Delight as long-lost artworks of former stations go on display

47 minutes ago Isaac Ashe Derby BBC Each station, like the Jacobite design at Chesterfield, was a unique design Illustrations which captured the grand stations of the pioneering North Midland Railway have gone on permanent display in the last original building standing. The railway, engineered by George Stephenson and opened in 1840, linked Derby to Leeds via a mainline following river valleys. Along its route, a series of ornate and unique station buildings were designed by architect Francis Thompson - from a palatial 1,000ft frontage with a piazza and fountains at Derby, to a miniature Italianate design at Belper, to Jacobite-style buildings at Ambergate and Chesterfield.

The original metal etchings from 1841 have now been placed on display at Wingfield, the sole survivor from the original 16 stations. Derby's first railway station was said to be the biggest in the world when it opened Originally on display at the boardroom of the North Midland Railway in Derby, the artworks were removed during a 19th Century refurbishment and stored for more than a century at Derby Loco Works. When the loco works closed and were cleared in the early 2000s to become Derby College's Roundhouse Campus, the artworks passed to the Midland Railway Society at the Silk Mill in Derby, which has now refurbished and loaned the collection to Wingfield.

"I was aware that Thompson commissioned artist Samuel Russell to do them," Abbott said. "But of course I didn't know they existed. They needed a home for them and the obvious home is Wingfield." Jon Abbott said he was delighted the etchings had survived One lithograph showcases Derby's original station, which stood before the gothic building replaced in the 1980s by the current Derby Midland station.

When it opened in 1840, Abbott said Derby was the biggest station in the world. "It was quoted as being the grandest railway station in the world," he said. "It was quite early on in the history of the railways, none of the big London stations had been built at that stage as we know them today.

"They were the highest quality buildings you can imagine. All the stone was hand-carved. "At that stage in the railway's development, they were trying to impress their passengers as well as their shareholders with the quality of their product.

"Whereas today a railway station is a very functional thing, in those days they were built as signatures and statements." Belper's station echoed the Italian style of Derby's terminus And Abbott explained that at the time, passengers were nervous about travelling on the "new-fangled" railways. He said: "Most people have never travelled anywhere before so if they were going on a train, they'd be understandably nervous. "There was one quote at the time saying that if the human body travelled above 30 miles an hour, all the air would be sucked out of your lungs and you would die." More on this story Related internet links

Source: BBC