Nice video sir! As mentioned by others below i did clear up a few bits of vegitation in order for people to get a look at the railway architecture-the first bieng the retaining wall which formed the back garden of a former Block Cottage complex in Staveley,and some original sleepers still used as a border fence.The narrow bridge next to it has historic significance both because it lead to the Staveley Engine Shed and Ireland Colliery,now both consigned to the history books. The first "levelled and made safe" occupation bridge you see was originally a farmers bridge and was buried in brambles,there are 3 L shaped caping stones from the top part of the bridge,the 4th is next to the housing estate at Middlecroft.I did have an idea about exposing as much as posable and,with the help of the local community,creating a stop off point complete with benches and bins but that would have needed help and approval from Derbyshire County Council. The second occupation bridge remains close to Inkersall Green are often mistaken for either platforms or a loading bay but are in fact a very badly degraded former girder bridge to a disused ironworks.The top surfaces were placed by the British Coal Board.Im always pleased to see people sitting down for a chat here. Duckmanton North Signalbox you will find a photo of on flickr.The wooden structure sat in front of the red bricks,with a ladder up one side.This is an area of some frustration for me because i wanted to clear up the fallen bricks and use the retaining wall to tell a story of the junction using OS historical maps,but the DCC Rangers said clearing it up would "encourage people to explore it and we could be liable if they hurt themself".This is also the reason why the concrete blocks which held the signal cable around the cut down wooden semaphore post are layed flat.At least people can see it now,it was easy to miss in the undergrowth. There are also photos of Duckmanton Junction with its iron bridge single track goods loop and East / South Signal Boxes on Flickr,and well known Chesterfield music shop owner & railway photographer Kieth Hudson has some excellent photos of steam at this junction in his book. As you observed,Duckmanton South Signal Box has long been removed but the bridge over the LDECR is still in place,albiet without it's girder span.You can reach it by following the undergrowth direct south rather than following the curve formed by the late 1980s Arkwright Colliery Connection.There are breaks in the border fence and an old washing line cable has been tied to the trees to take explorers down to the former trackbed of the LDECR from the side of the bridge abutments,which sits on the edge of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Duckmanton Cutting.In this area there are still remains of the 1950s concrete border posts,trackside 3000v cable cut into 3 metre lengths,wooden sleepers and what i believe to be cable tethering for a tall semaphore post.This area is key if Derbyshire County Council ever get round to purchasing land and reconnecting the line at Heath,where it would link with the Five Pits Trail.
@@WobblyRunner just a point about Duckmanton Railway Cutting on the LDECR if you were thinking of returning next year for another blog looking at the Dukeries remains,that particular deep cutting is owned by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and since the jagged angled coal & marine bands present are of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) you do need a permit to enter both parts either side of Winsick Lane though i dont see why the Wildlife Trust would say no for a one off visit.The still exposes East Portal of Duckmanton Tunnel however is not like Spinkhill,you cannot walk through it,and the West Portal is buried under farmland,as is another farmers occupation bridge towards Hady.When Arkwright Colliery closed the coal conveyerbelt was put onto the former trackbed of the LDECR and all the rubble from the colliery was shoved into the tunnel opening,about half a mile away.Photos for this are also on Flickr and in Zoe Hunters excellent "tracing the route of the LDECR" book.So all you have now is the abutments,top quarter of the tunnel mouth and coping stones of the east portal,with an earth bank in front of it attempting to stop water leaking through it and filling the trackbed.This damp end of the cutting now forms an ideal enviroment for birdlife & fungus but the Wildlife Trust do not expect people to visit beyond the steps around the coal seems and bird boxes,otherwise a wooden access route would have been provided along the trackbed,as is the case at Unstone with the remains of the coke & Colliery loop of the Midland Railway,between Chesterfield & Dronfield.This is maintained by Derbyshire County Council and comes with some excellent display boards. Other than Duckmanton Tunnel there are fragments of the LDECR remaining between Chesterfield & Shirebrook,with a firm gravel based 15 minute walk on the embankment between Spital & Hady leading to a spectacular deep brick arch bridge. The embankment of the former Carr Vale Viaduct is still in place just west of Bolsover,rising above the Stockley Trail on the former Midland Railway Doe Lea branch,and it maybe posable to get a look at the tunnel portal at Scarcliffe if you clamber down the extremley deep cutting,though the station has long since gone.
