# LM&S rail line, Denby to Long Eaton Junction, Derbyshire - April 2011



## ThenewMendoza (May 7, 2011)

Living in the East Midlands one can be spoiled by the amount of disused rail stuff there is to poke your nose into. From the warehouses of Derby and Nottingham to a myriad of disused tunnels and seemingly endless miles of rail lines. 

Many of the lines I've mooched up and down over the last couple of years were built specifically for one purpose: transportation of coal. With the demise of the coal industry across the UK, and in particular the East Midlands and Yorkshire region, many of the lines remain long after the dust has settled from when the collieries they served were demolished.

This line in particular was owned and operated originally by the Midland Railway company until 1923, when over 100 seperate companies were merged into just four, this line becoming part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Originally operating as a passenger and freight line, freight being the more lucrative of the two, the passenger service was stopped in the 1930s. From then until 1995 it operated solely as a freight line carrying coal from the collieries around Denby and Ripley when it eventually closed to all traffic.

The line between Marehay and Ripley and further north has long been dismantled, but that leaves five miles of trackbed in place heading south-west toward Long Eaton Junction. In places it's clearly used as a footpath, in others it could be described as jungle-like. 

Pics. 

Starting off on Park Hall Road, a points lever and level crossing.







Into the undergrowth, this was one of the easier sections to navigate.






Weighbridge with bridge in the background.






Which leads to a small double tracked sidings.






Level crossing, I looked both ways, twice.






The commencement of the Staff Section indicates the boundary of the sidings.






Extant rails on Belper Road.






More points levers.






After this point the line meanders towards the A38 where a short modern tunnel takes the line briefly underground.











The next section is fairly straight.






With occasional points of interest.











Before another couple of level crossings, the line continues through some gardens so the four foot was abandoned until I could rejoin it a little further on.






World's smallest station?






After this point the line becomes VERY overgrown, nearly at Long eaton Junction though. 






I didn't bother taking any pics of the overgrown section, this is the final leg, still in situ crossing light on the gate.











The end in sight, disconnected from the still active line ahead.






And I finally spotted this as I was walking back to the start point, the crossing hasn't been used for 15 years.






Well worth the cuts and scratches.

M


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## Goldie87 (May 7, 2011)

Cool stuff, looks like theres plenty of bits left to see there.


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## bungle666 (May 8, 2011)

I suppose it beats proper explores! 

actually though, some of thats ok!

B..


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## nelly (May 8, 2011)

I like this mate, I am starting to build a fascination for the railways


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## TK421 (May 8, 2011)

Hello mate, good to see a report from your neck of the woods. Great one this, I travelled over this line on a railtour back in the late 1990's, it took forever because of all the flippin level crossings, and I recall when I worked at Derby station that coal trains to Denby still had to have a brake van at both ends (virtually extinct by then) for the guard to sit in to open and close the crossing gates.

Here is a picture I took back in 1989 of the very thing:





In fact when preparing for the railtour I remember being contacted by the lady that owned the station house at Denby and she was so excited by the prospect of a passenger train she wanted to serve teas and cakes on the disused platform, unfortunately good old health & safety put paid to that, nice lady though!

Great mooch and a great report mate


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## alex76 (May 8, 2011)

Nice report and write up mate


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## smiffy (May 8, 2011)

thats a brilliant report mate...love it...disused railways especially rare ones with the track still in place are really great...thanks!..
.now ...any chance you can have a mooch for the collieries that it once served cheers!


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## ThenewMendoza (May 8, 2011)

TK421 said:


> ...it took forever because of all the flippin level crossings, and I recall when I worked at Derby station that coal trains to Denby still had to have a brake van at both ends (virtually extinct by then) for the guard to sit in to open and close the crossing gates.



I was thinking the exact same thing when I was walking up it. Great pic btw, do you have anymore?



smiffy said:


> ...now ...any chance you can have a mooch for the collieries that it once served cheers!



They've pretty much all gone nowadays, I have a collection of pics of methane vents, capped shafts, bits and bobs and other stuff but nothing that would really fit in on here.

Thanks for the comments, more to come at some point.

M


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## RichardH (May 8, 2011)

That's a really nice report. I'm not usually a big fan of rail history, but what I love about this line is how it hasn't really been torn up that much... simply forgotten about.


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## night crawler (May 8, 2011)

Dam that was good report I've never found any ralines left on the ones I came across letalone points.


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## johno23 (May 9, 2011)

Nice work,great report and pics,a real hidden gem of yesteryear,its good to see most of it still intact and in situ,unlike the old GNR line which they seemingly coudnt wait to rip up and backfill the tunnels of.

Also I am not usually a fan of graffiti,but a couple of those pieces shown are impressive, especially the one in the tunnell


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## ThenewMendoza (May 9, 2011)

johno23 said:


> Nice work,great report and pics,a real hidden gem of yesteryear, its good to see most of it still intact and in situ..



Thanks, a lot of the former freight lines around the East Midlands are officially 'mothballed' so the infrastructure is left in place for future development. There are miles and miles of stuff to look at, find a colliery and you'll find a railway nearby.

M


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## Foxylady (May 9, 2011)

TK421 said:


> ...she wanted to serve teas and cakes on the disused platform, unfortunately good old health & safety put paid to that...


How annoying that she was stopped. Sounds as though it would have been fun.  

I'm also amazed at the amount of hardware left in situ. Very nice tour that, TNM. Cheers.


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