The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was created under the terms of the Railways Act 1921. The first schedule to that Act listed four groups, and for each, a number of "Constituent Companies" were listed, as were a number of subsidiary companies. The constituent companies would amalgamate to create a new railway company, and the subsidiary companies would be absorbed either by one of the constituent companies prior to the amalgamation, or by the new railway company after amalgamation. The group that was to become the LMS was described in the Act as "the North Western, Midland and West Scottish Group".

Constituent companies

The following made up the London, Midland and Scottish Railway as a result of the Railways Act 1921: *

Caledonian Railway The Caledonian Railway (CR) was a major Scottish railway company. It was formed in the early 19th century with the objective of forming a link between English railways and Glasgow. It progressively extended its network and reached Edinburgh an ...

(CalR) route miles (1,794 km) *

Furness Railway The Furness Railway (Furness) was a railway company operating in the Furness area of Lancashire in North West England. History Formation In the early 1840s, the owners of iron ore mines in the Furness district of Lancashire became interested i ...

(Furness) 158 miles (254 km) * Glasgow and South Western Railway miles (794 km) *

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Based in Inverness, the company was formed by merger ...

(HR) 506 miles (814 km) * London and North Western Railway (LNWR) – with which the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

(L&YR) had been amalgamated on 1 January 1922. Total route mileage (1923) was miles (4,293 km) *

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

(MidR) miles (3,473 km) *

North Staffordshire Railway The North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire. The company was based ...

(NSR) miles (355 km)

Subsidiary companies

Independently operated lines *

Cleator and Workington Junction Railway The Cleator & Workington Junction Railway (C&WJR) was located in West Cumberland in Northern England, serving the towns of Cleator Moor and Workington and intermediate villages. It was mainly used for coal, limestone and iron ore traffic for t ...

miles (49 km) (partially worked by the Furness Railway) * Knott End Railway miles (19 km) *

Maryport and Carlisle Railway The Maryport & Carlisle Railway (M&CR) was an English railway company formed in 1836 which built and operated a small but eventually highly profitable railway to connect Maryport and Carlisle in Cumbria, England. There were many small collieries ...

miles (68.8 km) *

North London Railway The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fe ...

16 miles (26 km) (managed by the LNWR) *

Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

miles (109 km) *

Wirral Railway The Wirral Railway was a railway network in the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula, England. Its route was from Birkenhead Park in the east of the Wirral to West Kirby in the west. A branch off this line at Bidston went north to Secombe and ...

miles (22 km) Independent lines for which rolling stock was provided by other companies *

Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway The Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith Railway (CK&PR) was an English railway company incorporated by Act of Parliament on 1 August 1861, to build a line connecting the town of Cockermouth with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) West Coast ...

miles (49 km) Non-working companies * Originally leased to or worked by LNWR **

Charnwood Forest Railway The Charnwood Forest Railway was a branch line in Leicestershire constructed by the Charnwood Forest Company between 1881 and 1883. The branch line ran from Coalville (joined from the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway (ANJR)) to the town of Loug ...

miles (17 km) **

Dearne Valley Railway The Dearne Valley Railway (DVR) was a railway line which ran through the valley of the River Dearne in South Yorkshire, England. It was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 6 August 1897, which authorised the building of a line between Brie ...

21 miles (34 km) **

Harborne Railway The Harborne Railway was a short standard gauge railway line constructed for residential travel from the Harborne area into the centre of Birmingham, England. The line opened in 1874, and was worked by the London and North Western Railway. As bus ...

miles (4 km) ** Mold and Denbigh Junction Railway 15 miles (24 km) **

Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company The Shropshire Union Railways and Canal Company was a Company in England, formed in 1846, which managed several canals and railways. It intended to convert a number of canals to railways, but was leased by the London and North Western Railway (LN ...

