The Annesley that many Steam World readers will remember was heavily influenced by its role in the movement of coal. Therefore, it is logical to start with a summary of how that coal traffic originated.
The Midland Counties Railway had built the first railway to Nottingham in 1839 and it was the MCR's successor, the Midland Railway, to first lay tracks through the area of Annesley, to the north of the city in 1848, when it opened the Nottingham-Kirkby railway. At that time, the MR did not have a direct line to London and, until 1868, relied upon running agreements to use the London & North Western Railway from Rugby. Later, it would access the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin.
North Nottinghamshire and north Derbyshire were situated on a large coalfield with seams that, in the mid-19th Century, would be capable of being mined for well over a century. The MR considered this area as its territory and sought to repel other railway companies that craved access.
The GNR had established a yard at Colwick, east of Nottingham, in the early 1850s. It had, by the early 1870s, encroached well into Midland territory. Coal from Annesley colliery was being taken south via Colwick yard.
Then came Edward Watkin, Chairman of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway. Watkin was Chairman between 1864 and 1894; he also held
