For many years, the Nottinghamshire coal miners had enjoyed a competitive advantage over their counterparts in Leicestershire, but in 1832 the latter opened the Leicester and Swannington Railway.

On 16 August 1832, at one of the Nottinghamshire miner's regular meetings at the Sun Inn, at Eastwood the idea was mooted to extend the Mansfield and Pinxton Railway to Leicester.

[1]: 86  The decision was taken to involve outside finance, and, on 27 August 1832, a public meeting to attract subscriptions was held at the George Inn at Alfreton and on 26 September 1832 the scheme was formally approved at Eastwood,[2] though at that time the possibility of using steam locomotives had not been discussed.

[3] Josias Jessop was retained as engineer, and reporting in 1833, noted that it would not be possible to put it before Parliament that year.

Subscriptions had been obtained from Lancashire investors and with the imminent completion of the London and Birmingham Railway, they insisted that the line should continue to join it at Rugby, Warwickshire.

In October an alternative plan was proposed of bringing in Nottingham and Derby, as well as Leicester, using a junction at Long Eaton, with the stated aim that it would reduce any differences in coal prices between them.

[4] The scheme was delayed for yet another year, during which time Charles Vignoles was asked to review the plans and become the company's engineer.

The line to Pinxton threatened it, particularly as, in 1834, the Midland Counties had mooted the possibility of an extension to Clay Cross.

[8] Contracts were awarded for the Derby to Trent Junction portion by April 1837 for £3,000 (equivalent to £344,300 in 2023)[4] under the estimate with an forecast of completion by September 1838.

[11] The contractor for the works between Derby, Long Eaton and Loughborough was William MacKenzie of Chorley, Lancashire.

Initially the railway ran into a temporary platform at Derby, but at Nottingham a magnificent terminus had been built in Carrington Street.

[14] The portion of the contract from Leicester to the Trent Viaduct was let in December 1837 at which point it was reported that 900 men were engaged in the construction.

At Leicester there was another magnificent station in Campbell Street, originally planned as a terminus on a spur from the main line.

For a length near Rugby, Evans's dovetailed bridge rails of 57 pounds per yard (28.3 kg/m), were tried, mounted on longitudinal Memel fir timbers with pine cross sleepers.

The brass band of the 5th Dragoon Guards entertained the passengers, and played God Save the Queen as each train departed.

After a wait in Derby of just over an hour, the trains returned to Nottingham, where the band of the Dragoons struck up See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes.

The North Midland was also suffering severe financial problems arising from the original cost of the line and its buildings.

At length George Hudson took control of the NMR and adopted Robert Stephenson's suggestion that the best outcome would be for the three lines to merge.

Hudson foresaw that the directors of the MCR would resist the idea and made a secret agreement with the B&DJR for the NMR to take it over.

This would of course take away the MCR's customers from Derby and the North and, when news leaked out, shares in the B&DJR rose dramatically.

Hudson was able to give the MCR directors an ultimatum, and persuaded the line's shareholders to override their board and the stage was set for amalgamation.

In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Rugby and Leicester which was listed as Priority 2 for reopening.