miles (47 km) art_of_this_system_was_jointly_leased_with_the_Great_Western_Railway_(GWR).html" ;"title="Great_Western_Railway.html" ;"title="art of this system was jointly leased with the Great Western Railway">art of this system was jointly leased with the Great Western Railway (GWR)">Great_Western_Railway.html" ;"title="art of this system was jointly leased with the Great Western Railway">art of this system was jointly leased with the Great Western Railway (GWR)* Originally leased to or worked by MidR ** Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway 6 miles (10 km) ** Yorkshire Dales Railway 9 miles (14 km) * Originally leased to or worked by CalR ** Arbroath and Forfar Railway miles (24 km) ** Brechin and Edzell District Railway miles (10 km) **

Callander and Oban Railway The Callander and Oban Railway company was established with the intention of linking the sea port of Oban to the railway network. This involved a long line from Callander through wild and thinly populated terrain, and shortage of money meant th ...

miles (161 km) **

Dundee and Newtyle Railway The Dundee and Newtyle Railway opened in 1831 and was the first railway in the north of Scotland. It was built to carry goods between Dundee and the fertile area known as Strathmore; this involved crossing the Sidlaw Hills, and was accomplish ...

miles (23 km) ** Killin Railway miles (8 km) ** Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway miles (58 km) **

Solway Junction Railway The Solway Junction Railway was built by an independent railway company to shorten the route from ironstone mines in Cumberland to ironworks in Lanarkshire and Ayrshire. It opened in 1869, and it involved a viaduct long crossing the Solway Fi ...

miles (20 km) * Originally leased to or worked by HR **

Dornoch Light Railway The Dornoch Light Railway was a branch railway in Scotland that ran from on the Far North Line to Dornoch, the county town of Sutherland. It opened in 1902, having been heavily subsidised by the fourth Duke of Sutherland. It was worked by the Hi ...

miles (12 km) ** Wick and Lybster Light Railway miles (22 km) * Originally leased to or worked by NSR **

Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway The Leek and Manifold Valley Light Railway (L&MVLR) was a narrow gauge railway in Staffordshire, England that operated between 1904 and 1934. The line mainly carried milk from dairies in the region, acting as a feeder to the system. It also ...

(narrow gauge) miles (13 km) * Originally leased to or worked by several component companies **

North & South Western Junction Railway The North and South Western Junction Railway (NSWJR) was a short railway in west London, England. It opened in 1853, connecting Willesden on the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) with Brentford on the London and South Western Railway (LSWR) ...

miles (8 km) **

Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint Railway The Portpatrick and Wigtownshire Joint RailwaysThe final word is in the plural. was a network of railway lines serving sparsely populated areas of south-west Scotland. The title appeared in 1885 when the previously independent Portpatrick Rai ...

miles (132 km)

Joint railways

After 1923 amalgamations comprised wholly in the LMS

* Carlisle Citadel Station and Goods Traffic Joint Committees (originally joint owned by various companies) * were LNW/MidR joint: ** Ashby and Nuneaton Railway miles (47 km) ** Enderby Railway miles (4 km) * were LNW/L&YR joint: **

Lancashire Union Railway The Lancashire Union Railway ran between Blackburn and St Helens in Lancashire, England. It was built primarily to carry goods between Blackburn and Garston Dock on the River Mersey, and also to serve collieries in the Wigan area. Most of the ...

miles (21 km) **

North Union Railway The North Union Railway was an early British railway company, operating in Lancashire. It was created in 1834, continuing independently until 1889. Formation The North Union Railway (NUR) was created by an Act of Parliament on 22 May 1834 whic ...

miles (10 km) **

Preston and Longridge Railway The Preston and Longridge Railway (P&LR) was a branch line in Lancashire, England. Originally designed to carry quarried stone in horse-drawn wagons, it became part of an ambitious plan to link the Lancashire coast to the heart of Yorkshire. Th ...

8 miles (13 km) **

Preston and Wyre Joint Railway The Preston and Wyre Railway was promoted to open up agricultural land in the Fylde in Lancashire, access a new port at what became Fleetwood and the Lancaster Canal at Preston, Lancashire, Preston: it opened in 1840. An associated company built ...

