Midland Railway

The Midland Railway was a British railway company formed in 1844 through the merger of three smaller lines and based in Derby, England. It grew through further amalgamations and new construction into one of the largest railway companies in Britain by the early twentieth century, with a network reaching from its London terminus at St Pancras to Manchester, Carlisle, Birmingham and Bristol. Its most notable engineering achievement was the Settle to Carlisle line, a dramatic route across the Pennines that remains in use today, alongside the Midland Main Line linking London and the East Midlands. The company was a major employer across the Midlands, and by 1913 it was generating substantial revenue and running an extensive coal, freight and passenger operation. The Midland Railway lost its independent existence in the 1923 Grouping, when it was merged with several other companies to form the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, ending nearly eighty years as a separate business.