Clay Cross

Living in Mansfield in the 80s and very busy at work and with three children to entertain, railways were not top of the agenda. I’d heard of Clay Cross but only because of the political dispute in which local councillors had refused to enact a government imposed rise in domestic rents for council houses in the previous decade.

However, our nearest main line was then the Midland route from London St Pancras to Sheffield. North of Clay Cross at North Wingfield, this was joined by the lines from Derby, which added the cross-country traffic via Birmingham on a four-track main line section south of Chesterfield.

We would take a picnic and sit in a field next to the railway in the Amber valley, fished with a net for stickle-backs, but generally caught some rather unpleasant-looking bottom-feeding creatures that may or may not have been gobies [?]. We gathered vast quantities of elderberries and took them home to make some seriously strong wine. Sometimes, we popped in to the Old Napoleon Inn, overlooking Ogston reservoir, for a lemonade.

Throughout this period, the Class 47s ruled the roost on the locomotive hauled expresses. I did not keep notes, but I kept an eye on proceedings in case one of the 47s that I not seen before put in an appearance.

Occasionally, we made trips to view a steam-hauled special train. Kolhapur and Mallard were photographed near to Clay Cross station in 1987 and the Flying Scotsman between North Wingfield and Tupton during the following year.