The
Midland Railway (MR) was a
railway company in the
United Kingdom, which existed from 1844 to 1922 when it became part of the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway.
Initially, the MR's main line, now known as the Midland Main Line, connected the East Midlands to London and to Leeds. Eventually the Midland (head office in Derby) owned a large network of railway lines centred on the East Midlands, and the main lines connecting the East Midlands to Birmingham and Bristol, and another to Manchester. In the end, they were the only railway of the time to own or share lines in all of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.
The Midland Railway Consolidation Bill was placed before Parliament and was passed in 1844 by the merger of the Midland Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway, and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway. These met at what was known as the Tri-Junct station at Derby, where the railway also established its Locomotive and later its Carriage and Wagon works.
Leading it was the dynamic but unscrupulous George Hudson from the North Midland, and John Ellis, from the Midland Counties, a careful businessman of impeccable integrity. From the Birmingham line, James Allport found a place elsewhere in Hudson's empire, with the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway, though he was later to return.
