Steam Days at Chesterfield

The second largest town in Derbyshire, Stanley C Jenkins MA provides a historical overview of the Midland, Great Central and LD&ECR lines in and around Chesterfield.

Built on the site of a Roman fort, Chesterfield is perhaps best known for its 228ft twisted and leaning church spire that was warped out of shape under the weight of its lead tiles when the unseasoned wood used dried out; construction of the church, St Mary and All Saints, was completed around 1360. King John had granted a market charter to the town in 1204, while Elizabeth I granted a charter of incorporation in the 1590s.

Chesterfield was for many years a prosperous market town, and it subsequently became a centre of the coal and iron industries. In the early 18th century Daniel Defoe described it as ‘a handsome, populous town, well built, and well inhabited.’ From 1777 the transport needs of the district were satisfied, at least in part, by the Chesterfield Canal, which ran from Chesterfield, via Staveley, Killamarsh, Worksop and Retford to West Stockwith on the River Trent, 46 miles distant. Although carrying around

200,000 tons of freight per annum by the later 1840s, in the longer term the waterway system was unable to compete with the new steamworked railways that were by then already well-established in the Chesterfield area.

Origins of the North Midland Railway

The first main line railway in the Chesterfield area was the North Midland Railway (NMR), which was incorporated by Act of Parliament on 4 July 1836 with powers to construct a railway from Derby to Leeds via Chesterfield, Masborough and Normanton. The 72 mile line was engineered by George Stephenson and its construction involved 9,500,000 cubic yards of earthworks, 200 bridges, and seven tunnels, the latter having a total length of 2¼ miles; the longest tunnel, at Clay Cross, was 1 mile 24 yards. At one stage, no less than 10,000 men were at work on the route, this army of navvies being assisted by 18 stationary engines and several locomotives.

The first section of line opened for public traffic was between Derby and Masborough (Rotherham), a distance of 40 miles, on Monday, 11 May 1840. As usual in those days, the opening day was marked by the running of special trains for the directors and their

guests. There were, in fact, two such trains, one on Saturday, 9 May, while the other, comprising four first class coaches, four second class coaches, and two locomotives, ran from Derby to Sheffield on the following Monday. An account of the latter day, the first day of public activities, appeared in the Leeds Mercury and stated that the first southbound working was scheduled to leave Sheffield at 5.30am but, ‘owing to delays incidental to a new undertaking, the train did not move until seven minutes to six.’ On arrival at Chesterfield, a second engine was attached to the rear of the train in order to provide banking assistance on the ascent to Clay Cross tunnel. Unfortunately, the train came to a stop about two thirds of the way through the tunnel, the engine having run out of steam. The passengers were left in total darkness, but George Stephenson, who could be readily identified by his Northumbrian accent, could be heard ‘vociferating a complaint on the mismanagement of ordering the extra engine away when it was most wanted!’ It was later suggested that the stoppage in the tunnel had arisen because the driver was not fully aware of the ‘power that he could derive from the engine at the rear, and having mistaken this for his own power, he did not economise his steam.’

The North Midland Railway route was completed throughout to Leeds on 30 June 1840, the opening day being marked by the running of another directors’ special, consisting of 34 coaches, which started from Leeds at around 8.30am behind two locomotives. On arrival at Derby the directors and their VIP guests were treated to a ‘cold collation’ before returning to Leeds at 2.30pm. Later, around 400 ladies and gentlemen attended a banquet in the music hall, after which the usual rounds of speeches and toasts were made.

Some details of the NMR line

At Masborough, the newly-opened line formed a junction with the Sheffield & Rotherham Railway, which had opened on 31 October 1838, while further junctions at Normanton provided connections with the York & North Midland Railway and the Manchester & Leeds line. The completed NMR line was laid for most of its length with bullhead rails resting on conventional wooden sleepers, but stone blocks were employed in the cuttings.

An early timetable, issued in 1842, claimed that the station houses on the North Midland line were of ‘unequalled architectural beauty’, the NMR being notable for the superior quality of its architecture. A first-day traveller noted that Chesterfield station, in particular, was ‘one of the prettiest and most compact on the line’, the style of architecture adopted being ‘a mixture of Elizabethan and Gothic.’ The overall design was ‘highly creditable to the taste of Mr Thompson, the architect’, while the ‘stonework was very beautiful and the workmanship generally excellent.’ The station was approached by an embankment of seven miles in length, while the new line was replete with ‘magnificent viaducts, aqueducts, and bridges’, together with ‘station houses of tasteful architecture that contributed to the admiration and delight of the traveller.’

It is interesting to note that, while excavating Clay Cross tunnel, the railway builders discovered valuable deposits of coal and iron, which encouraged George Stephenson to form a colliery company (later the Clay Cross Company). Mention of Stephenson serves as a reminder that during construction of the NMR line the ‘Father of the Railways’ took out a lease of a red brick Georgian mansion known as Tapton House, and he resided there until his death in 1848. He was buried in Holy Trinity church, Chesterfield, and is commemorated by a plain memorial slab laid in the floor of the sanctuary, together with a stained glass window at the east end of the church. There is also a much later memorial tablet commemorating his role as the first President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In 2005 a bronze statue of ‘Chesterfield’s most famous resident’ was unveiled outside the Midland station, while in 2011 a blue plaque was mounted at the station.

‘A first-day traveller noted that Chesterfield station was one of the prettiest and most compact on the line’

The rise of the Midland Railway

Although the railway history of Chesterfield is intimately connected with the North Midland Railway, it is necessary at this juncture to say a little about a separate company known as the Midland Counties Railway (MCR) that had been promoted in the 1830s as a rail link between Derby, Leicester and Rugby. With Charles Blacker Vignoles as its engineer, the required Bill was sent up to Parliament for the 1836 session, and the Midland Counties scheme received the Royal Assent on 21 June 1836. The route commenced at Derby by a junction with the North Midland Railway, while at its southern end it was envisaged that the Midland Counties line would form a junction with the London & Birmingham Railway. Rugby was not an important centre for originating traffic, but it was, at that time, a major strategic destination, and it was anticipated that the London & Birmingham would provide passage for MCR trains through to the Metropolis.

Construction was soon underway, and the first section of the Midland Counties Railway was officially opened between Derby and Nottingham on 29 May 1839 when Sunbeam, a four-wheeled locomotive built by Messrs Jones, Turner & Evans, hauled a six-coach train over the new line in a time of

44 minutes. Public services commenced a week later, on 4 June 1839. The MCR line was ceremonially opened as far as Leicester on 4 May 1840, although the main celebrations took place the following day when public traffic began running between Trent Junction, Loughborough and Leicester. Two months later, 29 June 1840 saw the MCR officially completed throughout to a temporary station at Rugby. Public services commenced on 30 June, and through services were soon running to Leeds via Derby, Chesterfield, Normanton and the North Midland Railway.

The success of early lines such as the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway encouraged the promotion of further schemes throughout the British Isles. By the mid-1840s a ‘Railway Mania’ gripped the land, the bones of the present-day railway system were firmly laid and the familiar pattern of railway politics and geography were established, the Midland Railway having been formed in 1844 by amalgamation of the Midland Counties, the North Midland, and the Birmingham &

Derby Junction companies. The Midland Railway went on to construct many additional lines, but notably a 7 May 1857 extension from Leicester to Hitchin brought access to London over Great Northern Railway metals, and that from Bedford to London (opened 13 July 1868) saw completion of the company’s own main line to London, the MR thereupon taking up its rightful place as one of Britain’s great railway companies.

Meanwhile, at the northern end of the route, the Sheffield & Chesterfield Railway had been authorized in 1864 as a direct link to Sheffield to obviate the lengthy detour via Rotherham. The new line opened on Monday, 2 February 1870, with intermediate stations at (from south to north) Unstone, Dronfield, Abbey Houses (later re-named Beauchief), Millhouses & Eccleshall and Heeley. On 1 August 1870 a further stopping place was

opened at Sheepbridge, between Chesterfield and Unstone, and north of Dronfield, Dore & Totley station was brought into use on 1 February 1872.

Over the next few years the Midland continued to enjoy growing passenger numbers and increased freight tonnages and, to aid its smooth running, much of the main line was converted from double to multiple track, with convenient separation of main line passenger and goods traffic. Impressively, by the end of the Victorian period the MR was carrying 45,000,000 passengers and 34,000,000 tons of freight per annum.

The Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway

This was by no means the end of railway development in the Chesterfield area, and at the end of the Victorian period two additional companies appeared on the scene, the newcomers being the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) and the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway (LD&ECR). As its name implied, the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway was originally a purely northern line, its early heartland being the Pennine uplands between Sheffield and Manchester, but by the 1880s it extended from Grimsby in the east to Liverpool and Chester in the west, albeit the latter two cities were reached via the jointlyowned Cheshire Lines Committee.

