Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway

The LD&ECR system in 1898

In 1882 Francis Arkwright, the proprietor of the Sutton Scarsdale Hall estate, emigrated to New Zealand, leaving the estate in the care of his cousin William Arkwright. William inherited the property in his own right in 1915. Sutton Scarsdale is about four miles east of Chesterfield, and there were rich coal seams beneath the property. There were plans to exploit the mineral deposits, but local transport links were unsatisfactory at the time, and Arkwright realised that he needed better railway connections to his property. Finding the nearby Midland Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway unresponsive, he decided that an independent railway was the solution.[1]

The Newark and Ollerton Railway was authorised in 1887; it was to connect mineral-bearing lands near Ollerton with the Great Northern Railway main line. Arkwright suggested to the Great Northern Railway that it should adopt the unbuilt line and extend it to his own estate, but the GNR was not interested. The confirmed Arkwright's view that an independent railway was needed. He saw that the obstruction of the existing railways meant that he would need to connect to a coastal port; his railway could then convey the coal to its own docks for export. Sutton Scarsdale lay in the centre of the country, and Arkwright conceived that a port on both sides, to west as well as to east, was desirable. He enlisted the support of neighbours, the Duke of Portland, the Duke of Newcastle and Earl Manvers, whose position was similar.[1]

An engineer, Robert Elliott-Cooper, was engaged and he investigated what routes such an ambitious railway might adopt. In fact several minor railways had been authorised in the past: in most cases their powers had long since lapsed, but the routes had been surveyed and were therefore presumably practicable. As well as the Newark and Ollerton Railway, there were two currently authorised schemes, the Macclesfield and Warrington Railway and the Lincoln and East Coast Railway. Others which had been discussed were lines from Macclesfield to Buxton and, crossing the Pennines, from Buxton to Sheffield, while a railway from Chesterfield to Buxton had been planned in 1845. Moreover, in 1884 powers had been granted, but not implemented, for the building of docks at Sutton-on-Sea on the Lincolnshire coast. There were iron ore deposits to the east of Lincoln which might encourage the establishment of an iron smelting industry there.[1][2]

Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway carriage, built in 1896

Elliott-Cooper and Emerson Muschamp Bainbridge, an eminent Engineer and the largest lessee of the North Derbyshire coalfield collaborated in the task of formulating a practicable scheme for the line. They planned a route adopting the course of ten formerly proposed railways for the main line, as well as 17 shorter branches connecting collieries and nearby routes, and the line was fully surveyed by November 1890. The plans were published and the scheme submitted for the 1891 session of Parliament. It was to be named the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway, often referred to then as the East to West Railway. The capital of the company was fixed at £5,000,000, in £10 shares, and the promoters declared their belief that a dividend of 11 per cent might be expected. In spite of the difficult nature of the country through which the central section of the railway would pass, the cost of the construction was estimated at not more than £42,857 per mile, a sum considerably less than that incurred by most other cross-country railways.[1][3][2]

The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway opposed the Bill in Parliament, seeing that much of its route paralleled its own lines; the Midland Railway too opposed it, chiefly due to proposed running powers in the Manchester area. Conversely the Great Eastern Railway supported it; the GER had access to Lincoln over the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, and saw that the new route would give it better access to collieries. During the Parliamentary stages the GER indicated that it would give financial support to the line in exchange for running powers over the entire system. The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway Act was passed on 5 August 1891.[4] It was the largest railway scheme ever approved by Parliament in a single session; the main line from Warrington to Sutton-on-Sea amounted to 170 miles of railway with branches, as well as extensive dock installations. The estimated cost of the construction alone was £4,542,522. The docks at Sutton-on-Sea would cost £700,000.[1][5][6][2][7]

The authorised capital of the new company was £5 million, but it was immediately obvious that subscriptions for such a large sum would not easily be found. In November 1891 the GER examined the plans for the scheme and agreed to subscribe £250,000. In the circumstances, the GER became the dominant force in the company, and it insisted on the first construction being limited to the main line between Chesterfield and Lincoln, with a branch to Beighton, which it was hoped would give access to Sheffield by running powers over the MS&LR. (In fact Parliament authorised the Beighton line but refused the running powers.)[8] The first sod was cut by Mrs Arkwright at Chesterfield on 7 June 1892. In a speech she looked forward to travelling throughout on the line in three years' time, in 1895.[9][6]

