Farnsfield

These two lovely old pictures taken in the village during the late 50s or very early 60s are very evocative of the country railway as it once was. Many small country stations had their own goods yards and goods sheds. Pick up goods trains would take out agricultural produce and bring in coal and manufactured items.

By the time these pictures were taken, Farnsfield had long lost its passenger services, so the train shown here would have been a summer seaside special from the industrial towns further west and heading for the east coast. The locomotive is an ex-LMS 0-6-0 No. 44415, which had already been withdrawn for scrapping by 1962.

Farnsfield signalbox covered the passing loop into the second platform on what was otherwise essentially a single-track route, theoretically allowing trains to pass each other here. It also controlled access to the sidings, the goods yard and shed and the junction with the line from Bilsthorpe colliery, which joined the Mansfield to Southwell line at this point. There was also a siding further east from Farnsfield that served the Victorian water supply pumping station adjacent to what has since become the Southwell trail. The signalbox diagram can be viewed on the internet but without the necessary permission to reproduce it.

I am indebted to Gill Sarre for allowing me access to these splendid photographs.