LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton
LMS Route: Hampton in Arden to Whitacre
Hampton - Derby Junction: lnwrhiaj706
Looking across the former LNWR and B&DJR lines towards
the original Hampton station with Matthew Kirtley's house in the background.
Prior to 1923 when the LNWR and MR merged into the London Midland Scottish
Railway (LMS) the ownership of the two lines would have been easily
discernible. The visual clue would have been the location of the wooden keys
that held the rail in position in the chair that in turn was fixed to the
timber sleeper. The Midland's practice was to use wooden keys on the inside of
the rail whereas the LNWR, in common with many other railway companies,
positioned the key on the outside of the rail.
The Midland's system had the advantage that Permanent Way
men could inspect the track simply by walking in the middle of the track in a
single pass to view both rails. Whilst the fitting of outside keys required two
passes to inspect the rails it had a safety feature. The thrust of a passing
train on the rail was outwards in direction thereby forcing the rail against
the key and 'tightening' the connection. With internal keys this outward thrust
could, in the passing of time, loosen the key. Eventually the fitting of
outside keys became the norm with its adoption by LMS
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