Construction was started, but subscription for shares was extremely slow. In February 1894 the company asked the main contractor to accept shares instead of cash; he refused, and stated that he would stop work if not paid in cash promptly.[9] At the beginning of May 1894 public subscriptions amounted to about £400,000. The LD&ECR directors and their friends had made themselves responsible for a further £850,000, and a new director named Perks, and his associates, were to put up £250,000. After protracted negotiations the Great Eastern Railway confirmed their earlier offer to subscribe a quarter of a million. The condition was the separation of the central section from the eastern section and their constitution as separate concerns; the GER was not prepared to see their money expended on the line to Sutton-on-Sea.[10]

The LD&ECR accepted this condition on 3 May 1894. A separate company called the Lincoln & East Coast Railway & Dock was eventually incorporated on 6 August 1897: it adopted the powers of the LD&ECR to build east of Lincoln, and with them the still unfulfilled North Sea Fisheries (East Lincolnshire) Harbour & Dock Company. The Lincoln & East Coast Railway & Dock was destined never to materialise. The LD&ECR authorised lines west of Chesterfield were abandoned by an Act of 6 July 1895.[10][9]

On 15 May 1895 Harry Willmott was appointed as General Manager. He proved an energetic and able force in carrying the affairs of the new company forward.[9]

The first section of the line was opened for goods traffic from Barlborough Colliery on the Beighton line, via Langwith to Pyewipe Junction, near Lincoln on the GN and GE Joint Line, on 16 November 1896. Barlborough, immediately west of Clowne, was for the time being the northern extremity of the authorised Beighton branch, because of the colliery there. A junction with the Midland Railway at Clowne, and branches to Creswell, Langwith and Warsop Main collieries, as well as the north curve to the Great Northern at Tuxford were brought into use on the same date.[11]

Difficulties in the construction of Bolsover Tunnel delayed opening of the Chesterfield main line, but passenger traffic was started on the line from Edwinstowe to Lincoln GNR station on 15 December 1896. There were intermediate stations at Ollerton, Tuxford, Fledborough, Clifton-on-Trent, and Skellingthorpe. The GER were quick to make use of their running powers, soon conveying coal from the line. On 8 February 1897 the line was opened from Chesterfield to Langwith to goods and mineral traffic, followed by passenger opening on 8 March 1897. Further stations at Doddington & Harby, Boughton and Dukeries Junction were added during 1897. Dukeries Junction was originally to be called Tuxford Junction; it was situated at the point where the LD&ECR passed over the GNR main line and platforms serving the two railways were connected by stairs. Intermediate stations were provided at Bolsover and Arkwright Town (originally to be named Duckmanton) between Langwith Junction and Chesterfield, and at Warsop between Langwith Junction and Edwinstowe. There were no stations between Langwith Junction and Clowne until the opening of Creswell & Welbeck on 1 June 1897. Scarcliffe, between Langwith Junction and Bolsover, first appeared in Bradshaw in January 1898.[12][5][13]

The passenger service on the main line was six trains a day from Chesterfield to Langwith Junction, and three from there to Lincoln.[5]

The company saw that operating as a feeder of coal to the GER, as agreed with that company, meant that its future independence was uncertain. Strenuous and effective steps were taken by Willmot to develop tourism; the line was designated the Dukeries Route for the purpose. Nevertheless, the attraction of an independent outlet to the sea enabling a heavy mineral traffic was still prominent. It was plain now that the westward route, crossing the Pennines, was out of the question, but Sutton-on-Sea still beckoned to the east. A proposal was formulated by which a subsidiary of the LD&ECR would build the line and the docks. Other interests were active in planning a harbour at Sutton-on-Sea; although a branch line (the Sutton and Willoughby Railway, branching from the Great Northern Railway) was built, opening in 1886, the docks were not. In 1892 powers obtained to build the docks were acquired by the LD&ECR, and in 1897 the Lincoln and East Coast Railway and Dock Company was formed to acquire the powers for the docks and the connecting line from Lincoln. The capital was to be £2 million, but no progress was made and it was abandoned in 1902.[14]

The Newark and Ollerton Railway had been authorised, but never built. It would have given the Great Northern Railway access to Manchester, if the western part of the LD&ECR had been built, but that was now unlikely. After several extensions of time granted by Parliament it was formally abandoned under an LD&ECR Act of 1900.[15]

Langwith Junction was the point at which the Beighton branch left the main line, running northwards from the west end of the station; the Midland Railway route passed under the LD&ECR nearby, also running towards the north. In 1899 a south to east curve was laid in, connecting the Midland Railway towards Warsop. This was used by passenger trains between 1899 and 1912.[16]

In 1901 the Great Northern Railway completed its Leen Valley Extension line from Annesley, making a connection into the LD&ECR at Langwith Junction. Passenger trains did not use the connection until 1925.[16] The GNR had been granted running powers from Lincoln to Chesterfield and to Langwith colliery; the LD&ECR got running powers to Kirkby colliery on the Leen Valley extension in exchange. On 1 September 1902 the LD&ECR began running over the Leen Valley extension to and from Pleasley, Teversall, Silverhill and Kirkby collieries.[17]

