Midland Railway Estates Collection

Major New Release Online

An extract from Estates Plan ref: 88-1997-5_147.5 “Millers Dale Temporary Arrangement to be Brought Into Use” from July 1905, one of several plans relating to the widening and provision of the second viaduct there in 1905.

This is really exciting news and I hardly know where to begin... A hugely significant collection within the overall holdings of the Midland Railway Study Centre are the Estate Plans. Developed by the Midland Railway from the 1880s in their own “off-site store” at Ambergate, then added-to over the years by the LMS and British Railways, this treasure trove found its way to Derby Museums in the 1970s. Since then the collection has been conserved and catalogued but has only been available to in-person visitors to the MRSC, and even then only by ploughing through the paper-based catalogue.

Therefore it has been a long-held ambition of ours to make this collection fully available in digital form through the web site. Work to scan the plans and digitise the catalogue entries for the collection has been going on behind the scenes for several years now (and a really big thank you to our volunteer, Tony, for all his hard work toward that objective).

Although there's still a lot of work to do, we estimate we are about two-thirds of the way though and so the time is right to release that first tranche of plans — which amounts to over 850 individual items — for visitors to the Midland Railway Study Centre web site to search, view and freely download.

The new records have been incorporated into our online catalogue and will show up in standard search results. You can also filter your results by selecting “Plan (Estates)” in the 'Categories' drop-down list. A link to download the high resolution file will appear in the results. If any of the links or thumbnails fail to load, or you encounter any other issues in searching or using the catalogue, please don't hesitate to let us know via the link below. In fact, any feedback at all will be welcome.

As with all our Midland Railway era downloads, you are free to do with these plans what you wish provided you don't make a charge for reuse. Also, please credit us appropriately if you redistribute any of them to help others find our collection. We hope this will significantly add to the breadth of results researchers find here, particularly in respect of geographic subjects.

Work continues to scan and catalogue the remainder of the collection and we hope to have a further batch uploaded within a few months. The end of this project is in sight.

If you find these, or any of the resources we provide on this web site useful, then please consider making a donation to top up our conservation fund. There's a PayPal donate button on several of our pages, like this one.

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.)

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 use this Google Form to do it all online. Easy.

Celebrating Railway200 in 2025

The Midland Railway Society in partnership with the Museum of Making are delighted to announce that we will be taking part in the national celebration marking two hundred years of railways as we know them. Led by the Great British Railways Transition Team on behalf of the railway industry and heritage partners around the country, this will take the form of a wide variety of events and we will be doing our bit to mark this milestone.

Railways came to Derby in 1839, but of course a constituent company of the Midland Railway — the Leicester & Swannington Railway —dates from 1832. Other Midland Railway constituents — the Ticknall Tramway and the Mansfield & Pinxton Railway — respectively trace their heritage back as far as 1802 and 1817, even earlier than the Stockton & Darlington. Never part of the Midland Railway but local to Derby, the Little Eaton Gangroad beats them all, opening in 1795. The honour of being the first “modern railway” falls to the Stockton & Darlington Railway, however, as when it opened on 27th September 1825, it was operated with steam locomotives rather than horse power.

To celebrate all this, the Midland Railway Study Centre will be holding THREE weekend long events during the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 2025 (dates to be confirmed). Each event will be themed “How the Railway Came to Derby”, “The life & times of the Victorian and Edwardian Railway Worker” and “Railways of Derby in the Black & White Years”. These events will take place in and around the Midland Railway Study Centre in the Museum of Making and will include an opportunity to see behind the scenes in the Study Centre with relevant objects and documents on show, a talk on the given theme presented twice each day, the famous model railway will be operating with their dedicated volunteers on hand along Midland Railway Society members to chat with. We will be inviting other railway and heritage organisations to have stands as well (if that sounds like you — please get in touch!).

It's going to be an exciting year of celebration. Please click the Railway200 logo above for more details about what's planned elsewhere.

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.

The Midland Railway Two Chains to the Inch Land Plans

We are extremely grateful to the Chaddesden History Group, and Peter Cholerton in particular, for sharing a couple of their research papers relating to an often-overlooked corner of Derby's railway history — Chaddesden Sidings. So much so, we have created a page dedicated to the subject. As well as Peter's papers there are links to some of our own resources including the Midland Railway's detailed land plans of the sidings and surrounding area.

This view of Chaddesden South Junction signal box was captured by the late Pat Larkam as part of his extensive research into Midland Railway signalling in support of Derby Museums' famous 7mm model railway — the running of which can be enjoyed as part of the Museum of Making at 11:00 and 14:00 each day.
This Midland Railway “Type 4b” signal box replaced an earlier structure from 24th March 1907 and measured 32'x11"6'x12'. It survived the introduction of Power Signalling in the Derby area from 4th May 1969, but not the eventual closure of Chaddesden Sidings as a marshalling yard and was abolished on 17th July 1977.
Standing on this spot today would be looking straight into the Boots store on the Wyvern Retail Park.

THE SIR HENRY FOWLER COLLECTION

We are delighted to have acquired a substantial collection of photographs, papers and other ephemera relating to the life, work and times of Sir Henry Fowler, the Midland Railway's last Locomotive Superintendent (then styled “Chief Mechanical Engineer”). Now all sorted and fully catalogued, it is available for reference and here we present some of the highlights of the collection for you to enjoy...

“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.

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.

Extracted from Appendix No. 20 of 1899 — a list of Up and Down lines 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.

Older News...

To try and keep the Home Page reasonably under control, the older stories and features get moved to our Older News page. Here you'll find details of activities and stories from the recent (and not so recent) past, including old updates on the Silk Mill's transformation into the Museum of Making.