Midland Railway Locomotive Allocations of 1920

A right-hand side view of Midland Railway 2-4-0 locomotive No.7 at Nottingham Shed
890 Class, No. 7 at Lancaster. In 1852 the Midland Railway had taken over the working and the thirteen locomotives of the “Little” North Western Railway. This ran from Skipton to Morecombe with a branch to Ingleton. By 1862 the Midland had built a shed at Lancaster that accommodated eight locomotives. On a cramped site, it could only be reached via a turntable situated immediately outside. The stone built, hipped roof style was also used at Buxton. There were only five engines allocated in 1869. This had doubled by 1880, when the allocation consisted of a Kirtley 136 class 2–2–2, five Kirtley and Johnson 2–4–0s and four Kirtley double framed 0–6–0s. The allocation was never more than about 25 in Midland days with passenger types predominating, providing power for the important seaside traffic for Morecombe. No. 7, an 890 class 2–4–0, lasted from 1874 to 1926, latterly as No. 113. Earlier based at Carnforth it was at Nottingham by 1892, its final residence. [Caption by Peter Witts, image from the Glynn Waite collection.]

The allocations presented here are those compiled and generously donated to the Midland Railway Society by John True.

The data was published in book format by the Midland Railway Society in 2003
and we are delighted to present here Digitally to mark our new website's First Birthday.

In total 2,925 locomotives are listed against 40 sheds. The smallest allocation of three engines is to Redditch and the largest of 231 is to Nottingham. However, this does not tell the whole story of where the engines were actually allocated. Most engines in this list are allocated to one of the Midland’s principal depots — reflecting the Midland Railway practice of only allocating locomotives to the principal sheds. These sheds would then supply their sub-sheds with the appropriate engines. So, though Nottingham may have been allocated 231 locomotives, these would be distributed around its sub- sheds of Mansfield, Kirkby, Lincoln and Southwell. According to Stephen Summerson’s work (see below), the Midland never made any locomotive shed plates bearing the suffix letters of the sub-sheds. So, even though an engine may have been allocated to, say, Keighley it would still bear a Manningham shed plate.

Allocations are shown for some sub-sheds, namely: Bournville, Hellifield, Redditch, St. Albans, Trafford Park and Walsall. This means that Saltley and Cricklewood have all of their sub-sheds accounted for separately in this listing.

Of Manchester Belle Vue shed, Hawkins & Reeve (again, see below) say that over half of its allocation of engines were out-stationed at the Trafford Park and Heaton Mersey sub-sheds. This listing shows 22 engines at Trafford Park, which may seem a small number for so large a shed, but then the Midland shared it with the Great Central and Great Northern Railways. Heaton Mersey, though smaller on the ground, had a larger allocation of Midland locomotives than Trafford Park.

The locomotives shown as allocated to LT&S are Midland engines that were transferred to the London Tilbury & Southend line and not the engines the Midland inherited from that line when they took it over.

References

Stephen Summerson, Midland Railway locomotives : a comprehensive primary account general survey 1844-1922, growth and development, boilers, tenders, fittings and details (Irwell Press, 2000.
C. Hawkins & G. Reeve, LMS engine sheds : their history and development ; Volume 2, The Midland Railway (Wild Swan, 1981.

Acknowledgements

This work would not have possible without the assistance of various members of the Midland Railway Society. Special thanks go to John True for supplying the original allocation list, Tony Etches for the data entry and Peter Witts for the detailed captions to the photographs which appeared in the original publication (copies of which can still be obtained from the Midland Railway Society at very favourable rates!). Ashley Sanders compiled the section “Listing by shed” and typeset the original document.

Class 2203, No. 235 on shed at Leeds Holbeck. Throughout most of his career, Samuel Johnson would only use boilers of 4ft 1in diameter on his passenger and goods tender engines. On the former he tried to achieve greater power by larger cylinders and fireboxes, different tube arrangements and higher pressures, but it was not until 1900, with his 4ft 8in Belpaire 4–4–0s, that he budged from his previous stance. Round-topped versions (class H) were then adopted for his goods 0–6–0 locos and then, in the last months of his career, thoughts were given to using them on his earlier 4–4–0s. All except the first 30 were rebuilt and No 235 shows the result. Compared to the beauty of his classic designs they are often dismissed as “ugly” but then, seen against what some other lines were producing, the ugliness fades. Taken against the coal stage of Leeds, Holbeck about 1906, No. 235 was one of the 2203 class built at Derby 1895. [Caption by Peter Witts, image from the Glynn Waite collection. RFB92708]

Midland Railway Engine Allocations
Listed by Shed

A Midland Railway 4-2-2 "Spinner" locomotive is seen in left side three quarter view.
Often judged to be the epitome of 19th century locomotive elegance, Samuel Johnson's 4–2–2 express engines can be regarded as a true symbol of the Midland Railway, noted for their speed and economy. Their development can be attributed to successful experiments with steam sanding. They were mainly used on the London to Derby / Nottingham; Derby to Bristol and Chinley to Liverpool routes and 95 were built between 1887–1900. Driving wheel diameter progressively increased from 7ft 4in to 7ft 9in but in the end these wheels proved to be an Achilles heel as it was not possible to fit them with larger boilers unless drastically rebuilt. No. 612, delivered from Derby in 1889 as No. 1856 is pictured at Kentish Town where it was stationed until withdrawal in 1921. As one of the 25 class it had 7ft 4in driving wheels, 19in × 26in cylinders and a D class boiler that had a 7in longer firebox than that previously used on passenger locos. [Caption by Peter Witts, image from the Glynn Waite collection. RFB66765]

Midland Railway Engine Allocations
Numerically Listed

The numerical listing is arbitrarily broken up thus:-

1 to 399
400 to 779 []
990 to 1532 []
1600 to 1959 []
2000 to 2499
2500 to 2999
3000 to 3499
3500 to 3934

Note the “blanks” left in the system denoted by []

No. 1 to No. 399

No. 400 to No. 779

Nos. 780 to 989 not issued​

No. 990 to No. 1532

Nos. 1533 to 1599 not issued​

No. 1 600 to No. 1959

Nos. 1960 to 1999 not issued​

No. 2000 to No. 2499

No. 2500 to No. 2999

No. 3000 to No. 3499

No. 3500 to No. 3934

How can we help?

If there is anything we can help you with or you can suggest or offer, do feel free to get in touch with us.