The Great Central Railway and the Chesterfield Canal

We went to Staveley, where in times past, the GCR main line running north to south between Sheffield Victoria and London Marylebone crossed the east to west Chesterfield Canal. When the railway bridge over the canal was constructed at the end of the nineteenth century, the canal had already been in existence for around 120 years.

The canal runs for 46 miles between West Stockwith on the River Trent and Chesterfield, itself. The Chesterfield Canal Trust is in the midst of major works in this area as it restores the full length of the canal, including the replacement of the former canal bed with whole new sections in some places. The canal had largely been drained and returned to dry land and considerable funds have been raised in recent times to allow for its restoration. There is evidently a lot of concrete being poured in this area alone. The CCT’s website has plenty of information explaining about the canal’s past, present and future.

The track bed of the old GCR main line is now part of the Trans Pennine Trail, a multi-use path that crosses the canal and its towpath on the relatively modern steel footbridge that eventually replaced the conventional brick-built railway bridge, following the closure of the railway in the 1960s. The towpath alongside the course of the canal is now another long-distance footpath, called the Cuckoo Way. Current construction work means that this whole location is fenced off at the moment, though it appears to be well on the way to completion in the vicinity of Staveley.

Just south of this point, the GCR crossed another double track railway line that was part of the Midland Railway system and that line, in turn, also then crossed the canal. The track bed of the former Midland line has now disappeared from the scene. The GCR lines then splayed out to enter Staveley Central station. Old photographs show that this was a sizeable railway presence with sidings on both sides of the line. The landscape in this area has continued to alter according to changing transport requirements throughout the last 250 years, so much so that matching up old maps and photos with the present day became quite a challenge, though I think that I got there in the end!

                     Photo with thanks to the Chesterfield Canal Trust