A Visit to Tuxford

We went to have a look round an art gallery in Tuxford. Coincidentally, Tuxford had been at the back of my mind since Bill Taylor had spoken about the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway to our local history society. Tuxford had been the railway’s HQ, with sheds as well as locomotive and carriage works.

On our way to the gallery we found the Lodge Lane Industrial Estate just south of the village. Such places can often seem a little unwelcoming with their miles of spiked aluminium fencing, a proliferation of security notices, CCTV and watchful eyes from the portacabin gate house.

Crossing the car park, which had once been occupied by a profusion of sidings and a transverser, I picked out the single storey, former LD&ECR’s station building on the northern edge of the complex. Above the door was the sign, “The Goods Yard.” It is now occupied by model railway specialists - designers and builders of bespoke layouts, as well as providers of a wide range of relevant kit. The nearby former LD&ECR’s wagon works now houses various industrial enterprises.

Tuxford had four stations by the end of the nineteenth century, which, for a settlement of its size, must have seemed like very generous provision.

 

We eventually found the art gallery in the centre of Tuxford and the eager and communicative artist in residence showed us round. I looked at all the pictures and tried to make sense of the various artists’ objectives, where stated.  

Over lunch, however, I concluded that the print of the Jubilee and un-rebuilt Patriot at Birmingham New Street by Philip D. Hawkins and the detailed large-scale maps of the old Tuxford LD&ECR complex that adorned the walls in the hallway at the Good’s Yard had done more for me than anything I’d noticed at the art shop. Each to their own, I suppose.