Courtesy M Higginson
With acknowledgements to M Higginson
History of the Line
| The line originally formed part of the
Great Northern Railway's Derbyshire Extension cross country route from Grantham to Stafford and was opened in April 1878. It ran from Grantham on the East Coast Main Line via Nottingham Victoria, over the famous Bennerley Viaduct to Derby Friargate Station. At Egginton Jcn. it joined the Derby to Crewe line of the North Staffordshire Railway which it left at Uttoxeter to journey on to Stafford. The line climbed from Friargate at 1 in 100 through the 464 yard long Mickleover Tunnel to the summit at Mickleover Station from where it dropped through Etwall to Egginton Jcn. |
(Click on the image for a larger version
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This 1947 map shows the line from Derby to Egginton Jcn. |
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A map of the GNR line and the surrounding railways Courtesy M Higginson |
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The gradient profile of the line With acknowledgements to M Higginson |
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Although most of the line was closed to passenger traffic in December 1939, Egginton station didn't officially close until 3rd March 1962 and Mickleover station remained open until 3rd February 1964. The final passenger train left Friargate on 5th September 1964 and the line then closed throughout to passenger traffic on 7th September 1964. |
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Unidentified class A5 with a
local for Nottingham Victoria at Friargate station c1958 53a Models |
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The west side excursion platform G A Yeomans |
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An RCTS special headed by Black
5 No:45109 at Friargate in 1957 Unknown |
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Derby East signal box in 1968 D J Christiansen |
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Freight remained as did the through excursion traffic but eventually Friargate Goods closed on 4th September 1967. There used to be a dairy at Egginton from where milk was transported to London. |
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The loco shed at Slack Lane in
1952
Unknown |
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Inside the loco shed at Slack Lane
in 1954 A Rimmer |
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The section between Egginton Jcn. and Friargate was then acquired by the Train Control Group of the BR Research Division, as a suitable test track. It was singled between Friargate and Mickleover, but in 1973 the line was cut back to Mickleover since the eastern end of the track bed had been earmarked for the new A38 trunk road. |
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The West portal of
Mickleover tunnel during track lifting Gerald Anthony |
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BR had recently opened the Railway Technical Centre at Derby and was investigating a number of new areas of research including what was later to become known as Automatic Train Protection (ATP). Although initially based at the Friargate site in Derby, once the line had been cut back, the group later moved to the station yard at Mickleover where a workshop and various sidings were constructed with a small ground frame giving access to the test line. Office accommodation was provided in Portakabins. The signal box on the Derby to Crewe line at Egginton controlled access to the track. The signal box is still used today (2020) to control traffic on the main line. Although the line was well used during its time as a test track it succumbed to the cut backs within the Research Division and finally to the A516 Etwall bypass and the A50. It closed in July 1990 and track lifting was completed by October the same year. There is a new interactive map on the Derby Photo site here of the route of the whole GN Derbyshire Extension Today little remains to indicate it was ever there.
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