• Article |
• Discussion |
• Edit |
• History

Railway buff Geoffrey Kingscott (pictured, right) has just published a book called The Lost Railways of Derbyshire, tracing the history of the various rail routes through the county, many of which have now fallen into disuse. The following extract, with pictures from the book, focuses on one of GNR’s more controversial lines through Derby.

---

A trespasser – that must have been how the Midland Railway’s board regarded the Great Northern Railway’s Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension which ran right across the county and right through the town of Derby itself.

Derby was a Midland Railway town. The company headquarters were there and the Derby Loco Works and the Derby Carriage and Wagon Works made Midland Railway the town’s biggest employer. For nearly 40 years, there had been no other railway company’s lines in Derby.

There had been a long history of conflict between Great Northern Railways (GNR) and Midland Railways (MR) over access to the Erewash Valley coalfield which straddles the county boundary between Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and was one of the most productive in the country.

Agreements that had been reached between the two companies for over-running rights on each other’s lines had never worked satisfactorily. Eventually, therefore, the GNR decided that it must have its own railway under its own control.

And there was another attraction: by extending towards Staffordshire it could get access to Burton-on-Trent and another lucrative business, the brewery traffic.

In the 19th century, British industry had an insatiable appetite for coal and the British workman had an insatiable thirst for beer, particularly Burton beer.

The GNR’s line, which opened in 1878, ran from Nottingham, through Derby, to Egginton Junction, where it joined the North Staffordshire Railway, over which the GNR had running rights.

. In Nottinghamshire, the line was often known as “the back line”, because it took a “backdoor” route towards Derby, via Ilkeston, instead of the obvious direct route via Beeston, used by the MR. In Derbyshire, however, it was generally known as “the Friar Gate line”, after Derby Friar Gate station.

But the Friar Gate line proved to be an expensive one to build, running as it did largely from east to west, since the rivers and their valleys – the Leen, the Erewash, and the Derwent – all ran from north to south.

Substantial engineering works on deep cuttings, tunnels, viaducts and bridges (over canals, rivers, roads and Midland lines) were necessary to maintain an even gradient.

The Derbyshire section ran through the western part of the Erewash Valley coalfield to Derby Friar Gate, with stations at Ilkeston, West Hallam and Breadsall. From Derby, it took a more rural route to Egginton junction, with stations at Mickleover and Etwall.

Mineral freight traffic, especially coal and iron, was always the mainstay of the line, supplemented by a considerable business in milk from the lush farmlands west of Derby. Passenger traffic was never heavy, but in the early years the line formed an essential link for the communities through which it passed.

Between the two world wars, bus services inevitably began to take passengers away from the railway. This particularly affected Ilkeston, the largest town on the line between Nottingham and Derby, since the buses used a more central route.

Goods traffic remained reasonably heavy, however, throughout the 1950s but, by the time the decade ended, road haulage was taking more and more freight from the railways. But there then came a downturn in coal production, combined with the exhaustion of some pits. As collieries on the line closed one after the other, the Friar Gate line became increasingly uneconomic.

Finally, Dr Beeching’s famous report in 1963 proclaimed the death sentence. Closure to all passenger traffic was announced on June 30, 1964. The last day of passenger operation was scheduled for September 5.

There was little in the way of ceremony – there were too many rail closures taking place at that time. A replacement bus service between Derby and Nottingham, via Ilkeston, was provided. Goods services at the remaining stations were progressively withdrawn in the following months, Friar Gate itself closing on September 4, 1967.

Some through working of goods trains continued until May 1968. The last train through was a six-car DMU chartered by the Stephenson Locomotive Society.

One notable part of the line passed over from Nottinghamshire into Derbyshire by means of the famous Bennerley viaduct, 56ft high and a quarter of a mile long. This meant the line was able to cross the valley of the River Erewash and run on a level into Ilkeston, where the GNR station became known as Ilkeston North.

The coming of the line was warmly welcomed by the people of Ilkeston, who had been ignored by the Midland Railway, and had no convenient way of getting to either Nottingham or Derby. Indeed, the town’s population increased rapidly after the arrival of the line.

The MR had built its Erewash Valley line with coal largely in view, ignoring the passenger potential, which is why it had bypassed towns such as Ilkeston.

The Great Northern, in its quest to maximise access to the same coalfield, ran a branch, almost parallel to the Midland’s, to Codnor and Pinxton.

The GNR and MR both had stations at Pinxton (both no longer open), which practically adjoined one another. Ilkeston North closed to passengers in 1964 and to goods in 1968. The site was totally cleared, and today. is occupied by a modern building that is the district police station.

Derby Friar Gate station was not quite complete when the line opened in April 1878 but was fully functional by September of that year.

It had four platforms. Passengers ascended to platform level via a wide stairway from an entrance in the Friar Gate Bridge supports.

In addition to services to Nottingham Victoria and Grantham (where there was a junction with the GNR’s East Coast line to London King’s Cross), passenger trains ran from Friar Gate to Burton, Stafford, Uttoxeter and Stoke.

In the summer, there were excursions to seaside resorts on the East Coast, such as Scarborough, Skegness and Great Yarmouth, all on the GNR network.

More details about this rail route and others in the area, including information about what has happened to the railway buildings and surrounding landscape since the line closed, can be found in Geoffrey’s book, The Lost Railways of Derbyshire, available from main book stores, priced £10.99, or from publisher www.countrysidebooks.co.uk

---

FEEDBACK

Did you enjoy this article? If so, why not comment on it? Perhaps you disagree with something in it, or you know something the writer doesn't and can add some extra facts. You may want to ask a question about this article. Making a contribution is easy - either click 'edit' to insert more information or 'discussion' and then 'add comment.' This is your site. Please feel free to use it to the full and share your memories, thoughts and knowledge about Derbyshire with others.

If there is no 'edit' link showing it means the article has either previously been published in the Derby Evening Telegraph, or it has been protected by the site administrator and cannot be edited.'

Other tags that are relevant to Derbyshire's lost railways: The "Friargate Line" Help us to improve You&Yesterday by adding more tags to this article. Simply edit this page, find this area and add the words in a list separated by commas next to the *. To find out more about tagging please click here.

County:  Derbyshire

Return to You_and_Yesterday

Share this page: del.icio.us | digg | Fark | Furl | BlogMarks