North Midland Railway
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The North Midland Railway was a British railway company, which opened its line from Derby to Rotherham (Masborough) and Leeds in 1840.
At Derby it connected with the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. In 1844, the three companies merged to form the Midland Railway.
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[edit] Origin
The East Midlands had for some years been at the centre of plans to link the major cities throughout the country.
In Yorkshire, George Hudson was the Chairman of the York and North Midland Railway, a proposed line from York towards the industrial markets of Manchester and Liverpool. The new line would connect it, and the Manchester and Leeds Railway as part of a trunk route from the South and London to Yorkshire and the North East of England. Meanwhile financiers in Birmingham, were looking to expand their system northwards.
George Carr Glyn was the first Chairman of the new company, with George and Robert Stephenson appointed as engineers. George Stephenson surveyed the line in 1835 with his secretary, Charles Binns. It would be 72 miles long, meeting the York and North Midland, at Normanton, and also the projected Manchester and Leeds Railway. It received Parliamentary Assent in 1836, and was completed to Masborough on 11 May 1840, and to Leeds on 1 July.
[edit] Construction
He decided the line would follow the river valleys from Derby to Leeds, with minimal gradients and large radii curves. It therefore bypassed Sheffield, but met the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway at Masborough.
Stephenson's method of working was to follow river valleys as far as possible, with branches into major towns along the way. The Sheffield people, in lobbying for the line to enter their city, engaged Joseph Locke, who believed lines should pass through towns, proceeding along hills, if necessary, with bridges, embankments and cuttings. These were the two opposing schools of thought at the time and, in this case, Stephenson had his way.
An additional advantage was that his customers would, in most cases, be transporting their goods downhill from the mines and quarries to the railhead. It should be said, however, that the North Midland was among the first of the new breed of railway conceived as a means of improved passenger travel between the great cities, particularly London, rather than, like the Midland Counties and earlier lines, an adjunct to the coal mines. Indeed the rise in the this trade, which to become so important to the railways, had barely begun and, even a few years later, directors of the Midland Railway were questioning whether the revenue made it a worthwhile market to pursue.
In later years the Midland Railway built a diversion through Dronfield and Sheffield, which became known to railwaymen as the "New Road", as opposed to the "Old Road". It followed a route which, in 1840, would have been uneconomic to build and difficult to work.
Nevertheless, the terrain was more difficult than for the other two railways to Derby, requiring 200 bridges and seven tunnels, and an aqueduct for the railway to pass underneath the Cromford Canal. The major bridges were at Oakenshaw, over the Barnsley Canal, and the Calder and Chevet Viaducts. In addition there were massive stone retaining walls for the cutting through Belper and the embankment north of Ambergate. Although the general radius of curves was a mile, gradients were as steep as 1 in 264 and practically the whole length was embanked or in cuttings, when not proceeding through a tunnel.. The number of men employed was 8600, with eighteen pumping engines providing drainage. It was tough work and a number of lives were lost, particularly in the boring of the Clay Cross Tunnel. It must be said, however, that some of them were due to carelessness with blasting powder.i
The track was 4 foot 8½ inch gauge either single or double parallel (see Rail track), the former 56 lb per yard, the latter 65 lb per yard. A mixture of stone blocks and timber sleepers were used.
Not all the stations shown above were open at the beginning. The original intermediate stations were Belper, Amber Gate, Wingfield, Chesterfield, Eckington, Beighton, Masborough, Swinton, Darfield, Barnsley, Oakenshaw, Normanton and Woodlesford. All were designed by Francis Thompson. Although praising their design, Whishaw was somewhat critical, we cannot but deplore the growing evil of expending large sums of money on railway appendages. Instead of cottage buildings, which, for the traffic of most of the intermediate stopping places on this line, would have been amply sufficient, we find the railway literally ornamented with so many beautiful villas, any one of which would grace the sloping lawn of some domain by nature highly favoured..
Trains in those days, of course, had no toilets, so passengers had to use facilities at the stations while the train paused. On the North Midland they were built under engine house, with its water column, by which they could be flushed. Whishaw commented that it was a much better arrangement than in common use on other main lines. However, he added The doorways . . .. are in so exposed a situation as naturally to shock the female portion of travellers, who, while the trains are stopping, cannot fail to observe the constant bustle about these buildings.
[edit] History
From the start, there was intense competition between the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway and the Midland Counties Railway for traffic into London.
Though this did not directly affect the North Midland, it had financial problems of its own. With so many earthworks it had been extremely expensive to build, and its station and other buildings were arguably extravagant. Moreover, by the time it opened, the country had entered an economic depression. In the first two years, dividends were as low as 3.5%, compared with 10% for the London and Birmingham. Economies were put in place but in 1842 the dividend was a mere 1% and the Lancashire and Yorkshire shareholders called for a Committee of Enquiry.
This included George Hudson, and after a tour of the complete network, insisted on drastic measures. Against the wishes of the Derby directors, Hudson and the others insisted on halving expenditure. At a meeting in Leeds, the shareholders had their way, moreover six of them, including Hudson, forced their way onto the board. One of their first acts was to close Beighton, Killamarsh and Kilnhurst stations. Boys, instead of men, would work points at junctions, services were reduced and fares raised and a number of carriages were sold.
A quarter of the footplate staff were sacked. The remainder protested and were sacked as well, on Christmas Eve and without pay in lieu of notice. He employed in their place, enginemen he described as "skilled replacements" who included in their number a plate-layer, a fireman, a stonemason, two had been sacked for drunkenness and one who had been sacked for overturning a train of wagons.
The result was chaos, with trains running late or erratically, and the remainder of the workforce demoralised. Finally a luggage train, with an elderly driver of only three weeks experience, collided with the rear of a stationary train at Cudworth in fog. The inquest criticised the cutbacks and there was wide publicity about the trial of the driver for manslaughter. The jury acquitted him and censured the directors. Meanwhile the Board of Trade was also extremely critical and the directors made somewhat grudging improvements to working practices.
Meanwhile the situation between the Birmingham & Derby and the Midland Counties was becoming steadily worse. Hudson's first approach was to the Midland Counties in 1843. He also negotiated a secret amalgamation with the Birmingham and Derby which would remove all the Midland Counties' trade and, in August, returned to the latter with an ultimatum. Finally, in September, its shareholders overruled their chairman and the triple merger was agreed.
The Midland Railway Consolidation Bill was placed before Parliament and was passed in 1844 and from May of that year the Midland Railway came into being.
[edit] Present day
It is now part of the Midland Main Line from London to Leeds and Sheffield and part of the route operated by Virgin Cross Country from the North East through Birmingham to the South West (sometimes known as the Cross Country Route). In addition, the section from Derby to Ambergate, originally the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway, is part of the Derwent Valley Line.
See also North Midland Railway Locomotives
[edit] References
- Pixton, B., (2000) North Midland: Portrait of a Famous Route, Cheltenham: Runpast Publishing
- Naylor,P. (Ed) (2000) An Illustrated History of Belper and its Environs Belper: M.G.Morris
- Williams, R., (1988) The Midland Railway: A New History, Newton Abbot: David and Charles
- Whishaw, F, (1842) The Railways of Great Britain and Ireland London: John Wheale repub Clinker, C.R.ed (1969) Whishaw's Railways of Great Britain and Ireland Newton Abbot: David and Charles
- Williams, F.S., (1877) The Midland Railway: Its Rise and Progress Derby: Bemrose and Son
- Billson, P., (1996) Derby and the Midland Railway Derby: Breedon Books
