Journal 31 — Summer 2006

Table of Contents

  • Early Accidents on the Midland Railway: 1848 (part 3) / By Chris Rouse
  • Passenger services and facilities on the Erewash valley line / By Glynn Waite
  • Photographed at Horn's Bridge / By Philip Cousins & Chris Hollis
  • Locomotive Aesthetics / By Jack Braithwaite
  • Query Corner
    • Query 41 : station identified as Kilnhurst looking north / By Mick King & Roger Brettle
    • Query 43 : station identified as Tewesbury / By Chris Crofts
  • Comments on Items in Previous Journals
    • Midland Railway football teams [No. 29, p.16]
    • Millhouses shed: what you didn't see when it was open [No. 29, p.6]
    • Accident at St. Mary's junction 8th February 1906 [No. 28, p.1; No. 29, p.19]
    • Special stops at Chiltern Green [No. 30, p.11]
  • Sad accident at Newark : the inquest

  • Front cover

    A station at West House opened on 1st May 1862 when the Erewash Valley line was extended from Pye Bridge to Clay Cross, but was not successful and closed on 1st August 1865. Traffic potential obviously improved and a new station named Westhouses & Blackwell opened on the same site on 17th October 1881. The presence of coal led to the laying of various sidings in the area, and Westhouses soon became a thriving railway centre. In 1898, for example, the Midland Railway erected a school that could hold 270 pupils, at a cost of £5,000. This photograph shows a group of passengers at the northern end of the Down platform, with the Booking Office, which was at street level, behind. See also the article on the Erewash Valley passenger services and facilities.

    [Photo A. Knighton collection]

  • Rear cover

    In 1906 the Midland Railway ventured into tramway operation, with the opening of the Burton & Ashby Light Railways — the title being in plural initially due to the system being projected as 4 separate, though linked, lines. The Manager throughout the tramway’s existence was James Toulmin. Here we have the front and back of a postcard sent to Toulmin from W.H.C. Clay, the Midland’s Estate Agent at Derby, acknowledging correspondence about the watercourse near to the tramway’s power station. The cards appear to have been printed in December 1913, although this one was not posted until 1921. Note that Clay’s office did not put sufficient stamps on the card and that a postage due stamp was also added at Swadlincote. The tramway closed down on 19th February 1927.

    [G. Waite collection]