This website provides a gateway for anyone interested in the places served by the Midland Railway and the people who worked for the Company, as well as its history. You will discover the social and economic impact of the MR, its contribution to architecture and technology and much more. It is also a valuable resource for anyone interested in modelling the Midland.
Many stations had gardens tended by station staff. Prizes were awarded for gardens on platforms – £200 in 1907.
"Perspective View of the Great Central Railway Station, Derby. Drawn and Engraved for the British Gazetteer". Clearly the name should be taken as meaning the central railway station in Derby (though it was then the only station and hardly central to the town), rather than the much later railway company of that name. Either way, this coloured lithograph provides a wonderful illustration of that the station looked like in its early years.
The Midland Railway (MR) was formed by the amalgamation of three rival companies in 1844. Over the next eighty years it expanded from its headquarters in Derby to Bristol, Swansea, London, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 1923 Britain’s railways were amalgamated into just four companies: the MR was the biggest component of the London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) with 84,000 employees.
It is interesting to note that while the MR existed for eighty years, its successor the LMS lasted only 25 years until nationalisation in 1948. British Railways (later British Rail) lasted until 1997 when the railways were privatised, and Railtrack became responsible for the infrastructure. Railtrack collapsed in 2001 and responsibility passed to the state-owned Network Rail. Our railways today are in both private and public ownership.
October is a busy month for the Midland Railway Society. We have our autumn Members’ Meeting at the Museum of Making in Derby this coming weekend, and last weekend we
The Midland Railway Society and Lancaster University are hosting a conference at Lancaster University on 21st Nov. This event is both ‘in-person’ at LUMS Lecture Theatre 1, Lancaster, LA1 4YX or
The Midland Railway Society is a partner with Derby Museums in operating the Midland Railway Study Centre in Derby’s ‘Museum of Making’, located in the city’s historic Silk Mill. The Study Centre houses the largest publicly accessible collection of research material relating to the Midland Railway, its constituents and successors and the history of Derby’s railways in general.
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