Mining Country

In the early 1980s, thousands were still employed in coal distribution by rail, as well as in all the other auxiliary industries that depended on it. Many of the lines in the East Midlands owed their existence to coal traffic, including the nearest to home, the Mansfield to Southwell link, which was opened by the Midland Railway in 1871.

When we lived in Mansfield in the mid-1980s, we were within sight of the ex-Midland line to Nottingham and close to the triangle of lines south west of the Town station, which was then an impressive old building that had been left in an unimpressive state of abandonment and disrepair, after local passenger trains had ceased running in 1964. It has since been refurbished and the passenger service re-instated.

Mansfield had 3 working pits within its town boundaries, including one at Pleasley [1877-1983], which was just off this map to the north west of the town centre. The shopping area had a prosperous bustle to it. During the time that I worked in the town, all the collieries shown on the map were closed down, most of the services on the railway lines that connected them were discontinued and the tracks removed.

Class 56 No. 56114 climbs away from Mansfield towards Sutton in Ashfield with empty coal wagons, in 1986. It is passing the former Mansfield sheds, occupied by other industrial concerns by that time. The double-header Class 20s and the Class 37s working this section were displaced by Class 56s on the colliery to power station traffic during our time there. Locomotives were stabled at Shirebrook depot, further north on the line to Worksop.

The lines from the triangular junction south of Mansfield strode across the valley containing the River Maun and Quarry Lane on viaducts, and served the more recently sunk collieries to the east of the town. The northern arc of the triangle had provided the link to Southwell for passenger trains from Mansfield. Nottinghamshire coal could then get out more easily to the east and south. Regular passenger services ran between the two towns only until 1929, when they lost out to a replacement bus service.

Further east from Mansfield, the map shows the last part of the Central Nottinghamshire coalfield to be developed. We moved east to Farnsfield, in 1987. The run-down of the coal industry followed us in the same direction. In 2014, the closure of Thoresby colliery was announced for the next year, thus ending deep-level coal mining in the county. Of the lines shown, only the test track using the ex-LD&ECR through Ollerton still exists at the time of writing. Though there have been proposals to extend the Mansfield to Worksop, Robin Hood passenger service eastwards to Ollerton, it has not yet happened.

The former lines to Bilsthorpe are now public paths. The track bed through Farnsfield to Southwell has become the Southwell Trail, a well-used amenity for cyclists, walkers, horse riders and nature lovers. It is managed by Nottinghamshire County Council and has its own active support group, the Friends of Southwell Trail.

We take full advantage of this path, which is virtually on our doorstep. Apart from the station houses and the cuttings, tunnels and bridges, there is little remaining, apart from this loading gauge at the entrance to the former goods yard, west of the former Kirklington and Edingley station, photographed in February 2015.

The platform edge with its rounded blue bricks is clearly visible at the former Kirklington and Edingley station, looking towards Southwell.

Much of Nottinghamshire’s coal mining terrain has now been gradually landscaped, with gradients on the former pit tips levelled off, trees planted, access roads improved, car parks provided, paths laid, signposts added and information boards erected to point out aspects of our mining and railway heritage and to point out bird and butterfly watching possibilities. Subsidence flashes have been transformed into fishing lakes and wildlife havens.

The old goods shed at Farnsfield is now a carefully restored private house.

This view was taken looking along the former track towards Mansfield. The junction with the freight only line to Bilsthorpe was to the right of the birch trees. Both lines closed completely in 1964. Bilsthorpe pit remained rail connected from the west until 1997, when the pit ceased production.

[Adapted from an article appearing in the current edition of the Railway Antiques Gazette, for which I am grateful to the editor, Tim Petchey.]