In 1904 the Midland Railway connected another spur, from south to west. Until 1914 the spur and the LD&ECR line were used by boat trains from St Pancras to Heysham for the Isle of Man ferries on Saturdays. Later the spur was used by passenger trains from Mansfield to Sheffield Midland until 10 September 1939; the trains were formed of LNER (ex-GCR) coaches hauled by an LMS engine.[16][2]

Langwith Junction passenger station was renamed Shirebrook (North) from 1924.[16]

The Sheffield District Railway and the LD&ECR approach, 1900

The LD&ECR had always wanted to reach Sheffield, but running powers over the MS&LR from Beighton were consistently refused. As well as the GER (which sought the access too), independent business interests urged some means of making a connection. A first attempt at a semi-independent line to Sheffield in April 1894 failed, as the LD&ECR was financially embarrassed. A second application to Parliament in 1896 resulted in an Act, of 4 August 1896,[18][19] for the Sheffield District Railway. This would be a new line running from the LD&ECR at Spink Hill, on the Beighton branch, to a new terminus, Attercliffe, in Sheffield. The company had an authorised capital of £400,000, and it was backed by the Great Eastern and the LD&ECR, both of which would have running powers; the LD&ECR would work the line for 50% of the gross receipts.

Observing this, the Midland Railway offered access over its own line into Sheffield. The LD&ECR was to make a junction with the Midland Railway at Killamarsh.[note 1] It could have running powers to Treeton over the MR, and it could build its own line from there to Brightside, joining the Midland Railway Rotherham line, and have running powers from there to a point close to the intended Attercliffe terminal. In addition the Midland offered running powers to its main passenger station in Sheffield. This was an attractive offer, saving six miles of new construction, at the cost of a more roundabout route. Construction was quickly started, and the variation on the authorised route was passed by Act of 12 August 1898.[20]

In 1897 construction of the LD&ECR Beighton branch north-westwards from Barlborough colliery junction was in progress; the Spink Hill tunnel of 501 yards was the chief engineering feature. The branch was brought into use for coal and goods traffic from Barlborough colliery junction to a new LD&ECR station at Killamarsh, a distance of 4+1⁄2 miles, together with an intermediate station at Spink Hill, on 21 September 1898, and for all traffic on 1 October 1898. Its extension to the connection with the Midland Railway at Killamarsh (Beighton Junction), a further 1+1⁄2 miles, was opened on 29 May 1900 for goods traffic, and the following day for passengers.[note 2][20] The Great Eastern Railway got access to Sheffield through its running powers agreement with the LD&ECR, a considerable benefit to that company, cheaply obtained.[21][22] The Attercliffe station was originally conceived as a passenger and goods terminal; passenger terminal facilities were now provided by the Midland Railway at their main station, although a passenger platform was nevertheless constructed at Attercliffe depot; it is doubtful whether it was ever used.[note 3][23]

Six trains were operated each way daily between Langwith Junction and Sheffield with LD&ECR engines and rolling stock. The last train of the day arrived at Sheffield Midland at 8.27 p.m. (Saturdays excepted), and was worked back empty to Attercliffe yard and attached to the LD&ECR goods train which left for Langwith Junction at 9.30 p.m.[17]

In the autumn of 1896 the company was able to discard earlier plans to build a branch from Edwinstowe to Mansfield, when the Midland Railway agreed to give the LD&ECR and the Great Eastern Railway running powers for goods and coal traffic from Shirebrook to Mansfield. This involved the construction by the LD&ECR of an east to south curve near Langwith Junction, and the cost of building a Mansfield branch was saved; moreover the LD&ECR secured entry to Shirebrook colliery over the Midland Railway. In return, the Midland Railway was given running powers to Edwinstowe.[24]

The passenger business in the eastern part of the system was disappointing, and early in 1902, the service between Langwith Junction and Lincoln was reduced from three to two trains each way, Mondays to Fridays.

