Midland Railway - The South-West

The South-West

After the merger, London trains were carried on the shorter Midland Counties route. The former Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was left with the traffic to Birmingham and Bristol, at that time still an important seaport. The original 1839 line from Derby had run to Hampton-in-Arden railway station, but the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway had built a terminus at Lawley Street in 1842, then in 1851 the Midland started to run into Curzon Street.

The line south was the Birmingham and Bristol Railway, which reached Curzon Street via Camp Hill. These two lines had been formed by the merger of the standard gauge Birmingham and Gloucester Railway and the broad gauge Bristol and Gloucester Railway.

They met at Gloucester via a short loop of the Cheltenham and Great Western Union Railway. The change of gauge at Gloucester meant that everything had to be transferred between trains, creating chaos. Morever, the C&GWU was owned by the Great Western Railway, which wished to extend its network by taking over the Bristol to Birmingham route. While the two parties were bickering over the price, the Midland's John Ellis overheard two directors of the Birmingham and Bristol Railway on a London train discussing the business, and took it on himself to pledge that the Midland would match anything the Great Western would offer.

Since it would have brought broad gauge into Curzon Street, with the possibility of extending it to the Mersey, it was something that the other standard gauge lines wished to avoid, and they pledged to assist the Midland with any losses it might incur. In the event all that was necessary was for the later LNWR to share Birmingham New Street with the Midland when it was opened in 1854. At this time Lawley Street became a goods depot.