London, Midland and Scottish Railway

There were also some 24 subsidiary railways, leased or worked by the above companies, and a large number of joint railways, including the UK's largest Joint Railway, the Midland & Great Northern, and one of the most famous, the Somerset & Dorset. The LMS was the minority partner (with the LNER) in the Cheshire Lines Committee.

In Ireland there were three railways:

Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway 26.5 miles (42 km)

Northern Counties Committee 265.25 miles (426 km)

Joint Midland and Great Northern of Ireland Railway 91 miles (146 km), with interests in Ireland

All of the above operated, at least partially, in Northern Ireland

The total route mileage of the LMS in 1923 was 7,790 miles (12,537 km).

Early history

The early history of the LMS was dominated by infighting between parties representing its constituent parts, many of whom had previously been commercial and territorial rivals. This was particularly marked in the case of the Midland and the North Western, each of which believed its way was the right – and only – way of doing business. This rivalry was so severe, that stories of connecting trains at Birmingham New Street from the previous LNWR and MR parts of the system, being deliberately made to miss each other persisted even as late as the early 1950s, long after their demise. Many of the senior appointments on the operating side were of former Midland men, such as James Anderson, so that Midland ideas and practices tended to prevail over those of other constituents. For example, the Midland's system of traffic control was imposed on a system-wide basis, along with the Midland livery of Crimson Lake for passenger locomotives and rolling stock. Particularly notable, especially after the appointment of Sir Henry Fowler as Chief Mechanical Engineer, was the continuation of the Midland Railway's small-engine policy (see Locomotives of the Midland Railway).

The LMS also implemented a novel management structure, breaking with British railway tradition, and mirroring a contemporary management practice more common in the United States, appointing a president and vice-presidents. On 4 January 1926, Josiah Stamp was appointed first president of the executive, the equivalent of a chief executive in modern organisational structures. He added the role of chairman of the board of directors to his portfolio in January 1927, succeeding Sir Guy Granet.

The Stanier revolution

The arrival of the new chief mechanical engineer, William Stanier, who was brought in from the Great Western Railway by Josiah Stamp in 1932, heralded a change. Stanier introduced practices used at the Swindon Works that had been introduced by George Jackson Churchward, such as tapered boilers, long travel valves, and large bearings. His locomotives were not only more powerful, and economical, but they also ended the company's internal conflict.

Nationalisation

The war-damaged LMS was nationalised in 1948 by the Transport Act 1947, becoming part of British Railways. It formed the London Midland Region and part of the Scottish Region. British Railways transferred the lines in Northern Ireland to the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949. The London Midland & Scottish Railway Company continued to exist as a legal entity for nearly two years after Nationalisation, being formally wound up on 23 December 1949. The lines in Great Britain were rationalised through closure in the 1950s to 70s but the main routes survive and some have been developed for 125 mph inter-city services.

Passenger miles rose quite dramatically, from a low point of 6,500 million in 1932 to 8,500 million by 1937, while at the same time the number of coaches required was reduced through improved maintenance and more efficient utilisation. In 1938 it opened a School of Transport in Derby to train its staff in best railway practice.

