High Peak Junction

High Peak Junction, near Cromford, Derbyshire, England, is the name now used to describe the site where the former Cromford and High Peak Railway (C&HPR), whose workshops were located here, meets the Cromford Canal. It lies within Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site, designated in 2001, and today marks the southern end of the High Peak Trail, a trail for walkers, cyclists and horse riders. The Derwent Valley Heritage Way also passes this point, and popular walks lead from here along the towpath in both directions.
History as part of the High Peak Railway.
As first built, the C&HPR – built to standard gauge proportions after initial plans for it to be constructed as a canal route – originally terminated at this location, named in the original Act as "beside the Cromford Canal, at or near to Cromford", where freight was transferred between canal barges and railway wagons. The large wharf-side transit shed, with awning over the canal, still stands on the west bank of the canal, a small distance from the workshop complex. From here the double-tracked line ran beside the workshops and up the steep Sheep Pasture incline. Prior to the construction of this larger transit shed, use was made of another shed the other side of the workshops, which opened onto the river. This later became a locomotive shed, but has now been demolished, and lies beyond the picnic area.
This first section of the line, from here to Hurdlow, opened on 29 May 1830, opening throughout in 1831. At this point in time the railway was isolated from any other railway lines, being connected only to canals at either end, namely the Cromford Canal in the south, and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge in the north. Cromford Canal had previously been finished in 1794 and linked Sir Richard Arkwright’s mills to the national waterway system.
The workshop complex here was largely built between 1826 and 1830 (making them the second oldest railway workshops in the world ), specifically to serve the new line. There were also limited sidings here. The endless chains for the inclines, for instance, were made here from ¾ inch chain apparently supplied by Pritt & Co of Liverpool.
At the time of the railway's opening, apart from on the inclines, horses were the main form of power, and only minerals and goods were carried. These goods, which included coal, were primarily for local communities along the route. The carriage of limestone also played a predominant part, for this mineral was required in the manufacture of steel, and was found in abundance in this upland area.
Initially static steam engines powered the inclines, but in 1833 the first locomotive was acquired for the line, and as such was one of the country's earliest railways, coming only seven years after George Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway had opened. It was to take 30 years before all horse motive-power was replaced by steam, but whilst there were engines on the line, water wagons had to be carried up the inclines from the wharf, for use by the stationary engines, and later by the locomotives, and for supply at isolated properties. There were over 20 rail tanks in total, many converted LNWR tenders, despatched from the wharf at a rate of about 100 a month and left in sidings along the route. Water was sparse up the line, but here at the wharf a hillside spring fed a tank which was located at Sheep Pasture bottom, across the line from the workshops. Apart from repairing wagons and locomotives, the company stock list records that in 1859 two locomotives were built at the workshops, but in reality they were more likely assembled here, for from 1840 parts were being bought from the Union Foundry in Derby.
However, the railway was initially only a link in the canal network, and isolated from other railway lines. It terminated here at its southern end, and it was not until two decades later that physical connection was made with any main line, eliminating its dependence for trade on the canal. This connection was with the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction Railway at a point between Cromford and Whatstandwell stations (now on the Derwent Valley Line). This was strictly the "High Peak Junction", this name not being used for this canal-side site until after closure of the line. "(See below.)"
The new main line Midland Railway junction was brought into use on 21 February 1853, increasing the length of the C&HPR by 58 chains (about ¾ mile), and Bradshaw's Railway Manual of 1870 describes the whole undertaking as now running "from Peak Forest Canal to the Cromford Canal, and to a junction with the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midlands Junction". However, it took another decade before horse power on the High Peak Railway was entirely replaced by steam. Following this connection, and the development of the Midland Line through to Manchester, more and more traffic took this route. Tonnage rates on the canal were lowered to attract trade, but competition was fierce, not helped by the eventual selling of the Cromford Canal to the railway company in 1852. A second collapse of the Butterley tunnel (2,966yds) in 1900 – due to mining subsidence – rang the final death knell for the canal as an effective mode of transport. However, coal was still carried on this isolated section from Hartshay to Lea and Cromford until 1944, when the whole canal was officially abandoned.
Beside the transit shed a road crossed the junction extension line at an ungated crossing. A red iron plate on a post was turned 90 degrees to indicate "stop" to either the road or the railway.
From 1862 LNWR officials made regular inspections of the railway, and an inspection in June of this year led to an attempt to find a larger workshop site than that here at Cromford. A level site at Ladmanlow, some along the line, was considered, but a report by Charles Mason the following month suggested only a small maintenance shop there. Given that 18 men were employed at Cromford, and that many of their children worked in Arkwright's mill, it was left here.
A timetable of 1874 showed some nine departures daily from the junction, although there was only one through train daily along the whole length of the line, a journey of some 5½ hours. Most of the others terminated at Hopton, but clearly all these workings passed through this Cromford wharf site.
High Peak Junction lies at the bottom of the steep Sheep Pasture incline (some 1,320 yards in length at a gradient varying between 1:8 and 1:9), and following a runaway in 1888 a catch pit was constructed, the two lines passing either side of it. In this accident (of which there are a number of varying versions), it would seem that a wagon loaded with lime and a brake van containing gunpowder broke free from a train, hurtling down the incline at speeds of up to 120 mph. Failing to take the bend at the bottom, they then ran across the site, jumping across both the canal (damaging the bank) and the double tracks of the Midland Railway before one of the canisters exploded in the adjacent field. Minutes later the London passenger train passed. Wreckage seen in the catch pit today dates from a further runaway in the 1950s.
The line prospered, and quarries were serviced at Hopton, Hoptonwood, Middleton Top & Longcliffe. Traffic was also generated at the Harboro Brick Works, Longliffe and the Derbyshire Firebrick Company at Friden.
Locomotives on the line were primarily sourced from Rowsley shed, but subsheds were also provided at Cromford, Middleton and Sheep Pasture. These provided both accommodation and routine minor maintenance, and provided for the section of line between High Peak Junction and Friden.
The Act of 1855 provided powers to carry passengers, and this was done – on certain trains – using a brake van with seats. There was no proper timetable, but passengers could take advantage of the once-daily train which ran in both directions along the whole length of the line. Passengers were supposed to alight and walk up the inclines, but many risked the ride. A fatality in 1877 provided a reason to discontinue what was an unprofitable service.
Alternative names for this site.
As has been mentioned, although today the name High Peak Junction refers to the canal-side workshop complex at the foot of Sheep Pasture incline, during the operating life of the High Peak Railway the name "High Peak Junction" was officially that of the signal box and Junction with the Midland Railway main-line, which lay some ¾ mile away to the south-east. Consequently the name High Peak Junction sidings referred to that adjacent siding. "(See below.)"
Over the years this workshop site has had various names :
On Ordnance Survey maps of 1880 and 1884 the site is labelled "Railwayend", as it was until the Junction line was built in 1852. (To canal users, the swing bridge at this point was known as "Railwayend bridge".) From at least 1900 onwards maps label this site "High Peak Junction" (or "Highpeak Junction"). It is so labelled on the 1899 edition of the 25" OS map (revised 1896), where the former term refers to the main line junction, while the latter refers to the wharf area. The 1884 edition of the 25" OS maps also shows a "Junction Inn" on the towpath side opposite the wharf, though by the 1899 edition this had disappeared due to a realignment of the main line.
A table dated 1891 detailing "Particulars of Gradients" for the line records "Bottom of Sheep Pasture" (ie. this being at the foot of the Sheep Pasture incline). This name was retained for that section of line beside the workshops and the signal, ie. where the brake wagons currently stand.
Jones and Bentley refer to Cromford Wharf of the C&HPR, whilst Rimmer, an authority on the railway, refers to the main site as Cromford Wharf, although today this name is used to refer to the original Wharf at the Canal end beside Cromford Mill, in Cromford. For this reason the name High Peak Wharf is also sometimes used.
The small goods yard and limited sidings to the north-west, beyond the workshops and parallel to the canal, were known as Cromford Goods. The Rule Book and timetables refer simply to Cromford.
The 1900 O.S. Map marks Cromford Goods Wharf beside the transit shed.
An issue of "Railway Magazine" (1934) incorrectly refers to this site as Cromford Sidings, although this name was that used for the main line sidings at Cromford railway station.
The changing use of the name "High Peak Junction" still causes confusion today. For instance, in "Peak District Walking on the Level" (Sigma Press, 2006), whilst correctly stating that "the Cromford end of the (High Peak) railway was connected at High Peak Junction to the (Midland) main line", the author's diagram shows a direct link from here, the foot of Sheep Pasture incline, continuing directly over the canal to the adjacent mainline. The difference in height could never have allowed this.
The signalbox and main line junction.
There was no Act of Parliament authorizing a branch line to connect the C&HPR to the Midland main line, but its construction and opening (on 21 February 1853) were confirmed in Section 6 of the C&HPR Act of 1855.
Construction of this branch line had followed a fair bit of argument as to who should finance it - the C&HPR or the Matlock (later Midland) Railway. The C&HPR ultimately agreed, on 19 January 1852, to build it at its own expense, but asked the Matlock Company for a siding at the junction, which was provided. Following an advertisement in the "Derby Mercury" on 6 October of that year, asking for tenders to construct this line, 58 chains long (see illustration), the contract was let on 16 October, and opened the following year, running along a shelf above and largely parallel to the river Derwent.
A description of 1934 states that "two exchange sidings are provided on the down side of the main line and from these the High Peak line turns off through the woods, on a rising gradient of 1 in 200, to Cromford Sidings [sic], at the foot of Sheep Pasture incline, which is a mile distant from the junction. The first 500 yards are worked as a siding, after which a staff section extends to the foot of the incline."
The 1858 Rule book, replaced in 1877 by one issued by the LNWR, refers to Section 1 of the C&HPR (of 9 in total) being "High Peak Junction to Cromford", served by a square, black staff. Here, the name "High Peak Junction" refers to the actual junction with the main line, "Cromford" referring to the canal-side site.
A timetable of 1891 also uses this terminology, and shows a time of 10 minutes from Cromford to the Junction, with 20 minutes allowed in the uphill direction. This section was operated as OES, i.e. One Engine in Steam.
At the Junction, looking north, the signal box was located to the right of the Main Line. At this point there were in fact 5 parallel tracks, comprising - from west to east - the "down siding" (used by the C&HPR, with room for 35 wagons), the "High Peak Branch" (the main C&HPR line, operated by separate staff), the up Main Line, the down Main Line, and the Up Loop. The siding here, together with the adjoining High Peak Railway main-line, was used for shunting wagons by the engine in this section, and was known as High Peak Junction sidings.
The length of double track comprising the C&HPR siding (essentially main lain and loop) provided only the most basic of facilities, and operating flexibility was limited. If ever a main line train failed to pick up loaded wagons (a booked operation), or if the High Peak shunter was slow to remove empties, the result was considerable congestion.
The High Peak Junction signal box, designated "D22", is described as being located "E (Up) side of line 140m S of Lea Wood river bridge", at grid reference 32306 55495. Distances to neighbouring locations were given as :
The box closed in October 1967, and the foundations and a significant amount of timber still survives, including rear posts and cross beams. The steel tubed Up Home bracket signal has been cut off at its base, and is still lying where it fell - presumably for intended collection later - although the arms and dolls are missing. A line of telegraph poles still runs from Cromford Meadows to the Junction, between the River Derwent and the railway line, though the wires have long gone.
Closure, and the area today.
The High Peak Trail.
The High Peak Railway closed fully in 1967, and in 1971 the Peak Park Planning Board and Derbyshire County Council purchased for £1 the trackbed from the High Peak Junction workshops as far as Parsley Hay, and it was turned it into the High Peak Trail. At Parsley Hay it is joined by the Ashbourne branch, now part of the Tissington Trail, another long-distance walking/cycle trail, and the route continues northwards to Dowlow near Buxton, a total distance of 17½ miles.
The section of line from the workshops down to the original junction, although part of the C&HPR, was not purchased - although it remains a right of way - and High Peak Junction, beside the Cromford Canal, is therefore the southern start point of the High Peak Trail, from where it heads immediately uphill, passing through the tunnel and up Sheep Pasture incline towards Black Rocks and Middleton Top, from where cycles can be hired.
The site today.
Most of the railway buildings remains, namely offices and the old workshops where the early locomotives were built and serviced, and where water tanks were repaired. Beside the transit shed there is also the engine shed where the yard shunting engine resided. In 1985 the railway workshops and forge were restored and opened to the public, and there is also an information centre, shop and small cafe for visitors. An audio guide of the site is available. The shop today is located in what was one of the offices, and the oil and lamp store. The room on the end was the drivers' mess room.
Beyond what is now the picnic site there was once an engine shed (a former transit shed), used to house the locomotive used between here and the mainline junction. Opposite the old signal post was once a large water tank, used to fill the tenders which were then taken up the incline.
In the workshops much remains virtually unchanged since closure, with many items on display in the way of artifacts, and a leaflet to help identify them (although some items of equipment are so rare that the Visitors Guide admits that it has not been possible to identify them all). It is possible that the cast iron, fish-bellied rails on either side of the inspection pit form the oldest length of railway line in the world still in its original position. Other items of particular interest, as indicated in the Visitors Guide, include a drill, chain bays, an old photograph, line tools, the forge and bellows, beam engine parts, a joiner's bench, and an oil tank.
The former C&HPR agent's house can be seen next to the A6 above.
Some 1/4 mile from the workshops and other railway buildings stands the canal-side Wharf Shed (the former transit shed), the 10-ton crane, and the weighhouse, the Shed itself being of major historical significance. Wagons could pass right through to the canopied area beyond. A sign prohibiting engines from entering the shed - there are timber beams and floors - is still displayed. Now owned by Derbyshire County Council, the Wharf Shed was converted to a residential centre in the early 1970s. It is available for hire to schools, youth and adult community groups, with room for groups of up to 24 people. "Note that "Cromford Wharf Shed" is here, not at the Canal terminus by Cromford Mill, now known as Cromford Wharf".
A long section of the Cromford canal between Cromford and Ambergate is listed as a Biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and also forms part of the Derwent Valley Heritage Way.
Another adjacent attraction is Leawood Pump House, built to pump water from the river Derwent in order to maintain the water level in the Cromford canal. Originally conceived in 1844 following a very dry summer, the Pumphouse became operational in 1849.
The whole site at High Peak Junction is easily accessed from the large public car-park at Lea Bridge, in Lea Road, from where a footbridge crosses the river Derwent, the railway, and the canal.
From High Peak Junction walkers can follow the level canal tow-path in both directions, or take the High Peak Trail up the incline.


