Description: Looking north-east from Midland Road into Railway Terrace with the frontage of the Midland Railway station forming the backdrop.
The station was served by a short branch of Derby Corporation's electric tramway system, which left London Road by a triangular junction and came down Midland Road to terminate here. This allowed a variety of different services to call at the station using the routes from the town centre (and beyond), Alvaston, Osmaston Road (via Bateman Street), and Normanton (via Dairyhouse Road). No less than three trams are present in this view, although only No 14 (the centre example) is individually identifiable. This was one of the original open-topped batch of 25 vehicles built for the Corporation by Brush of Loughborough in 1904; it was withdrawn in 1932. To its right is a similar car, while that partly visible in the left background is one of Nos 30-35, a batch of Milnes Voss cars on Mountain & Gibson radial trucks, delivered in 1906. The trams bear the destinations 'Special Car', 'Ashbourne Road', and 'Pear Tree' on their blinds respectively.
The clock on the station indicates it is 3pm and above this can be seen a carved stone wyvern, this mythical beast being used as an emblem by the Midland Railway (see DRBY003248 for a close-up of this feature). The station had opened in 1840 but had been greatly enlarged over the years with the porte cochere (covered carriage entrance) added in 1872. However, as seen here, it was not in its original position, having been dismantled and moved forward in 1893 to permit the insertion of a new range of buildings between the original station structures and Railway Terrace. The new range, which gave the previous rather hotch-potch arrangement a symmetrical facade, is represented by the balustraded section and the three-storey 'pavilion' to the left with its pediments and dome. The station was eventually demolished in 1985 and replaced by a smaller building, although the clock and its surround was preserved.
Derby-based postcard publisher F W Scarratt took this photo and allocated it the number 329 in his series.