When the Midland Railway opened the line it built six stations between Nottingham and Melton Mowbray. From the north these were
Edwalton, Plumtree, Widmerpool, Upper Broughton, Old Dalby and Grimston (formerly Saxelby, the name was changed after only 3 months to avoid confusion with Saxby, a few miles east of Melton Mowbray, on its other line between Leicester and Peterborough).
The brick-built main station buildings at Plumtree and Widmerpool were on the Up platform and of identical style and those at Plumtree survive today as a restaurant, although those at Widmerpool have now (August 2022) been demolished. The Down platforms had a smaller waiting room. Edwalton had brick-built buildings but of smaller dimensions, the Up side building being very similar to that now at Butterley Station at the Midland Railway Centre, and again was the larger of the two. Upper Broughton had its main buildings on the roadside above the station and these survive intact today. The station itself had smaller brick-built shelters on both platforms, the larger of the two being on the Up side. The main buildings at Old Dalby and Grimston were also on the Up platforms but were completely different, being built of timber in a style reminiscent of LNWR buildings, with small timber waiting shelters on the Down side. The goods sheds at Plumtree and Edwalton were substantial brick buildings whilst those at Widmerpool, Old Dalby and Grimston were of timber construction. All except Edwalton and Grimston survived until the 1980s but the recent Alstom upgrade of the line resulted in the demolition of the timber shed at Widmerpool. At Plumtree the goods shed has recently been renovated and turned into a function hall. A pre-fabricated provender store also survived until the recent changes to the former goods shed. These were a common sight on British Railways in the 40's and 50's, the concrete supports for one could be seen at Widmerpool until cleared along with the goods shed. The timber-built goods shed at Grimston was demolished along with the station buildings in 1978. Upper Broughton had no goods facilities, these being handled by Old Dalby. There were also five tunnels on the line at Stanton (1330 yards long), Grimston (1305 yards), Grimston Covered Way (100 yards long and sometimes known as Saxelby Covered Way), Saxelby (543 yards) and Asfordby (419 yards), although the latter was not on the main running part of the test track. |
A remarkable survivor, this is the only known original Midland Railway sign for Stanton Tunnel. Author's Collection |
Stanton Tunnel was completed in 1879 whilst Grimston and Saxelby bear the date 1878 above the portals. Although Stanton has a keystone with 'MR 1879 ', Grimston has the Midland Railway emblem of a carved stone Wyvern and the date in Roman numerals 'MDCCCLXXVIII' beneath it. In a similar way to Stanton, Saxelby tunnel has 'MR 1878 '. |
The Midland Railway emblem of the Wyvern with the build date in Roman numerals adorns the southern portal of Grimston tunnel. | |
Most of the bridges are original Midland Railway; the underbridge at Grimston still has the original pattern cast iron balustrades, although two similar ones north of Plumtree have been 'modernised' with steel meshing. |
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The underbridge at Old Dalby over the B676 road, has the Up side parapet built higher than the other following an accident in the blackout during the last war. When a very long troop train stopped with the rear coaches off the end of the platforms an unfortunate soldier mistook the top of the original parapet for the platform and fell to his death on the roadway below. (Author's Collection) |
When the line was built, the underbridge south of Widmerpool was designed on the skew to preserve the line of the Roman Fosse Way such that when the A46 road was widened and improved in the 1960's, it did not need to be replaced. However, a new underbridge at Lings Bar was built in the early 1980's at the northern end of the line when the A52 (T) Nottingham outer ring road was linked to the A606. An attempt to shorten the line at this point was resisted. Here are some pictures of the stations as they were. |
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