Minsterley branch line

The Minsterley branch was a short railway line that ran from Cruckmeole Junction on the Cambrian Line just south of Shrewsbury to Minsterley in Shropshire. The six-and-a-half mile standard gauge line was the only section built of a plan to connect Shrewsbury with mid Wales. It was part of a joint venture between the Great Western Railway and London and North Western Railway companies.
History.
Plans.
The route, which was conceived in the late 1850s, was planned to connect Shrewsbury via Hanwood on the Cambrian Line, with Pontesbury, Minsterley, Montgomery and Newtown. Services would also be able to continue to the Welsh coast. At Pontesbury station, transfer sidings connected the narrow gauge Snailbeach District Railway, which ran to lead mines at Snailbeach.
Opening.
On 14 February 1861, the first section of line was opened from Cruckmeole Junction, on the Cambrian Line, to Minsterley. However, with the northerly section of the Cambrian main line into Wales opening the following year in 1862 (connecting Newtown via Welshpool to Shrewsbury), it became apparent there was little need to continue beyond Minsterley to Newtown. The station became the terminus of the cancelled project.
Decline and closure.
By the start of World War II, regular traffic on the line had almost ended. Passenger services ceased to Minsterley in 1951, although Hanwood station on the Cambrian Line remained open to passengers until 1960 and to goods until 1964. The rest of the branch line to Minsterley continued to carry goods (mainly for the Minsterley Creamery) until 1967 when the line was closed as part of the Beeching cuts. The track was lifted after closure.
Minsterley site today.
The former terminus at Minsterley is now a large meat factory (a large dairy-related factory also exists on either side of the old trackbed just before the terminus) and the stationmaster's house has been converted to a private residence.