Led by its ambitious chairman, Sir Edward Watkin, the MS&LR then embarked on a grandiose scheme for a main line to London – it would commence at Annesley, pass through Nottingham, nine miles to the south, and continue via Loughborough, Leicester and Rugby to Quainton Road station, near Aylesbury. From there, MS&LR trains would reach London by running powers over the Metropolitan Railway, this being possible because Watkin was also the chairman of the Metropolitan Railway.

Understandably, fearing loss of business to the new competition, existing railways such as the Midland and the London & North

Western opposed the MS&LR’s proposed ‘London Extension’, but Parliamentary sanction for the new main line was nevertheless obtained on 28 March 1893. The first sod was cut in November 1894 and the six contractors would collectively engage no less than 9,000 men for the task of building the 92 mile route.

In connection with this scheme, and as a necessary first step in the drive towards London, the company obtained Parliamentary consent for what became known as the ‘Derbyshire Lines’, a network linking Sheffield, Chesterfield and Annesley. There were three main sections – that is to say a main line from Beighton to Annesley, a branch line from Staveley to Chesterfield, and a connecting line from Chesterfield to Heath, the latter pair forming a circuitous loop through Chesterfield. The Beighton to Chesterfield section was completed first, and passenger trains began running from Sheffield to Staveley and Chesterfield on 1 June 1892. The Staveley to Annesley section opened on 2 January 1893, and the southern half of the Chesterfield Loop was brought into use on 3 July 1893.

Work on the main portion of the ambitious London Extension was substantially complete by 1898, its construction accomplished in about four years, during which time the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway rebranded itself in line with its new main line expansion. By Act of 1 August 1897, the MS&LR was henceforth to be known as the Great Central Railway.

In January 1899 the GCR’s London Extension was rapidly approaching completion, the works and stations on the 52 mile section of line between Annesley and Rugby were practically complete. In the event, the new main line was ceremonially opened on 9 March 1899 when the Rt Hon Charles T Ritchie, the President of the Board of Trade, dispatched the official first train out of London (Marylebone) station, Harry Pollittdesigned ‘11A’ class 4-4-0 No 861 being the motive power. Regular services commenced six days later, on Wednesday, 15 March 1899, the first down express over the new main line departing from Marylebone station at 5.15am with just four paying passengers aboard.

Unfortunately, the Great Central investment reached few places that were not already served by the Midland Railway, L&NWR or Great Northern, and to that extent the new main line was perhaps of somewhat questionable value. In regard to Chesterfield residents, their new station was situated on a loop, rather than on the main line, and as such this placed the GCR at a considerable disadvantage in relation to the well-established Midland route. On the other hand, the GCR was able to win at least some traffic through the speed, comfort, and sheer quality of its services, and as the line became better established it attracted considerable numbers of loyal travellers.

The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway

Chesterfield was now very well served by railways, but the local railway system continued to expand, a company known as the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway being promoted with the aim of building an ambitious east-to-west main line across England from the Mersey to the North Sea coast. This grandiose project was the brainchild of local landowners and colliery owners such as the Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Portland, Earl Manvers and William Arkwright of Sutton Scarsdale Hall.

In November 1890 the promoters gave formal notice that an application would be made to Parliament for leave to bring in a Bill seeking consent for the construction and maintenance of a railway, ‘with all proper stations, buildings, sidings, approaches and other works and conveniences connected therewith’, commencing in Warrington in the county of Chester, and terminating in Lincolnshire by a junction with the Sutton & Willoughby Railway. On 25 February 1891

The Times newspaper reported that no fewer that 37 petitioners had lodged petitions ‘praying to be heard’ against the Bill. Many of the objectors were landowners such as the Duke of Devonshire, Sir Humphrey Francis de Trafford, Lord Stanley of Alderley and Lord Egerton of Tatton, but petitions were also lodged by the Midland Railway, L&NWR,

Cheshire Lines Committee and the MS&LR. A separate petition was also lodged by the Great Northern & Great Eastern Joint Committee, but in the event, the Great Eastern Railway (GER) decided to give its full support to the LD&ECR scheme, which if implemented, would give the company access to some major coal-producing areas. As a corollary of this decision, it was agreed that the Great Eastern would have running powers over LD&ECR lines, and the latter concern would gain running powers over the GN&GE Joint line into Lincoln station.

Having faced considerable opposition, the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway scheme passed safely through the Parliamentary process and received the Royal Assent on 5 August 1891. The promoters were thereby empowered to build around 170 miles of railway, for which purpose they were permitted to raise £5,000,000 in shares, with a further £1,666,000 by loans, an enormous sum by Victorian standards – the LD&ECR was the largest scheme ever approved by Parliament in a single session.

The authorized route extended from the Manchester Ship Canal at Warrington to a proposed deep-water dock complex at Suttonon-Sea on the Lincolnshire coast. As authorized, the LD&ECR main line was via Knutsford, Macclesfield, Buxton, Chesterfield, Tuxford, Lincoln and Alford. The scheme included connecting lines to Manchester and Sheffield, and the proposed civil engineering was very heavy, with eight tunnels and a viaduct on the western section between Chesterfield and Macclesfield. The planned viaduct at Monsal Dale was 543 yards in length and at a height of 272ft above local ground level, making it one of the highest in the country.

The ‘first sod’ was cut at Maynards Meadow, Chesterfield, on 7 June 1892, the ceremonial duty being carried out by

Mrs Agnes Arkwright, the wife of the LD&ECR chairman, who performed the part with grace and spirit. Construction was soon underway, but financial problems intervened and, desperately short of money, the company was unable to pay its contractors. In 1894 the LD&ECR directors offered to pay the contractors in shares in lieu of cash, but Messrs S Pearson & Son, the principal contractor, rejected this solution, and after further discussions it was decided that the western section of the authorized route would be abandoned – Chesterfield was to be the western extremity – while the easternmost section between Lincoln and the North Sea coast would be vested in a separate company. The Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway was thereby cut down to a 37¾ mile line between Chesterfield and Pyewipe Junction, near Lincoln.

Significantly, this part of the scheme was of particular interest to the Great Eastern Railway, which from the outset had exerted considerable pressure behind the scenes. In August 1894, for example, the GER and LD&ECR signed an agreement whereby the Great Eastern would provide £250,000 for the construction of the Pyewipe Junction to Chesterfield line, the work being carried out ‘to the reasonable satisfaction of John Wilson or other, the chief engineer for the time being of the Great Eastern Company.’ It was also agreed that two GER directors (or one director and the general manager) would join the LD&ECR Board.

Having reached this compromise, the supporters of the LD&ECR were able to proceed with their troubled scheme and, with much-needed assistance from the GER, great progress was made, the engineer being Robert Elliott Cooper. In February 1895 it was reported that the works were being carried out ‘with considerable vigour’, the ‘big viaduct at Chesterfield having been finished, while the tunnels at Bolsover and Duckmanton were nearly complete.’ The first part of the line was brought into use in November 1896 when the 35 mile section from Lincoln to Edwinstowe was opened for coal and general merchandise traffic. The line was partially opened for passenger traffic on 15 December 1896, and the route was completed throughout to Chesterfield on Monday, 8 March 1897.

On 10 March the Derby Mercury reported that the first day festivities were somewhat hurriedly determined upon in consequence of the government inspector being so thoroughly satisfied that he gave his sanction much earlier than anticipated! For this reason, opening day was a muted affair, although there was ‘some impromptu decoration in the central portion of the town, and a crowd gathered at the railway station to welcome the start and return of the first trains.’ This was followed by a ‘numerous party in the Market Hall under the presidency of Mr J B Squire, the chief agent for Messrs Pearson & Son, the Mayor of Chesterfield, and many of the leading residents being present’.

The new railway was laid throughout with bullhead rail weighing 85lb per linear yard, while the signals were of the Great Northern ‘somersault’ pattern. The principle engineering features included the 2,624 yard tunnel at Bolsover and a major bridge across the River Trent at Fledborough, near Clifton, the latter having 59 masonry arches across the flood plain, and four 110ft steel spans over the actual river. The overall length of this gigantic structure was around ½ mile, 5,000,000 bricks and 700 tons of steelwork being used in its construction. Other significant engineering features included Duckmanton tunnel and viaducts at Bolsover and Chesterfield. Colonel Yorke, the Board of Trade inspector, described the LD&ECR as ‘one of the best lines that he had ever inspected.’

The branch from Langwith Junction to Beighton Junction was opened as far as Clowne at the same time as the main line, and was completed throughout in 1898, while various other branch lines and connections were added during the 1890s, many of these being links to local collieries that generated much-needed traffic for the newly-opened railway.

