Nottingham direct line of the Midland Railway
The new sections of route were from Nottingham to Melton Mowbray, and from Manton to Rushton, a short distance north of Kettering.
The new company had lines in a large tract of land, connecting Leeds, Derby and Nottingham to Leicester, Peterborough[1] and Birmingham, and was soon expanded to include Bristol, Manchester, Lincoln, and, from 1857, London.
[4] The Midland Railway had a double track route south from Trent through Leicester, and it was heavily congested.
[9][7] In November 1871 the Midland Railway deposited a Bill before Parliament entitled the "Nottingham and Rushton Lines Act".
Included in the proposals was a spur linking the Nottingham and Saxby line to Melton Mowbray station.
The actual promoter of this scheme was William Firth, a Yorkshire industrialist, and a director of the Great Northern Railway.
[10] The Midland Railway (Nottingham and Saxby Lines) Act, 1872 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.
Even worse, the Manton to Rushton line was lost, preventing the creation of a through relief route.
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.
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.
Both sections were designed for fast running by heavy trains, so earthworks were considerable to ensure gentle gradients.
[9] Major Marindin performed the Board of Trade inspection, mandatory for new passenger railways, in the second week of January 1880.
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 21⁄4 hours (the former actually takes 134 minutes).
In 1948 further organisational change was imposed by Government, and the state-owned British Railways was formed, taking over the LMS and other companies.
A number of closures were proposed, both of groups of local stations and also of what were considered to be duplicate main lines.
[19] The Research Department at Derby were keen to retain part of the route for testing novel rolling stock, particularly the future Advanced Passenger Train.
[20] The line was closed to ordinary traffic from 4 November 1968, and the experimental section became known as Old Dalby Test Track.
[21] The connection to the iron workings at Holwell, a short distance from Melton Mowbray, was also in use by the Ministry of Defence, as well as commercial traffic.
[22] A new colliery was planned at Asfordby, and from the start of 1985, work began to the west of the old Welby sidings to reinstate the track through Asfordby tunnel, and a new south-east curve at Holwell Junction, enabling direct running from the pit to a power station.
This involved the relocation of many skilled steelworkers from Scotland and elsewhere, and transformed Corby from a village into a considerable town.
[27] When the closure of the route south of Manton took place in April 1966, Corby became the only Parliamentary Constituency with no passenger rail service.