Severn and Wye Railway

The Severn and Wye Railway began as an early tramroad network established in the Forest of Dean to facilitate the carriage of minerals to watercourses for onward conveyance. It was based on Lydney, where a small harbour was constructed, and opened its line to Parkend in 1810. It was progressively extended northwards, and a second line, the "Mineral Loop" was opened to connect newly opened mineral workings.
To facilitate transfer of traffic to the neighbouring South Wales Railway main line, the Severn and Wye Railway network was converted from a plateway to a locomotive-worked broad gauge edge railway, and then to a standard gauge railway. Extensions were made to Lydbrook, Cinderford and Coleford.
The Company's finances were dependent on the mineral industry of the Forest of Dean, and in 1879 economic difficulties caused it to amalgamate with the Severn Bridge Railway. In fact this resulted in a worsening of the situation, and the combined company sold its business to the Great Western Railway and the Midland Railway jointly.
Further disappointing financial performance led to most of the passenger operation being discontinued in 1929, and after World War II inexorable decline in mineral extraction resulted in progressive closure of the network. None of the Severn and Wye Railway system is in commercial railway use today, but a heritage railway is active at Lydney.
Before railways.
The Forest of Dean had been a centre of mineral extraction for centuries. A coal and iron ore industry had been carried on by freeminers, who had certain statutory rights to regulate their own affairs. Stone quarrying was also undertaken in the Forest. In the 18th and 19th centuries the timber of the Forest became an important resource for the construction of ships for the Royal Navy, creating tension with the miners, who required timber for supports in their mine workings.
Roads in the Forest were poor, and transport of heavy materials was a constant difficulty. The established rights of the miners made the deployment of capital for large-scale development very difficult, and the interests of the Royal Navy also militated against modernisation. This led to high costs, and the mining activity suffered from the competition of other locations.
Early tramway proposals.
In 1801 interested parties met at Ross-on-Wye and received a report from Benjamin Outram, indicating how lines of tramway might be constructed linking both Lydbrook and Lydney to the watercourses of the River Severn and the River Wye; the heavy minerals were transported onward to market by river and coastal shipping. The idea gained support, but it encountered fierce opposition too and the scheme foundered.
In 1806 the engineer John Rennie surveyed and proposed a route, subsequently developed with branches into a network, of tramways in the Forest, but his schemes too ended without definite action being taken.
Lydney and Lydbrook Railway.
The pressure to build some form of transport was unabated, and at length the "Lydney and Lydbrook Railway" (often rendered as Lydney and Lidbrook Railway) was authorised by Act of Parliament on 10 June 1809.
In fact it was to be a plateway, in which unflanged wagon wheels were to run on L-shaped plates; the guidance was provided by the upstand of the L-profile. The authorised capital was £35,000, to build from Lydbrook to Lower Forge by way of Mierystock and Parkend. There were to be eight branches. The railway company was not to be a carrier itself, but simply to provide the tramway on which independent carriers could run their own horse-drawn wagons.
Contracts were let in August 1809 for much of the construction, and by 4 June 1810 some mineral traffic was being carried, but dissatisfaction was already being expressed at deficiencies in the workmanship of the contractor.
Severn and Wye Railway.
In 1810 a deviation of the main line was authorised in a further Act of Parliament (of 21 June 1810) and the opportunity was taken to change the name of the company to the more memorable "Severn and Wye Railway". An extension of the authorised capital, a further £20,000, was ratified by this Act, which also authorised the making of a harbour at Lydney and a canal giving access from there to the River Severn itself.
The line was to be a plateway, with a gauge of . (The nearby Bullo Pill tramway used 4 feet.) The plates were long and weighed ; they were carried on stone blocks.
Operation had started in June 1810, but weighing machines were not yet properly provided; the Company's power to charge tolls required the provision of weighing machines, and in their absence no tolls could legally be levied, so that much of the traffic travelled free at first.
Dissatisfaction with the quality of the contractor's work continued to be expressed, and some track needed to be relaid at an early date. A third Act of Parliament was secured on 26 June 1811 authorised a further extension of the capital, of £35,000.
On 16 March 1813 a directors’ meeting was held at which it was determined to circularise the shareholders:
“The water was let into the canal and basin this day, and the railways being in a state of work, the undertaking may be considered as complete.”
However the dominant purpose of the meeting was to follow:
“A considerable debt has been incurred, to liquidate which, the sum of £10,000 must be immediately raised.”
If this was an invitation for someone to make a donation, it was in vain, and a fourth Act was obtained in May 1814 authorising a further increase in capital of £30,000.
The viability of the S&WR was in doubt with decreasing volumes of traffic due to other routes in existence or planned, giving access to the Forest, and due to its own obsolescent technology, as edge railways had by now become the normal form of railway.
The South Wales Railway.
In 1846, the South Wales Railway was preparing to build its line from near Gloucester to south-west Wales, intersecting the Severn and Wye Railway at Lydney. The South Wales Railway was aware of the mineral potential in the Forest of Dean and proposed a branch line alongside the Severn and Wye line. The S&WR made a counterproposal to sell their concern to the South Wales Railway, but their price was high, and the South Wales Railway did not wish to pay for the sum demanded for a declining and old-fashioned plateway.
Nevertheless, the South Wales Railway naturally wished to carry traffic originating in the Forest, and in 1847 it was authorised by Parliament to take over the Forest of Dean Railway (the former Bullo Pill line) and convert it to a broad-gauge edge railway, as a branch of its own network. The S&WR had opposed this in Parliament, but were bought off when the South Wales Railway agreed to give the S&WR £15,000 to modernise their line, adding a broad gauge edge railway alongside.
The South Wales Railway opened its line between Gloucester and Chepstow in 1851, but the S&WR had done nothing to convert their line, so an interchange station was built at Lydney: minerals on the horse-drawn tramway were manually transshipped to broad-gauge wagons for onward conveyance.
Limited modernisation.
This arrangement made the obsolescent technology of the S&WR more obvious, and in 1851 a man called Blackwell was asked to prepare a scheme for the conversion and modernisation of the S&WR line. However Blackwell's scheme needed the approval of the Commissioners of Woods; the Commissioners made their approval subject to conditions that the S&WR board considered unreasonable, and the proposals foundered.
Not wishing to allow their line to stagnate, the Board decided to improve their line without conversion, and obtained an Act in August 1853; the existing tramway was to be renovated and locomotives introduced; the cost was £82,000, or which £14,000 was to come from the South Wales Railway contribution already committed. The company was empowered to become carriers themselves. Locomotive use on plateways was uncertain, because the plates were not always capable of carrying the heavy wheel loads that were likely to be imposed by practical locomotives. Available adhesion was also an uncertain factor. The Act also authorised a further of tramway, but these were required to have a gauge of .
Nonetheless in 1860 an 0-4-0 well-tank locomotive was ordered, and it seems to have been successful, as three more were delivered in 1864, and a fifth, this time an 0-6-0, in 1865.
This progress was clearly inadequate, for the line was still a 3 ft 6 in gauge plateway, and transshipment at Lydney to the mainline railway was an expensive inconvenience, while other branch lines were offering, or being planned to offer, direct interchange.
However MacDermot states that after March 1865 “much of the line was relaid with ‘compound edge rails or tramplates of a peculiar character,’ doubtless akin to the Monmouthshire Railway's combined rail and tramplate.”
In May 1867 the Board considered a more radical proposal: conversion of the line between Lydney and Parkend and Wimberry Junction, with a new line to Lydbrook. The cost was to be £95,298. On consideration, this was seen to be beyond the means of the company, and the scheme was limited to the conversion as far as Wimberry, at an estimated cost of £33,000.
This was approved, and in 1868 a Board of Trade certificate was obtained authorising further capital of £38,000. The six-wheeled locomotive was to be converted, from 3 ft 6 in to broad gauge, at a cost of £200. A new broad-gauge locomotive was obtained as well. These arrangements were brought into use on 19 April 1869. The line was no longer simply a toll line, of course, but it still did not own any rolling stock, and the Great Western Railway, successor to the South Wales Railway, provided wagons on request from consignors. In fact in March 1870 a broad-gauge brake van was ordered by the S&WR, as it was considered unsafe to continue working mineral trains without one. For two years or so, the S&WR therefore owned a single unit of rolling stock.
The Mineral Loop.
From the 1840s mining activity developed in the ridge of terrain southwest of Cinderford and traffic was being lost to the South Wales Railway's Forest of Dean branch, even though the dock facility at Bullo, to which that line led, was inferior to that at Lydney. Accordingly, the Board planned a new line, "the Mineral Loop", connecting to many of the new pitheads. It would be formed by extending the mainline from Wimberry Junction, near Cannop, to , near Cinderford; with the loop running from there to reconnect with the mainline at Tufts Junction, near Whitecroft.
The new line would require a level crossing where it met the broad gauge branch of the Forest of Dean Central Railway at New Fancy and a tunnel at Moseley Green. Initially, it would follow a fairly moderate descent, before a 1-in-40 drop down to Tufts Junction.
The authorising Act was the "Severn and Wye Railway and Canal Act 1869", receiving Royal Assent on 16 July.
The Forest of Dean Central Railway, sponsored by the Great Western Railway, had opened a mineral branch line from (on the Gloucester–Chepstow line) to New Fancy Colliery in 1868.
Construction of the Mineral Loop started in September 1870, but in February 1871 the Great Western Railway, as successor to the South Wales Railway, informed the S&WR of their intention to convert the gauge of their mainline to standard gauge. The S&WR decided to lay the Mineral Loop in standard gauge and provide mixed gauge on the existing broad gauge mainline from Tufts Junction down to Lydney Junction. In fact, the futility of retaining broad gauge on the mainline was realised, and it was converted to standard gauge on the weekend of 11–12 May 1872.
On 22 April 1872 traffic started on the lower part of the Mineral Loop, below Crump Meadow, and it was substantially complete at the middle of May. The five broad gauge engines were converted to standard gauge, and a further engine was ordered from Avonside Engine Company.
By mid June 1872 the mainline was extended from Wimberry Junction to Drybrook Road, but in February 1873 the junction at Bilson was still awaited. In fact commissioning of the junction at Bilson was delayed until 15 September 1873, and the through east–west iron ore traffic which had been foreseen was not started until November 1875, probably due to difficulties in agreeing rates.
The Lydbrook Line.
Forest iron ore was in demand at iron works in South Wales, and the Lydbrook branch was conceived to allow a more direct route to iron works at the Heads of the Valleys, in particular at Ebbw Vale and Dowlais. The line was to connect at Lydbrook Junction with the Ross and Monmouth Railway, then being planned. The S&WR Lydbrook branch was authorised on 12 May 1870. There was to be a triangular junction at Lydbrook enabling direct running towards Ross-on-Wye, but this was never built.
