In February 1881 a Midland Railway employee was charged with theft. He’d been a guard when various items had gone missing on trains between Derby and Nottingham. Then some diamond jewels were stolen from a lady’s portmanteau on a Beeston to Oxford train. The robber wasn’t identified, but the man – Herbert Ashby – was demoted to porter and moved to Bradford. It became known that he’d been intimate with the wife of a Nottingham county cricketer and had given her a valuable brooch. He was arrested, but whilst being brought to Nottingham, he escaped at Trent Station. He was later discovered living at Stratford on Avon under an assumed name.
In August 1881 Samuel Stevenson, a 77 year old platelayer from Sawley was oiling the points at Sheet Stores junction when he was hit by the 9.35 from Derby. Death was instantaneous. He was originally from Breaston and had been a boatman until he was about 50. He’s buried in graveyard at the Sawley Baptist Chapel. It was rumoured that he hadn’t heard the train approaching because of the noise of a reaping machine nearby.
On 28th August 1882 Isaac Mace (64) a Midland Railway signal fitter, was knocked down and run over by a train at Trent station. He lived at Trent Junction cottages and had only been working for the Midland Railway for two months, initially at the Derby signal department, and then Trent. At the inquest, held at Trent station the next day, Isaac’s son said his father wore glasses and didn’t have the best hearing. The main witness was George Robbins, also of Trent Junction cottages – he was a joiner with the signal department. At around 5pm he was in the office beside the line, near Trent North, where the level crossings leading to the footpath to Long Eaton. He saw Isaac leave to go to a job and turned to lock the office door as a train from Nottingham passed at about 16mph. When he turned round, he saw Isaac lying on the line. James Pearson, foreman, saw the accident. When questioned by the coroner, George said it was quite normal for staff to cross the line there, as there was a clear enough view up and down the line.
On 17th December 1885 a man was travelling from Leicester to Nottingham, when a Catholic priest in the same compartment saw him suddenly get up and jump out of the carriage, as the train was running at high speed on the way to Trent Station. Some platelayers ran towards the body when, to their great surprise, he got up and ran away. The unknown man was presumed to be a lunatic.
In June 1886 crowds gathered at Trent station to greet the prime minister, William Gladstone, who was travelling from London to Scotland for an election campaign.
During a thunderstorm in August 1886 Trent Station was struck by lightning and a chimney over the telegraph office fell down, bringing down a large section of the glass canopy over the platforms. Nobody was hurt.
In February 1887 Mr E Fletcher, lace manufacturer of Nottingham and Long Eaton sued the Midland Railway Company for personal injury. He said he’d been in a first-class carriage at Trent Junction when an engine ran into it, throwing him off his seat. He claimed £5,000 damages. The company admitted liability and was ordered to pay him £818.
In August 1887 a journalist was taken on a balloon trip from Derby Arboretum. It drifted with the wind over Elvaston and Sawley, before starting to quickly lose height over Trent junction. It came down in a field between Barton and Thrumpton. The last bag of ballast was thrown out to slow the descent, then an anchor was dropped, which caught on a fence. The balloon floated about 50ft above the field until some farm workers were persuaded to pull it down by the anchor rope. The balloon was packed into the basket and taken by cart to the station, from where they returned to Derby.
On 5th September 1887 several men were erecting new signals near Trent Station when one of the posts fell on two platelayers. Both men, who lived at Sawley, were seriously injured and taken to Derby infirmary. One of them, Samuel Bennett, aged 55, had a broken thigh and was kept in hospital.
On 12th September 1888 James Woodward was hit and killed by a train near the Sheet Stores. It was reported that he hadn’t heard it coming because of the noise of reaping machine in a nearby field, as happened with Samuel Stevenson at the same place 7 years earlier. James had been injured the previous year while putting up a signal box by Trent Station.
On the evening of Saturday13th April 1889, a mail train from Lincoln stopped at Trent Station. When the ticket inspector – Amos Taylor, who lived at 8 Trent Cottages – opened one of the first-class compartments, he found a young man and a young woman lying in opposite corners, both with gunshot wounds to the head. A telegram was sent to Derby ordering an ambulance and Taylor and a porter got into the compartment. But by the time they got to Derby the man was dead, and the woman died on the steps of the infirmary. The man, Robert Feron, was 18. He was from Belgium and had been learning the silk trade in Derby. His companion, Nellie Bamford, 20 had been lodging in Derby, hoping to get a job as a barmaid in the Midland Hotel. They’d been going out for a few weeks, although she was engaged to another man. They were returning from a visit to her aunt’s house in Nottingham that day and both had appeared happy. But both had talked and written about committing suicide. Feron had told someone at Nottingham station he was about to commit suicide, but it was assumed he was joking, perhaps about getting married. Feron’s revolver was found on the floor with 2 shots fired and it was concluded that it was either a double suicide, or he’d shot her before shooting himself.