I did this last weekend and thought it was a really nice walk. Particularly the middle part with views to Bolsover castle. It helped the sun was out 😎 I liked imagining the steam trains going around the embanked areas surrounding Arkwright town. Must have been fascinating for the kids at the time. Thanks for the inspiration as ever.
I don't know this area at all. The thing is it's so interesting to see that this was a busy district for railway traffic, and you can imagine the amount of people that must have been employed in the sidings and warehouses of these different companies. Apart from the Midland Railway in the area, the other companies had shorter working eras, which makes it so interesting to discover items like bridge abutments and trackside sidewalls, still left behind. Many thanks for this production.
👍 thank you 🙂. The hit on employment when the railways and collieries disappeared must have been huge in areas like this. Livelihoods wiped out overnight. ☹
A local guy cleared the abutments for the farm access bridge near Inkersall last year, the coping stones that are nearby are from the top of that bridge and have been positioned for use as seats, there's 4, the hidden one is on the path towards inkersall. A couple of years ago I walked the most westerly curve at Arkwright, can't recall seeing any debris, all I remember is the amount of ruts in the earth caused by people with 4x4s quads etc using the old line for their own activities.
@@WobblyRunner i cleared it back while walking through it but expect it's quite overgrown again now, considering I've never been that way again since I have to wonder why I cleared it lol
Great video as usual, I grew up in Staveley and went to Middlecroft School (now Springwell) so remember the old lines and bridge remnants well. You mentioned the Duckmanton Line, do you mean the Duckmanton Cutting near Arkwright? If so then you can access the buried tunnel area via the nature reserve off Deepsic lane, it's a bit of a ramble too it and not sure how much is still visible as it's been a few years since I've been myself, but it's an interesting place.
Another good video, on a few lines this is the case where everything that resembled anything to do with the railways was removed over the years, so I guess it’s no suprise that station sites like Arkwright Town have vanished. Looks a nice afternoon walk though that area.
the walk itself is a lot longer than the vid & it took me longer than an hour & i was on bike at the time when i rode that route, like you said there is very little left of the railway releks on that line
@@WobblyRunner oh yess definately took me from 5am to 1pm to get to arkwright & that was just cycling the trackbed & i did notice the incline along the whole of the bed
My Wife's Grandfather worked as a signalman at Duckmanton North jn the 40'/50s, we always wondered where it was, it turns out we've walked past it hundreds of times and live about half a mile away.. Thank You 👍
Loved your video great I was born in the speedwell terraces staveley the old engine sheds were my playground we spent many hours playing there especially Sunday.about two hundred yds from the bridge roughly were the fire station is was a signal box.then about a few yds on the main line to Arkwright was in the 50 s a great big water tank that straddled the line it was brick then a big cast iron tank it was knocked down in the late 50s. Then you get to the bridge at the industrial estate that was rebuilt in the late 50s so was the next one on.just past That bridge on the left you see a blue brick wall that was were there was 3 railway houses only a few yds from the line.the next bridge on cemetery lane bridge on the left 10 yds on the left was a railways men work hut made out of sleepers we found the key and used to go in light the fire and have a smoke never doing any damage.if you walk over the bridge on the left whelk I was growing up in the 50 s early 60s there was privet bushes growing on there and the railway men trimmed them regularly made them look like peacocks and other animals .that’s when they took pride in their work .I can tell you a lot and show you things I know ,enjoy your video and subscribed ,if you want to talk ring me regards des, 07877944558
Thanks very much Des. Some great insight there. Enjoyed reading that :) It still amazes me how many lines, works, sidings etc were in Staveley. And nothing now.