The Ross and Monmouth Railway opened for traffic on 3 August 1873; it was worked by the GWR from the outset.
Like most of the S&WR lines it was steeply graded, descending at 1 in 58 from Mierystock to Lydbrook Junction. Lydbrook viaduct was to have three spans, two outer spans of and a centre span of .
The line opened for goods traffic on 26 August 1874. Passenger operation started on 23 September 1875.
The junction with the main part of the S&WR was at Serridge, on the line from to , which opened in June 1872 as part of the mineral loop. It faced towards Bilson.
Controlling loaded mineral trains at the junction was difficult; they generally had to reverse there, and there was no siding facility on the main line, and the gradients were steep. Pope and Karau explain the procedure:
On arrival at Serridge the train would stop on the running line and, when the wagons were secured, the locomotive would run round to the rear of the train to collect the brake van. It would then run round the brake van using the third loop siding and put it onto the opposite end of the train. The locomotive would then run round again to couple to the opposite end of the train which was thus reformed for the reverse direction to Lydney. The difficult part of the operation was to propel the train onto the main line sufficiently clear of the junction points and fouling bar to enable the signalman to change them before the momentum of the ascending loaded wagons was lost and they rolled back down the gradient, forcing the loco back down the bank, hopefully on its way to Lydney.
This was a difficult task for all concerned and co-ordination was vital. The manoeuvre began by hauling the train back up the Lydbrook branch to Speculation Curve in order to get a run at the opposing gradient on the main line. The driver then held the regulator wide open and stormed back down the branch, propelling the wagons for all he was worth past the sidings and onto the 1 in 40 bank on the main line. This must have been quite a spectacle. As their van passed the signal box the two guards jumped off ready to pin down the wagon brakes to help hold the train on the gradient, and, the very instant the loco was clear of the points, the vigilant signalman set the road for Lydney.
The Coleford branch.
On 18 July 1872, Parliamentary authorisation was received for the Coleford branch, leaving the old main line at Coleford Junction, at Parkend. The Coleford Railway, sponsored by the Great Western Railway, was authorised in the same session of Parliament, to build from near Monmouth to Parkend, and a clause in the authorising Act stipulated that if the S&WR failed to reach the important Easter Iron Mine at Milkwall within two years, the Coleford Railway was authorised to extend its line to it; this was an outcome the S&WR wished to avoid at all costs. The Act required a joint station and end-on connection at Coleford, although that was never made.
The Coleford line was steeply graded, following the course of the old Milkwall tramway; the gradient was 1 in 31 falling from Milkwall to Coleford Junction, and its extent was opened on 19 July 1875 to goods traffic; passenger opening followed on 9 December 1875 The junction near Parkend faced away from Lydney, so that through running from Coleford to Lydney involved a reversal there.
The extensive sidings at Coleford Junction were completed by the previous April. The reversal was necessary for branch trains from Lydney and in practice ‘down’ goods trains left traffic at the junction for marshalling and collection by the Coleford branch engine.
Coleford GWR station (the Coleford Railway station on the line from Monmouth) opened to passengers on 1 September 1883. The GWR cancelled published goods traffic rates between the S&WR station at GWR stations at once. No junction was made between the two lines, but in 1885 a connection within the sidings was made "temporarily", enabling transfer of goods wagons.
The GWR Coleford branch from Wyesham Junction closed after 31 December 1916, but from Coleford to Whitecliff was retained to serve the quarry there. Access was via the transfer siding and involved four reversals, until 1951 when the siding was realigned.
The Oakwood branch.
This branch started as a broad-gauge siding to Tufts Loading Bank. It was extended along the former tramroad to Parkhill Level in 1874 and to Dyke's (or Whitecroft) Level in 1876. A further extension was made to Parkgutter in 1890–91.
Passenger services on the S&WR.
The S&WR Act of 1872 also authorised passenger operation on the line. The S&WR was slow to implement this but in May 1875 stations were ready at , , , , , , and (possibly) , and on the Coleford branch at and . (Passenger excursions had previously been run, with the passengers conveyed in goods vehicles.)
However the inspection by Col. F. M. Rich of the Board of Trade was disappointing; this was necessary to permit passenger operation, but permission was refused. A number of signalling alterations were required, chiefly facing point locks and signal repeaters; in addition the Company had no passenger rolling stock yet.
A reinspection on 13 August also resulted in refusal, but passenger operation was at last started on 23 September 1875. The service ran from Lydney to , with Upper Lydbrook, , added to the list of main line stations.
The early passenger service consisted of two trains a day throughout from Lydney to Lydbrook and two from Lydney to Coleford. There were a number of short workings as well. This service was progressively reduced and by 1879 there was only one train a day from Lydney to Lydbrook and Lydney to Coleford, again with some short workings.
The Coleford branch connection faced away from Lydney. Northbound trains from Lydney usually comprised five or six carriages, the rear two of which formed the Coleford portion. On arrival at the junction these were detached and, after the Cinderford portion had continued on its way with two others from Coleford, the Coleford branch engine backed onto them.
The public joined branch trains at Parkend, but the workmen from David & Sant's nearby stoneworks were able to buy tickets from Coleford Junction signal box and board the train from a special platform at the junction. By the early 1890s the S&WR were issuing permits for this which enabled the workmen to travel to Milkwall and Coleford at a concessionary fare of 3d. It is not clear when this practice was established, but by June 1895 the platform had fallen into a dilapidated condition and had been removed. The workmen consequently trespassed on the line and climbed into the train while it was being divided.
Drybrook Road served as the station for Cinderford, and as the latter was one of the more important communities in the Forest, this was clearly unsatisfactory. Extension to Cinderford itself would have involved passenger trains negotiating the flat crossing of the Trafalgar Colliery Company's tramway, and the Board of Trade had evidently indicated that this would not be permitted without proper signalling safeguards.
To avoid that expense, the S&WR constructed a "drop platform" beyond Drybrook Road, alongside the Bilson branch connection. This was approved as a temporary measure, although the location was on a steep gradient. Bilson Platform opened in September 1876. The permanent arrangement was to be a new Cinderford station further on, and this was finally opened on 29 September 1878, replacing Bilson Platform.
When passenger services were introduced in 1875 Lydbrook trains from Lydney were not allowed to reverse at Serridge, so they had to continue to Drybrook Road and reverse there. When the passenger services were extended to Cinderford (the Bilson Road station) the return journey past the junction was considerably longer.
The travel writer A. O. Cooke described the working:
From Speech House Road station we pass through Drybrook Road and reach Cinderford. Thence, after several bustling manoeuvres on the part of the little engine, we travel back to Drybrook Road and past Trafalgar Colliery. At Serridge Junction the train, hitherto running south-west now leaves the Speech House line and bends sharply round by Speculation Colliery, heading due north towards Upper Lydbrook.
A platform was provided at Serridge in 1878 for the use of the keeper at Serridge Lodge. Because of the difficult climb to Drybrook Road only down trains called, after the guard had been notified, but it seems it was little used and last appeared in "Bradshaw" in October 1879. The platform was situated on the up side close to where a forest ride crossed the line.
Quick gives more detail: Serridge Platform, Speech House: In timetable from July 1877 to October 1879; Saturdays only, one way only. A note in the timetable stated that passengers for Lydbrook could alight here on informing the guard at Speech House Road; it looks as if they had to buy a ticket to Lydbrook but could get off here if more convenient.
The Severn Bridge Railway.
A railway had long been contemplated crossing the River Severn in the vicinity of Lydney, and on 18 July 1872 the authorising Act of the Severn Bridge Railway was passed. The railway company was to build a bridge in length crossing the River Severn, and connecting the Midland Railway's route between Gloucester and Bristol at to on the S&WR. Sharpness was an important intermediate industrial and shipping location. A northwards spur at the Berkeley end would be built by the Midland Railway, giving that company direct access to the Forest network of the S&WR.
Notwithstanding its financial commitment to its own network extensions, the S&WR subscribed £25,000 to the Severn Bridge Company, and agreed to work the line when it was complete.
In 1878 the Severn Bridge Railway found that its construction far exceeded its financial resources, and it sought a financial injection from the Midland Railway and the S&WR. The Midland declined unless it was given running powers over the entire S&WR system. That proposal had been made in the past and refused by the S&WR, concerned about its relationship with its more immediate neighbour, the GWR.
Now the resolution was for the Severn Bridge Railway Company and the Severn and Wye Railway to amalgamate. Financial assistance would be provided by the Midland Railway, which would get the running powers it had previously had refused. The Severn and Wye Railway and the Severn Bridge Railway would amalgamate, but would remain independent of the larger networks. In exchange for granting the Midland Railway running powers, the S&WR would get running powers over the Midland to Nailsworth and Stroud; although these were local centres of industry, the running powers from the Forest to those places were of little value as the Midland was dominant in taking traffic to its own large network.
It was determined that the amalgamation would take place when the Severn Bridge Railway opened to traffic, and as that event drew near, an authorising Act of Parliament was obtained on 21 July 1879.
The Severn Bridge was formally opened on 17 October 1879, and S&WR trains ran as far as Berkeley Road only. The amalgamation duly took place, forming the "Severn and Wye and Severn Bridge Railway Company", although internal accounts were maintained for the two constituent companies separately until 1888. (They were known as the Forest, or Wye, section, and the Bridge section respectively.) The Lydney Junction S&WR station was replaced by a new station on the curved connection leading to the Severn Bridge. Seven passenger trains crossed the bridge daily, although only two ran through to Lydbrook Junction and one to Coleford, the remainder running between Berkeley Road and Lydney Junction only.
The Great Western Railway provided a new connection giving through running from the Chepstow direction onto the Severn Bridge Railway east of Lydney in 1879. The location was named Otters Pool Junction.
Cinderford stations.
By the early 1870s the developing town of Cinderford, with its neighbouring collieries and thriving ironworks, was growing in importance as an industrial centre. However, the Severn and Wye Railway was at a disadvantage in reaching Cinderford, due to the Forest of Dean Railway which ran to the west of the town and crossed its path.
When the Bilson branch opened in 1873, it was provided only to exchange traffic with the GWR. It had been authorised in 1869 as a broad gauge branch off the Mineral Loop, but was actually constructed to standard gauge. It formed an extension of the main line from to a triangular junction with the GWR's Churchway branch at Laymoor to the northwest of Cinderford. Immediately to the west of the junction the railway crossed Brain's Tramway on the level; the tramway was used to convey coal from Trafalgar Colliery to interchange sidings at Bilson yard on the GWR's Forest of Dean branch.
