MRS Journal No. 44 (Autumn 2010)

Table of Contents

• Items from the Study Centre — 7 : Small Midland Railway Makers Plate / By Roy Burrows
• Early Accidents on the Midland Railway: 1850 – The First Six Months / By Chris Rouse
• Opening of Rowsley Station [an extract from the Derby and Chesterfield Reporter, June 1849.]
• Midland Electrics at Morecambe / By Ian Howard
• Codnor Park Junction, 1877 / By Glynn Waite & Peter Witts
• Stations by Francis Thompson: A Comparison of British and Canadian Examples / By Andrew Surry & Ian Howard
• Some Effects of the Traffic Agreement of 1908 / By Reg Instone
• Locomotive Aesthetics / By Jack Braithwaite
• Strengthening the Track of the Birmingham and Derby Branch of the Midland Railway, 1850 / By Ian Howard
• Rear End Damage [Photograph & caption.]
• Query Corner
• Comments on Items in Previous Journals
• Barrows, Hand Carts, etc. : Selection 2

• Front cover
  This beautifully composed photograph of South Wingfield station, rich in winter colours, was taken by Steven Lee in January 2008. Apart from being a very lovely image in itself, its depiction of architectural decay wrings the heart of anyone who cares about the state of our railway heritage. Although South Wingfield station has a Grade II listing, it has been allowed to fall into serious disrepair over many years by its present owner. The loss of any Listed building always diminishes a cultured society, but losing South Wingfield station would be a unique blow. For the building is the only remaining example of the extraordinary set of exquisite stations designed by Francis Thompson for the North Midland Railway. Its seriously degraded condition has prompted moves towards compulsory purchase by Amber Valley Borough Council, and we can only hope that soon it will be made safe and water-tight, and, perhaps, let to a suitably sensitive user.
  The current state of South Wingfield station reflects very badly upon the way we in the UK have dealt with Thompson’s North Midland stations especially when one compares how the Canadians have managed to keep nine of those he designed for the Grand Trunk Railway. The article by Ian Howard and Andrew Surry makes the comparison.
  [Courtesy of Steven Lee]

Rear cover
The eminent and important Victorian engineer, William Henry Barlow FRS, was a great servant of the Midland Railway during his position as Engineer-in-Chief of the company and afterwards as consulting engineer, when he was most memorably responsible for the design of the imposing and beautiful train shed at St. Pancras. This issue of the Journal considers some of his early work in improving the defective track of the Birmingham and Derby section of the Midland.
[Ian Howard collection]