The directors report for the half-year ending 31 December 1896 stated that gross revenue had amounted to £1,817, while the working expenses had been £1,378. It was clear that the railway would never be a money-spinner. The line from Lincoln to Sutton-on-Sea was abandoned on financial grounds in 1902, and at the end of 1905 it was announced that the LD&ECR would be taken over by the Great Central Railway with effect from 1 January 1907. In March 1907 the Railway Magazine opined that the financial history of the LD&ECR had been ‘an honourable struggle against misfortune.’

The railways faced a rapidly-changing economic situation after World War I, and this resulted in further changes in the Chesterfield area. The growth of motorized road transport had destroyed the railways’ monopoly, and in response to this new situation, the government decided that the main line companies would be grouped into four large regional undertakings. Accordingly, on 1 January 1923 the Midland Railway became part of the London Midland & Scottish Railway, while the former Great Central system became part of the London & North Eastern Railway. In practice, this change of ownership probably made little difference to the operation of the lines around Chesterfield, which continued to operate as two distinct systems.

Midland motive power

Incorporated in 1836, the North Midland Railway was worked by a fleet of about 50 locomotives, these variously being built by

R & W Hawthorn & Co, Tayleur & Co, Robert Stephenson & Co, Laird & Kitson, Fenton, Murray & Jackson, Mather Dixon, Shepherd & Todd, Longridge & Co, Thompson & Cole and Kitson & Co. The passenger engines were 2-2-2 ‘mail engines’ designed specifically for express work and boasting tall Gothic firebox casings, 6ft driving wheels, outside frames and

14in x 18in cylinders; the first goods engines were 0-4-2s. Latterly, four 2-4-0s arrived in 1842/43, and a lone 0-6-0 was new in March 1844, but very soon it became Midland Railway No 74 upon creation of that company.

Towards the end of the Victorian period the fastest trains on the Midland main line through Chesterfield were hauled by the 4-2-2s of Samuel Johnson, the MR locomotive superintendent between 1873 and 1903. These elegant Singles were subsequently replaced by class ‘3’ 4-4-0s, and then the Midland Compounds of Richard Deeley post-1905. Freight duties were undertaken by a corresponding range of 0-6-0 goods engines, including those of the MR’s first locomotive superintendent, Matthew Kirtley, and including the ubiquitous class ‘2’ and ‘3’ locomotives of Johnson, and then Henry Fowler designs after 1910. None of these engines was really very large and thus doubleheading was necessary for both heavy passenger and freight workings. On many occasions elderly 2-4-0s or other types would be seen piloting 4-4-0s on express services.

In early LMS days heavy coal workings were often hauled by a brace of 0-6-0s, and scrutiny of this saw a Garratt locomotive ordered from Beyer, Peacock & Co. Primarily for the Nottingham to London (Toton yard to Brent yard) duties at first, a total of 33 of these 2-6-6-2Ts were purchased by the LMS, with Hasland shed, about 1¾ miles south of Chesterfield, one of the few sheds to enjoy an allocation.

In terms of passenger work, the Midland Railway’s ‘small engine’ policy was driven by the notion that four-coupled locomotives could handle all passenger services, with fast light trains run at frequent intervals on the best

routes, but the need for heavier trains saw the LMS introduce larger engines to obviate double-heading. Fowler produced the largest 4-6-0s employed on the Midland route, as well as the so-called ‘Baby Scots’ or ‘Patriots’, and then post-1932 the company’s locomotive matters were in the hands of William Stanier. In terms of Midland main line operations, his significant designs included the two-cylinder mixed traffic ‘Black Five’ and three-cylinder ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0s of 1934, the heavy freight ‘8F’ 2-8-0s of 1935, and the rebuilt ‘Royal Scots’ from 1943.

Many other LMS classes served the Midland route at various times, and while express passenger types tended to run through Chesterfield from further afield, an overview of the local allocation on 4 November 1950 offers some perspective on the amount of goods work and the locomotives on hand for this and the associated yard shunting and, to a lesser extent, cover for the local passenger work. Hasland shed (18C at the time) had 11 Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, 10 Beyer-Garratt 2-6-6-2Ts, 10 ‘2P’ 4-4-0s, six ‘3F’ 0-6-0s, four Fowler ‘Jinty’ 0-6-0Ts, five ‘0F’ 0-4-0 tank engines and two ‘1F’ 0-6-0Ts. The shed building was of the classic roundhouse pattern incorporating a turntable and a number of radial shed roads, while the usual coaling and watering facilities were provided, together with offices and mess rooms. Although coded 18C for much of the BR period, it was 16H from September 1963 through to its closure in September 1964.

Also local, and well known for its extant roundhouse into modern times is Staveley’s Barrow Hill shed. Less than five miles northeast of Chesterfield and to the north side of the massive Staveley ironworks, at the same November 1950 date it had another 17 ‘4F’ 0-6-0s, 15 ‘3F’ 0-6-0s, 12 ‘8F’ 2-8-0s, 10 ‘1F’ 0-6-0Ts, eight ‘Jinty’ ‘3F’ 0-6-0Ts and four ‘0F’ 0-4-0Ts on its allocation. Its BR shedcode was 18D until February 1958 when changed to 41E. It closed to steam on 4 October 1965 but remained in use as a diesel depot into 1987 and then saw continued use as a stabling point through to 11 February 1991. Thereafter granted listed-building status, it has been saved by Chesterfield Council and the Barrow Hill Engine Shed Society.

To conclude the November 1950 scene, the nearest Midland ‘passenger shed’ was Millhouses (19B) on the south side of Sheffield, which boasted 11 ‘Black Five’ and 10 ‘Jubilee’ class 4-6-0s, eight ‘4P’ 4-4-0 Compounds, five ‘2P’ 4-4-0s, four ‘1P’

0-4-4Ts, two ‘3P’ 2-6-2Ts, two Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-4Ts, ‘3F’ 0-6-0 No 43341 and ‘2F’ 0-6-0 No 58209.

Great Central locomotives

A contrasting range of MS&LR, GCR and LNER types worked the Great Central lines around Chesterfield. In the early years, many of the best trains between London and the north were headed by 4-4-0s built in the Harry Pollitt era (1894-1900) as the evolved work of his predecessor, Thomas Parker, albeit the use of Joy valve gear had been discontinued, Pollitt adopting Stephenson motion, as well as favouring Belpaire fireboxes and piston valves. He unexpectedly resigned at the age of 39, his replacement being J G Robinson, who developed a range of new classes. The ‘1020’ class 4-4-0s of 1901 soon replaced Pollitt engines as top-link motive power, and as LNER ‘D9’ they eventually turned up on local passenger workings in the Chesterfield area,

some examples recorded in the LNER period being Nos 5110, 5112, 6031 and 6032.

Other Robinson classes subsequently appeared, notably the ‘Directors’. Powerful 4-4-0s that enjoyed a long association with their home system, the first ten (Nos 429-438) dated from 1913 and became LNER ‘D10’, while the subsequent (1920) engines were considered to be ‘Improved Directors’ and became ‘D11’. The latter type had something of a swansong in the Sheffield area from 1957, mostly filling the need for more locomotives in the summer months, their duties including the NottinghamChesterfield-Sheffield passenger service, with Nos 62661 Gerard Powys, 62663 Prince Albert, 62666 Zeebrugge, and 62667 Somme all noted.

Like the ‘Directors’, the Robinson ‘9J’ 0-6-0s of 1901 were regular sights around Chesterfield, although most of the local allocation, to

Staveley’s GCR shed, appeared from 1939 when running as LNER ‘J11’, and by then they were widely known as ‘Pom-Poms’ because their staccato exhaust beats were said to resemble a type of exploding machine gun shell used against British forces during the Second Boer War.

The first Robinson Atlantic appeared at the end of 1903, ‘8B’ No 192. Six more followed by July 1904 as top link engines, and the ‘8Ds’ followed in 1905/06 and were named; they became LNER classes ‘C4’ and ‘C5’. Robinson’s first 4-6-0s were mixed-traffic engines, although he later introduced the inside-cylindered ‘Sir Sam Fay’ class (later LNER ‘B2’) and the four-cylindered ‘Valour’ class 4-6-0s (LNER ‘B3’). Other GCR locomotives in the Chesterfield area included Robinson ‘9K’ and ‘9L’ class 4-4-2Ts (LNER ‘C13’ and ‘C14’ respectively), ‘9N’ 4-6-2Ts (LNER ‘A5’), ‘8K’ 2-8-0s (LNER ‘O4’), and ‘Immingham’ class mixed-traffic locomotives.

In later years the indigenous Great Central classes were joined, but never entirely replaced, by various LNER locomotive types. In 1936, for example, a batch of Gresley ‘Sandringham’ three-cylinder 4-6-0s was allocated to the route, while October 1938 saw Gresley ‘A1’ Pacific No 2558 Tracery tested between Marylebone and Manchester. This Pacific was subsequently joined at Gorton by three others, and Neasden shed had a similar number. Transferred elsewhere during World War II, the Pacifics would make a comeback in BR days.