Bilson Junction opened for traffic on 15 September 1873. In practice it was worked as part of Bilson yard. The north and south connections were used for traffic received from and passed to the GWR respectively, and through running did not normally take place.
Drybrook Road was the nearest point to Cinderford that the first passenger service of 1875 reached. The station was originally to be named Nelson Road. The Board of Trade inspecting officer required certain improvements on his inspection on 8 June 1875, and delays in providing signalling equipment frustrated the intention of opening at an early date.
Drybrook Road station was a mile and a half from Cinderford; it was the only station for this important community, as the GWR did not provide a passenger service on the Forest of Dean branch. Following complaints from local people, the company responded by approaching the Board of Trade for permission to extend the passenger service to a temporary 'drop platform' approximately nearer the town.
The halt was known as Bilson Platform; it consisted of a simple wooden platform approximately in length with a shelter measuring around . It was situated at on a 1 in 55.8 gradient. The intention was to build a permanent station at Bilson Junction itself, but the S&WR was unable to make arrangements to convey passengers across the tramway which would satisfy the Board of Trade.
Bilson Platform was opened for traffic on 1 September 1876 and was sanctioned by the Board of Trade for one year only, until a permanent station could be built and 'this exceptional method of working be done away with'. There was a satisfactory level of passenger receipts shortly after opening, and the S&WR asked the Board of Trade in September 1878 for an extension of one further year; they said that the existing arrangements had proved sufficient for the traffic and they had not constructed the new station. The Board of Trade consented to this, but warned that they were not prepared to allow their sanction to continue after this time.
This motivated the S&WR to build a station nearer the town. It was on the north spur at Bilson Junction, and was known as Cinderford; it was finally opened for public use on 5 August 1878, although not sanctioned by the Board of Trade until 29 August. The decision to site the station no closer to the town than this was almost certainly dictated by the desire on the part of the S&WR not to incur the expense of crossing the Great Western's Churchway and Drybrook branches.
The intention was to operate a one-coach passenger train to the station, but the steep gradient was considered dangerous, and the Board of Trade inspecting officer insisted on a brake van being used on the trains.
Financial problems.
During the 1870s the world price of mineral commodities fell sharply, and coupled with miners' strikes, this had the effect of severely reducing trade in the Forest, and the income of the company. The massive expansion schemes already undertaken had been financed by the directors taking large personal loans at their own liability. A share issue in 1876 flopped and a further increase in capital authorised in 1877 was coupled with serious economy measures. An attempt was made to encourage tourist traffic, and advertising of the picturesque beauty of the Forest was published.
A further miners' strike from March 1883 had a heavy adverse effect on the company's finances, preventing it from paying debenture interest, and it was forced into administration. A scheme of arrangement released the company from that situation in July 1885.
On 1 September 1886 the Great Western Railway's Severn Tunnel opened, giving the Great Western Railway a through main line route from South Wales to Bristol and the south and east. Leading up to this time there had been a lengthy wrangle between the S&WR and the GWR over through rates for mineral traffic, but the operational convenience of the Severn Tunnel route put paid to any serious competition from the Bridge route.
A further depression in the coal trade struck the company in 1888, and the company had difficulty in paying its taxes. In 1891 it was identified that the locomotive fleet was in a seriously run down condition, but the appointment of a new locomotive foreman in 1892 seems to have retrieved the situation.
Nonetheless the depression of trade, and the now uncompetitive cost of mineral extraction in the Forest led to a low volume of the traffic on which the company was dependent, and in 1893 the company was unable to meet its obligations, and went into receivership.
Now a coal strike in Derbyshire reversed the commercial position and for a time Forest of Dean coal was at a premium, and the company struggled to carry the traffic on offer. Welcome though this was, it was obvious that the respite could only be temporary.
Selling the company.
From time to time there had been consideration of selling the company to one of the neighbouring railways, the Midland Railway or the GWR. Now a definite proposal to sell to them jointly was tabled and in October 1893 the Board approved an arrangement. The sale, to include the Severn Bridge section of the merged company, was to realise a price of £477,300. The sum was about half of the capital expended in building the system, and after paying debts £131,381 was distributed among shareholders. The sale went forward and on 1 July 1894 the sale was effected: the new owners were the Midland Railway and the Great Western Railway jointly.
An operating committee was established, also controlling other networks jointly owned by the two companies. The GWR was to attend to day to day matters of track and signalling, and the Midland to deal with locomotive provision and maintenance. This arrangement was altered from 1906, when the GWR attended to all maintenance matters from Coleford Junction north, and the whole of the Mineral Loop, and the Midland attended to the remainder. The Sharpness branch of the Midland Railway was also to be transferred to the new Joint Committee.
A proper station for Cinderford.
The location of the Cinderford station had long been a source of complaint, and an extension into Cinderford itself was now planned; in 1894 and 1896 Parliamentary powers were sought and obtained. The new station opened on 2 July 1900, and the former unsatisfactory accommodation closed.
In 1907 the GWR decided to introduce a passenger service on the old Bullo Pill route. It was to be operated by rail motors and a new bay platform was to be provided at Newnham, on the main line, for connectional purposes. A new curve was built at Cinderford giving direct access to the S&WR station. This arrangement was implemented from 6 April 1908.
At the turn of the century.
Traffic was heavy on the southern core section of the old main line, and doubling of the line between Tufts Junction and Parkend was undertaken in this period, being completed in August 1898.
After 1904 changes were made to the regulation of mining in the Forest, and this enabled larger corporations to undertake more ambitious work; in particular this led to deep seams being worked in larger volumes, and in due time this led to new and considerably expanded traffic for the railway network.
From 1923.
The railways of Great Britain were grouped following the Railways Act 1921; four large companies were established and the Midland Railway was a constituent of the new London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); the Great Western Railway was augmented by the incorporation of other constituents. The new arrangement applied from the beginning of 1923; the Severn and Wye system continued to be jointly owned, now between the LMS and the GWR.
Casserley points out that before grouping the network was known as the Great Western and Midland Severn and Wye Joint Railway, but after grouping was the LMS and GWR Severn and Wye Joint Railway; the reversal of precedence reflecting the capitalisation of the joint owners.
The Severn and Wye network was demonstrably loss-making, and a number of economies were instituted. The most far-reaching of these was the discontinuation of passenger services north of ; this took place after the last train on 6 July 1929. "The Railway Magazine" reported:
As from July 8 [1929], passenger train services were discontinued on the Severn & Wye Joint Railway north of Lydney Junction [sic: Lydney Town is meant] via Cinderford, to Lydbrook Junction. Motor trains continue to run between Newnham and Cinderford. Motor omnibus series have been instituted in replacement of the train services withdrawn. Trains continue to run between Berkeley Road, Lydney Junction and Lydney Town.
World War II brought considerable extra traffic to the Forest network, as it was extensively used for ammunition storage. The Mineral Loop was severed for a period to facilitate this, when from 1 April 1942 the Ministry of Works requisitioned Moseley Green Tunnel and the track was removed. By this time output from New Fancy was only 50 tons a week and the traffic was worked out via Drybrook Road.
However the severing of the line at Moseley Green was reversed, and the through line was reinstated on 29 December 1943. Nevertheless, the ordinary revenue-earning business of the Mineral Loop had declined sharply and in fact closure of the New Fancy Pit in 1944 left the Loop without any non-military use.
After 1945.
Mining activity declined steeply after 1945; apart from the Lydney Town passenger service, the network was almost wholly dependent on mining, so it too declined.
The network came under British Railways in 1948.
The booked goods service from Serridge Junction to Cinderford Junction was withdrawn on 25 July 1949, and the section was formally closed on 9 December 1951, although the section from the junction at Bilson to Drybrook Road was used intermittently to clear Acorn Patch depot. The closure included the whole of the mineral loop above Pillowell.
The Lydbrook line goods business also declined steeply from 1951 and from 30 January 1956 it was closed from Mierystock to Lydbrook Junction.
The residual passenger service on the Forest section of the Severn and Wye Railway was from Lydney Town to Berkeley Road, crossing the River Severn. On the night of 25 October 1960 an oil tank barge collided with a pier of the Severn Bridge causing a partial collapse of the bridge, and suspension of the train service over it. At first this was to be temporary, but in fact the closure of the passenger service on the Lydney side of the river became permanent.
In 1960 declining mineral business resulted in closure of the old main line north of Speech House Road, and also the connection to Lydney Lower Dock.
Casserley, writing in 1968 said:
Practically all the lines in the Forest of Dean have been closed and abandoned, although the section from Lydney Junction to Parkend still has a daily goods [service], Mondays to Fridays in the summer of 1967, worked by a diesel hydraulic shunting locomotive of the D9500 class. The Coleford branch and beyond to Whitecliff Quarries was also in occasional use.
Heritage railway.
The section between Parkend and Lydney is now restored and operating as the Dean Forest Railway.
Many of the other parts of the route have been converted into cycleways.
Topography.
Tramway conversions.
MacDermot gives the extent of conversion of the original S&WR tramways to edge railways; this is from the viewpoint of the Great Western Railway, and was written for publication in 1931.
Severn and Wye Railway:
At the date of sale to the GWR and Midland Railway jointly, mineral branches consisted of
Tramways left unaltered:
Gradients.
The main line climbed away from Lydney Junction at 1 in 170 as far as Coleford Junction, the gradient stiffening there to 1 in 131, and after Speech House Road to 1 in 50 and 1 in 40 to a summit at Serridge Junction. It continued climbing at 1 in 40 to Drybrook Road, and then fell at the same gradient to the junctions at Bilson.
On the Lydbrook branch, the line fell from Serridge Junction to Mierystock at 1 in 507, and then descended steeply at 1 in 50 continuously, nearly as far as Lydbrook Junction.
The mineral loop climbed steeply at 1 in 40 from Tufts Junction moderating to 1 in 61 after New Fancy as far as Lightmoor, after which the line descended at 1 in 62 to Drybrook Road.
The Coleford branch climbed at 1 in 30 away from Coleford Junction as far as a point beyond Milkwall, from where it fell at 1 in 47 to the terminus.
Tramway gazetteer.
Baxter gives a gazetteer of the Severn and Wye and associated tramways, on page 195.


