Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MIDLAND RAILWAY

MIDLAND RAILWAY, a railway system from London, through the midland counties, to the northern ones. It was constituted in 1844, by amalgamation of the Birmingham and Derby, the Midland Counties, and the North Midland; it extended then only from Birmingham to Leeds, with a fork branch to the Northwestern at Hampton; and had a total length of only 181½ miles. It afterwards acquired, by issue of guaranteed shares, the Bristol and Gloucester, and the Birmingham and Gloucester, 95½ miles, the Sheffield and Rotherham, 9¼ miles, the Leicester and Swannington, 16 miles, and the Leeds and Bradford, 43 miles; it likewise expanded by the extensions of the Syston and Peterborough, 48¼ miles, the Nottingham and Lincoln and Southwell, 36 miles, the branchings of the Leicester and Swannington, 21¼ miles, the Erewash Valley, 21½ miles, the Nottingham and Mansfield, 12½ miles, and the Mansfield and Pinxton, 7½ miles; and, in 1853-8, it was extended, in a directer line toward London, from Leicester to the Great Northern at Hitchin, 62 miles, with a branch to the Wellingborough station of the Northwestern, 1 mile. The company was authorized in 1859, to extend the Erewash Valley line to Clay Cross on the main line, and to construct certain branches in and near Burton-on-Trent; in 1860, to construct a line of 15 miles from the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock, and Midlands at Rowsley to Buxton, together with three short branches from that line, to construct a station in St. Pancras parish, London, to enjoy a renewal of running powers over the southern part of the Great Northern, and to effect arrangements with the Great Northern, the North London, and the Regents' canal, to have running powers over the South Leicestershire, from Leicester to Coventry,-and to enter into contracts with the North London, the Eastern Counties, the Blackwall, and the Tilbury and Southend, for the use of any of their works; in 1861, to construct eight new lines or branches, including one from the Tame Valley at Shustoke to the South Leicestershire at Nuneaton, one from Ashchurch to Evesham on the West Midland, one from the Midland main line near Worcester to the Tewkesbury branch, one from the Erewash Valley at Blackwell to Feversham, and one from the Midland at Beighton to Aston on the Manchester and Sheffield, aggregately 28 miles 13 chains long, to construct a line, 12 miles 50 chains long, in extension of the Leeds and Bradford to Otley and Ilkley, and to construct new works and acquire additional land in Derbyshire, Lancashire, Notts, Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, and Yorkshire, and also to acquire certain hotels; in 1862, to extend the Rowsley and Buxton into connexion with the Marple and New Mills, by a length of 14 miles, giving access to Manchester,-and to construct some other new works and some small branches; in 1863, to construct a line, 51 miles long, from Bedford to London,- to construct a connecting link with the Bristol and Exeter,-and to construct several small new lines, aggregately 21½ miles long, and other works, in the counties of York, Leicester, Warwick, and Gloucester, and in the towns of Nottingham, Northampton, and Worcester; in 1864, to construct a line, 17½ miles long, from Mangotsfield to Bath and Thornbury, to construct a line, 13¾ miles long, from Chesterfield to Sheffield, to make arrangements with the Metropolitan in connexion with the forming of a branch 1 mile long in the parish of St. Pancras,-and to construct several other short branches, aggregately 11¾ miles long; and, in 1865, to construct a line, 33¾ miles long, from Mansfield to Southwell and Worksop,-and to construct, in connexion with varions parts of its system, fifteen short lines, aggregately 31¾ miles long. The Midland railway has connexion also, by lease, subscription, or otherwise, with the Little Northwestern, the Dursley and Midland Junction, the Worcester and Hereford, the Tewkesbury and Malvern, the Bristol Joint Station, the Cheshire Midland, the Garston and Liverpool, the Liverpool Central Station, the West Cheshire, the Stockport and Woodley Junction, and the Stockport, Timperley, and Altrincham Junetion. The company likewise was carrying on negotiations in 1867, for an amalgamation with the Glasgow and Southwestern, which itself was previonsly an amalgamated system, extending from Carlisle to Glas gow, and largely ramified in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. The capital account of the Midland system, at 30 June, 1865, showed an expenditure till that date of £25,129,886, and receipts of £21,136,009 in stock and shares, and £4,098,273 in debentures.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a railway system"   (ADL Feature Type: "railroad features")
Administrative units: London AncC

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