On 1 July 1903 the Midland Railway put on a new passenger service of four trains each way between its stations in Sheffield and Mansfield. They consisted of LD&ECR stock hauled by Midland locomotives, and ran via the Sheffield District, Langwith Junction and Warsop, reversing at Warsop. At the same time a fast Sheffield to Lincoln service was introduced by the Midland, conveying a through carriage between Manchester Central and Harwich, the only express service the LD&ECR enjoyed. The reversal of the Mansfield trains at Warsop was inconvenient, and on 1 October 1904 the Midland Railway commissioned a west curve to the LD&ECR at Shirebrook / Langwith Junction.[25]

Coal trains were worked through to Immingham by the LD&ECR's own engines; these were exclusively tank engines. They took water at Pyewipe Junction and Market Rasen.[26]

Although the LD&ECR connection over the Sheffield District Railway into Sheffield was something of a triumph, the plain fact was that the LD&ECR was a small railway dependent on much bigger neighbours. Its Chesterfield terminal was a dead end, and the dreams of reaching the North Sea had long since gone. Sale to a larger company was therefore on the agenda. The Great Eastern Railway had the access it needed by virtue of its running powers, so it had no motivation to purchase the LD&ECR. Accordingly, it fell to the Great Central Railway (the renamed successor to the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway) to take over the company. This took effect on 1 January 1907 (by Act of 30 May 1906).[4] Curves were hastily laid in at Duckmanton, between Chesterfield and Bolsover, to connect the Great Central Railway directly to the LD&ECR routes; there was no pre-existing connection. A spur was later laid at Beighton between the GCR and the LD&ECR there.[27]

The passenger vehicle fleet transferred amounted to 63 vehicles; there were 1,271 goods vehicles and a number of auxiliary vehicles.[28]

In 1923 most of the main line railways of Great Britain were "grouped" into one or other of four new large companies, following the Railways Act 1921. The Great Central was a constituent of the new London and North Eastern Railway, the LNER; the Great Northern Railway was also a constituent of this company. The Midland Railway was a constituent of the London Midland and Scottish Railway, the LMS.

The LD&ECR route had originally been planned as a mineral railway, and in the twentieth century it struggled to sustain a passenger service. The Beighton branch from Shirebrook North and the Sheffield District Railway ceased to have passenger trains from 11 September 1939.[note 4] The trains between Chesterfield and Shirebrook North (later Langwith Junction) stopped from 3 December 1951, due to structural problems in Bolsover Tunnel. Passenger trains from Shirebrook North to Lincoln stopped running from 19 September 1955.[29][5][30][31]

Markham Colliery traffic was now routed via Markham Junction, reverse, and the Duckmanton connections; this was discontinued from 1954.[32]

Goods trains continued to run to Chesterfield using the Duckmanton connections until March 1957, when the service was cut back to Arkwright Town. This traffic too was discontinued on 2 February 1963.[5][33] Summer seasonal excursion trains continued to run to Skegness until 5 September 1964.[34] The last passenger usage of the line was a subsidised annual day trip organised by the Ollerton and Bevercotes Miners Welfare for the benefit of the local community. This consisted of a number of trains departing Ollerton at various times of the morning to Skegness, returning to Ollerton the same evening. Referred to locally as the 'Pit Trip', this annual excursion continued until around 1970.

Goods ceased over the remaining route east of High Marnham in 1980 after an accident at Clifton-on-Trent damaged the track beyond economic repair. The section through Ollerton to High Marnham power station continued, but this ceased when the power station closed in 2003.[35]

The Beighton line was closed to local passenger services from 10 September 1939; excursions continued. The line closed as a through route on 9 January 1967; colliery traffic continued to use the line as far south as Westhorpe.[36]

When High Marnham Power Station closed in 2003, a major source of business was lost. At 10 August 2013 production at the sole remaining colliery in the Nottinghamshire coalfield - Thoresby - hung by a thread.[37]

At 10 August 2013 the only other source of revenue was traffic to and from W H Davis's wagon works at Langwith Junction[38] which is accessed via a single line connection known to former Langwith Junction railwaymen as the "New Found Out".[39] This track is a south-to-west connection which leaves the Robin Hood Line opposite Shirebrook Junction signalbox. The track and its west-to-south flyover counterpart were lifted shortly after World War II. The south-to-west curve was relaid in 1974; it gives access to the wagon works via a headshunt in what was Shirebrook North's platform 4.[40]

The only substantial part of the line still in use is (2019) at the Tuxford Rail Innovation & Development Centre, formerly known as the High Marnham Test Track, and the connection to it from junctions at Shirebrook. It formerly served High Marnham power station and various collieries, all of which are closed.[41][42]

From January 2010, Network Rail has put the facility to use, with several examples on the internet.

At least two special trains have run over the line, one being on 5 January 2013.[43]

The route authorised in the original Act was broadly west to east, with several spurs and branches connecting to other railways. Only the central section from Chesterfield to Pyewipe Junction, near Lincoln, and the Beighton branch, were actually built.

In 1898, by the granting of running powers over the Great Northern Railway from Langwith to Kirkby Summit, access to four more collieries was obtained.[2] Several more were connected later by new branch lines, in many cases after acquisition by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, and subsequent organisational ownership changes:

• An early journey on the line