Midland Railway

British pre-grouping railway company (1844–1922)

The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922. It had a large network of lines managed from its headquarters in Derby. It became the third-largest railway undertaking in the British Isles after the Great Western Railway and the London and North Western Railway.

Midland Railway of England poster

The company was formed in 1844 by the merger of the Midland Counties Railway, the North Midland Railway, and the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway. The Birmingham & Gloucester Railway joined two years later. The earlier systems met at Derby railway station. The MR established its locomotive works, and later its carriage and wagon works, at Derby.

In 1923, the MR became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway under the Railways Act 1921.