West Hartlepool Harbour and Railway


Leiston Works Railway

The Leiston Works Railway was a private railway that ran from Leiston railway station on the Aldeburgh Branch Line of the Great Eastern Railway to the engineering works of Richard Garrett & Sons. The railway was originally operated by Suffolk Punch horses hauling coal and iron from the main line to the Garrett Works. This was later taken over by steam shunting engine 'Sirapite' which was then replaced by a battery electric engine in 1962.
The line closed in 1968, with the battery locomotive being scrapped.
Restoration.
After closure of the works, part of the complex was preserved as the Long Shop Museum, while Sirapite survived, unrestored, in the private collection of Sir William McAlpine. The locomotive has since been returned to Leiston and restored to operational condition.
A group has been formed with the intention of restoring the 250 yard stretch of track running behind the Engineers Arms public house to the entrance of the Master Lord Industrial Estate, close to the former junction with the main line. The group paid £17,000 for the trackbed and hope that original locomotive 'Sirapite', which has recently been restored, will be operated on the restored route periodically. In January 2013 the group took delivery of eighteen 60 foot track panels to use in relaying the route.
The formal reopening of the railway in time for its 160th anniversary was on 1 June 2019. A visiting locomotive, Ruston 48DS No.294266, the first diesel to ever transverse the line, and fittingly once owned by Sir William McAlpine himself, had the honour of reopening the line. The loco is based at the nearby Mid Suffolk Light Railway, keeping a local connection and setting up a relationship between the two railways.
"Sirapite" the Works Shunter.
"Sirapite" is the name of the shunting locomotive at the Leiston Works Railway.
It was built as a shunting engine for Aveling and Porter in 1906 to serve their gypsum mines. In 1929, "Sirapite" was sold to Garret & Sons. It was used to perform the task of moving trucks between Garrett's two sites - the Long Shop, and the 'Top Works' which is now an industrial park near the disused station. It would also collect and deliver goods left in the exchange sidings adjacent to Leiston railway station which had been previously carried out by horses. During the movement of goods around the engine became a source of pride for the local area.
A battery locomotive replaced "Sirapite" in 1962, and the steam locomotive was purchased by Sir William McAlpine, a well-known railway item collector - known primarily for owning Flying Scotsman and "Pendennis Castle," two very famous steam locomotives from British railway history. However, "Sirapite" did not see the same "glitz and glamour" which it saw in Leiston - the locomotive ended up rusting away in Kent during its first years of preservation.
Grants from both public and private funders saw "Sirapite" being returned to Leiston and she was eventually restored to full working order.
"Sirapite" arrived at the Mid Suffolk Light Railway on 26 April 2019. The engine was there for the Summer season of 2019 for the railway. However, due to not being fitted with vacuum braking (as it was built as a goods engine and not a locomotive for passenger services), it could not haul passenger trains. The engine arrived at the railway so it could remain on display whilst the Long shop redeveloped part of its site. The outing to the "Middy" was the first time that the engine had more space to run on which was more than a few yards on the short demonstration line at the Long Shop Museum.


Lostock Hall railway station

Lostock Hall railway station is south of Preston station, England. It is on the East Lancashire Line and is managed by Northern, who also provide all passenger trains serving it.
History.
The first railway in the area was the "Blackburn & Preston Railway", which opened its route from to Junction (on the North Union Railway, 3 miles south of ) in June 1846. The company was almost immediately taken over by the ambitious East Lancashire Railway, which was undergoing a rapid expansion of its network of routes in the area. The ELR encountered problems almost from the outset over the use of the NUR route between Farington & Preston, with congestion and the high tolls charged by the latter company for access to its metals causing considerable friction between the two. The ELR sought parliamentary permission to build its own route to Preston to resolve this issue, which was granted in 1848 despite initial opposition from Preston Corporation. The following year saw the arrival from the west of the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway, which had received parliamentary assent in 1846 but had been bought out by the ELR before construction work had started upon it. This route gave the ELR direct access for its traffic to the docks in Liverpool and joined the B&PR at Lostock Hall by means of a junction facing towards Blackburn. A station was built on this line a short distance to the west of the junction (adjacent to the bridge carrying the main Preston to Wigan across the railway) to serve Lostock Hall village, which had by this time been chosen by the ELR as the site for one its main locomotive depots.
The ELR "Preston Extension" was finally opened to traffic on 2 September 1850 - this left the original B&PR line at a triangular junction just east of Lostock Hall and ran roughly parallel to the NUR en route to new platforms alongside the latter's station, with a connection to the main line beyond. Thereafter, the old B&P line between Lostock Hall Junction and Farington was rendered redundant & closed - not seeing regular traffic again until the mid-1880s. Services from the station ran to westbound and to both Preston and (with some extensions through to ) eastbound. Traffic levels continued to increase in subsequent years, particularly after the ELR's absorption by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in May 1859 - the L&Y then routing significant quantities of trans-Pennine freight over the route to the port of Liverpool.
By 1877 traffic demands had reached the point that the 2-road depot adjacent to the junction was deemed inadequate by the L&Y and work on a new, much larger facility began. This was built on a site between the LO&P and B&P lines immediately south of the passenger station and was opened in 1881, with the old depot then becoming a carriage & wagon repair shop. The new shed would become the L&Y's main loco servicing facility for the entire Preston area (and beyond) and in due course the volume of traffic utilising it and the routes it served became so great that additional trackwork improvements had to be made to alleviate matters. These began with the re-opening of the Farington line in 1886, with the junction there altered to face south rather than north as previously, followed by the construction of two new connections between the East Lancs line and the newly quadrupled (and by now jointly owned) main line from Wigan north of where the two lines crossed each other. The first of these (from west to north) was commissioned in 1891 as part of the main line upgrade works, whilst the second (east to north) followed in May 1908, creating a second triangular junction to the west of the station and a second route to Preston. This complex network of lines allowed for considerable operational flexibility in the years that followed, as both full trains & light locos could be routed from there towards either side of Preston station without conflicting with the main line. It was also possible for trains from the north heading towards Blackpool or vice versa to be routed through Lostock Hall to avoid the need for an awkward & time-consuming reversal manoeuvre at Preston station and this became a regular feature of the timetable at peak times during the summer months right up until the closure of the East Lancs side of Preston station in 1972.
The lines would pass briefly into the hands of the London and North Western Railway from January 1922, before the 1923 Grouping saw the London, Midland and Scottish Railway take over. The station & depot then became part of the London Midland Region area of British Railways upon nationalisation in January 1948.
By the 1960s, the loco shed was still a busy location and would remain so right up until the end of steam on the UK rail network in August 1968. The station & LO&PR line by contrast were amongst those planned for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report, the route being considered by Beeching as a duplicate to that via Wigan and St Helens. Public opposition to the plans soon led to the southern portion as far as Ormskirk being safeguarded, but it was not until 1969 that the rest of the line was reprieved by the Labour government of Harold Wilson. Lostock Hall station though was not so fortunate, losing its passenger services on 6 October 1969 when the last few through trains between Blackburn & Liverpool were withdrawn and the other services on the Ormskirk line routed via Farington Curve Junction and the WCML. The connections either side of Lostock Hall toward Todd Lane Jcn (Preston ELR) & Moss Lane Jcn (Ormskirk) were closed at the same time and subsequently dismantled, whilst the station itself was also demolished at some point in the early 1970s.
Services over the ex-ELR Preston extension from the Bamber Bridge direction finally ended in the autumn of 1972, when the line was closed (as a result of the Preston area re-signalling scheme) along with the remaining manual signal boxes in the area (though a short section remained in use for freight to Lostock Hall gas works until 1977). East Lancashire line trains were thereafter routed via the original 1846/49 lines as far as Lostock Hall, then over the 1908 connection to reach the WCML.
The loco depot eventually lost its role as a maintenance facility in 1971, thereafter taking over the role of its predecessor further east as the area carriage & wagon repair shops. It closed altogether in 1988 and was finally demolished in January 1990. The adjacent Lostock Hall Jcn to Farington Jcn line (which has not had a timetabled passenger service since 1850) is still open and sees use by a variety of freight services heading to and from the S&C route and occasional diverted passenger trains & railtours. Part of the old Preston extension route is now a footpath & cycle way, whilst another portion has been utilised for road improvements.
The current station.
By the early 1980s, local pressure for a station to serve the Lostock Hall area had become considerable and so on 14 May 1984 a new station was opened on the opposite side of the Watkin Lane bridge by British Rail with financial backing from Lancashire County Council.
The new facility was (and still is) quite basic – there are waiting shelters, a long-line P.A system & passenger information screens on each concrete platform. Step-free access is available to both platforms.
As of January 2018 along with other stations on this line, a modern touch screen ticket machine was added to the Station.
Services.
Monday to Saturdays, there is an hourly service from Lostock Hall towards Preston westbound and Blackburn, Burnley and Colne eastbound. There is an hourly service in each direction on Sundays, with through running to . In addition there are two additional morning peak services from & to Preston that call here, and one extra service in the evening in the opposite direction to Blackburn.
Direct bus services between Chorley, Leyland and Preston and beyond run through Lostock Hall on a much more frequent service.


