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London North Western
Railway:
Midland
Railway:
Stratford
Midland Junction Railway
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Tamworth Low Level Station
General Introduction
Tamworth was a small market town and was historically split
between Staffordshire and Warwickshire, with the county boundary running
through the town centre although the station was within Warwickshire. Following
the county boundary changes in 1887, the station lay just outside Warwickshire
with the approaches to the station being within the county. Tamworth's original
stations were provided first by the Birmingham & Derby Junction Railway
(B&DJR) in 1839 - absorbed in to the Midland Railway (MR) in 1844 - and
then shortly afterwards by the Trent Valley Railway (TVR), which was taken over
by the LNWR before it opened in 1847. The Midland station was situated on the
Birmingham to Derby line whilst the LNWR station was constructed at right
angles immediately beneath. Their strategic relationship to each other can be
ascertained by the construction of a connecting line joining between the two in
June 1847 whereas the TVR was opened in September 1847. Tamworth's importance
lay in the development of the Royal Mail services which with the Penny Post saw
an immense expansion in this important service.
Being government traffic, the railways were obliged to
provide services for the transportation of mail throughout the country which
was also a lucrative commercial business. The layout of John William Livock's
designed station building was from the outset meant to facilitate the transfer
of mail and passengers between the two important routes with part of the TVR
station providing a direct connection to the B&DJR station. This was later
superceded by the LNWR mail lifts sited on either side of the TVR station which
led up to the down Midland Railway platform. It should be noted that whereas
the LNWR's up and down lines centered on London - with up traffic heading to
the metropolis, the MR's focus was towards Derby, therefore the down line was
Derby to Birmingham. Tamworth's importance as an exchange station saw some 2000
bags of mail being handled each night during the 1950s which necessitated many
trains stopping at both stations with Powell Hendry et al reporting some 18
being provided by the LMS in each direction alone on the Midland line.
The Handbook of Railway Stations records that both the High
Level and Low Level stations had the full range of services available. These
are recorded as: Goods traffic; Passenger and Parcels traffic; Furniture Vans,
Carriages, Portable Engines, and Machines on Wheels; Live Stock; Horse boxes
and Prize Cattle Vans; Carriages by Passenger Trains (GPFLHC). Whereas the High
Level station's goods yard was equipped with a 5 ton crane (probably inside the
goods shed) the Low Level station's crane had double the lifting capacity being
rated at 10 tons. As an illustration of how close was the County of
Warwickshire's border can be assessed by the fact that whereas the High Level
and Low Level stations are listed in the Handbook as being in Staffordshire,
all of the private sidings listed under Tamworth were in Warwickshire. These
were: ME Jackson (Gibbs & Canning's Brick and Pipeworks); Kettlebrook; R
Lawrence (Glascote Colliery); R Patterson (Glascote Colliery Company's Amington
Colliery); Tamworth Colliery Company (Glascote Colliery Company's Amington
Colliery); Tamworth Colliery Company's Marshall's Siding; Tamworth Industrial
Cooperative Society (Alders Paper Mills Siding); and Thompson & Southwark's
Foundary (Kettlebrook).
Bob Essery noted in his caption to image 'lnwr_tam3642', a 1910 photograph showing a goods
shed with both the LNWR & Midland Railway names displayed at Tamworth, that
the two companies also shared road transport facilities. In this instance it
was not just the traction engine but the trailer too as both carried the two
companies' names. Of interest is the fact that the steam traction engine has
the two names displayed as 'London North Western & Midland Railways' whilst
the trailer displays the two names reversed, as 'Midland & London North
Western Railways'. The difference might reflect the principal ownership of the
two items. If this practice was followed through to the goods shed then its
probably the High Level station's goods shed that is seen. If you note the
style of its canopy, it has sides with curved valances, compared to images 'lnwr_tam3133' and 'lnwr_tam3644', you will note the latter images have
canopies with valances on the sides that are primarily horizontal and
diagonally straight. The only name visible is the LMS' as the photograph was
taken after grouping. However if our assumption is correct, that the ownership
of the shed can be derived by the first name, then it would be safe to assume
that the latter images are of the Low Level station's goods shed.
Much of the information on this and other pages of
Warwickshire Railways is derived from articles or books listed in our 'bibliography'.
The Connections, actual and proposed, between the MR and
LNWR Tamworth Stations 1928
The following information was obtained courtesy of the
London North Western Railway Society and is from article published in the
Society's Journal Volume 8 No 3 December 2015.
The Tamworth Chord Lines
We start with a short piece written by member George Huxley
exposing the mystery surrounding lines around Tamworth. There then follows the
result of further work by Robin Mathams and Dave Barrett as part of their Trent
Valley Railway History Project. - LNWR Society Editor.
Tamworth East Curve - Notes and a Question by George
Huxley
The Tamworth west curve is well known: it ran from north to
west linking the Midland Railway with the LNWR Trent Valley line. The boundary
between the two companies was about half way along the curve. From the end-on
junction the London & North Western had running powers over the Midland to
Derby for all traffic with the use of stations other than the MR's goods
stations at Burton on Trent and Derby. The curve opened in 1847 and closed in
1969 [see John Cough, The Midland Railway: A Chronology (Mold 1989) pp2-5 and
209].
