by Reg Instone
Over the past 40 years of studying railway history it has become apparent to me that it took several years after the Grouping to implement new ways of doing things, and bring all the practices of the pre-1923 companies into line. It was not until the late 1920s that the LMS started to look like a single organisation.
The LNWR and MR had each made some changes to their own system after the Working Agreement of September 1908, but these only had effect where the two systems met, and, for example, for through bookings and joint offices. The organisation, management and practices of each company were not affected. The same applied to the L&YR when they joined a few years later under what became the "tripartite" agreement.
The following chronology is not intended as a definitive statement, but rather a rough guide to progress using significant dates that are known to me. This is biased towards the subjects that I have researched, naturally. No doubt more could be added by trawling through all the minutes of the LMS Board and its various committees.
| 3 July 1923 | Northern Division of Engineer's Dept formed, comprising all lines N of Preston, incl FR etc |
| Western Div of ED now includes all L&Y lines W of LNWR main line, NSR lines and MR in S Wales | |
| Manchester Div of ED now includes all ex-LNWR lines between Manchester Exchange and Wigan | |
| June 1923 | savings by diverting East Lancs coal traffic over MR from Normanton to Cudworth and thence to Mytholmroyd L&YR |
| July 1923 | £50,000 authorised for connecting the ex-MR, ex-LNWR and ex-L&YR Control Office networks and establishing General Traffic Control throughout the system |
| 1923 (by Oct) | Carriage renumbering commenced, with new livery ? mainly completed by 1927, some not until 1929 |
| 1924 | Local operating management reorganised throughout the LMS system, senior official is now the District Controller. Post of District Superintendent abolished. |
| 2 June 1924 | Station name suffixes added, to distinguish stations of different constituent companies. |
| 24 July 1924 | Northern (Scottish) Traffic Districts Reorganised, also Chief General Superintendents Dept. |
| ? [Possibly also 24 July 1924] | Western Division 'B' became Central Division, with altered boundaries (Traffic Dept) |
| July 1924 | new junction at Market Harboro' enables through running from ex-MR to Wembley for Empire Exhibition, also Toton to Willesden coal trains (authorised Nov 1923 for goods traffic, work upgraded May 1924) |
| 1924 | Locomotive renumbering commenced ? took until 1928 to complete |
| ? | LMS locomotive power classification, 1P and 1F etc |
| 29 Jan 1925 | Goods Managers Dept re-organised. |
| 1925 | Connection at Oldham between ex-L&Y and ex-LNW lines (Mumps and Glodwick Rd stations) |
| 1925? | Ex-MR Swansea lines transferred to Western Div of CGS (Traffic) Dept. |
| May 1925 | LMS headlamp code in use throughout the system, based on MR code |
| July 1925 | MR style WTTs into use throughout the system, consequent changes to Appendices |
| c1925 | Left hand drive adopted as standard |
| 29 Oct 1925 | The four LMS/GWR Joint committees merged to one. |
| 1 Nov 1925 | Electrical Dept formed, replacing disparate arrangements of pre-1923 companies |
| Nov 1925 | Connection between ex-MR and ex-LNWR lines at Sheffield Nunnery (authorised May 1924) |
| c1926 | Constituent companies' track circuits renumbered into single list 1-4000 |
| 1 Jan 1926 | Stamp becomes President of the Executive (Appointed by Board min 1279, 30 July 1925). |
| Early 1926 | Standard steel-bodied carriages |
| Apr 1926 | LMS (ND) reissued Rule Book, replacing those of Cal, G&SW, HR and joint lines. |
| 1926-27 | MR principles adopted on W Division main line Euston to Roade, six new junctions |
| 1 Jan 1927 | new corporate structure with President and Four Vice-Presidents in place of General Manager, Deputy GM and Accountant-General (Board minute 1515, 28 Oct 1926) - later reduced to three on 26 Nov 1931 |
| Jan/July 1927 | Standard Royal Scot locomotives designed and built; non-stop Carlisle service |
| 1 Nov 1927 | Josiah Stamp appointed Chairman of the Board (Board minute 1683, 28 July 1927). |
| 1927-28 | some further changes to location of District Control Offices |
| 1927-32 | MR-pattern VCR adopted for motor trains (pull & push) across the LMS |
| 15 Apr 1928 | new junction between ex-LNWR and ex-MR lines at Morecambe (authorised June 1927) |
| Apr 1928 | Belfast boat service and ?Ulster Express? transferred from Fleetwood to Heysham |
| Apr 1928 | some changes to standardise documentation, including divisional 'Loading' booklets |
| Late 1928 | Fitted Freight No.1 and Fitted Freight No.2 trains introduced across the LMS |
| 1928-29 | Engineer's Dept reorganised to 3 English Divisions in place of 4, 17 Districts in place of 21. |
| May 1929 | S&T department created, unifying pre-1923 organisations (Board minute 1984 of 24.1.29) |
| June 1929 | Linking of Manchester Victoria and Exchange stations |
| Aug 1929 | S&T HQ established at Derby with Divisional Offices at London, Crewe, Manchester and Glasgow, (later moving to Euston House, see below). |
| Sept 1929 | LMS Block Regulations, superseding pre-grouping issues |
| 29 0ct 1929 | The 29 LMS/LNER Joint Committees reduced to four. |
| 1930-31 | Standard designs of signalboxes, signals and S&T equipment introduced |
| Jan 1931 | First issue of LMS style Appendices |
| Early in 1932 | COM and CCM in place of CGS and CGM, also a Chief Officer for Scotland appointed. |
| 1932 | Derby Signal Works closed, work transferred to Crewe |
| Jan 1933 | LMS Rule Book - prompted by RCH |
| 1934 | Euston House HQ opened. |
| 1935 | LMS shed codes 1A to 32C and smokebox shed plates |
| 1937 | The Chief Electrical Engineer's post was added to the CME?s responsibilities. |
Thanks to Graham Warburton for some of the details of senior management, and to Bob Essery for his help.