The war years had seen the introduction of the Thompson’s ‘B1’ 4-6-0s that enjoyed a long association with the Great Central. The first example, No 8301, went to Gorton for trials between Manchester and London in March

1943, and by 1950 there were 14 ‘B1s’ at Gorton, 11 at Leicester Central, six at Neasden, and three at Annesley. Other LNER classes used on the former GCR line through Chesterfield were Gresley’s ‘K2’ 2-6-0 and ‘V2’ 2-6-2 and WD ‘Austerity’ 2-8-0s – with many comings and goings, Staveley shed had 42 different ‘Austerities’ on its books between October 1947 and the shed’s closure in June 1965.

Operational responsibility for the GCR line transferred to the London Midland Region in 1958 and the main line then saw and influx of Stanier ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0s and ‘8F’ 2-8-0s, rebuilt ‘Royal Scot’ 4-6-0s and other LMS types. Significantly, the route lost its express operations from January 1960, the last years of largely semifast duties on the Chesterfield Loop suited to mixed traffic types or crest fallen top link locomotives of an earlier time – that was a familiar role which had been played from wartime until 1950 by ex-Great Northern Railway 4-4-0s. The best trains remained the Inter-Regional duties, a ‘B1’ remaining a typical sight on the longer distance duties.

LD&ECR locomotives

In today’s parlance, the Lancashire,

Derbyshire & East Coast Railway was both a train-operating and track and infrastructure company, the system being worked by a small fleet of four and six-coupled inside-cylindered tank engines – all were constructed by Kitson & Co of Leeds. Nos 1-8 and 19-28 were 0-6-2Ts with 4ft 9in coupled wheels,

18in x 26in cylinders, and a weight of 58 tons. The first eight were introduced in 1895, with the further ten delivered in 1900. They became LNER ‘N6’. Nos 9-12 (LNER ‘J60’) were 0-6-0Ts with 4ft 6in wheels and

17in x 24in cylinders, while Nos 13-18 were 0-4-4Ts with the same size cylinders but with 5ft 6in coupled wheels. As LNER ‘G3’ the latter survived until the 1930s, the last three being scrapped in 1935.

The most interesting LD&ECR locomotives were the nine 0-6-4Ts, the first six, Nos 29-34, having been built in 1904, while Nos A1, A2 and A3 had evidently been ordered by the GCR and were delivered in December 1906. These impressive locomotives weighed 77 tons 11cwt, and had 19in x 26in cylinders and 4ft 9in coupled wheels. Like all LD&ECR locomotives they were equipped with combined sandboxes and leading splashers, while the first six featured curious cylindrical extensions to their smokeboxes that housed a spark arrester (the last three had conventional extended smokeboxes). These engines were based at Tuxford shed, from where they worked heavy 45 wagon coal trains between Langwith Junction and Grimsby. In LNER days they became class ‘M1’, and the last survivor was No 6151 (originally LD&ECR No 32), which was withdrawn in July 1947.

The LD&ECR locomotive livery was black with red, yellow and blue lining, while the company’s coaches were painted in a crimsonred livery that was said to be somewhat lighter than that employed by the Midland Railway. The LD&ECR had two engine sheds, one of these being at Langwith Junction, while the other was at Tuxford.

The home fleet proved very capable and resilient to incomers but, given the 1907 takeover, over time there was an inevitable influx of Great Central types. In any numbers, these were the Robinson ‘8K’ (LNER ‘O4’) 2-8-0s and the ‘Pom-Pom’ 0-6-0s (‘J11’), but the ‘9N’ (‘A5’) 4-6-2T and ‘9K’ (‘C13’) 4-4-2T types also appeared.

Chesterfield (Midland) station

Having sketched-in the history of the lines around Chesterfield through to the British Railways era, let us now look at the stations and other infrastructure in greater detail, starting with the extant Midland station that pre-dated the MS&LR and LD&ECR stations by several decades. Situated on the Midland main line some 146 miles from London (St Pancras) and 52¾ miles from Leeds, it was opened in May 1840 by the North Midland Railway. The original station building was designed by the company’s architect Francis Thompson and was said to boast a ‘beautiful station house in the Elizabethan Gothic style’. Sadly the distinctive building of 1840 has not survived, the station having been rebuilt and enlarged at different times, notably in 1870 and again in 1963.

A further rebuilding took place in the 1990s, although it is interesting to note that parts of the characteristic Midland platform canopies were retained. Three platforms are available, Platforms One and Two being the main platforms for up and down traffic, while Platform Three, on the west side of the station, is signalled for bi-directional working. The platforms are linked by an underline subway, and the main station buildings are on the down side.

As a footnote, it may be worth adding that a curious stone building that can be seen on the west side of the present station forecourt is said to be the only surviving structure from Francis Thompson’s original NMR station. It has been suggested that this split-level structure may have been the building referred to as a ‘Machine House’ in the Chesterfield tithe map schedule of 1848. It has quoins and a plinth, together with a pediment bearing the arms of the North Midland Railway.

At the end of the 19th century the Midland main line was served by six up, and six down, express workings between London and Manchester, together with a number of AngloScottish expresses to and from Glasgow or Edinburgh, and other trains to Sheffield or Bradford. Chesterfield was not regarded as a primary stop for these long-distance express services, although by the end of the Victorian period local travellers were offered a choice of around a dozen main line and local services each way, including semi-fast services and a handful of main line workings to destinations in the north of England. The best trains included the 10.30am from London

(St Pancras) to Glasgow (St Enoch), which was routed via the direct Staveley route and called at Leicester (London Road), Trent, Chesterfield and Skipton, but omitted both Sheffield and Leeds. The 10.35am service from St Pancras to Edinburgh (Waverley) was another noteworthy train that reached Carlisle (316¾ miles) in 7 hours 10mins, having called intermediately at Bedford, Nottingham, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Leeds, Skipton, Hellifield, Appleby (conditional) and Lazonby.

The 1938 Railway Clearing House Handbook of Stations reveals that Chesterfield (Midland) was able to handle a full range of goods traffic, including coal, livestock, furniture, vehicles, horse boxes and general merchandise. The yard crane was able to lift consignments of up to 10 tons, and there were a large number of private sidings serving local industries such as the Chesterfield Tube Co, the Brampton Brewery Co, British Furnaces Ltd, Messrs Bryan, Donkin & Co, the Chesterfield Corporation Electric Light

Works, Chesterfield Gas Works, the Chesterfield & District Co-op Society Ltd, and the London & Oldfield Pottery.

Many of these lineside industries were sited on a now-abandoned goods line known as the Brampton branch, which was authorized on 12 May 1870 as the Chesterfield & Brampton Railway, with powers for the construction of a railway line commencing by a junction with the Midland Railway at Chesterfield, and terminating at Brampton, with various ‘branch railways or tramways connected therewith.’ This industrial branch line was opened in June 1873 and, although it was essentially a goods line, a Railway Correspondence & Travel Society excursion visited the line on 17 June 1961, the train being formed of a Derby-built diesel-multipleunit.

Chesterfield (Central)

Opened as ‘Chesterfield’ on 4 June 1892, the former Great Central station was officially renamed Chesterfield (Central) in 1907. Situated on the Chesterfield Loop, it was

151¾ miles from London (Marylebone). Northbound trains entered Chesterfield tunnel at Hollis Lane and then passed beneath the town, through 474 yards of darkness before reaching daylight. The north portal was dated 1892, and the station was beyond the nearby Brewery Street overbridge.

At road level the station had a timberframed structure as a passenger entrance, its appearance fairly undistinguished, although it boasted a somewhat incongruous French château-style roof that added an element of visual interest to an otherwise utilitarian structure. The track layout incorporated two slightly curved side platforms with an additional bay at the north end. Three lines passed through the station, the main up and down lines being separated by a third line or middle siding. The platforms were equipped with timber-framed station buildings with slate-covered roofs and substantial ridge-and furrow canopies.

The goods yard was sited to the north of the platforms on the up side, and it contained a large goods shed, a 10 ton crane, and the usual accommodation for coal, livestock, general merchandise, and all other forms of freight traffic. The RCH handbook lists a number of private sidings, serving Shell Mex & BP, Kenning Estates Ltd, Chester Sewage Works and Robert Hyde & Sons.

The GCR seems to have made very little attempt to compete with the Midland Railway in terms of London passenger traffic, and Chesterfield (Central) was used mainly by stopping or semi-fast workings between Nottingham and Sheffield (Victoria), although there were one or two longer-distance through trains to Marylebone or other destinations. In 1905, for example, the station was served by the 10.35am train from Bournemouth (West) to York that included through portions for Sheffield, Manchester (Central) and Liverpool.

