Midland Times Issue 3: Winter 2023

Midland Times Issue 3: Winter 2023

Midland Times is the new 80 page periodical covering the LMS, the pre-grouping constituent companies and their successors the London Midland Region. Each issue is packed with historic images and articles featuring both steam and other forms of motive power together with stations, depots and rolling stock, all illustrated in colour and black and white, wherever possible using previously unseen views.

In this issue a large part of Great Britain is covered. We start our journey in Scotland with a feature on Highland Railway 4-6-0 locomotives and follow this with an interesting and informative trip to Coventry. Initially services travelling south to London by-passed the city but as it grew in importance between the wars, more regular and faster trains started calling there en-route from and to Birmingham.

We then dart up and down the country visiting Derbyshire with two stunning colour photographs and then south to Ashchurch on the Birmingham to Bristol route. Garsdale is next up, a place which still provides us with stunning views today. There is a selection of images that show the amount of infrastructure built by the Midland Railway at this outpost deep in the fells of south east Cumbria.

Moving away from locations, David P. Williams explains how he produces his coloured monochrome images, three of which have adorned the front covers of Midland Times. This is followed by selected pages that have been reproduced from an original LMS booklet instructing staff the correct way to secure ‘long and projecting traffic’. Back on the rails we visit the scene of an accident at Plaistow then move back up the country to witness the ‘last knockings’ of steam in the north west accompanied by some very evocative photography.

Fury then takes over with a compelling article about the ill-fated high-pressure experiment pursued by the LMS. Another trip to Scotland follows which includes ferry trips with a company that would become part-owned by the LMS.

And, finally, there is a nostalgic trip to the ‘Knotty’ in 1962 showing some delightful scenes of the former North Staffordshire Railway network. A few miles covered there and hopefully a wide selection of subjects to interest you.