Thanks for this one, really interesting, I cycled this route only a few months ago, the line is kind of traceable south through the Arkwright Colliery site, along Sutton Springs Wood and to Holmewood truck park. Looking forward to you picking it up heading west from Arkwright through Duckmanton tunnel and into Chesterfield, intrigued to know what lies there, cheers for a good video.
As you say there wasn't a massive amount to be found on this route, but enough to make us think about the history of the place which is important, so thanks for putting in all the effort that you do to entertain us. I'm looking forward to Duckmanton Tunnel already😀!!!!
(@ 13:13) I think you are right about the remains of a semaphore signal. Those concrete pieces look like parts of an equipment bench. They would be placed into the ground with their flat faces upwards about 4 feet apart, sometimes there would be several of these beneath the same timbers dependent upon the length of the bench required. The slots are for long bolts to retain a timber to the top surfaces, the top of the timber would be buried with only it's top inch or so exposed above ballast. Onto this timber would be mounted pulleys for signals and/or cranks for operating pointwork. In a long run of point rodding small benches with compensator assemblies would be buried along the route to compensate for expansion during warmer weather. (Without these compensators point linkages could either jam or open point blades without the lever being pulled when the rodding expands in the heat of the sun.) A giveaway on whether a timber is a sleeper or other timber is the tell-tale chair drillings. They are usually obvious and when left in situ will show how they junction was laid out, there will be timber benches (of different sizes) close to where the point blades would have been. The entire rodding route will have buried small timber or, later, concrete stools on which were mounted pulleys for the rodding to glide in.
Nice video sir! As mentioned by others below i did clear up a few bits of vegitation in order for people to get a look at the railway architecture-the first bieng the retaining wall which formed the back garden of a former Block Cottage complex in Staveley,and some original sleepers still used as a border fence.The narrow bridge next to it has historic significance both because it lead to the Staveley Engine Shed and Ireland Colliery,now both consigned to the history books.
The first "levelled and made safe" occupation bridge you see was originally a farmers bridge and was buried in brambles,there are 3 L shaped caping stones from the top part of the bridge,the 4th is next to the housing estate at Middlecroft.I did have an idea about exposing as much as posable and,with the help of the local community,creating a stop off point complete with benches and bins but that would have needed help
and approval from Derbyshire County Council.
The second occupation bridge remains close to Inkersall Green are often mistaken for either platforms or a loading bay but are in fact a very badly degraded former girder bridge to a disused ironworks.The top surfaces were placed by the British Coal Board.Im always pleased to see people sitting down for a chat here.
Duckmanton North Signalbox you will find a photo of on flickr.The wooden structure sat in front of the red bricks,with a ladder up one side.This is an area of some frustration for me because i wanted to clear up the fallen bricks and use the retaining wall to tell a story of the junction using OS historical maps,but the DCC Rangers said clearing it up would "encourage people to explore it and we could be liable if they hurt themself".This is also the reason why the concrete blocks which held the signal cable around the cut down wooden semaphore post are layed flat.At least people can see it now,it was easy to miss in the undergrowth.
There are also photos of Duckmanton Junction with its iron bridge single track goods loop and East / South Signal Boxes on Flickr,and well known Chesterfield music shop owner & railway photographer Kieth Hudson has some excellent photos of steam at this junction in his book.
As you observed,Duckmanton South Signal Box has long been removed but the bridge over the LDECR is still in place,albiet without it's girder span.You can reach it by following the undergrowth direct south rather than following the curve formed by the late 1980s Arkwright Colliery Connection.There are breaks in the border fence and an old washing line cable has been tied to the trees to take explorers down to the former trackbed of the LDECR from the side of the bridge abutments,which sits on the edge of the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Duckmanton Cutting.In this area there are still remains of the 1950s concrete border posts,trackside 3000v cable cut into 3 metre lengths,wooden sleepers and what i believe to be cable tethering for a tall semaphore post.This area is key if Derbyshire County Council ever get round to purchasing land and reconnecting the line at Heath,where it would link with the Five Pits Trail.
