The Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway was a new route created in 1879 to relieve congestion on the established routes of the Midland Railway, in England. It consisted of two connecting lines that, together with part of an existing route, formed a new route from Nottingham to near Kettering. The line was used for Nottingham to London express passenger trains, and for heavy mineral and goods trains heading south. As well as shortening the transit a little, the new line had the effect of relieving congestion on the original main line through Leicester, that had become excessively congested.
The new sections of route were from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray, and from Manton to Rushton, a short distance north of Kettering. The Trowell to Radford railway line and parts of the main line south of Kettering were widened to quadruple track as part of the same project.
The Nottingham to Melton and Manton to Rushton route sections were closed in 1967, but the intermediate section between Melton Mowbray and Manton, part of the Syston and Peterborough Railway remained in use. A section of the line north of Melton was used for some years as the Old Dalby Test Track. The town of Corby had developed greatly, and a train service between Corby and Kettering was run from 1987 to 1990. The entire Kettering to Manton section was re-opened in 2009, and has been electrified from Kettering to Corby.
The old main line
The Midland Railway was formed from the amalgamation of other railways, by the Midland Railway Consolidation Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. xviii). The new company had lines in a large tract of land, connecting Leeds, Derby and Nottingham to Leicester, PeterboroughPeter Smith, Syston to Peterborough: a Midland Railway Cross Country Route, self published, 2013, , page 7 and Birmingham, and was soon expanded to include Bristol, Manchester, Lincoln, and, from 1857, London. From 1868 it had its own London terminus, St Pancras.Geoff Goslin, The London Extension of the Midland Railway, Irwell Press, Caernarfon, 1994, , page 12 In common with many early railways, the Midland Railway had a geographical area in which it was dominant, and it went to considerable lengths to exclude rival railway companies, while simultaneously trying to penetrate their territory.Peter Butler, A History of the Railways of Northamptonshire, Silver Link Publishing, Kettering, 2006, , page 83
The Midland Railway served a number of colliery areas, and conveying house coal and industrial fuel to large population areas became dominant. Moving manufactured goods away from towns where production took place was also important. Over time there was a massive flow of minerals from the North and East Midland coalfields to southern towns and cities, chiefly London, and also to the agricultural districts of East Anglia and Lincolnshire. All the wagons had to be sorted according to their specific destination, and of course all the wagons had to be returned empty to the collieries after discharge.Robin Leleux, A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: volume IX: the East Midlands, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1976, , pages 136–138 The Midland Railway had a double track route south from Trent through Leicester, and it was heavily congested. As well as the principal long-distance passenger expresses, there was a huge volume of mineral traffic. These trains tended to be slow moving and often had to wait in refuge sidings alongside the main line, pending the availability of reception sidings at yards nearer their destination. The main line was still largely double track and in consequence congestion and delay was widespread.Leleux, pages 26, 66, 67 and 80
From the later 1870s, the main line was progressively quadrupled south of Kettering, with easier gradients going south. The most important of these works was the Wymington Deviation, a 3 mile line opened on 4 May 1884. It had a ruling gradient of 1 in 200 rather than the long 1 in 120 climb on the original main line; there is a 1,860 yard tunnel. This gave the heavy southbound coal trains, mostly hauled by small Johnson 0-6-0 locomotives, a gentler climb, enabling them to take longer loaded trains. North of Kettering a different solution was proposed.Leleux page 67
A direct line Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century the North Midland Coalfield expanded in volume of coal produced; elsewhere on the Midland Railway system north and west of the city of Nottingham coal production was increasing. Steadily this worsened the already difficult situation on the main line. In particular the area around Trent, west of Nottingham, was heavily congested as it was the focus of main lines from north, west and east. The Midland Railway decided to provide a new route through Nottingham to Kettering.Leleux, pages 137 and 138
The existing route to Leicester and London led west from Nottingham station; the new route was to run from the east end of Nottingham station and turn south-east to pass near Melton Mowbray and converge with the Nottingham to Peterborough line at Saxby. A second section of new line would diverge from the Peterborough line at Manton, and run south through Corby to Rushton,When built, the junction was known as Glendon South Junction, but Rushton is used interchangeably in source materials. near Kettering. This would provide an additional two tracks southward from Nottingham, making the southern main line effectively quadruple track. At the same time the Trowell to Radford Line was being planned. North-west of Nottingham it would bring southbound trains from Chesterfield more directly into Nottingham. Together these lines would enable southbound mineral trains to avoid the congested main line and the Trent complex. The Radford to Trowell Line opened on 1 May 1875.Leleux pages 130 and 131E G Barnes, The Midland Main Line 1875 – 1922, George Allen and Unwin, 1969, , pages 166 and 167
1871 Midland bill
In November 1871 the Midland Railway deposited a bill before Parliament entitled the "Nottingham and Rushton Lines Bill". It proposed a line between Nottingham and Saxby, miles long. It would pass some distance north of Melton Mowbray, and generally duplicate the Melton to Saxby section of the existing Peterborough line. The "Manton and Rushton Line" was a route 14 miles long between Manton on the Syston and Peterborough Railway, and Rushton on the Midland Main Line, north of Kettering. Included in the proposals was a spur linking the Nottingham and Saxby line to Melton Mowbray station.Colin Aldworth, The Nottingham and Melton Railway, 1872 – 2004, self-published, 1990 fourth edition 2004, Pages 5 and 6
In the same parliamentary session the rival Great Northern Railway (GNR) promoted a bill for a line south from Newark through Melton to Leicester; new stations would be built in Leicester and Melton Mowbray. The actual promoter of this scheme was William Firth, a Yorkshire industrialist, and a director of the Great Northern Railway.