A similar situation pertained in the early British Railways era in that the basic train service provided about seven or eight trains each way between Nottingham, Chesterfield and Sheffield (Victoria), some of these workings being extended through to Manchester or other destinations. The June 1956 weekday timetable shows eight up and nine down workings, with southbound services from Chesterfield at 7.00, 8.40, 10.56am, 2.33, 4.54, 5.31, 6.35 and 7.20pm. The 2.33pm service was a through train from Manchester (London Road) to Leicester (Central), while the 5.31pm train was a through service from Manchester (London Road) to London (Marylebone). In the reverse direction, there were down trains from Chesterfield at 7.02, 9.11, 9.24am, 4.01, 4.09, 4.30, 5.09, 8.20 and 10.12pm, the 4.01pm train being a through service from London (Marylebone) to Manchester.

Chesterfield (Market Place) and the LD&ECR route

Leaving the Great Northern & Great Eastern main line at Pyewipe West Junction to the west of Lincoln, the Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway ran along level or moderately graded alignments via Skellingthorpe (1 mile 53 chains from Pyewipe Junction), Doddington & Harby (4 miles 46 chains), Clifton-on-Trent (7 miles 58 chains) and Fledborough (9 miles 56 chains). The line then climbed towards Dukeries Junction (12 miles 63 chains) at

1 in 120. Here, a connection provided access to the Great Northern main line. Tuxford

(13 miles 70 chains) was the site of the LD&ECR workshops, beyond which the route passed through Boughton (17 miles 6 chains), Ollerton (19 miles 53 chains), Edwinstowe

(21 miles 17 chains), Warsop (25 miles 45 chains) and Langwith Junction (27 miles 78 chains), the latter being renamed Shirebrook (North) in 1925. Climbing at

1 in 100, the route continued towards its summit at Scarcliffe (29 miles 60 chains), which was followed by a three-mile descent at 1 in 120, which continued through Bolsover (South) station (32 miles 7 chains). Bolsover tunnel was east of the station, while the eightarched Bolsover viaduct west of the station carried the LD&ECR line across the River Doe Lea and had a total length of 370ft.

Arkwright Town (34 miles 49 chains), the penultimate stopping place, was approached on a rising gradient of 1 in 100, after which trains passed through a deep cutting and

entered Duckmanton tunnel, some 501 yards in length. Emerging from the western portal of the tunnel, down workings reached Horns Bridge, at which point the line crossed over both the Midland and Great Central routes. In its description of the LD&ECR, published on 12 March 1897, the Derby Mercury referred to ‘a perfect maze of arches, round, square and skew, and girder openings. This is due to the fact that the line had to dodge its way over and under, betwixt and between the Midland main line, the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire extension to London, the River Rother, and the main roads from Derby and Macclesfield.’ The LD&ECR viaduct consisted of seven masonry arches, three girder spans, and one 115ft bowstring girder span; it was 63ft above local ground level and had a total length of 700ft.

Having negotiated this remarkable tangle of roads and railways, westbound workings ran along an embankment for about ¼ mile before crossing Boythorpe viaduct (320ft), which consisted of two arched spans and two girder spans. Chesterfield (Market Place) station was only a short distance further on, and here, 37 miles 65 chains from Pyewipe Junction, trains came to rest in a spacious four-platform terminus, with two doublesided platforms and an impressive range of buildings. The station was superficially similar to Chesterfield (Central) in that the main platforms were separated by a centre siding that functioned as an engine release road during run-round operations.

The main station building was north facing, across the end of the line, and saw passengers arriving at West Bars, with Market Place immediately to the right. The main building was a three-storey structure with a mansard roof and three Jacobean style gables, the centre gable having a clock face mounted on a decorative pediment. The platforms were covered by substantial ridge-and-furrow canopies, while the station was signalled from an all-timber signal cabin with a gable-roof and an 80 lever Saxby & Farmer frame. The nearby goods yard occupied a site of about 13 acres, and it contained a large goods shed, a 10 ton yard crane, and a full range of facilities for all forms of traffic, including coal, livestock, furniture, vehicles, horse boxes, and general merchandise traffic.

Although the LD&ECR attempted to promote itself as ‘The Dukeries Route’, passenger traffic never really materialised and

so the line remained primarily a coal-carrying route. Passenger services were modest in the extreme, and in 1922 there were just seven weekday departures from Chesterfield (Market Place), two of these being through workings to Lincoln, while the remaining services terminated at Bolsover or Mansfield (Central). The 1947 timetable shows a similar pattern of operation, with eastbound services from Chesterfield to Lincoln at 7.55am, 9.40am and 4pm, and balancing workings from Lincoln at 9.35am, 12.45 and 6.25pm. There were, in addition, a handful of services to Shirebrook (North) or Mansfield, while a few long-distance holiday trains used the route on summer Saturdays.

The British Railways era

World War II brought many problems for the railways, and in 1945 the election of a Labour government paved the way for state ownership of the entire rail network. On 1 January 1948 a nationwide fanfare of engine whistles heralded the demise of the ‘Big Four’ railway companies and creation of British Railways. In reality this radical change of ownership had little immediate effect, the

LMS system being painlessly transformed into the London Midland Region, while the former Great Central sections of the LNER initially became part of BR’s Eastern Region.

The years immediately following World War II were a time of rigid austerity in which petrol and other commodities were strictly rationed, and this ensured that the railway system remained busy. Moreover, the post-war Labour government was openly pro-rail, and this seemed to guarantee that the railways would have a secure future as part of a fully co-ordinated transport system. In 1951, however, an incoming Conservative government soon portrayed the railways as obsolete relics of the industrial revolution that would have to be replaced by road transport whenever and wherever possible.

This hostile attitude resulted in widespread closures, one of the first casualties being the Chesterfield (Market Place) route, which lost its passenger services between Chesterfield and Shirebrook (North) with effect from 3 December 1951, ostensibly because of severe engineering problems in Bolsover tunnel, a collapse as a result of mining subsidence. Bolsover (South) and Scarcliffe stations closed completely, but Chesterfield (Market Place) remained open for goods traffic until March 1957. Further ex-LD&ECR retraction took place with effect from 19 September 1955 when the section of line between Shirebrook (North) and Lincoln was closed. However, Edwinstowe remained open for passenger traffic until 2 January

1956, and this station, together with Ollerton, Warsop and Shirebrook (North), remained open thereafter for summer Saturday holiday traffic until 6 September 1964.

In the meantime, the Great Central route was being progressively run down, the through express passenger services between London (Marylebone), Sheffield, Manchester and Bradford being withdrawn in January 1960, leaving the GCR line with three semifast trains each way between Marylebone and Nottingham (Victoria). Local services lingered on for a few more months, but the introduction of a revised passenger service with effect from Monday, 4 March 1963 resulted in the withdrawal of most of these services and the closure of many of the intermediate stations. The casualties included Chesterfield (Central) and the Chesterfield Loop, although the former Great Central station remained open for goods traffic until 1967. The last through passenger service to use the station was an enthusiasts’ special that ran over the Chesterfield Loop on 15 June 1963, the motive power provided by preserved Gresley ‘A3’ Pacific No 4472 Flying Scotsman.

During the previous March, outright government hostility towards the nationalised railways reached its peak with the publication of the so-called ‘Beeching Report’, which recommended the withdrawal of passenger services from one third of the BR network. As far as Midland main line was concerned, the proposals appeared fairly innocuous, although the route would lose many of its local services. On a more controversial level, the ‘Reshaping’ recommended that the Great Central main line should be closed altogether between London (Marylebone), Leicester (Central) and Nottingham (Victoria).

The proposed closure was carried out on Saturday, 3 September 1966, on which day the last through passenger trains ran over the London Extension. The last regular steamhauled workings were the 5.15pm from Nottingham to Marylebone and the 10.45pm Marylebone to Manchester service, which were both worked by former LMS ‘Black Five’ 4-6-0 No 44984. The Rugby to Nottingham line remained open for local traffic with a diesel-multiple-unit shuttle service, but only until Saturday, 3 May 1969.

The erstwhile Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway’s Chesterfield (Market Place) station became a carpet warehouse, and tsubsequently it was to become a paint store before succumbing to demolishment. The station site has since been redeveloped. Chesterfield (Central) station has, similarly, been redeveloped. Much of the former railway infrastructure in Chesterfield has now been buried beneath the town’s inner relief road (the A61). Perhaps surprisingly, about ten miles of the former Lancashire, Derbyshire &

East Coast route has survived as part of the High Marnham test track used by the

Network Rail Innovation & Development Centre, which was originally known as the Rail Vehicle Development Centre. This facility was opened at Tuxford in 2009 and it provides ‘a safe and reliable testing environment for the railway of the future.’ The site includes sidings and storage accommodation, together with a short section of non-live 25kV type catenary and a short section of non-live third/fourth rail.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/Kidderminster Railway Museum Chesterfield’s Midland Railway station, circa 1905 – a panoramic view looking south-west towards the town and its famous spire, as seen from the lower flanks of high ground that, further north, accommodated Tapton House. The River Rother flows north beneath the Sheffield end of the station, necessitating a separate bridge when the nearside goods lines were added to the original North Midland Railway formation, the rear of the up platform buildings seen immediately west of the goods lines. The main station building is on the down side, with a sizeable yard at its south end. A tender engine is at the station, facing north, and the rake of coaching stock on the right occupies the down bay. Immediately above the last coach is the meeting point of Tapton Lane (north-south) and Brewery Street, and to the right of the buildings thereabouts, perhaps from where steam is rising, the town’s Great Central station goes unseen.