Railway posters

The LMS's commercial success in the 1920s resulted in part from the contributions of English painter, Norman Wilkinson. In 1923, Wilkinson advised Superintendent of Advertising and Publicity of the LMS, T.C Jeffrey, to improve rail sales and other LMS services by incorporating fine art into the design of their advertisement posters. In this time, fine art already had a distinguished association in Europe and North America with good taste, longevity and quality. Jeffrey wanted LMS' commercial image to align with these qualities and therefore accepted Wilkinson's advice. For the first series of posters, Wilkinson personally invited 16 of his fellow alumni from the Royal Academy of London to take part. In letter correspondence, Wilkinson outlined the details of the LMS proposal to the artists. The artist fee for each participant was £100. The railway poster would measure 50 X 40 inches. In this area, the artist's design would be reproduced as a photolithographic print on double royal satin paper, filling 45 X 35 inches. The mass-produced posters were pasted inside railway stations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. LMS decided the subject advertised, but choices of style and approach were left to the artist's discretion. LMS' open design brief resulted in a collection of posters that reflected the large capacity of destinations and experiences available with the transport organisation. For the Irish Free State, Wilkinson designed a poster in 1927 encouraging the public to avail of the LMS ferry and connecting boat trains to Ireland. For this promotion, Wilkinson's design was accompanied with four posters of Ireland by Belfast modernist painter, Paul Henry. The commercial success of Wilkinson and Jeffrey's collaboration manifested between 1924 and 1928, with public sale of 12,000 railway posters. Paul Henry's 1925 poster depicting the Gaeltacht region of Connemara in County Galway proved most commercially popular, with 1,500 sales.

Charter and excursion traffic

Charter and excursion trains were a significant source of revenue and the LMS became a specialist in the movement of large numbers of people, with locomotives and rolling stock often kept in operation just to service such seasonal traffic. In one year, the LMS ran 43 special trains to take spectators to the Grand National at Aintree, and a further 55 for the Cup Final at Wembley. Longer running events demanded operations on a much larger scale, with the Glasgow Empire Exhibition requiring 1,800 special trains, with a further 1,456 run in connection with the Blackpool Illuminations. The number of people moved was huge, with over 2.2 million holidaymakers arriving in Blackpool between the start of July and the end of September alone. Besides these mass-market events, the company also ran regular tourist excursions to a variety of destinations, such as Oban in the Scottish highlands, Keswick in the English Lake District, and even the First World War battlefields in Belgium, by way of the Tilbury to Dunkerque ferry service and the Belgian railways.

Such was the importance of such excursion traffic that a special department was established in 1929 and oversaw the expansion from 7,500 special trains in that year to nearly 22,000 in 1938.

Scheduled services

However important the excursion traffic was, it was the ordinary scheduled services which had to be the focus of efforts to improve the fortunes of the LMS. A number of initiatives were introduced, with the aim of making train travel more attractive and encouraging business growth. Services were accelerated, and better quality rolling stock was introduced and from 24 September 1928 sleeping cars were provided for third class ticket holders for the first time. The effect of these improvements was significant, with receipts from passenger traffic increasing by £2.9 million (equivalent to £1.59285×109 in 2025) between 1932 and 1938.

A number of premium services were offered, culminating in 1937 with the launch of the Coronation Scot, which featured streamlined locomotives hauling a nine coach train of specially constructed stock between London Euston and Glasgow Central in six and a half hours.

Most other major cities on the network were linked by trains with names which would become famous in railway circles including the Thames-Clyde Express between London St Pancras and Glasgow St Enoch, The Palatine between London St Pancras and Manchester Central, The Irish Mail from London Euston to Holyhead and the Pines Express conveying portions from Liverpool and Manchester to Bournemouth.

Goods services

Goods accounted for around 60% of LMS revenue, and was even more varied than passenger services, catering for a range of goods from fresh perishables such as milk, fish and meat through to bulk minerals and small consignments sent point to point between individuals and companies.

Particularly notable were the Toton–Brent coal trains, which took coal from the Nottinghamshire coalfield to London.

In June 1928, a mail train was derailed at Swinderby, Lincolnshire.

On 2 July 1928, a goods train was derailed at Pinwherry, Renfrewshire due to excessive speed on a curve.

On 27 August 1928, a passenger train crashed into buffers at Euston, London, injuring 30 people.

In August 1928, a train was derailed at Ashton under Hill, Worcestershire.

On 25 October 1928, a goods train broke down at Dinwoodie, Dumfriesshire. An express passenger train was in a rear-end collision with it due to errors by the guard of the goods train and a signalman. Four people were killed and five were injured.

On 8 January 1929, an express passenger train from Bristol, Somerset to Leeds, Yorkshire when it overran signals at Ashchurch, Gloucestershire and collided with a goods train that was being shunted. Four people were killed.

