LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton

LMS Route: Hampton in Arden to Whitacre

Hampton - Derby Junction: lnwrhiaj706

Looking across the former LNWR and B&DJR lines towards the original Hampton station with the house shared by James Allport and Matthew Kirtley in the background. Prior to 1923 when the LNWR and Midland Railway (MR) merged into the London Midland Scottish Railway (LMS) the ownership of the two lines would have been easily discernible. The visual clue would have been the location of the wooden keys that held the rail in position in the chair that in turn was fixed to the timber sleeper. The Midland's practice was to use wooden keys on the inside of the rail whereas the LNWR, in common with many other railway companies, positioned the key on the outside of the rail. The Midland's system had the advantage that Permanent Way men could inspect the track simply by walking in the middle of the track in a single pass to view both rails. Whilst the fitting of outside keys required two passes to inspect the rails it had a safety feature. The thrust of a passing train on the rail was outwards in direction thereby forcing the rail against the key and 'tightening' the connection. With internal keys this outward thrust could, in the passing of time, loosen the key. Eventually the fitting of outside keys became the norm on MR lines with its adoption by the LMS.

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