An RCH map from the post-1907 but pre-grouping period records public railways built in the Chesterfield area. The Midland Railway system is shown in green and much enlarged from the former NMR main line seen running north of Ambergate and through Chesterfield, and then east and north towards Rotherham (and onwards to Normanton). Great Central routes are in orange and by this date they include the key Sheffield-Nottingham main line east of Chesterfield, as well as the Chesterfield Loop between Staveley Town and Heath. Beneath the main Chesterfield title is the, by then, GCR-owned terminus of Market Place. This was the west-to-east route of the erstwhile LD&ECR that passed through Bolsover and Warsop to link to other railways in the Tuxford and Lincoln area.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/ Kidderminster Railway Museum An etching records the first railway station in Chesterfield, circa 1850, which was opened by the North Midland Railway on 11 May 1840. Designed by Francis Thompson, in February 1839 he was recruited by Robert Stephenson as architect of the 72 mile NMR main line; he was 31 at the time. With its Elizabethan Gothic style, Chesterfield station was highly thought of in early press reports.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/ Kidderminster Railway Museum About 4½ miles south of Chesterfield is the impressive castellated northern portal of Clay Cross tunnel, its southern partner plain by comparison and 1,784 yards distant. Designed by George Stephenson and estimated to cost £96,000, in the event the contractor negotiated for £105,000. Some 29ft wide and 25ft 11in high, construction took from 2 February 1837 through to 18 December 1839. By then, 15 lives had been lost, about 15 million bricks had been used to line the tunnel, and costs had risen to £140,000. However, the workings revealed the presence of both coal and iron, leading to George Stephenson setting up a company to exploit these deposits.

H C Casserley Seen about 1½ miles north of Chesterfield, LMS Fowler ‘4F’ 0-6-0 No 4410 approaches Sheepbridge & Whittington Moor station with the 4.13pm Chesterfield to Sheffield stopping service on 8 June 1935. In the foreground is Brimington Road, while behind the photographer is the erstwhile Chesterfield racecourse, as well as the community of Whittingham Moor. With origins in the 18th century, in later days a two-mile racecourse encircled the community. The opening of Sheepbridge station on 1 August 1870 proved well timed as on 28 September the 13-year-old Fred Archer rode his first winner, Atholl Daisy at 3/1, in what would prove to be an illustrious but all too short career. He was champion jockey for 13 years until taking his own life in 1886. The last meeting at Chesterfield racecourse took place on 10 October 1877.

Kidderminster Railway Museum Collection In the heart of Clay Cross Co operations, a Sharp, Stewart & Co 0-6-0ST (Works No 1918 of 1869) has likely seen its last use, or is at least in store as the coupling rods have been removed, as have the buffer heads, and that on the right is partly broken off. Founded in 1837, the Clay Cross Co was in the hands of George and then Robert Stephenson until 1852, when passing to the Jackson family, who continued to develop the site immediately north-east of Clay Cross tunnel. The extension of the Erewash Valley line through to Clay Cross in 1862 placed the workings in the ‘V’ of two main lines, with the well-sited business encompassing coal, iron ore and limestone extraction, as well as having an iron works. Expansion in the Jackson era included the seven-mile Ashover Light Railway to bring in minerals from Ashover; that railway served from 1924 to 1950. The last vestige of these industrial operations closed in 1998.

H C Casserley Almost 21 years later to the day, on 7 June 1956 we find that the nearby two-platform station has reverted to its original name of Sheepbridge; it was Sheepbridge & Whittington Moor from 8 October 1897 until 18 June 1951. This view from the west side of the line records the brick-built booking office at road level, with an enamel British Railways Sheepbridge sign above the door. Paths on either side of the embankment lead up to the platforms. Only ever for passenger services, despite its position between Whittingham Moor and Whittingham, and serving the nearby Sheepbridge works complex, this stopping place would be taken out of use from 2 January 1967, although the booking office has found long-term post-railway use.

R C Riley/Transport Treasury Less than a mile north of Sheepbridge station was Sheepbridge Works, which dates back to the mid-19th century. By 1864 the Sheepbridge Coal & Iron Co operated three coal mines, and 28 ironstone pits at Whittington and Barlow. A total of 23 coke ovens were fed, and there were four blast furnaces and a large iron foundry on a 37 acre site that boasted 8¼ miles of standard gauge railway and linked to the original North Midland line, as well as to the Chesterfield canal. In addition, narrow gauge lines reached out to iron ore pits. This picture of Sheepbridge No 23, a Hudswell, Clarke & Co-built 0-6-0ST, was recorded on 5 March 1961, by which time the Iron and Steel Act of 1951 had resulted in much of the company becoming part of the Iron & Steel Corporation of Great Britain, and then, in 1955, transfer to Staveley Iron & Chemical Co Ltd. Pig iron production ended here in the 1960s when the blast furnaces were ‘knocked out’.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection On 1 November 1893, all but four months after the southern section of the Chesterfield Loop opened, the GCR opted to open a station at Grassmoor, which is seen in de-commissioned state long after its 28 October 1940 closure. We are looking south from the main road from Chesterfield as a local GCR line train heads south from Chesterfield (Central) – it will curve to the left beyond the distant wagons, continuing towards the GCR main line through Heath. To the right of the station building is the Midland Railway’s Pilsey Extension, a north-facing connection from the NMR main line at Avenue Junction that took a full sweeping arc to arrive from the north at the distant Grassmoor Colliery. The MR was here first, the Pilsey route continuing through the colliery site, while the GCR enjoyed a link at the colliery’s south end too, the Grassmoor Colliery branch towards Heath.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection Heading south on the section of the GCR’s Derbyshire Lines that first linked to Chesterfield from 1 June 1892, Robinson ‘D11’ (GCR ‘11F’) class 4-4-0 No 62667 Somme stands at Killamarsh (Central) station with the 6.25pm Lincoln to Chesterfield service on 9 May 1949. Between the goods shed and the gasometer, the distant embankment is that of the LD&ECR through Clown and onwards to Beighton and Sheffield, its station hereabouts being Upperthorpe & Killamarsh, which closed from 7 July 1930. The first stations in Killamarsh were both on the North Midland route, which is out of view to the left, the first being closed in 1843 and a Midland one used the same site from 21 July 1873 until 1 February 1954; that closure left the pictured GCR station as the last in this community. No 62667 was originally GCR No 503 of November 1922 and it would serve until August 1960.

A J Ludlam Collection The ambitious LD&ECR scheme as initially envisaged as a coast-to-coast route.

S C Jenkins/Lens of Sutton Collection Opened with the LD&ECR line on 8 March 1897 as the last stop before Chesterfield, this early view of Arkwright Town and its staff includes the station name set out in white-painted stones. We are looking east, and the signal box proved shortlived. Initially a connection from the Lincoln direction just beyond the box accessed a line that ran at the high level behind the left-hand platform, to a yard and on to a south-facing connection to the north-south aligned GCR main line. However, 1907 saw this rudimentary link replaced, with the box in view superseded by Arkwright Town Junction, slightly to its east and likewise facing trains from Lincoln, but doubletrack. New junctions were also added at Duckmanton East, North and South, all north of the station, to offer much improved connections to the GCR main line to/from both the north and south.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/Kidderminster Railway Museum Chesterfield station with a Derby-built class ‘5’ 2-2-2. Boasting 6ft driving wheels and 15in x 20in cylinders, this hybrid class was based on the ‘Jenny Lind’ and early rebuilds. Few lasted long, although the pictured engine bucked that trend. New in May 1855 as No 8, multiple re-numberings followed, as No 85 (February 1862), No 36 (August 1862), No 108 (December 1863) and as seen, on the duplicate list as No 728 between September 1867 and September 1868, when rebuilt as 0-6-0WT No 2006 with 4ft 2in driving wheels. More re-numberings followed, Nos 1095, 1095A and finally 1603 from November 1907 until broken up in September 1920. The ex-North Midland station is by now 27 years old and has gained a glazed metal canopy with five shallow gables supported on metal columns with wide brackets. Note the fingerboard denoting ‘Derby Train’, and the right-hand one seems to read Rotherham.

