Parliamentary Archives - a resource for all those railways that never got built

[whart57]

Yesterday I paid my first visit to the Parliamentary Archives, which are actually inside the Palace of Westminster (you could hear a rowdy House of Commons through the walls of the lounge area). It was an interesting day. It goes without saying that the archivists were, as they are everywhere, helpful and interested in whatever research you are undertaking. I was greeted with "you must be the guy who wanted all that railway stuff" but not in a sneery way if you know what I mean.

 

As some on other forums may know, I have an interest in both "imaginary railways" and in the railways of East Kent so I thought I'd start with looking at what the archives had on the several failed attempts to make a rail connection between Herne Bay and Canterbury. I also wanted to know more about one of the rival schemes to the South Eastern Railway being promoted in the 1830s and 1840s, namely the Central Kent Railway. As it happened I ran out of time and did little more than leaf through one of the set of plans for the Central Kent, so that will mean another visit.

 

The first step is to order up documents and there is a search tool to find what is available on the Parliament website:  https://archives.parliament.uk/our-collections/

 

The way to book a seat in the archive - only three researchers are allowed each day - and to order documents is described on the same website. It's little more than write an email.

 

Then, what do you get? Well I give as an example the plans for the London Thames Haven and Kent Coast Junction Railway, a line whose title was nearly as long as the line itself, which was just over half a mile.

 

All railways before the Light Railways Act, and major lines since, need to have a Parliamentary Act to authorise them. The Act gives them the legal status to demand land, by compulsory purchase if necessary, and to enter into contracts for building and operation. That's a lot of dry legalese and not much of interest to us there. However supporting the Act are the detailed plans of the route, the sections - for example to show how public roads are to be crossed - and the land that has to be taken. This is of interest.

 

 

The numbers relate to properties and there is a reference which gives the land owners. Useful for genealogists but also useful for the description of the property on site. What is there today may not be the same as what was there in the mid nineteenth century

 

 

So, for those looking to build an imaginary railway at a real location, this may be the place to start looking.

 

Now would the London Thames Haven and Kent Coast Junction Railway have had use for a Manning Wardle ..........

 

 

[Tom Burnham]

Thanks. I had a tour of the archives some years ago but never actually used them. Do they also have details of the evidence presented to the Parliamentary committees?

[45655]

The National Archives at Kew have quite a lot of this material in bound volumes (acquired from the Board of Trade I think).

 

Try searching the online catalogue under classification RAIL 1066 Parliamentary Bills and Minutes of Evidence, etc.

 

Keith

Alton.

[Tim V]

What were the provisions for copying/photography?

[whart57]

To answer the questions:

 

There are files in the archive of the objections raised to Parliamentary committees, but I haven't looked at those yet

 

Don't know about copying services, I think they are suspended because of Covid though, but you can photograph anything for a £7,50 per day fee, which you can pay on arrival with plastic.

[Michael Hodgson]

If I decide to model the HS2 route to Leeds, I now know where to do the research !