Slow train to Nottingham

In the 1960s I travelled often by train between Chesterfield and Nottingham.  The slow trains 'the stoppers' were diesel multiple units and a fine view of the scenery could be gained from the front carriage, so long as the driver had not pulled down the blinds  on the partition between his cab and the passenger seats.

Setting off from Chesterfield  Midland, past the busy goods yard on the right and the branch peeling off to Brampton, the train approached Horn's Bridge.  There it passed over the rusting tracks of the Great Central line between Chesterfield Central and Nottingham Victoria and under the massive stone and steelwork viaduct that had carried the inaptly named Lancashire Derbyshire & East Coast Railway over the Rother valley.  The latter railway had terminated at Chesterfield Market Square at one end and near Lincoln at the other.

Soon we passed Hasland sheds on the left which had been home to some of the massive Beyer-Garrett locomotives,  The shed had lost its roof and must have been a terrible place to work. The shed provide the motive power for coal traffic which at this time was in abundance.  Next we passed sidings served by local collieries and then on the left Avenue Sidings. These served the Avenue Plant which produced gas piped to Northampton and as a by-product, solid fuel.

Next, we stopped at Clay Cross where the former North Midland railway line diverged to Derby.  Our train continued past derelict sidings which had served Clay Cross Works and we sped along past colliery sidings to left and right, through Doe Hill station to our next stop at Westhouses and Blackwell.  Here there were branches and sidings served by numerous collieries and below our embankment, on the left, Westhouses engine shed.  Between Westhouses and our next stop, Alfreton, the four tracks were carried on an embankment which had suffered badly from colliery subsidence. Trains travelled very slowly on what was tantamount to a roller-coaster. 

Following the Alfreton stop we dived into a tunnel and shortly afterwards our four tracks were joined by the railway from Mansfield for the short distance to Pye Bridge. At Pye Bridge a line branched off to the right heading for Ambergate and was well used by coal trains from the Mansfield area heading for Lancashire via Ambergate and Matlock. Passenger trains between Mansfield and Ambergate had long ceased.  Part of the line between Pye Bridge and Ambergate is home now to the Midland Railway Centre.

Our journey continued over the Cromford Canal to Codnor Park and Ironville where there had once been a connection to the Great Northern Railway's Pinxton branch which has accompanied us on our journey from Pye Bridge.  Our next stop was Langley Mill and Eastwood.  A derelict bay platform had previously seen use for passenger trains on the branch to  Heanor and Ripley.

Then it was open country as we sped past the closed Shipley Gate station and over the Erewash Canal on  a long curve.  Soon we would pass under the steel lattice work of Bennerley viaduct (now a listed structure) which had carried the Nottingham Victoria - Derby Friargate line of the Great Northern Railway.

Our next stop was Ilkeston Junction from whence a long closed branch had run to Ilkeston Town. On our left a colliery waste tip would often give off acrid smoke as friction set the coal amidst the waste smouldering.

Our next stop was Trowell where the express trains for Nottingham diverged left.  Our train continued on the four track section to Stanton Gate.  Extensive sidings served the Stanton ironworks.  There followed a stop at Stapleford and Sandiacre and then we passed masses of sidings on both our left and right. These were (and are) Toton Sidings which were the nerve centre of the coal traffic to and from the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire coalfields as well as general freight from further afield. Soon we would be at Long Eaton, where for the first time in our journey there were only two tracks, the goods lines having parted company to gain height and cross the Nottingham-Derby line at Trent.  For our part we turned sharp left for Nottingham as the main line headed for Trent.  Soon we would join the Derby-Nottingham line and the straight two track route to Nottingham Midland, stopping at Attenborough and Beeston. Just outside Nottingham we would join the line from Trowell, pass the extensive goods yard and thence to Nottingham Midland.

The journey home, prior to 1964, would be from Nottingham Victoria to Chesterfield Central.

How things have changed. It would only be a year before the line between Nottingham Victoria and Chesterfield  Central closed.  All the stations between Chesterfield and Long Eaton would be closed, although later Alfreton would have a new station:Alfreton Parkway.  The four tracks were reduced in places to two or three tracks. The major change was  the closure of collieries and ironworks which rendered the branch lines and sidings complexes redundant. Along the route we travelled the Victorian railway companies had built lines to compete for the coal traffic.  Many collieries were served by two companies. The former Great Central and Great Northern lines had been wiped from the face of the map within a few years.

At some locations it is hard to visualise how things looked in the early 1960s.  The same can be said of South Wales, of Consett, of the railways serving the London docks and many more.  The closure of freight lines when traffic flows cease is understandable.  But why were passenger stations and whole routes used by passenger trains closed?   The key factor was that fewer people were using the trains than in previous decades.  The car was becoming king.  Now we are regretting some of the closures, stations are being re-opened and in some places whole lines are being rebuilt.  Between Chesterfield and Nottingham there are plans to build a station in the vicinity of Ilkeston Junction.