Midland Railway Trespass Sign

The original Midland Railway Cast Iron sign is painted black with white lettering and a border.

Before the invention of modern materials, railway signs were usually made of wood or cast iron, or occasionally, carvings were made into the stone that made the buildings on which the sign needed to appear; this usually only happened in the very early days of railways, as they soon found out that changes could not be made once done.

The Midland was a prolific user of cast iron.  Usually, such signs appeared, threatening those who dared to trespass with the full majesty of the law.  But they also appeared to provide other information, sometimes to the public, sometimes to staff.

Here, the public is advised not to trespass on the MR for fear of a legal penalty.  One wonders how many people read signs as wordy as this or, if they did, how many understood the legal and flowery language that they chose to use.

These trespass signs appeared all over the MR’s system; some are to be seen on the KWVR today.  The railway companies have been termed as being ‘Corporate States’, mini nations in their own right, within the United Kingdom and unlike the rest of the nation, they could prosecute trespassers; trespass on a railway was and remains a criminal act, whereas elsewhere, it is a civil wrong for which the trespasser can be sued for damages that result from the trespass, but not prosecuted in a criminal action. This is because the railways, almost without exception, were created by Acts of Parliament that gave the companies the most astonishing range of powers; they even had their police forces with the same powers as the national police forces.  The current British Transport Constabulary is the direct descendent of these private police forces, nationalised in 1948 along with the railways