Cheers Owen. Enjoyed reading that. Answers a lot of questions and great to see the great effort put in. I think a return visit is in order....
@@WobblyRunner just a point about Duckmanton Railway Cutting on the LDECR if you were thinking of returning next year for another blog looking at the Dukeries remains,that particular deep cutting is owned by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and since the jagged angled coal & marine bands present are of Special Scientific Interest (SSI) you do need a permit to enter both parts either side of Winsick Lane though i dont see why the Wildlife Trust would say no for a one off visit.The still exposes East Portal of Duckmanton Tunnel however is not like Spinkhill,you cannot walk through it,and the West Portal is buried under farmland,as is another farmers occupation bridge towards Hady.When Arkwright Colliery closed the coal conveyerbelt was put onto the former trackbed of the LDECR and all the rubble from the colliery was shoved into the tunnel opening,about half a mile away.Photos for this are also on Flickr and in Zoe Hunters excellent "tracing the route of the LDECR" book.So all you have now is the abutments,top quarter of the tunnel mouth and coping stones of the east portal,with an earth bank in front of it attempting to stop water leaking through it and filling the trackbed.This damp end of the cutting now forms an ideal enviroment for birdlife & fungus but the Wildlife Trust do not expect people to visit beyond the steps around the coal seems and bird boxes,otherwise a wooden access route would have been provided along the trackbed,as is the case at Unstone with the remains of the coke & Colliery loop
of the Midland Railway,between Chesterfield & Dronfield.This is maintained by Derbyshire County Council and comes with some excellent display boards.
Other than Duckmanton Tunnel there are fragments
of the LDECR remaining between Chesterfield & Shirebrook,with a firm gravel based 15 minute
walk on the embankment between Spital & Hady leading to a spectacular deep brick arch bridge.
The embankment of the former Carr Vale Viaduct is still in place just west of Bolsover,rising above the Stockley Trail on the former Midland Railway Doe Lea branch,and it maybe posable to get a look at the tunnel portal at Scarcliffe if you clamber down the extremley deep cutting,though the station has long since gone.
I did this last weekend and thought it was a really nice walk. Particularly the middle part with views to Bolsover castle. It helped the sun was out 😎 I liked imagining the steam trains going around the embanked areas surrounding Arkwright town. Must have been fascinating for the kids at the time. Thanks for the inspiration as ever.
👍🙂. Especially around the flyover. That would have been great to see.
I don't know this area at all. The thing is it's so interesting to see that this was a busy district for railway traffic, and you can imagine the amount of people that must have been employed in the sidings and warehouses of these different companies. Apart from the Midland Railway in the area, the other companies had shorter working eras, which makes it so interesting to discover items like bridge abutments and trackside sidewalls, still left behind. Many thanks for this production.
👍 thank you 🙂. The hit on employment when the railways and collieries disappeared must have been huge in areas like this. Livelihoods wiped out overnight. ☹
Thanks for that walk round Staveley
👍
A local guy cleared the abutments for the farm access bridge near Inkersall last year, the coping stones that are nearby are from the top of that bridge and have been positioned for use as seats, there's 4, the hidden one is on the path towards inkersall.
A couple of years ago I walked the most westerly curve at Arkwright, can't recall seeing any debris, all I remember is the amount of ruts in the earth caused by people with 4x4s quads etc using the old line for their own activities.
Massively overgrown too I expect?
@@WobblyRunner i cleared it back while walking through it but expect it's quite overgrown again now, considering I've never been that way again since I have to wonder why I cleared it lol
Great video as usual, I grew up in Staveley and went to Middlecroft School (now Springwell) so remember the old lines and bridge remnants well.
You mentioned the Duckmanton Line, do you mean the Duckmanton Cutting near Arkwright?
If so then you can access the buried tunnel area via the nature reserve off Deepsic lane, it's a bit of a ramble too it and not sure how much is still visible as it's been a few years since I've been myself, but it's an interesting place.
