Railway Mania
The first steam powered passenger railway opened between Liverpool and Manchester in September 1830, and just two years later the Leicester and Swannington Railway opened for business, transporting coal and stone into Leicester, and also carrying passengers. In the late 1830s several new main line railways were built across the East Midlands, including the Midland Counties Railway through Leicester, which linked the county town directly to Nottingham and Derby, and to Rugby and London. The second “Railway Mania” in the 1840s saw the Leicester to Burton and Syston to Peterborough routes completed.
The Opening of the Leicester and Swannington Railway.
The locomotive “Comet” was the latest design from Robert Stephenson & Company in Newcastle, and both George and Robert Stephenson were on the first train. The shareholders in the railway company, and honoured guests, were given tickets to travel on the train to a celebratory dinner in marquees set up near Bagworth Colliery.
By 1851 there was a railway network extending from Plymouth to Aberdeen, and Dover to Holyhead. Tens of thousands travelled from all over Britain to the Great Exhibition in London - perhaps the first great shared social experience in the nation’s history.
Three railway companies extended lines across Leicestershire between 1840 and 1860 - the Midland, London & North Western, and the Great Northern.
The Midland Railway took over the Midland Counties and the Leicester & Swannington, which they extended to make a branch line from Leicester to Burton on Trent. They also opened the cross-country line from Syston to Peterborough, serving Melton Mowbray.
The Great Northern Railway had a branch from Grantham to Nottingham, passing through Bottesford, and the London & North Western Railway built a branch railway from Nuneaton to Leicester.
After about 1860, as these three companies planned more lines into the areas between them, they found it better to work together. The MR and LNWR created the Ashby & Nuneaton Joint Line in the west of the county, while the GNR and LNWR built the GN & LNW Joint Line through the east of Leicestershire. Both of these joint lines were primarily intended to transport coal, but the East Leicestershire joint line also developed a niche market in transporting fox-hunting gentlemen, their households, and their horses, to the Melton area for the hunting season.
In 1899 a fourth railway, named the Great Central, was built through the heart of the county, from Nottingham to London, serving Loughborough, Leicester and Lutterworth.