Midland Counties Railway
The Midland Counties Railway (MCR) was a railway company that existed between 1832 and 1844, connecting Nottingham, Leicester and Derby with Rugby vis a junction with the London and Birmingham Railway.
The MCR system connected with the North Midland Railway and the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway in Derby at what become known as the Tri Junct Station.
1835 Charles Vignoles became the the engineer responsible for the line. Assisted on the Leicester and Trent portion by Mr. Woodhouse and on the Nottingham and Derby part by William Mackenzie.
1835 When put to Parliament the proposed capital was one million pounds. Directors included: Thomas Edward Dicey, Matthew Babbington, William Jessop, E. M. Mundy and J. Oakes. Among the shareholders were the Prime Minister Viscount Melbourne, John Cheetham, Thomas Houldsworth, John Ellis, William Evans Hutchinson, Joseph Cripps and George Walker acting for Barber, Walker and Co.
1837 June 30th. First AGM held at Loughborough. Dicey was the Chairman
1838 April. The whole line was under contract to build and between Nottingham and Derby there were 1,000 men employed. In total more than 3,500 men and 328 horses were employed on the building.
1838 June. 2nd AGM and Dicey states that 4,000 men are employed in the build.
1839 May 30th. Official opening of the railway. The line was actually opened in three stages: (1) Derby to Nottingham 4 June 1839: (2) Trent Junction to Leicester 4 May 1840 and (3) Leicester to Rugby 1 July 1840
In 1840 the line ran from Rugby with stations at Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham to end at Derby. The journey took two and three-quarter hours and fares 6s and 5s for the Nottingham to Leicester section. Five trains ran each day except Sunday when there were three.
1842 August 13th. At the half-year meeting Dicey stated that a Bill for raising additional capital had been approved in Parliament. James Heyworth whose family owned 5% of the shares made protests at the actions of the Board and he followed these up at the November meeting
1843 Secretary: J. F. Bell, engineer Mr Barlow (see advert)
1844 Became the foundation of the Midland Railway.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- Bradshaw’s Railway Companion 1840
- The Midland Railway: Its Rise and progress by Frederick S. Williams. Published 1875.