line through Clowne South was useful for diversions in times of disruption such as essential trackwork. In the days before widespread "replacement bus services" two routes in particular benefitted from this, the GCML and the line from Lincoln to Sheffield via Retford. The history of GCML diversions matched that of GCML relief - the traffic vanished. The Lincoln to Sheffield line is still active today, but it carries almost no long-distance freight and no long-distance passenger traffic. Up to the early 1960s "The Boaty" - the daily to boat train - was an occasional sight trundling along the LDECR through Warsop, Shirebrook North and Clowne South, regaining the route into Sheffield Victoria at Killamarsh. In essence there became less and less traffic to divert. A number of railway enthusiasts' special trains ran through Clowne South in its declining years, driven by a mixture of rising affluence and awareness of things passing. One such is recorded on film, though only the northern approach to Cliff Hill at Clowne can be seen. This left the staple of the LD&ECR - coal. Coal was king in North East Derbyshire in the first half of the 20th century. His rule passed steadily eastwards as older mines worked out and newer, larger and deeper pits were sunk in Nottinghamshire. These typically sent their output eastwards to power stations on the Trent. This meant that the LD&ECR line eastwards from Langwith Junction thrived whilst that to the west via Clowne withered. By 1960 the only producing pit on the line through Clowne South was Westthorpe Colliery, Killamarsh. It survived until 1984 but its coal went out northwards. Coal traffic through Clowne South withered but did not die; some coal continued to be sent north westwards. There always had been duplication of lines and services; indeed when the railways were built it was called "competition". When traffic was high, duplication gave flexibility and allowed traffic to run freely, as summarised above. As traffic withered "flexibility" became "redundancy" and "over-provision." By the mid-1960s it was realised that the traffic from all sources running through Clowne South and through Elmton and Creswell on what is now the Robin Hood Line could be accommodated entirely on the latter. The connection between the two lines at Shirebrook Junction ran (and still runs) south-to-east, so coal running north westwards from collieries such as Ollerton would end up facing the wrong way on