Nottingham's Lost Railway Heritage

The Great Central Railway

The GCR London Extension ran like an arrow North to South through and under Nottingham city centre. There remain tunnels, bridges and viaducts for much of the way. We looked at the remains of the GCR's Weekday Cross viaducts with Huntingdon Street and Sherwood Rise tunnels.

The Great Northern Railway

The Great Northern was in a continual battle with the Midland, for whom the Nottinghamshire coal traffic was "home turf". The Midland had been formed as a result of a meeting in the Sun Inn in Eastwood in 1844. The intense railway development by both companies has left many remains today.

The Nottingham Suburban Railway

From Trent Lane Junction (SK591394) on the GNR Notts-Grantham line, to Daybrook (SK579445) on the GN's original line from Netherfield to Basford, the Nottingham Suburban Railway ran through hilly suburbs with 1,048 yards of tunnels and a climb of over 200 feet in 3 ¾ miles. Stations were at Thorneywood (SK591409), St. Ann's Well (SK588418), and Sherwood.

Conceived in 1886, before the opening of the more-direct GCR and before the advent of direct city centre tram services, it lasted into the 1930s (just) for passenger services, and the final section was not closed until 1954 (last freight 1951). Its route was only built upon relatively recently (1980s/90s). Much of its impressive brickwork above and below ground had already been redeveloped into flats or gardens by 1999, but much also remained. The Suburban Railway also served an extensive brickworks at Mapperley via a narrow gauge rope-worked incline.

Via GNR to Derby

The Great Northern line from Bulwell ran via Kimberley, Ilkeston, Derby Friargate and Mickleover to join the Derby-Crewe line.

GNR at Kimberley

Kimberley GNR station on the Derby line survives today. The buildings are occupied by business, as is the recently-cleared goods yard. The long cutting and tunnel towards Watnall were recently (1999) infilled and used for housing. But the station area and the still-extant section of the railway cutting are a council heritage site and nature reserve. Map Ref SK499448

Bennerley Viaduct

Bennerley Viaduct, opened in 1878, carried the Great Northern Railway across the Erewash Valley between Awsworth and Ilkeston, en route from Basford (Nottingham) to Derby and Uttoxeter. Although the route is now closed, this listed structure remains, striding above the Midland's Erewash Valley line. Map Ref SK474439

More pics on IlkCam, Lawrence's Eastwood and many other places

Ilkeston GNR

From Bennerley the line ran through Ilkeston, where the trackbed nowadays forms Cotmanhay Linear Park. Nowadays on the main GNR line, there is a police station blocking the trackbed next to the infilled Heanor road overbridge.

The GNR's Ilkeston Junction was a meeting point for branches north and southwards. North was the line to Heanor GNR, which also served pits including Shipley and Woodside Collieries (the latter home in the 1960s of an ex-Mersey Railway condensing tank loco). Photo-report continues.

Coming in from the south was the GNR connection from the Midland via Stanton Ironworks. In 1978 I walked this branch but haven't yet found my pictures.

Derby Friargate GNR

The Notts-Derby line meandered across Derbyshire farmland. I visited Derby Friargate, the major passenger station on the line, in 1977 with a compact 120 folding camera. Back then there was a bit more to see than today, but the station is still there in 2007. Photo-report continues.

The Midland Railway

For the Midland, Nottinghamshire was home territory, and it indulged in many schemes, agreements, sponsorships and constructions to maximise its own commercial revenue and keep the Great Northern's influence at a minimum. We travel northwards down the Erewash Valley line, exploring its byways and branches.

MR Stanton Gate to Mapperley and Shipley

The Midland Railway had a little photographed goods branch which started from Stanton Gate sidings, running via Stanton ironworks and Ilkeston up to collieries at Shipley Gate and Mapperley. Today it is walkable as the Nutbrook Trail and is certainly on the list to visit.

MR Bennerley to Kimberley, Watnall and Basford

The Midland's 1879 line to Kimblerley meandered from Bennerley (MR), in the shadow of the GNR viaduct above, to Basford. It closed to passengers in 1917, although freight continued to run until 1954. This rather nice overbridge between Basford and Watnall is now isolated in a field just a few feet from the M1 motorway. Map Ref SK514455

The site of the Midland's Watnall station is occupied by this wartime Air Force control bunker. It's blank on the map ;-) Map Ref SK506454 From sidings between the bridge above and Watnall, a private coal railway meandered north, west and south and back to Moor Green, which I hope to cover one day.

Watnall tunnel eastern portal itself was heavily overgrown and flooded at the time of visiting and could not be reached. The western portal is behind housing, and time and conditions precluded investigation - it now seems to have been built on (2004). Map Ref SK505453. The Midland station in Kimberley has still to be visited - it was in use as a social club but recently closed.

Whilst you are in Kimberley, like the Midland Railway it's worth your passing by Hardy and Hanson's brewery, one of the few original independent ones left :-)

MR Shipley Gate and MR Eastwood branch

Shipley Gate station, opened by the Midland Counties Railway in 18xx pre-MR days, was originally named “Shipley Gate for Heanor” and at the time was also the closest station to Eastwood and its collieries. It wasn't until the GNR opened their own Pinxton branch in 18xx, with a station almost in Eastwood, that the MR deigned to open Langley Mill and Eastwood station serving those towns. In the meantime Shipley Gate served the purpose, and additionally provided goods transhipment between the Shipley tramways, the Midland and (via the Midland's short elevated branch serving the old Eastwood Colliery) the Erewash Canal. Photo-report continues.