R E Vincent Departing from the south-facing bay platform at Chesterfield (Midland) station on the afternoon of Thursday, 23 April 1953 is Hasland-allocated ‘2P’-rated 4-4-0 No 40557 with a three-coach Chesterfield-Derby local service. This locomotive was originally completed by Neilson & Co as Midland Railway Johnson ‘60’ class No 2595 in 1901, being renumbered as 557 in 1907, and then ‘renewed’ circa 1913/14. The ‘483 renewals’ came about in the Fowler era, with new frames and new cylinders. The pictured 4-4-0 gained its five-digit BR running number in April 1950 and continued to serve until March 1961, its final shed being Nottingham.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/Kidderminster Railway Museum With the distinctive presence of Chesterfield’s twisted spire a ghostly vision above the fourth wagon, another Kirtley era (1844-73) locomotive is enjoying a lengthy career. This view dates from 5 July 1907 and records recently-renumbered straight-framed 0-6-0 No 2300 running on the up fast line with a goods train. It has just passed beneath the LD&ECR’s Horns Bridge, and a passenger train is on the down fast line. Completed in August 1850 by R & W Hawthorn as the doyen of the ‘240’ 0-6-0s with 16in x 24in cylinders and double-frames, multiple rebuilds followed for the ‘240s’ but the class was ultimately built or rebuilt to become Kirtley’s first standard design. No 2300 (previously Nos 240 and 376) would serve until February 1921.

R C Riley Barrow Hill was on the doorstep of Staveley ironworks and a circa 1866 agreement saw the Midland Railway commit to supply the works with shunting engines for 100 years on the basis of day-to-day hire. That MR types would be used for much of the subsequent LMS and BR eras was perhaps a surprise, but Johnson’s ‘1F’-rated ‘half-cab’ 0-6-0Ts were well suited. On Sunday, 5 March 1961, No 41739 heads a rake of 16 ton mineral wagons within the Stanton & Staveley Ltd works. This 0-6-0T was new in 1884 as MR ‘1102’ class No 1686, becoming No 1739 in 1907 and being rebuilt in both 1913 and 1925, when rebuilt as seen; it would serve until June 1963. On the right is a group of enthusiasts, visits to such sites being popular, with veteran ‘half-cabs’ and a home fleet of industrials too, although usually anything but access all areas. Of course, such engines were largely used on the internal network, but the site’s insatiable need for minerals and prodigious output of product saw the iron and steel industry enjoy a considerable presence in terms of freight operations through Chesterfield.

Colour-Rail.com/BRM1481 South-facing and sited on the up side of the Midland main line, an August 1956 visit to Hasland roundhouse finds a variety of classes in what was now a partly open air roundhouse. Sited just north of Avenue Colliery, the building suffered from subsidence and a section of roof was removed as a precautionary measure. The main line is unseen to the left, and the houses of Loco Terrace offer a backdrop. From left to right are: Fowler ‘4F’ class 0-6-0 No 44162 of 1926, Beyer-Garratt 2-6-6-2T No 47971 of 1930, Johnson/Fowler ‘2P’ No 40502 dating back to 1897 in its first form, and Ivatt ‘2MT’ 2-6-0 No 46499 of 1952. All were Hasland-allocated at the time, although the Garratt was starting to live on borrowed time, its withdrawal coming in the week ending 10 November 1956. The depot would be closed to steam from 7 September 1964 and subsequently be demolished, and Loco Terrace has gone too.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection Another view from the same day, 19 July 1948, records Ivatt ‘D3’ class 4-4-0 No 2133 arriving tender-first at Chesterfield (Central) with the 3.30pm service from Staveley. Even with two intermediate station stops – Staveley Works, and Sheepbridge & Brimington – the journey was only about 15 minutes; note the six-wheel van at the head of the rake. Former Great Northern Railway ‘D3s’ gained a brief foothold at Staveley’s ex-GCR shed, briefly in 1936/37 and then for lengthy periods once the pictured engine was transferred in from Colwick on 10 August 1943. For a while No 2133 dipped in and out of the Staveley books to cover the shed’s limited passenger operations, the Doncaster veteran of May 1898 clearly just seeing out its days – 4-4-0s with 6ft 7½in driving wheels were not intended for such menial duties – its withdrawal coming from Staveley shed at the end of August 1949.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection Having emerged from a lengthy tunnel beneath Chesterfield’s town centre to call at its Central station, a glimpse back along the train providing a familiar skyline, Robinson ‘D10’ class 4-4-0 No 2657 Sir Berkeley Sheffield calls with the 2.05pm service from Nottingham on 19 July 1948. New as GCR ‘11E’ No 436 in November 1913, the locomotive’s namesake was serving on the board of directors at the time, his time spanning the years 1909 to the grouping. Likewise, when new, the other nine members of the class honoured company directors, albeit that theme was broken by 1921 when two of the class were named after sons of reigning monarch King George V. Although Robinson had already embraced both 4-6-0 and 4-4-2 designs, the powerful Robinson ‘11E’ 4-4-0s were a great addition to the GCR ranks and an order for a second batch was placed in 1916, only to be postponed until after the war, and by then the revived order would be for ‘Improved Directors’.

I Krause/Kidderminster Railway Museum Around half a mile north of Chesterfield station, Tapton Junction is the start of the 4½ mile four-track section that runs south to Clay Cross, as well as being the meeting point of the North Midland (1840) and Sheffield & Chesterfield (1870) routes. This July 1964 view is recorded looking north as a WD ‘Austerity’ 2-8-0 appears off the original NMR main line from the Staveley direction with up mineral empties. From left to right, the lines in the foreground are down main, up main, down goods, up goods, and the crossovers near the box allow the transition from tracks paired by use to tracks paired by routing, Sheffield (left) and Staveley, Beighton and Rotherham (right). In the distance, semaphore signals announce that there is also a train coming off the Sheffield route, with both the home and distant off. In regard to the goods lines through Chesterfield, getting a distant signal off was a luxury and congestion was such that permissive block working could be used in steam days.

A J Ludlam Collection LD&ECR ‘C’ class 0‑4‑4T No 16 outshopped in works grey livery for an official photograph. Designed and built by Kitson & Co (Works No 3661) with completion in February 1898, No 16 would subsequently serve as GCR No 1150B and then as LNER ‘G3’ No 6404 from May 1925 through to its withdrawal in August 1931. The six class ‘C’ engines had 5ft 6in diameter driving wheels for passenger work and they were largely based at Langwith Junction shed. It was the nearer of the two long-lived LD&ECR sites to Chesterfield, the company’s shed in that town being destroyed by fire on 19 April 1903 and not rebuilt, a service area with turntable being used.

P J Lynch/Kidderminster Railway Museum Having just passed Tapton Junction and its signal box, this 23 August 1958 view records a brace of Nottingham-based Fowler ‘2P’ 4-4-0s on a Sheffield (Midland) to London (St Pancras) express. They have just passed under Brimington Road bridge, which provided the vantage point for our previous view. The pilot is No 40585 of 1928 and the train engine, No 40542, is of Midland Railway heritage, being a ‘483 renewal’ by Fowler but originally Johnson ‘60’ class No 169 of 1899. Incredibly, taking into account its two eras, No 40542 was in service for nearly 60 years, its demise finally coming on 22 August 1959. Looking out from the cab, Chesterfield (Midland) will be in sight.

Peter Hay/Transport Treasury The main platform facilities are on the far left in this 5 September 1957 view that captures something of the width of the railway formation at Chesterfield (Midland), although another clutch of sidings go unseen on the right. There are actually five vacant tracks between the down main platform and Johnson ‘3F’ 0-6-0 No 43321 on the up goods line, the up main platform at its south end having a bay on its east side, and that having an adjacent south-facing siding. These are partly obscured from view by the grounded coach body. The locomotive dates from 1892 as MR No 2044, although it is seen in post-1923 form after three major rebuilds. It carries a 55E shedplate for Normanton, which passed to the North Eastern Region in February 1957 but has its roots with the North Midland Railway through Chesterfield, and thus the Midland too. Note the watering facilities on the goods lines.

Inevitably, Chesterfield’s North Midland Railway station of 1840 was of its time in terms of capacity, and the Midland Railway opted to replace it on 2 May 1870 as part of the Sheffield & Chesterfield line opening, and this involved re-siting. Seen when the union flags are flying high for the Coronation in 1953, and with taxi cabs awaiting patronage, 30 years after the grouping the frontage of the Midland Railway-built station retains its heritage through adoption of the ‘Midland’ suffix from 18 June 1951, a notion to name it Chesterfield (St Mary’s) dismissed at that time. Sadly, this station building was demolished in 1963, and in turn its replacement (which was not named Midland after 7 September 1964) succumbed to a similar fate in the late 1990s, the station exterior of today a world apart from this picture.