46 miles (74 km) * was Furness/MidR joint **

Furness and Midland Joint Railway The Furness and Midland Joint Railway was a joint railway in England owned by the Furness Railway and the Midland Railway. Construction was agreed in 1862 for a line from Carnforth, on the Furness system, to Wennington, on the Midland Railwa ...

miles (16 km) * was Furness/LNWR joint **

Whitehaven Cleator and Egremont Railway The Whitehaven, Cleator and Egremont Railway was an English railway company which built and operated a standard gauge railway in Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It ...

35 miles (56 km) * were Cal/GSW joint **

Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway The Glasgow, Barrhead and Kilmarnock Joint Railway was a railway jointly owned by the Caledonian Railway and the Glasgow and South Western Railway, completed in 1873, and giving the latter a shorter access to its Carlisle main line. A branch to ...

miles (48 km) **

Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway The Glasgow and Paisley Joint Railway was the section of railway line between Glasgow Bridge Street railway station and Paisley, in the west of Scotland. It was constructed and operated jointly by two competing railway companies as the stem of ...

miles (23 km)

After 1923 amalgamations joint with London & North Eastern Railway

* Axholme Joint Railway miles (45 km) *

Cheshire Lines Committee The Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) was formed in the 1860s and became the second-largest joint railway in Great Britain. The committee, which was often styled the Cheshire Lines Railway, operated of track in the then counties of Lancashire a ...

( share) 142 miles (229 km) * City of Glasgow Union Railway * Dumbarton & Balloch (including

Loch Lomond Loch Lomond (; gd, Loch Laomainn - 'Lake of the Elms'Richens, R. J. (1984) ''Elm'', Cambridge University Press.) is a freshwater Scottish loch which crosses the Highland Boundary Fault, often considered the boundary between the lowlands of C ...

steamers) 7 miles (11 km) *

Dundee and Arbroath Railway The Dundee and Arbroath Railway was an early railway in Scotland. It opened in 1838, and used the unusual track gauge of 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm). In 1848 it changed to standard gauge and connected to the emerging Scottish railway networ ...

(including Carmyllie Light Railway) 23 miles (37 km) *

Great Central and Midland Joint Railway The Great Central and Midland Joint Railway, formerly, before 1897, Sheffield and Midland Railway Companies' Committee, was a collection of joint railways, mainly in the Manchester and South Yorkshire areas. Description of route In the South Y ...

miles (65 km) * Great Central, Hull & Barnsley and Midland Joint Railway ( share) 4 miles (6 km) * Great Central and North Staffordshire Joint Railway 11 miles (18 km) *

Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway The Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway was a British railway line, almost entirely within Leicestershire. Authorised by the same Act of Parliament, the Great Northern Railway Leicester Branch was built, branching from the ...

45 miles (72 km) * Halifax and Ovenden Railway miles (4 km) * Halifax High Level 3 miles (5 km) *

Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway (MSJ&AR) was a suburban railway which operated an route between Altrincham in Cheshire and Manchester London Road railway station (now Piccadilly) in Manchester. The MSJ&AR line operat ...

(a "joint working arrangement") miles (15 km) * Methley Joint Line 6 miles (10 km) *

Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway The Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (M&GNJR) was a railway network in England, in the area connecting southern Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely and north Norfolk. It developed from several local independent concerns and was incorporated ...

miles (295 km) *

Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway The Norfolk and Suffolk Joint Railway (NSJR) was a British joint railway company. The NSJR was owned by the Great Eastern Railway (GER) and the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (MGNJ) and consisted of two distinct sections: a line betwee ...

(was GER/MidR/GNR joint) miles (36 km) * Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway miles (10 km) *

Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway The Otley and Ilkley Joint Railway was a railway line running between the towns of Otley and Ilkley in West Yorkshire. The line was managed and run jointly by the Midland Railway (MR) and the North Eastern Railway (NER) and was long. Opened to ...

miles (10 km) * Perth General Station Committee ( share) * Prince's Dock, Glasgow miles (2 km) *

South Yorkshire Joint Railway The South Yorkshire Joint Railway was a committee formed in 1903, between the Great Central Railway, the Great Northern Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to oversee the constructio ...

