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Last Updated
18/08/07
The Book
Trent Station had a number of features which made it almost unique among railway stations. It was built solely as an interchange, on what would now be called a greenfield site, in the south-east corner of Derbyshire. As it did not serve any local population it was named after a river, rather than after a town or village.
It opened in 1862, and was described in one Midland Railway publication as "the junction for everywhere". It changed little in its 106 years of existence, and even to its last day, December 31, 1967, was lit by gas lamps, never having had electricity. It was built in the Midland Gothic style, and poet laureate John Betjeman was one of those who deplored its demolition. Over each platform there was an impressive array of 27 glass canopy sections.
The book Last Train from Trent Station is divided into 12 chapters.
Chapter 1 - The Midland Railway. One of the three companies which came together to create the Midland Railway was the Midland Counties Railway, and it was this railway which built lines between Nottingham, Derby and Leicester, converging on a point known as Trent Junction.
Chapter 2 - The Trent Triangle. This describes how the Midland Railway came to weave other lines through this junction.
Chapter 3 - The Station is Built. To solve the congestion where the lines cross, and in order to provide a much needed stopping place for expresses, a complex series of curves was built, with Trent Station in the middle.
Chapter 4 - The Goose Fair Disaster. One of the Midland Railway's worst accidents occurred close to Trent Station.
Chapter 5 - "The Junction for Everywhere". This describes how and why Trent Station became so important to the whole Midland Railway network.
Chapter 6 - Three Cheers for Mr Gladstone. A crowd of over 4000 people once gathered at Trent Station to cheer Mr Gladstone. And he was only one of a number of celebrities who passed through.
Chapter 7 - Platform Tickets and Station Signs. In British Railways days no other station had signs like Trent. The mystery is explained. And why Trent Station sold skating tickets and fishing tickets.
Chapter 8 - Trent for Trent College. Pupils travelling to this famous public school were instructed to alight at Trent Station. We also tell how Trent Station was shot up by a German plane during the second world war, and describe the Hornby model railway station which was given the name "Trent".
Chapter 9 - Memories of Trent Station. Poachers, porters, ticket sales, walking through Red Hill tunnel, the Thames-Clyde express, the Royal Train, are all recalled by those who worked at Trent.
Chapter 10 - "The economic facts have to be faced". How the Beeching Report spelt the doom of Trent Station, despite efforts to save it.
Chapter 11 - Turning out the Lights. The last day arrives. The last tickets are sold. The last train departs. The last gas lamp is extinguished. The demolition gang moves in.
Chapter 12 - Relics and Revivals. Records and memorabilia.
In addition to over 36,000 words of text there are no less than 138 photographs (including Brian Amos's unique aerial views and David Shaw's sequence showing 14 stages in the station's demolition), plus nine diagrams, all helping to provide a comprehensive record of this unique railway complex.
Book Review
"The 'ganglion of the Midland Railway' or 'the junction for everywhere', as it was also called, this station between Derby and Nottingham has long deserved its own definitive study. Always gas-lit and for many years without road access yet, at its busiest, 150 trains a day called at its draughty platforms. In twelve chronological chapters, this volume describes the historical background to the building of this important interchange station, its physical development and that of the surrounding network of lines, its decline and final destruction. The diagrams help in explaining the complex rail layout that baffled many over the years and the illustrations are comprehensive, complementary to the text and well reproduced. Where the author strays into wider railway or general historical topics some errors creep in, but the work succeeds in its prime objective and does full justice to this legendary station."
Review by William Featherstone in the November 2007 issue of the Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society (the society's website is www.rchs.org.uk).