James Harrold/Transport Treasury Viewed from the down through platform on 17 December 1960, Hasland-allocated Stanier ‘8F’ class 2-8-0 No 48065 passes behind the Midland Railway built Chesterfield North signal box as it plods by on the up goods line from Tapton Junction with a rake of mineral wagons. It will soon cross the River Rother, which flows east to west under a pair of bridges, one for the goods lines and the other for the passenger station. The main passenger facilities are south of the river crossing, which restricted the layout of the site. However, immediately north of the river there was an north-facing down bay and adjacent siding, and south of the river there were similar up facilities, while up and down through roads and yards either side of the four-track created a section where 14 lines were side-by-side near the goods shed.

Both G Biddle The last vestige of North Midland Railway heritage at Chesterfield is this building, which is recorded on 27 April 2001. The new railway station just visible beyond the wall on the left represents something like a 160-year contrast of railway architecture. The NMR ‘lodge’ is grade II-listed and boasts a railway company crest (see below) on its west side. Used by an insurance company in recent years, it can be reached by walking from the station and then turning left along Crow Lane, towards the centre of town. We are looking east at its upper story, while its two-story east side can be viewed from the station car park.

James Harrold/Transport Treasury Another photograph from 17 December 1960: viewed from the up platform at Chesterfield (Central), NBL built Thompson ‘B1’ class 4-6-0 No 61047 arrives with the 12.41pm passenger service from Sheffield (Victoria) to Nottingham (Victoria), the 1.26pm departure from Chesterfield. Looking to be in woeful condition, the locomotive is Darnall based, and had been since 14 December 1958. The wooden buildings of the up platform and the ridge-and-furrow roofline of its canopy are evident, but unseen behind is the up side good yard, which had a north-end exit and in its full form extended beneath the station approach. Since the heyday of this station, the centre road has been modified, a short headshunt once in the foreground gone – presumably it was to stable a pilot engine.

James Harrold/Transport Treasury The south-facing Chesterfield (Central) station exterior is seen on Saturday, 17 December 1960. At its rear, enclosed stairways at each end of the building led would-be passengers down to platform level. Only a few yards north of the GCR tunnel beneath much of the town centre, Brewery Street overbridge (effectively over the photographer’s left shoulder) punctuated the welcome daylight for northbound trains, and then the station approach road and its timber entrance was passed beneath.

A E Bennett/Transport Treasury The down-side station buildings of Chesterfield (Central) are recorded from an up train as it awaits departure on 7 June 1959. Any passengers looking to go north certainly had plenty of posters to tempt them with products and places to go, and at the distant south end of the station is the stairway leading to the roadside station entrance/exit. Beyond are houses on Brewery Street, and the skyline is pierced by the famous crooked spire of St Mary and All Saints church.

A Drake/Colour-Rail.com/BRE1581 At the other end of the tunnel, a Nottingham-bound train is seen shortly after departing Chesterfield (Central) and passing through Chesterfield tunnel in 1961. Once again, the motive power is provided by a Darnall-allocated ‘B1’, in this case No 61033 Dibatag. This photograph is taken from a footbridge just north-west of Horns Bridge and the criss-crossing of the three local 1900-era railway companies. Immediately after passing beneath the photographer, the ‘B1’ will pass beneath the Midland main line, and then Horns Bridge (LD&ECR). The higher ground to the right in this view is the course of the MR main line, while the bridge that the train is passing beneath is on the Midland’s goods-only Brampton branch of 1873, which itself passed beneath the LD&ECR and stretched for quite a distance beyond that company’s terminus.

Stanley C Jenkins/Lens of Sutton Collection A view of Scarcliffe station, the first stop west of Langwith Junction on the LD&ECR route to Chesterfield – it opened on 1 January 1898, whereas most other LD&ECR stations were brought into use on 3 March 1897. The facilities provided here comprised an island platform for passenger traffic and a small goods yard, access to the platform being by means of a footbridge at the west end of the station. It is assumed that the people on the platform are the station master and his family. We are looking west, towards Bolsover tunnel and ultimately Chesterfield, part of Scarcliffe village being above the tunnel.

Roy F Burrows Midland Collection Trust/ Kidderminster Railway Museum A circa 1906 view of Horns Bridge from its north side, looking south-east with Derby Road going off to the right, and the road to Mansfield to the left. The latter passes under a masonry skew bridge that carries the Midland main line, while above this is the viaduct carrying the LD&ECR line from Langwith Junction towards Chesterfield (Market Place), from left to right for incoming trains. The GCR line is not seen from this angle – the LD&ECR passes it a short distance to the left, so it is curving in from the left and will soon pass under the MR behind the photographer. Whilst all these lines created an extraordinary meeting place, their promoters did not see fit to have them connected.

Stanley C Jenkins/Lens of Sutton Collection The main station building at Chesterfield (Market Place) – Market Place itself is out of view to the left. Considering that the LD&ECR was the third company to serve Chesterfield, its station was quite well sited on the west side of town. The view is recorded in the line’s first decade, as immediately below the clock is a Lancashire, Derbyshire & East Coast Railway sign promoting the ‘Dukeries Route’.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection Calling at Bolsover (South) with a Chesterfield (Market Place) service is Robinson ‘A5’ Pacific tank No 69821. Although a GCR design (9N), it was new as LNER No 6 in February 1923. The 40E shedplate on the smokebox door indicates Langwith Junction ownership, and so the earliest possible date is 4 February 1951, and No 69821 was still on hand when this station closed to passengers on 3 December that year. The station was a few hundred yards south of its village, along Castle Lane, and until 1930 it had competition from the Midland for passenger business, but it became clear that MR interest was in the output of Bolsover Colliery rather than in serving a small village. The colliery was in the immediately vicinity of the MR station, some way west of the village, the LD&ECR link to it being from Markham Junction, just west of Bolsover, which also led to Markham Colliery slightly further north.

W A Camwell/SLS Collection Confirming that little changes on the newlynationalised railway (at least on the surface), this scene, most likely between March 1949 and March 1953, records a Parker-designed MS&LR ‘9F’ running as BR (Eastern Region) ‘N5/2’ No 69295 in passenger service alongside the up platform at Chesterfield (Central). Completed three years after its designer retired, Harry Pollitt was in charge of locomotive matters when this 0-6-2T first rolled out of Gorton Works as MS&LR No 203A in December 1896. It went on to carry three intermediate numbers – GCR No 25, LNER Nos 5025 and 9295 – and was noted for having a vertical rear bunker plate (rather than flared). Having served a second residency as a Staveley engine, it would be transferred to Darnall shed on 8 March 1953.

Stanley C Jenkins/Lens of Sutton Collection In steam at the head of a passenger service, LD&ECR class ‘A’ 0-6-2T No 26 stands in the platforms at Chesterfield (Market Place) station on an occasion that demanded a posed photograph during the early years of the 20th century. The LD&ECR system was worked entirely by Kitson built tank engines, with this particular 0-6-2T originally fitted with Marshal patent valve gear, while the other class ‘A’ engines had Allan straight link motion. No 26 was one of a batch of five class ‘As’ that were completed in 1899 but seem to have been delayed pending payment, seemingly until November 1900. In due course the pictured locomotive would serve as GCR Nos 1166 and 42 (from August 1920), and in December 1924 it began running as LNER No 5042. Regarded as class ‘N6’, it served until January 1938.

A Linaker/Kidderminster Railway Museum GCR ‘D11/1’ 4-4-0 No 62666 Zeebrugge has run down light engine from Staveley shed and now departs from Chesterfield (Central) with the fivecoach 4.30pm to Sheffield (Victoria) on Tuesday, 6 July 1959. Once the London express work was curtailed at the beginning of 1960, the remaining weekday passenger service comprised five through trains (which were not advertised as through workings) each way, mainly between Nottingham (Victoria) and Sheffield (Victoria), two short workings each way between Chesterfield (Central) and Sheffield (Victoria), and the 1pm from Leicester (Central) which terminated here at 2.58pm and presumably provided the stock for the pictured train. There were, however, additional seasonal workings, including inter-regionals and a train to Blackpool. Of note are the huge goods shed and its up side yard (closed to public goods from 11 September 1967), and the height of the semaphore signal on the right – a footbridge was a good photographic vantage point but interfered with ‘sighting’. Ultimately, the loss of the railway here provided a course for the A61 main road.

H C Casserley Chesterfield Town Hall was completed in 1938 and is prominent on the horizon, while all is quiet in the foreground at Market Place station on Saturday, 7 June 1956. The former passenger platforms are now devoid of track but the goods yard was still the recipient of a daily goods train, usually worked by a former GCR ‘Pom-Pom’ ‘J11’ class 0-6-0. By this date the LD&ECR main line from Markham Junction to Arkwright Town Junction had been out of use for over a year so this train would start from Staveley and run along the GCR main line to Duckmanton North Junction where the link to the LD&ECR was gained, and would then reverse at Arkwright Town Junction to reach Chesterfield. After Chesterfield (Central) goods was altered to cope with the extra traffic, Market Place closed from 4 March 1957.