London, Midland and Scottish Railway
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The London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS1) was a British railway company. It was formed in 1923 by the forced Grouping of over 300 separate railway companies into just four. It was an unwieldy construction, claiming to be the world's largest joint stock organisation, the largest transport organisation, and the largest commercial undertaking in Europe (although they did not say on what basis), including the largest chain of hotels. In 1938, the LMS operated 6,870 route miles (11,056 km) of railway (excluding its lines in Northern Ireland), but it was not very profitable with a rate of return of only 2.7%. Along with the other British railway companies, the LMS was nationalised in 1948.
Constituents
The LMS was formed from the following major companies:- Caledonian Railway 1114.4 miles (1793.5 km) route mileage
- Furness Railway 158 miles (254 km)
- Glasgow and South Western Railway 498.5 miles (802.3 km)
- Highland Railway 506 miles (814 km)
- London and North Western Railway (including Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, amalgamated 1 January 1922) 2667.5 miles (4292.9 km)
- Midland Railway 2170.75 miles (3493.5 km)
- North Staffordshire Railway 220.75 miles (355.3 km)
- Dundalk, Newry and Greenmore Railway 26.5 miles (42.6 km)
- Northern Counties Committee 265.25 miles (426.9 km)
- Joint Midland and Great Northern of Ireland Railway 91 miles (146 km), with interests in Ireland
For complete list of all railways see List of constituents of the LMS.
Geography
The principal LMS trunk routes were the West Coast Main Line and the Midland Main Line, which linked London, the industrial Midlands and North-West of England, and Scotland.
The railway's main business was the transport of freight between these major industrial centres. Particularly notable were the Toton–Brent coal trains, which took coal from the Nottinghamshire coalfield to London.
History
Early history
The early history of the LMS is dominated by infighting between its two largest constituents, the Midland and the North Western, previously two fierce rivals. Men from each of which believed that their company's way was the right — and only — way of doing business. Generally, the Midland prevailed, with the adoption of many Midland practices, such as the livery of crimson lake for passenger locomotives and rolling stock. Perhaps most notable was the continuation of the Midland Railway's small engine policy.The Stanier revolution
The arrival of the new Chief Mechanical Engineer William Stanier, who was head-hunted from the Great Western Railway by Josiah Stamp in 1933, heralded a change in the LMS. Stanier introduced new ideas rather than continuing with 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. Lines in Northern Ireland were taken into the Ulster Transport Authority.
Preservation
Topics
Note: Suggested topics
- People
- *Presidents
- **Lord Stamp
- *Chief Mechanical Engineers of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
- **George Hughes
- **Henry Fowler
- **Ernest Lemon
- **Sir William Stanier
- **Charles Fairburn
- **Henry George Ivatt
- Rolling Stock
- * Locomotives of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
- * Coaches of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
- * Wagons of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
- Trains
- * Named trains of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway - see discussion
Further reading
For a general overview see Whitehouse, P (1997) LMS 150, ISBN 0862880718Footnote
1It has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. However the London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally used in historical circles. The LMS occasionally also used the initials LM&SR. For consistency, Wikipedia uses the initials LMS. ^^ back to topExternal links
| The "big four" pre-nationalisation British railway companies: |
| Great Western | London Midland & Scottish | London & North Eastern | Southern |
| Major constituent railway companies of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway: |
Caledonian | Furness | Lancashire & Yorkshire | Glasgow & South Western | London and North Western | Midland | North Staffordshire (Full list of constituents) |
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