Although the Midland scheme was broadly west to east and the GNR line would be north to south, there was considered to be much duplication in the two bills, and each bill's promoters criticised and deprecated their opponents' scheme.
The resulting Midland Railway (Nottingham and Saxby Lines) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. c. cxviii) granted the Midland Railway permission to build only part of its Saxby Line from Nottingham to what would have been the junction with the Melton Branch, and the spur to Melton station. This was a bad outcome for the Midland: the act left it with an awkward route to Melton – the route had been chosen to lead to Saxby, not Melton. Even worse, the Manton to Rushton line was lost, preventing the creation of a through relief route. The Midland Railway returned to Parliament the following year with a bill for a more direct line from Nottingham to Melton, which passed unopposed, as the Midland Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. ccx). After taking stock, the Midland tried again for the Syston to Rushton line, and eventually in 1875 approval was given for a slightly varied route through more difficult terrain.Aldworth, pages 7–9
The Great Northern Railway (Newark and Melton) Act 1872 (35 & 36 Vict. clxvii) authorised a line from Newark to Melton, with spurs at Bottesford to the GNR Nottingham to Grantham line, and to the Midland Railway at Melton, as well as a colliery branch to Waltham. The GNR lost its intended Leicester connection, until a later alliance with the London and North Western Railway achieved that, by making a joint line south of Bottesford.
Construction and opening So the Midland Railway had authorisation for a cut-down scheme: Nottingham to Melton and Syston to Rushton. Both sections were designed for fast running by heavy trains, so earthworks were considerable to ensure gentle gradients. In order to carry the line across the wide valley of the River Welland north of Corby, a long viaduct was required, the railway passing through tunnels to the north and south of it. Called Harringworth Viaduct, it is the longest viaduct on the British Railway system excluding those carrying the London suburban lines.E A Labrum, Civil Engineering Heritage: Eastern and Central England, Thomas Telford Limited, London, 1994, , page 213 It has 82 arches and a maximum height of 70 feet.Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith, Kettering to Nottingham via Corby and Melton Mowbray, Middleton Press, Midhurst, 2015, , caption to plate 33 The contractor fell behind in the schedule for building the line, and the Midland had to get an extension of time, in the Midland Railway (Additional Powers) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. xcvi).Aldworth, page 14
Construction was substantially complete by late 1879 and goods trains started running over the line from 1 November 1879 between Melton and Nottingham, and from 1 December 1879 for mineral trains and 1 January 1880 for goods trains between Manton and Glendon. The volume of goods traffic in those days was such that eleven through goods trains ran daily between Melton and Nottingham, before the Manton to Rushton section was open. Major Marindin performed the Board of Trade inspection, mandatory for new passenger railways, in the second week of January 1880. Marindin expressed himself well satisfied, and passenger operation between Nottingham and Melton started on 2 February 1880. Manton to Kettering followed on 1 March 1880 and through express passenger trains started using the route from 1 June 1880.Aldworth, pages 16–18Leleux, pages 111–113
Train services Writing in 1932, Hamilton described the train services at Nottingham station:
This is the route used by the London expresses [to and from Nottingham] (save for one or two semi-fasts via Leicester), of which there are 10 down and 9 up daily. Two down expresses the 9:00 am and 1:50 pm from St. Pancras, and one up, the 11:15 from Nottingham, cover the 123½ miles non stop in 2 hours (the former actually takes 134 minutes). The local services rather sparse, most stations to Melton having but 9 down trains and 8 up… On Sundays there is an early morning local each way and a down and up express in the evening but for the rest of the day the line is entirely closed. In addition to the London trains there are two in each direction for the Midland and Great Northern Joint line via Saxby...J A B Hamilton, The Railways of Nottingham, in the Railway Magazine, February 1932
Organisational change, and mounting losses