( share) miles (33 km) * Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway miles (31 km) * Tottenham and Hampstead Junction Railway miles (8 km)

After 1923 amalgamations joint with GWR

* Birkenhead Railway miles (91 km) * Brecon and Merthyr Railway & London and North Western Joint Railway 6 miles (10 km) * Brynmawr and Western Valleys Railway miles (2 km) * Clee Hill Railway 6 miles (10 km) *

Clifton Extension Railway The Clifton Extension Railway was a joint railway in Bristol, owned by the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the Midland Railway (MR) companies. Description of line The railway ran from a junction with the GWR at Narroways Hill, just north of St ...

9 miles (14 km) * Halesowen Joint Railway 6 miles (10 km) * Nantybwch and Rhymney Railway 3 miles (5 km) *

Severn and Wye Railway The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and open ...

39 miles (63 km) *

Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway The Shrewsbury and Hereford Railway was an English railway company that built a standard gauge line between those places. It opened its main line in 1853. Its natural ally seemed to be the Great Western Railway. With other lines it formed a rout ...

miles (133 km) *

Tenbury Railway The Tenbury Railway was a standard gauge railway that connected Tenbury in Worcestershire, England, with the nearby main line at Woofferton. It opened in 1861. An independent railway company, the Tenbury and Bewdley Railway continued to Bewdley i ...

5 miles (8 km) *

Vale of Towy Railway The Vale of Towy Railway (VoTR) was a Welsh railway that provided an 11.25 mile-long extension of the Llanelly Railway from Llandeilo to Llandovery. It was incorporated by Act of Parliament of 10 July 1854 and opened on 1 April 1858.Baughan page ...

(owned by GWR but leased jointly) 11 miles (18 km) *

West London Railway The West London Railway was conceived to link the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway with the Kensington Basin of the Kensington Canal, enabling access to and from London docks for the carriage of goods. It opened in 18 ...

miles (4 km) * Wrexham and Minera Railway 3 miles (5 km)

After 1923 amalgamations joint with Southern Railway

Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway, also known as the S&D, SDJR or S&DJR, was an English railway line connecting Bath (in north-east Somerset) and Bournemouth (now in south-east Dorset but then in Hampshire), with a branch from Evercreech ...

105 miles (169 km)

After 1923 amalgamations joint with District Railway

* Whitechapel & Bow Railway 2 miles (3 km)

Irish lines

The Railways Act 1921 did not extend to Ireland, but Irish lines owned by constituent companies became part of the LMS: *

Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway The Dundalk, Newry and Greenore Railway (DNGR, DN&GR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland. It was conceived in the 1860s to provide a link between the towns in its title and the London and North Western Railway port at Greenore, from ...

(DNGR) (owned by the LNWR) – operated from 1933 by the GNR(I) * Northern Counties Committee lines (NCC) (owned by the Midland Railway) ** The NCC and Great Northern Railway of Ireland (GNR(I)) operated the County Donegal Railways Joint Committee lines jointly, and these became joint lines of the LMS and GNR(I) after grouping.

Shipping companies

* Caledonian Steam Packet Company

Shareholdings

* Great Western Railway (minority shareholding) * London and North Eastern Railway *

London Electric Railway The London Electric Railway (LER) was an underground railway company operating three lines on the London Underground. It was formed in 1910 and existed until 1933, when it was merged into the London Passenger Transport Board. History The LER wa ...

until 30 June 1933 *

London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Lond ...

from 1 July 1933 * Great Northern Railway (Ireland) (minority shareholding) * Great Southern Railways (minority shareholding)

References

{{Big Four pre-nationalisation British railway companies Pre-grouping British railway companies Big four British railway companies London, Midland and Scottish Railway Constituents of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway