This station on the Midland system is often a source of no little
perplexity to strangers. Sir Edward Beckett thus humorously describes
it:—“You arrive at Trent. Where that is I cannot tell. I suppose it is
somewhere near the river Trent, but then the Trent is a very long river.
You get out of your train to obtain refreshment, and having taken it, you
endeavour to find your train and your carriage. But whether it is on
this side or that, and whether it is going north or south, this way or
that way, you cannot tell. Bewildered, you frantically rush into your
carriage; the train moves off round a curve, and then you are horrified
to see some lights glaring in front of you, and you are in immediate
expectation of a collision, when your fellow-passenger calms your fears
by telling you that they are only the tail lamps of your own train.”