There was, however, also an east curve. This extended from a
position to the north of Tamworth Midland station close to the Stafford-Warwick
County Boundary to a junction with the Trent Valley line east of Tamworth LNWR
station. The curve was built under the Midland Railway (Branches etc) Act of
1866. Track was laid and was ready to open, but the junction at the Trent
Valley end was never completed [Cough, ibid p209J. An 'Ordnance Survey' survey
of 19(11 shows the curve intact but with the words 'Railway Dismantled'; the
survey is reproduced in Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Tamworth to Derby
(Midhurst 2015) Map III. The Midland Railway Distance Diagram for the Tamworth
District of 1921 (Sheet 26A) describes the curve as 'not laid'. I lad the
tracks been connected the Midland would have been, it may be supposed, the
owner as far as the Trent Vallev Junction, since the line was built under the
1866 Act giving powers to the MR. Cough states that the rails were removed
about 1878. Why was the connection never made?
The Tamworth Chord lines By Robin Mathams and Dave Barrett
The West Chord
The Trent Valley Railway (TVR) proposed a branch line from
Armitage to the Midland line at Alrewas to provide a better route from the
North-west to the East Midlands, but the Alrewas Branch was excluded from the
TVR's Parliamentary Bill, which may have been the reason the Tamworth west
chord was built - as an alternative. However, as yet, no evidence has been
found to support this and there is certainly no clue from the TVR Co Board
minutes and other documents. There were later efforts to get parliamentary
approval for the branch including the raising of finance, but these all came to
naught and the reason why has not yet been found.
In May 1846, the London & Birmingham's Trent Committee
(TC) - the L&B had by now bought the TVR - considered the draft agreement
with the Midland Railway for the west chord, the arrangements being recommended
for acceptance by Thomas Gooch, TVR chief engineer. The TC transferred to the
LNWR on its formation and continued to manage the building of the Railway.
On 3rd June 1847 a Trent Sub-Committee appointed to
negotiate with the Midland Railway regarding the west curve recommended: 'That
additional purchase of land at Tamworth be approved - and that every possible
dispatch be used in completing the junction', and a week later, on Thursday
10th June, the TC minuted Mr Gooch's report: The junction line at Tamworth will
be completed on Saturday evening next [12th June], and I have written to Mr
Barlow [Chief Engineer of the Midland Railway] to put in the points at once to
connect with the Midland line'. Mr Gooch's stated urgency was well justified
because the TVR planned opening was set for June, then delayed until September
because of the compound-girder bridge strengthening, although the opening
ceremony went ahead at Tamworth as planned on June 26th.
Also, on 10th June the LNWR Goods Agent reported: 'At
Tamworth, I consider that there will be needed plenty of siding and
accommodation for loading and trains to and from the Midland Railway as there
will be considerable weight in trains that now pass via Birmingham to Derby,
Leicester and Nottingham...will have to pass over the incline junction that is
being made by your company, and without sidings to dispose of such trains there
would be much inconvenience.' This evidence indicates that, because
considerable goods traffic to/from the North-west would be diverted over the
steeply-inclined chord, LNWR sidings would be required for loading, and
marshalling smaller trains to enable locomotives to cope. The chord was single
track about 10 chains (220 yards) in length.
In 1849 the LNWR gained an additional link to the Midland
via the chord line at Lichfield to the South Staffs line; the link is still in
use today.
The East Chord
As George Huxley outlines, it is somewhat shrouded in
mystery and we agree. Of the chord, George states it was built under the
Midland Railway (Branches) Act of 1866 which suggests it was a Midland Railway
proposal rather than one of the LNWR. The earthworks for the potential junction
with the Trent Line at 109m 35ch at Bole Hall appear on the LNWR 1880 asset
survey and George quotes John Cough who states the rails were removed in 1878,
which is why the OS map of 1901 has the curve marked as 'dismantled'. The 1880
LNWR survey shows a signal box in existence for the junction on the Down side
of the main line - it is marked 'unused' - and the Down line junction signal is
also shown and these two pieces of evidence appear to verify work on the
connection was well advanced, but then halted for some reason. The 1901 OS map
shows no signal box at the potential junction, which indicates demolition by
then. The chord would have been around 50 chains (1/2 mile +) long and the
earthworks suggest it was double-track and the parts of the embankment which
survive are marked on today's OS maps.
What was its purpose and why was it never connected? The
only plausible reason seems to be to provide an alternative route from the
Midland line to/from the south which avoided Coventry and Birmingham, there
being a route from Burton to Nuneaton, and as it was built under a Midland
Railway Act as outlined earlier, it suggests it was a Midland proposal - or was
it the LNWR's and the Midland offered to get the Parliamentary approval using
its 1866 Act? As the presence of the unused signal-box and junction signals on
the LNWR Trent line indicate the line was to be connected, did the LNWR then
review its business case and decide against it? Or did the Midland do the same?
Or was there a falling-out between the LNWR and the Midland? Whatever, the
portion of the line as built appears to have had a very short life of probably
less than 12 years. The hunt for further evidence goes on...
Aerial View of the two Tamworth Stations 1928
Locomotives seen at or near Tamworth Low Level station
Locomotives seen prior to grouping (1923)
Locomotives seen during grouping (1923 to 1947)
Locomotives seen post nationalisation (1947)
Ordnance Survey Maps and schematic diagrams of both the Low
and High Level stations
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