Buntingford branch line

The Buntingford branch line in Hertfordshire, England, connected Buntingford to the railway network at . It was promoted locally and opened in 1863 after overspending its available capital. The line was completed with the assistance of the neighbouring Great Eastern Railway. Residential travel and goods services became significant at the end of the 19th century. The area served by the line was predominantly agricultural, and after 1948 usage did not keep pace with rising costs. When the Hertford East branch was electrified, Buntingford branch trains were reduced in frequency with through trains to London withdrawn. The line was recommended for closure in the Beeching Report, and the passenger service was withdrawn in 1964; goods services closed in 1965.
The line was informally known as "The Bunt" by the workers on the line.
Proposals.
Buntingford is located on Ermine Street, the road from London to Cambridge and the north, and had a prime position as a trading town before the advent of railways. The town was bypassed by the main line of the Eastern Counties Railway from London to Cambridge via Bishop's Stortford, which opened in stages between 1840 and 1845. The Ware and Hertford branch from Broxbourne was opened by the Northern and Eastern Railway in 1843.
In 1845 during Railway Mania, a grandiose scheme to build a "Great Western, Southern and Eastern Counties Railway" was proposed to run from Southampton to Ipswich via Bishops Stortford and Hadham. Its cost was clearly unrealistic and it did not proceed. In 1847 George Hudson promoted a Parliamentary Bill for an alternative route to Cambridge, leaving the Hertford branch at Ware and running via Buntingford and Royston to Shelford which failed to gain approval.
Authorisation.
On 1 August 1856, a meeting of 150 landowners was held at the George and Dragon Hotel in Buntingford, to discuss promoting a branch line to Buntingford. A local promoter, George Mickley, estimated £70,000 to construct ten miles of single track railway and £30,000 for land and stations, making a total of £100,000. Annual receipts were forecast to be £10,083, and a 5% profit was expected. A second meeting was held on 28 August, and it was reported that there was no opposition locally when people were circulated by letter. It was decided to proceed. A Parliamentary Bill was submitted in November 1857. The Bill passed through Parliament and the Royal Assent was granted for the "Ware, Hadham and Buntingford Railway" on 12 July 1858 with authorised share capital of £50,000.
A tender of £44,000 to build the line was accepted from W. S. Simpson of Ely; the engineer was Henry Palfrey Stephenson and the first sod was cut at a ceremony on 20 July 1859.
While land was being acquired, opposition was encountered from a landowner near Ware, and the decision was taken to alter the route to join the Hertford branch at St Margaret's instead of Ware. Many other difficulties were encountered in acquiring land. A deviation Bill was submitted in 1860 to improve the gradients and shorten the line which gained the Royal Assent on 22 July 1861. The line needed an unusual number of bridges increasing the cost per mile of construction.
There was a shortfall in subscribed capital and the borrowing powers in the company's Act of Incorporation were conditional on a proportion of the capital having been raised. The directors considered mortgaging the line, but it proved impossible to find a financial house willing to take debenture shares and the company lacked funds.
The line, when completed, was a branch from the Eastern Counties Railway. The Great Northern Railway had a branch line to Hertford from Welwyn and it was possible that the Buntingford line might be sold to the GNR. The ECR agreed to provide financial assistance to the extent of £22,000. Two ECR board members joined the WH&BR board, and the ECR agreed to work the line for 50% of receipts. In 1862 the ECR and other railway companies in East Anglia amalgamated to form the Great Eastern Railway.
By 1863 the line was ready, and a special train was arranged for shareholders to attend the Shareholders' Meeting in Buntingford. On 10 February 1863 a special train ran from London to Buntingford.
An inspection by the Board of Trade was necessary before passenger operation could start, and Captain J. H. Rich visited the line on 18 April 1863. He was critical, the permanent way was below the required standard and the underbridges were badly constructed, one at Bog Ford Bridge, was reported to have sunk three inches under the inspection train, there were no facing point indicators, no turntable at St Margaret's, and several stations had no distant signals. There was inadequate fencing, and overbridges were not properly fenced on the road approach wing walls.
This was a serious blow to the company, which had assumed that early opening was within its grasp. Bog Ford Bridge was reconstructed, a 91-feet depth of piling was required to get a proper foundation. The work committed the company to considerable unforeseen expenditure and a further Act of 22 June 1863 obtained authorisation to take an additional £40,000 share capital.
Opening.
Rectification was put in hand, and on 30 June 1863 Col Yolland inspected the line. He was not entirely satisfied, but he reluctantly gave approval. The first trains ran on 3 July 1863. There were four trains each way daily and two in Sundays. The journey time of 50 minutes was reduced to 40 minutes from 1 August 1863. There were minimal goods facilities at the beginning. Income for the first quarter year (to 30 September 1863) was £1,221, of which £359 was from goods traffic.
Goods trains caused congestion on the single line, and the board decided that a passing loop at Hadham was required; expenditure of £220 was authorised 24 May 1865; the work was to be done by the GER at the Buntingford company's expense. Braughing followed as a crossing point in 1892.
The line was expensive to build and only completed with finance from the Eastern Counties Railway and its successor company (from 1862), the Great Eastern Railway. The capital subscribed including GER subscription was £106,871 and there were outstanding liabilities of £50,000 and a debenture debt of £29,403. This state of affairs could hardly continue long, and the company wrote to the GER on 21 June 1865, asking them to take over the line. The board admitted that they were "not yet in a state to pay a dividend".
Walter Bentinck had debenture bonds due on 10 February 1866. The company was unable to pay, and Bentinck took them to the Court of Chancery where he obtained judgment in his favour for £3,039, "payable in land if not in cash". The company had no cash and no spare land, so the matter escalated, and in the end the GER paid Bentinck in order to settle the matter in November 1866. On 7 March 1867, the GER, realising that the initiative rested with it, wrote to the company suggesting absorption. Its motivation was that the Great Northern Railway might get control of the Buntingford company and use it to gain entry into GER territory.
Shareholders of the Buntingford Company met on 26 March 1867 and voted in favour of selling to the GER; the deed of transfer was ratified on 30 July 1868, effective on 1 September 1868.
Due to poor usage, Widford station was closed after 31 December 1868 but a petition was raised locally and it reopened on 1 April 1869.
Change in the late 19th century.
Safety improvements were demanded by the Board of Trade, and the block telegraph system was installed between St Margaret's and Mardock, operational from June 1888. it was extended to the end of the line between 1892 and 1893 at a cost of £15,277.
From this period the revenue increased as commuting became an important business; in addition goods usage on the line was brisk. By 1900, seven trains operated each way daily, with two on Sundays; the journey time was 35 minutes, and there were three goods trains each way daily. From July 1915 the passenger service reached its peak, with eleven trains in each direction.
A local bus operator started passenger services from 1920, but the London residential traffic was gaining strength; from 1922 there was a homeward through train from London, although the counterpart London-direction through train did not start until 1939.
From 1923.
In 1953 a film, including location shots was made at Braughing. The film was set in an Irish village called Rathbarney, and Braughing station was made to resemble the fictitious station. The film had the working title "O'Leary Night", but was released in 1954 as "Happy Ever After"; it also had the title "Tonight's the Night".
Sunday services were withdrawn from the passenger timetable after 18 September 1955.
From 15 June 1959, diesel multiple units were introduced on the passenger services; for some time they were unreliable. Through trains to London from the branch were withdrawn at this time. In 1960 the Hertford East branch was electrified effective from 21 November 1960 and the Buntingford branch timetable was altered to suit connections with the electric trains in the morning and evening peaks, except on Saturdays.
In 1961 another film was shot on the branch: West Mill station was used to film "Postman's Knock". Spike Milligan played a naive country postman who unwittingly foils an attempted train robbery.
Closure.
By the 1960s, the area served by the branch had not developed as a residential area for commuters, and when the Beeching Report was published, the branch was recommended for closure. The passenger service was withdrawn from 14 November 1964, and the final goods train ran on 17 September 1965.
Topography.
There were passing loops at Braughing and Hadham.
The route was in length.
The line was steeply graded, rising at gradients of up to 1 in 63 as far as the summit of the line about three-quarters of a mile beyond Hadham. After that the line falls at 1 in 56, with more moderate gradients from there to the terminus.


Royden Park

Royden Park is a park in Frankby, Wirral, England, managed by Wirral Council. The grounds of the park were originally part of an estate owned by Ernest Royden which comprised the park, Hill Bark house and Thurstaston Common. Upon his death the estate passed to Hoylake council and was opened to the public for recreation. The park features a visitor centre, walled garden, miniature railway, woodland walks and a lake.
History.
In the 1820s the land on which the park now sits was heath and woodland. During the 1860s a house called Hillbark was built on the estate and the area was planted and landscaped. In the 1870s a coach house and walled garden were added. In 1928 the estate was passed to Ernest Royden who demolished the earlier residence and moved his own house brick by brick to the site. This house is now known as Hill Bark. After the death of Royden in 1960, the estate including Hill Bark, Thurstaston Common and Royden Park was sold to Hoylake Urban District Council. Royden Park and Thurstaston Common were opened for public recreation. Hill Bark became an old people's home and is now a privately owned hotel and wedding venue. Following local government re-organisation in 1974 Wirral Council now manage the park and common.
Features.
The park features a large lake called Roodee Mere where fishing is allowed with a permit. A miniature railway takes passengers around the grounds every Sunday afternoon weather permitting. The old coach house for Hill Bark has been converted for use as a cafe and resource centre. There are conifer woodland walks, meadows with nature walks, car parking, a walled garden and family events.
Nature.
The park and commons are managed as a local nature reserve offering a range of habitats for plants, insects, flowers and wildlife.
Walled garden.
The park has a walled garden which was built in 1870 as the kitchen garden for Hill Bark house and is a fine example of Victorian architecture. The garden is used as a community resource. A laburnum arch was added by the Wirral Model Engineering Society who operate the miniature railway. Contained within the walls are a herb garden, a bog garden, a flower garden and a traditional cottage garden that originally grew plants for medicinal purposes.
Model railways.
Wirral Model Engineers Society operate two miniature railways at the park. The society came into existence in 1961 and they have been developing the railway track and facilities ever since. The first railway is a combined 2½, 3½ and 5½ inch gauge raised track for detailed scale models of full size steam locomotives, this track was extended in 1980 to 1,200 feet. The second railway is a 7¼ inch gauge ridable miniature railway pulled by a traction locomotive, this track was extended to 2,267 feet in 2004.


Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway Company

The Kidderminster and Stourport Electric Tramway Company operated an electric tramway service between Kidderminster and Stourport-on-Severn between 1898 and 1929.
History.
The tramway was authorised by the Kidderminster & Stourport Electric Tramway Act of 1896. The company was established as a subsidiary of the British Electric Traction group.
A Kidderminster company George Law was responsible for the construction at a cost of £23,314 (). The depot and generating station were constructed off New Road, Kidderminster; a single track laid along two routes; and four bridges were widened.
The system was notable at the start for having vestibuled cars with windscreens to protect the driver, whereas most other systems, the driver was exposed to the elements.
Closure.
The system closed on 2 April 1929.


Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways and Lighting Company

The Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways and Lighting Company operated a tramway service between Margate and Ramsgate between 1901 and 1937.
History.
Services started on 4 April 1901 on a route which ran from Canterbury Road, Margate, via Cliftonville, High Street Broadstairs, Dumpton Park Drive, to a terminus at Ramsgate Town railway station.
The main depot for the tramway was located at (at the foot of Northdown Hill where it has a junction with Westover Road, Northdown Road and what is now Dane Valley Road).
Electric power was supplied by Thanet power station adjacent to the tram depot.
A smaller depot was located at at the terminus in Westbrook.
Fleet.
The initial livery was maroon and cream.
Accidents.
On 27 May 1905 car 47 failed to take a bend and came off the tracks into a grocer's shop in Bellevue Road, Ramsgate, seriously
injuring the driver, conductor and the grocer's 7-year-old daughter.
On 3 August 1905, car 41, during a routine descent of the precipitous, and adverse camber leading down Madeira Walk hill into Ramsgate harbour, suddenly careered out of control, jumping the tracks, causing it to crash straight through the railings, so that it then dropped over the cliff edge adjacent. Providentially, only a few passengers were travelling on car 41 that day, and they came out of the ordeal unscathed, but the driver, who was new to the job, sustained some injury.
Closure.
The tramway service closed on 27 March 1937 but the company continued to supply electrical power to the district for domestic and commercial consumption.


Nottingham Suburban Railway

The Nottingham Suburban Railway was a British railway company that constructed a line 3.65 miles (5.9 km) in length serving the north-eastern suburbs of "Nottingham". It was built to shorten the distance by train to "Ilkeston" and towns on the Leen Valley railway line, and to connect important brickworks near Nottingham. The short line was expensive to build due to difficult topography; it opened in December 1889, and was worked by the Great Northern Railway; the trains used that company's Nottingham terminus.
The line was soon by-passed by another route to the Leen Valley, and electric street-running trams abstracted most of the local passenger business. Passenger stations on the line closed in 1916, and it closed completely in 1954.
Great Northern Railway.
In 1875 the Great Northern Railway had opened the first part of its Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension, designed chiefly to get independent access to the coalfields of west Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. Carrying coal south, to London and the southern counties was a lucrative business. In addition, the GNR had passenger business to Ilkeston, and to towns in the Leen Valley and beyond. The Great Northern Railway developed a traffic centre for its mineral business at Colwick, on the south-eastern side of Nottingham, and in time this was developed considerably as a marshalling point.
Carrying the GNR into Derbyshire had required a route making a circuit round the north of Nottingham from Colwick, but this meant that GNR passenger trains from Nottingham itself had to travel east, and then north and west. Reaching Daybook, they had travelled miles but were only miles from their starting point. Moreover the heavy mineral traffic on the line led to considerable congestion delay.
The Nottingham Suburban Railway promoted.
In 1885 a group of local businesspeople formed a project to make a new railway running more directly to Daybrook; as well as greatly shortening the journey for the growing residential passenger business, the line would link in important brickworks at Thorneywood and Mapperley. The Nottingham Suburban Railway Act was passed on 25 June 1886 authorising the construction; share capital was to be £250,000. The new company agreed to pay the GNR £100 for the right to make each of the new junctions with its line; the GNR would work the line, and had the power to acquire it after ten years, although this power was in fact never exercised.
Nevertheless the GNR agreed to guarantee 3.5% on the projected £215,000 cost of the construction, and this and the working agreement were authorised by a second Act of 25 June 1887. In fact the final cost of the construction works was about £262,500.
The terrain was hilly, and three tunnels were required. Approaching Nottingham from Colwick, the GNR line ran south of the Midland Railway route from Newark, as far as Trent Lane, where the lines crossed over. The planned line was to join the GNR west of Trent Lane where it was on the north side of the Midland line. However this was objected to by the Board of Trade because approaching trains would be descending on a gradient of 1 in 49 approaching the junction. It was decided to make a grade-separated junction so that up (inbound) trains would cross over both the Midland and GNR lines further east on long lattice bridges, and then curve round and cross the Midland route a second time to join the GNR. The shorter down direction line followed the originally planned alignment, and made a sharp curve rising at 1 in 49.
Anderson observes that
Considering its meagre achievements, the mile line was a very costly venture. Land itself was inexpensive and most of the [£250,000 construction cost] was spent on conquering the undulating terrain around Mapperley with 1,048 yd of tunnelling, numerous embankments and cuttings, and a dozen or more substantial bridges.
Opening and early traffic.
The construction was complete in November 1889. Major General Hutchinson of the Board of Trade inspected the line on 22 November 1889 and was satisfied, and the line opened for ordinary traffic on 2 December 1889. The first train was delayed when the contractor's agent stopped it by standing on the line showing a red flag at Trent Lane Junction; the contractor Edwards claimed he was still in possession of the line, not having been paid fully, although the company had obtained an injunction forbidding this interference. After some discussion the train continued its journey.
From January 1890 there were ten passenger trains each northbound and nine southbound over the line, some of which worked to and from Newstead, the passenger extremity of the Leen Valley line at the time. The trains used the GNR London Road station at Nottingham. There was a Sunday service of four trains each way until 31 December 1889.
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway connection to Nottingham.
If the future seemed rosy, Anderson provides a measured view of this achievement:
... even as the inaugural train climbed away from Trent Lane, construction work was in progress on the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire line to Annesley. By 1900 this new railway had been extended through Nottingham itself and as it provided the GNR with an even more convenient route to the west the majority of local services were diverted on to it. Overnight the Suburban route had lost its raison d'etre and, furthermore, what few customers its three stations had managed to attract were soon tempted away by electric trams which began to serve Sherwood in 1901.
On 2 January 1893 the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opened a line from Staveley to Annesley, joining the GNR Leen Valley Line at Newstead; this brought additional traffic to the GNR lines: the MS&LR ran a Sheffield to Nottingham passenger service of six trains a day, running over the Suburban Line to London Road. In the first few months (only) of 1893 the GNR ran a corresponding service from Nottingham to Staveley.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway decided to build a London Extension from Annesley, passing through Nottingham, obtaining Parliamentary authority in 1893. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1897. After considerable negotiation, the Great Northern Railway and the Great Central Railway agreed to build jointly a new large passenger station in central Nottingham. This opened on 24 May 1900 and (later) became known as Nottingham Victoria station. The passenger service over the Nottingham Suburban line was diverted to that station.
Tramway competition and loss of local passenger business.
In 1901 electric trams started operation in Nottingham, and extensions to the network resulted in effective competition with the passenger traffic to the intermediate stations on the line, which declined sharply. By 1914 the majority of trains from Nottingham to Shirebrook using the Suburban Line ran non-stop to Daybrook, returning via the GCR line; a corresponding clockwise service ran.
On 13 July 1916 the intermediate stations, Thorneywood, St Ann's Well and Sherwood were closed and only two passenger trains operated to Shirebrook over the line, with no corresponding inward trains.
Grouping of the railways and events to 1931.
The main line railway companies of Great Britain were merged into one or other of four new large companies in a process called the Grouping, mandated by the Railways Act 1921. The Nottingham Suburban Railway (as owner of the line) was absorbed into the new London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), and the Great Northern Railway was a constituent of it. The train service on the line continued at a low level. The process of absorption resulted in Suburban Railway shareholders receiving LNER stock of equal value to their own.
On the evening of 23 January 1925 a length of the Mapperley Tunnel, on the line from Colwick to Daybrook, collapsed, blocking the line. While repairs were being carried out the heavy GNR coal traffic from west and north of Nottingham was carried over the Nottingham Suburban Line, which required reversal in London Road yard.
On 10 July 1928 the King and Queen visited Sherwood for a ceremony involving 17,000 children. Sherwood and Thorneywood stations were reopened on that day to enable the children and others to travel to the event.
On 9 February 1930 the line was singled; only one passenger train used the line, and that ceased to operate after 14 September 1931.
Closure.
On 9 March 1941 an enemy bomb exploded on the line not far from Trent Lane Junction, severing the route there. By this time only Thorneywood had revenue traffic use, accessed from the Daybrook end, so it was decided not to reinstate the track, and the intermediate sidings were accessed from the Daybrook end only from that time. A short stub at Trent Lane was used as a wagon storage siding. Goods workings continued to serve the brickworks, and the oil storage depot at Thorneywood.
The line closed altogether on 1 August 1951; an enthusiasts' special train had run on 16 June 1951.
Legacy.
Much of the route has been obliterated by redevelopment, but some structures remain, including (2019) the brick arch bridge over Trent Lane that carried the up line at the grade-separated junction. The former station house at St Ann's Well was still extant in 2021 as is the station masters house at Thorneywood as a private dwelling.
Topography.
Locations: