Mystery Locations

[clem]

Just a further note regarding the first photo:

The far hills are on the West side of the Erewash Valley between Ilkeston and Heanor and the open area to the left I believe once had a branch out to a colliery and brickworks. I know Gordon Hepburn has taken photos at Newthorpe before at about this time (J2 on a Pinxton bound passenger train in a book called Great Locomotives? - I'll confirm this in a later post) and in fact many years ago, he gave me a copy of this photo of a J2 after I visited him in West Bridgford.

[61070]

I hope this helps. Here's the area north west of Newthorpe & Greasley station in 1938 from Old Maps. I've circled the positions of signal posts (S P) in red, and of buildings which may be visible in blue. If the shot was taken in the direction of the red arrow it appears to correlate. It certainly looks like an interesting location from the transport and industrial history perspective.

[clem]

I hope this helps. Here's the area north west of Newthorpe & Greasley station in 1938 from Old Maps. I've circled the positions of signal posts (S P) in red, and of buildings which may be visible in blue. If the shot was taken in the direction of the red arrow it appears to correlate. It certainly looks like an interesting location from the transport and industrial history perspective.

Thanks for digging out the map. I am 100% sure now. The photo is at Newthorpe and Greasley. And your map certainly confirms it.

There is interesting information regarding the field on the left in Alf Henshaw's book 'The Great Northern Railway in the East Midlands Volume 3' published by the RCTS. The field was the site of a small colliery which closed as early as 1884 due to flooding. There was a short branch to the colliery, the stub of which is shown on your map. After the colliery closed a small shed with a thick concrete roof was located at the side of the branch to store dynamite for the local pits. Vans of dynamite were thus dealt with at Newthorpe for distribution by horse and cart to the surrounding collieries of which there were quite a few. This powder shed was removed sometime after World War 1 but the siding remained until World War 2. Clay was very plentiful in the area and there were brickworks on both sides of the line at Newthorpe.

Before he passed away, I used to see Alf Henshaw quite regularly and he had many stories to tell about the GN West of Nottingham. He used to work in control at Nottingham Victoria and also had a stint out at East Leake when it was temporarily moved away from Nottingham to avoid potential attack/bombing during World War 2. He had a high opinion of the O4s (or 'Tinies' as he called them) and several tales of turning a blind eye to them being asked to haul more than their prescribed haulage limit.

The photo of J2 referred to in my earlier post is in a book 'Great Locomotives' published by Ian Allan in 1978 and shows J2 65018 in lined out British Railways livery leaving Newthorpe and Greasley on a Nottingham Victoria-Pinxton train in the early 1950s. It could very well be on the same day as the photo taken of the O4/7. Unfortunately Gordon Hepburn did not always make a note of dates and times of his photographs and so one can only guess. There is also a picture taken by him further down the line at Pye Hill with a J39 arriving on a down local.

My brother who is ten years older than me, took me on the train from Kimberley to Pinxton and back when I was about 6 years old. I'll never forget his disappointment when he got to Pinxton. I think he expected something a little bigger for a terminus, rather than just a house and platform with a run around, more or less in the middle of no-where! The Pinxton branch and the Derby Friargate lines have always fasinated me - I spent many days as young lad at Awsworth Junction where my brother and I (and sometimes my sister as well!) would often be allowed into the signal box there by friendly signalmen. This entailed crossing the main line from the field to which the footpath lead. It just couldn't happen these days - on many levels!

I remember the Pinxton branch being fairly busy with coal trains in the 1950s and although normally very dead on a Sunday, one Sunday 6 coal trains came up the branch in quick succession over Giltbrook viaduct.
A nice variety of locos ran the line in my memory including J5s, J6s, A5s, J39s, L1s and K2s as well as O4s and WDs on the mineral trains. K3s were also quite frequent on the Derby line. There was even a fill in turn for a South Lynn J17 although I never saw one. The Pinxton branch had no Sunday service as far as I can remember and had about 6 or 7 passenger trains a day with the train engine on the last passenger in the down direction returning as a pick up goods.

I have started building a model in EM gauge loosely based on a cross between Kimberley and West Hallam. Whether it will ever get finished...

Cheers

Clem

[61070]

Hello Clem,

Thanks - these are fascinating stories. I found the colliery - Eastwood Colliery - on the 1881 OS map on the Old Maps website http://www.old-maps.co.uk . It was right between the Nottingham and Erewash canals, so perhaps it's not surprising that they had a problem keeping the water out. If you haven't used Old Maps before, put 'Newthorpe' into the search box. Initially you are shown a present-day map. If you then navigate to the area of the river and canals, click on the approximate location to relocate the rectangular box, then select from the menu of maps on the right, you can look at how the area's changed over time. The map I used above is from 1938, made at 1:2500 scale. This scale is very good for confirming - or disputing - the location of photographs but you have to have a lead on where to look, so local knowledge from someone who has a real feel for the territory is essential.

I hope soulmansteve can be persuaded to post a few more of TG Hepburn's wonderful unlocated pictures for identification...

[clem]

It certainly has changed from the time when I used to go down to the Central Library spend ages to sort out the map and size I needed and then spent 10p a time to photocopy an A4 window of it! I haven't had a go at this old maps site but I will definitely be giving it a try. There's so many times I drive past abandoned railway cuttings or embankments or drive through places where once there was a railway - Charwelton for instance -and try to figure out just where the line went. So, to be able to do comparisons is great.


Clem.