MRS Journal No.48 (Winter 2011)

Table of Contents

• Plumtree Station and the Nottingham — Melton Line / By Robin Cullup
• Some thoughts on traffic control at Carlisle Station / By Garth Ponsonby
• Working on the Hitchin Branch: 1950s to Closure / By Maurice Jeyes & Bryan Cross
• Carlisle Citadel station and its timetabling / By David Wrottesley
• Colourful Midland Railway Tickets 2 / By Roy Burrows
• Crime on the Midland Railway / By Chris Rouse
• Buffalo Bill on the Midland Railway
• Foreigners / By Ian Howard
• Locomotive Aesthetics / By Jack Braithwaite
• Shocking Occurrance at Normanton / By Howard Benson
• Query Corner
• Comments on Items in Previous Journals

• Front cover
  The photograph of the interior of Carlisle Citadel station that is the basis for this coloured postcard was probably taken in the early 1900s. It depicts an up Caledonian train having arrived at Platform 5 hauled by a Dunalastair 4–4–0, with a L&NWR engine and set of carriages ready on the nearer of the two centre roads to take it forward. The Midland interest lies in the activities depicted on Platform 2 (on the left) and in the set of three Midland carriages in the bay on the right, No. 1 bay, or one of the two ‘North Eastern’ It throws some light on the timetabling issues raised by David Wrottesley in his article (page 14.) In addition, Garth Ponsonby has used this postcard to develop some details of train workings from Carlisle at the the time, and we print his discussion inside at page 4.
  [Roy F. Burrows Midland Collection Trust, No. 06398: Midland Railway Study Centre]

Rear cover
Reading this poster must break the heart of anyone who cares about history and the terrible things that human beings do to each other, especially when the agents of those things are institutions and other organisations. During the Great Irish Famine of 1845–52, some 1 million people died needlessly. A consequence was mass emigration from Ireland, an exodus that continued for many years after; another million or so had left by 1852. This catastrophe mainly affected the west of the country, where chronic unemployment continued throughout the 19th century. As we can see from this poster, despite this large pool of indigenous agricultural labour, the landowners in the east preferred to attract men from England for the harvest of 1860. One also wonders what drove men in the east midlands counties of England to spend substantially more than a week’s wages for their fare to Ireland, for work that they might not even secure when they got there.
[Roy F. Burrows Midland Collection Trust, No.13645: Midland Railway Study Centre]