The Midland Railway Study Centre Assemblage Trails

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY ASSEMBLAGE TRAILS
"The Family Trail"
Stop Eleven: The Cast Iron Crest

To stay with the Metal area, carry on around this fixture so you are doubling-back on yourself again, with the 'B' aisle on your left and 'A' on the right.

A very large and heavy cast iron crest, repainted with armorial symbols

Stop 11

Where: B3 (on the floor right at the back)

What: Derby station crest

Material: Cast iron

Why: This heavy plaque, with dozens of identical ones, was once upon a time mounted under the roof of the original Derby station dating from 1839. Designed by a highly regarded architect named Francis Thompson, the station started out with just one platform, albeit one which was 1,000 feet (over 300m) long. To hide the ugly joints of the roof supports, these decorative, but heraldically meaningless, crests were provided. Practically invisible to the passengers below, when the roof was eventually demolished in the 1950s, at least three of these, by then very rusty, plaques were saved. This Samuel Russell lithograph dating from the opening of Derby station in 1839 illustrates where this crest would have been situated.

Ref: Again, let's pretend you didn't ask us that one for now. Sorry.

A lithogrpah from the 1840s showing the inside of the train shed at Derby station with the site of these crests highlighted