Celebrating Railway200 in 2025

We are of course right in the middle of our celebrations for Railway 200 this year. July saw the first of our two Midland Railway Study Centre Open Weekends and from 1st to the 3rd of August we were in the thick of The Greatest Gathering...

Midland Railway Compound No.1000, part of the National Collection, was displayed at The Greatest Gathering. Unfortunately, its position precluded a wide enough side view of the engine, hence the “fish-eye” effect to capture it all.

We are now looking forward to the September Open Weekend when the theme will be “Railway People”. The presentation for that event will use some case studies to shine light on the less well known corners of the two main genealogy websites so far as railway records are concerned, as well as showcasing the range of staff records held in the Midland Railway Study Centre. We will then focus on the stories of a few interesting Midland Railway characters. If this sounds interesting, please come along and join us on Saturday 13th or Sunday 14th September. The talks will be at 11:30 and repeated at 14:30. We cannot guarantee that these will be repeated online 🤭

FREE Priority Booking is available through Derby Museum's website, but you are very welcome to just turn up. If you happen to hit a busy period without a booking you may be asked to bear with us for a short time while any congestion in the limited confines of the Study Centre and its staircase clears.

For those who were unable to attend our July Open Weekend (and, maybe, for those who did to perhaps enjoy again), we are delighted to make available this screencast of the Presentation of “How the Railways Came to Derby”. It is hosted on Youtube and so, even though we do not monetise our account, you may be subjected to advertisements which are of course entirely outside of our control.

Derby Station History Panels

Just in time for the huge influx of visitors to The Greatest Gathering, passengers at Derby station will notice that the subway linking Platforms 1 to 5 has had a lick of paint. More importantly from the Midland Railway Study Centre's point of view, the wall of the subway is now lined with a series of panels outlining the history of Derby Station. Using the resources of the Midland Railway Study Centre, these panels were authored by the Midland Railway Society, commissioned by East Midlands Railway as part of their contribution to Railway200.

While not used nearly as much as the overbridge, largely as the subway doesn't directly connect to either of the station gate lines, hopefully these panels will serve as an attraction for passengers to linger a while and take in the wealth of information contained within. We don't accept responsibility for missed trains though!

To whet your appetite for what awaits the reader, here are the headings of the panels and the sections within each one.

• Derby Midland Station
• The Railway Arrives in Derby
• Why Derby?
• Why Just Here?
• The “Tri-junction” Station
• Early Changes to the Station
• Derby Station Evolves
• Trubshaw Gets to Work
• Far Short in Most Areas of Passenger Environment? (Why it was rebuilt in the 1980s)
• Not Just For Passengers
• Everything But The Kitchen Sink
• Mail By Train
• Black Gold
• The Midland Hotel and Refreshment Rooms
• The Midland Hotel
• Micro Management
• Refreshment Rooms
• Some Features of Derby Station in the Steam Age
• The Midland Railway two-chains-to-the-inch plan of the state c.1900
• You Could Travel to Where?
• Barely a Corner of the Country Left Untouched
• The Slow Train
• Coming or Going?
• Your Ticket to Ride
• Pity the Booking Clerk
• Signalling Around Derby Station
• Regulating the Running of Trains and Engines
• The Work of a Signaller
• Derby Station at War
• Enemy Action
• Railway Staff Who Served and Who Did Not Return
• Jacob Rivers V.C.
• Outside the Station
• The North Midland Railway Village
• The Midland Railway Institute
• Locomotives, Carriages and Wagons
• The Works
• Aesthetics and Practicality
• The ‘Other’ Works

A Special Piece of Derbyshire Railway History

At the Midland Railway Study Centre we are incredibly fortunate in that really kind people contact us and offer us documents or objects that they think will be suited to our collection and that we can give them the proverbial “good home”. Frequently this is tinged with great sadness as what is being offered belonged to a recently deceased loved-one — often a former railwayman. Unfortunately, serious space constraints, coupled with a necessarily well-defined Collection Development Policy, mean that we all too frequently have to regretfully decline the offer. Every so often, however, we are approached with the offer of an item so historically important that we feel so incredibly honoured to have been chosen to take it in.

Thursday, 13 March 2025 was one of those days when we received such an item. It takes the form of a 34" x 24½" (864mm x 622mm) solidly constructed picture frame displaying a pair of 163 year old architectural drawings mounted back-to-back (i.e. with glass both front and rear).

The drawings both date from about 1862 and relate to the famous twin-facade of the adjacent London & North Western and Midland Railway stations at Buxton. Formed of ornate fan-arch windows, only the LNWR side survives today with the Midland station being closed in March 1967 and subsequently demolished to make way for the town's inner relief road.

How these two competing companies came to cooperate in building this delightful piece of architecture, and the personalities behind it, makes for a fascinating story... which you can read over on the Midland Railway Society's website.

The survival of these drawings is thanks to a now sadly deceased Buxton resident. How he came by them perhaps a century or so after their creation, is unfortunately lost to history. What we do know is that they are now back in Derbyshire and are available to users of the Midland Railway Study Centre — including people like you who visit our website:-

Please note that by downloading these files, as with any other download from the Midland Railway Study Centre website, you agree to abide by these modest Terms and Conditions.

Do you come here often?

If you do, you are obviously interested in some aspect of the Midland Railway and are getting some benefit from what we have to offer here — or so we sincerely hope! None of this would be possible without the Midland Railway Society and the Midland Railway Society cannot survive without members ...who are people just like you. As well as supporting the Midland Railway Study Centre (and gaining access to some really useful exclusive resources for MRS Members), membership connects you with a wide ranging community of knowledgable, friendly and helpful like-minded souls. All for the incredibly reasonable annual subscription of £20. This also includes; the Journal (three per year), Newsletter (quarterly) and now our newly introduced twice-yearly publication Modelling The Midland. Then there are the informative and convivial meetings, visits to places of historical Midland Railway interest and access to our well stocked bookstall.

With all that, what are you waiting for?
You can either: Download a membership form and send it back to us.
Or visit the Midland Railway Society's Shop to do it all online. It really is easy.

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity...?

From the Derby Mercury of 6th February 1867, page 8

Wingfield Station

The Study Centre Coordinator and the Midland Railway Society's Outreach Officer, Steve Huson, visited Wingfield station at the end of October. The specific purpose of the meeting will have to remain under wraps for now pending an exciting announcement which “Wingfield Station 1947” will be making in the coming months. However, it was an opportunity to see how much the station has progressed since we attended the celebration event for the completion of the magnificent restoration work a year ago and we were hugely impressed. The team of volunteers there have created a community charity to provide year-round public access to the site, opening to the public on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (soon to be extended to Wednesdays and Thursdays as well). Indeed, the evening prior to our meeting, the building had hosted an event for the local Rotary Club which was described as “packed out” ... the absolute epitome of breathing new life into the (almost) 185 year old building. All a far cry from its low ebb of decrepitude only a few years ago. We came away full of enthusiasm for the specific project and ways in which the Midland Railway Society, Wingfield Station 1947 and Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust all continue to work together in support of our common aims.

The Original Sheffield Station Layout

As a precursor to the important announcement regarding our extensive collection of Midland Railway Estate Plans, here is an extract from one of them. This plan illustrates how Sheffield station was laid-out from when it was opened on 1st February 1870 until the newly enlarged station as we know it today opened on 10th September 1893. (Open the image in a new tab or window to see more detail.)

The Midland Railway Two Chains to the Inch Land Plans

We are delighted to make our collection of Midland Railway two-chains-to-the-inch land plans downloadable directly from the site. This treasure-trove of information is made available free-of-charge, subject only to a non-commercial usage Creative Commons Licence as detailed on the linked-page, where you will also find an explanation of their historical context.

Visit the Two Chain Plans download page

“Fills one with amazement...”

Many thousands of articles of the most varied description find their way to the Midland Railway Company's depot at the City Road Wharf, Derby, either as lost, unclaimed, damaged, or salvage property and a glance through the catalogue of the three days sale by the Derby auctioneers, Messrs. J. and W. Heathcote, at their mart, fills one with amazement, for the stock would do credit to any "Universal Provider". The disposal of the goods commenced on Tuesday, and the following list will give an idea of the variety of articles which are to be obtained: Calico, curtains, towels, cutlery, dustbins, stall, timber, nails, screws, rivets, bolts, sauce, Quaker Oats, ironmongery, hardware, waste, flocks, trunks, dress baskets, bags, furniture, linoleum, oilcloth, carpets, rugs, crockery, ornaments, an electric dynamo, yarn, woollen cloths, baths, galvanised, cisterns, tanks, bicycles and accessories, and numerous other items. At Thursday's sale there were offered for auction no fewer than ninety lots of umbrellas in dozens and two dozens, twenty lots of twelve walking sticks each, and seventeen lots of two dozen walking sticks. There were also sixteen lots of six gents' overcoats and any number of mackintoshes, capes &c. An interesting lot was a mahogany four-post bedstead upon which the late Queen Victoria slept at the Midland Hotel, Derby, on the occasion of her visit, on 28th September, 1849. It may be added that Queen Victoria's bedstead caused some spirited bidding, and was eventually knocked down to a buyer who tendered as his name and address, “J- B-, Model Lodging House”.

— The Railway News. May 7th, 1910.

Waste Not, Want Not

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM

“The total number of employees of the Midland Railway Company who went out to take their part in the great fight against aggression was twenty-two thousand nine hundred and forty-one. Of this number, two thousand eight hundred and thirty-three made the supreme sacrifice, and those of us who are living under the freedom purchased at the cost of these lives cannot allow the memory of their devotion to die.”

— Frank Tatlow, General Manager of the Midland Railway
in his letter to the families of those listed on the Company War Memorial.
November 1921.

Wellingborough Accident of 1898

For no other reason than we had occasion to scan this document recently and thought it deserved sharing, here is the detailed plan that accompanied the report by Board of Trade inspector, Lt. Col. Yorke, into the terrible accident at Wellingborough on 2nd October 1898. The original is in our collection, but we're happy to plug the fantastic The Railways Archive website as a source of the report if you wish to read it.

Very briefly, a heavy barrow somehow ran off the platform into the path of an oncoming Down Express. Despite a heroic attempt to move it off the line, the engine of the Express was derailed on contact with the barrow, resulting in the loss of seven lives including both men on the footplate of the Express. The tragedy led to a change in the way station platforms are configured which remains the case today.

Ref: RFB01380

Midland Railway System Map

To see which parts of the country were served by the Midland Railway, please click this thumbnail to view a system map from 1914.

Researching Your Local Railway Station

Looking for a new project?

We are commonly asked how someone might begin to find out more about their local railway station - whether for personal interest or as part of more structured research. This led to the creation of our Researching Your Local Railway Station page, with some suggestions about what points might be addressed and where to turn for answers. The list is far from exhaustive and some suggestions may not apply to all stations (it doesn't actually have to be your "local" station of course!). If nothing else we hope it inspires and we look forward to helping you.

The Midland Railway Assemblage Trails

Everything in The Assemblage of the Museum of Making has a story to tell. Some objects perhaps have more to say than others and so we have developed these self-guided trails to help you discover more about some of what we consider to be the most interesting Midland Railway objects.

Needless to say, you don't actually have to be at the Museum of Making to enjoy them, but we do think the best way to appreciate what you're looking at is to visit in person, so we have tried to make these trails smartphone friendly.

There are currently two trails; one intended to be a little more light hearted and may be more suited to family groups. The other is pitched more toward those who might be looking for something a little deeper.

Are you researching a Midland Railway related subject?

Are you looking for an outlet for your work? The Midland Railway Society's Journal is always on the lookout for new material and would be delighted to publish your work. You don't have to be a Midland Railway Society member (though we'd like it if you became one!)

Of course there is always that feeling that "it's not quite finished" or otherwise not ready for public show. That's a natural worry, and even if it is true, think of the benefits of publishing an excerpt of your work or showcasing a particular aspect of your research. The benefit of exposure to a wide audience of knowledgeable Midland Railway Society members can be very significant in terms of new information or material you receive by way of feedback. That said, it is important not to feel intimidated — MRS members are without fail a friendly bunch!

If you have anything which you would like us to consider for publication in the Journal, please contact the Study Centre Coordinator at the details at the bottom of the page.

Going Up or Down?

Find out for any given Midland Railway line using this list of Up and Down lines extracted from Appendix No. 20 of 1899 of the Midland Railway.

The Midland Railway was about much more than trains

This drawing was prepared by the Midland Railway's Carriage & Wagon Department just before the First World War to illustrate the myriad types of hand-drawn barrows and trollies they were manufacturing. The uses to which these vehicles were put were many & varied, perfectly illustrating the wide variety of functions which a railway company undertook.

Clicking the above image will download a 4.2Mb scanned Jpeg of the drawing which we hope you will find fascinating. It is one of more than 1,200 items which can now be downloaded from our on-line catalogue. If you haven't looked at it lately, we hope you will find the catalogue worthwhile browsing and that you'll find plenty of interest.