On 2 February 1929, a passenger train was sent into the bay platform at Bridgeton Cross, Glasgow, due to a signalman's error. Several people were injured when the train crashed through the buffers.

On 12 February 1929, an express passenger train was in a head-on collision with a goods train at Doe Hill station, Derbyshire due to a signalman's error. Two people were killed.

On 6 March 1930, a passenger train departed from Culgaith station, Cumberland against signals. It subsequently collided with a ballast train at Langwathby, Cumberland. Two people were killed and four were seriously injured.

On 22 March 1931, an express passenger train was derailed at Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire due to excessive speed through a crossover. The locomotive crew were killed.

On 17 July 1931, a mail train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with a goods train at Crich Junction, Derbyshire. Two people were killed and seventeen people were injured.

On 18 December 1931, a goods train became divided at Dagenham Dock, Essex. Due to a signalman's error, a passenger train ran into the rear portion of the goods. Two people were killed and several were injured.

On 17 June 1932, a passenger train was derailed at Great Bridgeford, Staffordshire.

On 10 July 1933, an express passenger train was in collision with a goods train and was derailed at Little Salkeld, Cumberland due to a signalman's error. One person was killed and about 30 were injured, one seriously.

On 6 September 1934, two passenger trains were in a head-on collision at Port Eglington Junction, Glasgow, Renfrewshire after the driver of one of them misread signals. Nine people were killed and 31 were injured, eleven seriously.

On 28 September 1934, an express passenger train was in a rear-end collision with a passenger train at Winwick Junction, Cheshire due to a signalman's error. Eleven people were killed and nineteen were injured.

On 25 February 1935, a passenger train was derailed at Ashton under Hill due to a combination of locomotive design, speed and track condition. One person was killed.

On 13 March 1935, an express meat train from Liverpool to London was brought to a halt at Kings Langley due to a defective vacuum brake. Due to a signalman's error a milk train ran into its rear. Wreckage spread across all four lines, with the result that a few minutes later the Camden to Holyhead freight collided with the debris, followed a few seconds later by the Toton to Willesden coal train. All four lines were blocked for some time and the driver of the milk train was killed. Contemporaneous newsreel footage shows the aftermath of the four-fold accident.

On 23 February 1937, an express goods train was derailed at West Hampstead, Middlesex.

On 17 November 1937, a passenger train overran signals and was in a rear-end collision with an express passenger train at Coppenhall Junction, Crewe, Cheshire.

On 21 January 1938, an express passenger train was in a head-on collision with an empty stock train at Oakley Junction due to a combination of driver and signalman's errors. Three people were killed and 46 were injured.

On 5 August 1939, a passenger train was derailed at Saltcoats North station, Ayrshire due to an obstruction on the line. Four people were killed.

On 28 September 1939, a rear-end collision occurred at Winwick Junction.

On 14 October 1939, An express passenger train was involved in a collision at Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. Five people were killed, more than 30 were injured.

On 13 October 1940, an express passenger train collided with a platform barrow obstructing the line at Wembley Central, Middlesex and was derailed. Several people were killed and many more were injured.

On 4 September 1942, a goods train overran a loop at Todmorden, Yorkshire in blackout conditions and was derailed.

On 21 July 1945, an express passenger train overran signals at Ecclefechan, Dumfriesshire and was in collision with a goods train that was being shunted. Two people were killed, 31 were injured.

On 30 September 1945, an express passenger train was derailed at Bourne End, Hertfordshire due to excessive speed through a set of points. Forty-three people were killed and 64 were injured.

1946 – Lichfield rail crash; 20 killed and 21 injured.

On 12 April 1947, a passenger train was derailed near Keighley, Yorkshire when a bridge collapsed under it.

On 21 July 1947, an express passenger train was derailed at Grendon, Warwickshire due to defective track. Five people were killed and 64 were injured.