The Rugby Locomotive Testing Station was a British railway testing plant in Rugby, Warwickshire. Originally envisioned by Sir Nigel Gresley as a joint LMS-LNER operation, construction was started in the late 1930s but then deferred by the war. It was eventually opened in 1948 after both its owners had become constituents of British Railways. The location was one with access to both LMS and LNER main lines (West Coast Main Line and Great Central Main Line) respectively. The GWR meanwhile had their own testing plant at Swindon Works.
There was a rolling road to test engines.
The testing station was relatively short lived; the final test was made in 1965, and the plant was officially closed in 1970, however the building continued to be used until the early-1980s as an outpost of the British Rail Research Division, [1] until it was demolished in 1984. [2] The site is now an industrial estate.
The records of the Rugby LTS are part of the National Railway Collection held by the National Railway Museum. [3]
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railways into four. The companies merged into the LMS included the London and North Western Railway, the Midland Railway, the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, several Scottish railway companies, and numerous other, smaller ventures.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At that time, it was divided into the new British Railways' Eastern Region, North Eastern Region, and partially the Scottish Region.
The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, England, named after the company that originally built this stretch of railway. It runs for 8.25 miles (13.28 km) between the town of Loughborough and a new terminus in the north of Leicester. It has period signalling, locomotives and rolling stock.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Coronation Class is a class of express passenger steam locomotives designed by William Stanier. They were an enlarged and improved version of his previous design, the LMS Princess Royal Class, and on test were some of the most powerful steam locomotives ever used in Britain at 2,511 dbhp. The locomotives were specifically designed for power as it was intended to use them on express services between London Euston and Glasgow Central; their duties were to include the hauling of a proposed non-stop express, subsequently named the Coronation Scot.
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Jubilee Class is a class of steam locomotive designed for main line passenger work. 191 locomotives were built between 1934 and 1936. They were built concurrently with the similar looking LMS Stanier Class 5 4-6-0. They were nicknamed Red Staniers and Jubs.
The Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Company (BRC&W) was a railway locomotive and carriage builder, founded in Birmingham, England and, for most of its existence, located at nearby Smethwick, with the factory divided by the boundary between the two places. The company was established in 1854.
The steam locomotives of British Railways were used by British Railways over the period 1948–1968. The vast majority of these were inherited from its four constituent companies, the "Big Four".
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) Stanier Class 8F is a class of steam locomotives designed for hauling heavy freight. 852 were built between 1935 and 1946, as a freight version of William Stanier's successful Black Five, and the class saw extensive service overseas during and after the Second World War.
The Patriot Class was a class of 52 express passenger steam locomotives built for the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The first locomotive of the class was built in 1930 and the last in 1934. The class was based on the chassis of the Royal Scot combined with the boiler from Large Claughtons earning them the nickname Baby Scots. A total of 18 were rebuilt to create the LMS Rebuilt Patriot Class between 1946 and 1948; thereafter those not subjected to rebuilding were often referred to as the Unrebuilt Patriot Class. These remaining 34 unrebuilt engines were withdrawn between 1960 and 1962.
Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire that made steam-powered lorries, railway locomotives, and later, diesel engined lorries, buses and locomotives.
The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) Thompson Class B1 is a class of steam locomotive designed by Edward Thompson for medium mixed traffic work.
LMS No. 10000 and 10001 were some of the first mainline diesel locomotives built in Great Britain. They were built in association with English Electric by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway at its Derby Works, using an English Electric 1,600 hp diesel engine, generator and electrics.
Greenbank railway station serves the village of Hartford, Cheshire as well as the Greenbank and Castle areas of Northwich, Cheshire, England. The station is situated on the A559 road from Northwich to Chester.
Polesworth railway station serves the village of Polesworth in Warwickshire, England. It is situated on the Trent Valley section of the West Coast Main Line.
Rugby Central was a railway station serving Rugby in Warwickshire on the former Great Central Main Line, which opened in 1899 and closed in 1969. The station was on Hillmorton Road, roughly half a mile east of the town centre.
Tuxford Central railway station is a former railway station in Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, England.
The 1948 Locomotive Exchange Trials were organised by the newly nationalised British Railways (BR). Locomotives from the former "Big Four" constituent companies were transferred to and worked on other regions. Officially, these comparisons were to identify the best qualities of the four different schools of thought of locomotive design so that they could be used in the planned BR standard designs. However, the testing had little scientific rigour, and political influence meant that LMS practice was largely followed by the new standard designs regardless. However, the trials were useful publicity for BR to show the unity of the new British Railways. To record the locomotive performances, one of three dynamometer cars were included in the train directly behind the locomotive.
Brinklow railway station was a railway station almost midway between Brinklow and Stretton-under-Fosse in the English county of Warwickshire, opened in 1847 on the Trent Valley Line. Until 1870 it was known as Stretton or possibly Streeton It was also described as Brinklow for Stretton Under Fosse in some timetables.
Broadway railway station is a railway station on the heritage Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway in the village of Broadway in Worcestershire, England.
Nuneaton Abbey Street was the second main railway station serving Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England. It operated between 1864 and its closure in 1968. The other main station is Nuneaton Trent Valley which is still open, but now known as simply Nuneaton. The station served the Birmingham-Nuneaton-Leicester Line and also the now closed Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway.