This chapter covers the Express & Semi-Fast passenger trains which used the Nottingham & Melton Line. Some just ran from Nottingham to Kettering or St Pancras, others connected London with Sheffield, Leeds, Manchester or Scotland (Edinburgh / Glasgow). 99% of the time these services did not call at the local stations between Nottingham and Melton, but there were odd occasions when they did.

As with the Local trains, the chapter is structured so you can just get an overview or delve into a bit more detail. However, readers beware - the situation is more complex than the Local trains, and I am no expert on Midland Main Line services, so I apologise in advance for any errors.

As before each service has a reference number:

• Up trains are L (weekdays) and A (Sundays)
• Down trains are N (weekdays) and B (Sundays)

Some of the codes have changed from earlier editions of the book.

The opening of the new Midland Main Line soon saw the re-routing of some Sheffield and Leeds/Bradford expresses, with Six Up and Four Down expresses scheduled daily from June 1st 1880, Sundays excepted.

Although all these ran via Radford rather than Trent, and despite the improved gradients and marginally shorter route, journey times were not really improved, with Nottingham - London often taking three hours. When the Midland passenger timetables said Leeds they often meant Bradford as well, in that the express would normally start or end its journey at Bradford.

Initially all the Manchester and Scottish Expresses continued to run via Trent, and it was July 1887 before a Manchester Express, and July 1888 before a Scottish Express (Scotch) were diverted via Melton. The Scotch have a history of their own - suffice to say here that sometimes they were routed via Melton.

The following chart illustrates the number of daily Expresses routed via Melton, using ten-year samples, so the impact of the two World Wars is not fully apparent. Whilst the 1960s represents the peak, this was due to the Trent route carrying Manchester trains diverted as a result of the West Coast Modernisation.

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