A maze-ing

The former colliery branch lines at the edge of Clipstone Forest provide a maze of off-road cycle opportunities today. Such was the concentration of pits and the rail links provided for them, that it takes a little sorting out to decide exactly where we were venturing. Luckily, there is a very detailed map to refer to, at:                                                                                                     http://www.railchronology.free-online.co.uk/East%20of%20Mansfield%20rail%20plan.JPG           

The first photo - looking south - shows a left fork which led to Bilsthorpe Colliery and right to Blidworth and Rufford Collieries. An embankment to the right of this junction carried the branch from Rufford Junction, on the Midland Railway’s route from Mansfield to Southwell, to Clipstone Colliery. This location is shown on the rail chronology map as being adjacent to the former Rufford No. 2 Coal Stocking Site, which is the open area shown in the second photo, looking south from the Bilsthorpe branch towards the former Rufford Colliery. The bridge in the third photo took the Great Central Railway from Mansfield to join up with the former Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast route towards Ollerton, by way of Mansfield Concentration Sidings.