article

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:

There were also some 24 subsidiary railways, leased or worked by the above companies, and large number of joint railways (including the UK's largest Joint Railway, the Midland & Great Northern, and one of the most famous, the Somerset and Dorset). In Northern Ireland there were three railways:

  • 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

The total route mileage of the LMSR in 1923 was 7790 miles (12,537 km).

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

Further reading

For a general overview see Whitehouse, P (1997) LMS 150, ISBN 0862880718

Footnote

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 top" target="_blank" >*

External links

Big four British railway companies

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "London, Midland and Scottish Railway".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world