainly marl and clay. Apart from the Lickey Incline, the maximum gradients were 1-in-300 (0.3%). Of the Lickey, Whishaw writes in 1840: "If this is satisfactorily effected, it will throw a new and useful light on the laying out of railways, and will save a vast original outlay in future works. We have long considered that the present system of making the 16 feet gradient the minimum, is far from desirable." There was only one tunnel, that at Gravelly Hill, which was a quarter mile in length, lined in brick with no invert. The largest bridge was over the Avon at Eckington, Worcestershire with three cast-iron segmental arches supported on two lines of iron columns.

The rails were very similar to today's flat-bottomed stock, which has become known as Vignoles rail, and weighed 56 lb/yd (27.8 kg/m) The line was unusual for the day in not using any stone blocks. Part of the way, longitudinal sleepers were used, and part of the way, cross sleepers. Vignoles rail as used for the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway in 1840 The Act of Parliament gave the Birmingham and Gloucester the right to use any future London and Birmingham terminus in Birmingham, which meant that the later Midland Railway had the right to share Birmingham New Street Station when it was built by the LNWR. This promoted the Midland to buy the Birmingham West Suburban Railway, which had a junction with the Birmingham and Gloucester at Kings Norton from 1876. Notwithstanding the Bromsgrove people's reservations, the railway's maintenance shops were built there around 1841 providing a welcome change of employment for the town's nail makers. The original Birmingham and Gloucester company merged with the Bristol and Gloucester Railway in 1845 to form the short-lived Birmingham and Bristol Railway, which in turn became a part of the Midland Railway in 1846

The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway in 1840 purchased some locomotives from America, built by William Norris of Philadelphia. These engines had a leading four-wheeled bogie with two driving wheels at the rear driven by cylinders 10½ in. diameter by 18 in. stroke.