MR Langley Mill and Heanor

Langley Mill formed the junction for a line to Heanor, Waingroves and Ripley which also served branches to Langley, Bailey Brook and Loscoe collieries around Heanor. Photo-report continues.

MR Codnor Park and Pye Bridge

Between Codnor Park and the next station north Pye Bridge, in addition to the well known triangular junction and westwards to Butterley and Ambergate, the Midland line ran almost parallel both with the GNR Pinxton branch and the Butterley company's own lines. Almost all these remains are now gone but a few traces can still be seen. Photo-report continues.

MR Pye Bridge and Kirkby

From Pye Bridge a line curved up through Pinxton to Kirkby-in Ashfield. When the Robin Hood line was re-opened in 199x, it was diverted onto a former GNR alignment at Kirkby Summit comprising the new route of the Robin Hood, but Pinxton and Sleights retained manual signal boxes and semaphores until the Erewash Valley resignalling of August 2007. Photo-report continues.

MR Mansfield and Pinxton

The Mansfield and Pinxton railway was opened in 1819 as a horse-worked tramway. Its purpose was to connect Mansfield with the Pinxton Canal and thence the Erewash and the rest of the canal network. Mansfield was famous for porcelain amongst other products. The Mansfield and Pinxton was subsequently rebuilt as a loco hauled line by the Midland Railway, who in 1849 extended their Erewash Valley branch from Pye Bridge and Kirkby to reach Mansfield by way of Pinxton.

Mostly now upgraded to modern standards as part of the Robin Hood line, small sections of the original route remain as they were. King's Mill viaduct near Mansfield now carries a footpath; it comprises three stone arches across a stream next to a dam, and has a keystone dated 1817. Photo-report continues. Map Ref SK519598. Mansfield and Pinxton railway

MR Alfreton Tunnels

The Midland's Erewash Valley line was connected northwards from Pye Bridge to Clay Cross in 1862. It was initially double track, and the original bore is the eastern one (on the right, below). In 1901 the line was quadrupled and a second adjacent tunnel driven. This is the one which is still in use today for passenger and freight trains on the Erewash Valley. The date and the Midland Railway's crest of an heraldic wyvern are carved above the new tunnel mouth.

It goes without saying that working railways are dangerous places. Do not approach them (note that we remained well away for our architectural pictures).

The Cromford Canal

Langley Mill and Cromford main line

Before the railways came, the Cromford Canal connected Cromford to the Erewash Canal at Pye Bridge. In its 14½ miles it had three aqueducts, four tunnels and 14 locks, including a two-mile tunnel under Butterley near Ripley to reach the Golden Valley. Map Ref SK421513

Pinxton Canal

At Ironville the Cromford sent a branch northwards to Pinxton. There it had a wharf to receive traffic carted from Mansfield and area such as Mansfield porcelain. It connected with the Mansfield and Pinxton horse tramway which also provided a passenger service. Tickets for the tram were bought at the Boat Inn. Photo-report continues.

Butterley Canal Tunnel

On the Cromford arm, the canal bed down to Ironville still exists, including the locks at Ironville. Both tramways aboveground and a wharf and crane lift deep inside the tunnel connected the canal to The Butterley Company's ironworks above. Butterley, as well as building many bridges from the 1800s to the present day, also provided the roof ironwork for the Midland's St. Pancras Station. See the Friends Of Cromford Canal site for Pictures from inside the tunnel taken on an inspection in 1979.

And if having a wharf inside a canal tunnel isn't unusual enough, at Worsley near Manchester there is an entire underground canal system, built by the Duke of Bridgewater to serve his collieries - presumably it saved hauling the coal to the surface and then down the hill again! 50 miles of tunnel on four levels, including an underground inclined canal plane - a staggering enterprise. If that could be re-opened one day, maybe the Butterley tunnel might be too ... ?

Relevant Links

Nottingham Rail shows in photographs how the railways of Nottingham and surrounding areas have changed over the last 100 years, including many not mentioned here.
Nottingham GC and GN pictures from the 1950s (via archive.org - most pics sadly offline now)
Shipley Park railways and tramways (via archive.org)
Canals, Rivers and Viaducts and other local history in the Eastwood area, by Nigel Harrison.
Nottingham Railway Archaeology in pictures.
As well as the links in the text above, there's almost certainly something on Google about the subject, too.

Bibliography

Forgotten Railways: The East Midlands: By P. Howard Anderson, pub. David & Charles 1973, ISBN 0 7153 6094 9
A Regional History of the Railways of Great Britain: Volume 9 The East Midlands: By Robin Leleux, pub. David & Charles 1976, revised 1984 for Book Club Associates, ISBN 0 946537 06 2
British Railways Pre-Grouping Atlas and Gazetteer: Pub. Ian Allan Ltd various dates, ISBN 0 7110 0320 3