Cheers Mark. And thanks for the info and pics on facebook.
Enjoyed this one mate. Good stuff 👍
Thanks very much👍🙂
@@WobblyRunner No its thanks to you pal. Great content and I've enjoyed every video. The Doncaster one was brilliant as I know the area well myself.
Another good video, on a few lines this is the case where everything that resembled anything to do with the railways was removed over the years, so I guess it’s no suprise that station sites like Arkwright Town have vanished.
Looks a nice afternoon walk though that area.
👍 cheers
Ironically I've been out filming again at arkwright recently with some more remains
the walk itself is a lot longer than the vid & it took me longer than an hour & i was on bike at the time when i rode that route, like you said there is very little left of the railway releks on that line
Ah yes 😄. It's a fair slog. You notice the incline on a bike too from experience.
@@WobblyRunner oh yess definately took me from 5am to 1pm to get to arkwright & that was just cycling the trackbed & i did notice the incline along the whole of the bed
My Wife's Grandfather worked as a signalman at Duckmanton North jn the 40'/50s, we always wondered where it was, it turns out we've walked past it hundreds of times and live about half a mile away.. Thank You 👍
Nice one!
Always great to have a family attachment to a piece of history :)
Good old railway walks and pleasant days out keep making the videos,thank you.
Cheers Tony
Loved your video great I was born in the speedwell terraces staveley the old engine sheds were my playground we spent many hours playing there especially Sunday.about two hundred yds from the bridge roughly were the fire station is was a signal box.then about a few yds on the main line to Arkwright was in the 50 s a great big water tank that straddled the line it was brick then a big cast iron tank it was knocked down in the late 50s. Then you get to the bridge at the industrial estate that was rebuilt in the late 50s so was the next one on.just past That bridge on the left you see a blue brick wall that was were there was 3 railway houses only a few yds from the line.the next bridge on cemetery lane bridge on the left 10 yds on the left was a railways men work hut made out of sleepers we found the key and used to go in light the fire and have a smoke never doing any damage.if you walk over the bridge on the left whelk I was growing up in the 50 s early 60s there was privet bushes growing on there and the railway men trimmed them regularly made them look like peacocks and other animals .that’s when they took pride in their work .I can tell you a lot and show you things I know ,enjoy your video and subscribed ,if you want to talk ring me regards des, 07877944558
Thanks very much Des. Some great insight there. Enjoyed reading that :)
It still amazes me how many lines, works, sidings etc were in Staveley. And nothing now.
Thanks for video. Just found your stuff. Appreciate your efforts.
Cheers Paul 👍🙂
Very familiar to that crossing at the old stavely central station used to walk that way to netherthorpe school
👍
I live on that walk never get tired of it
I often go there. It always seems a bit quieter than some of the other railway trails in the area.
Thanks for this one, really interesting, I cycled this route only a few months ago, the line is kind of traceable south through the Arkwright Colliery site, along Sutton Springs Wood and to Holmewood truck park. Looking forward to you picking it up heading west from Arkwright through Duckmanton tunnel and into Chesterfield, intrigued to know what lies there, cheers for a good video.
👍🙂 cheers.
Yeah looking forward to checking the tunnel. I'm not sure what is left of the trackbed towards Chesterfield though. Very little I believe.
As you say there wasn't a massive amount to be found on this route, but enough to make us think about the history of the place which is important, so thanks for putting in all the effort that you do to entertain us. I'm looking forward to Duckmanton Tunnel already😀!!!!
Thanks Seamus. I'm intrigued by the the tunnel. Though only a small part remains I understand
(@ 13:13) I think you are right about the remains of a semaphore signal. Those concrete pieces look like parts of an equipment bench. They would be placed into the ground with their flat faces upwards about 4 feet apart, sometimes there would be several of these beneath the same timbers dependent upon the length of the bench required. The slots are for long bolts to retain a timber to the top surfaces, the top of the timber would be buried with only it's top inch or so exposed above ballast. Onto this timber would be mounted pulleys for signals and/or cranks for operating pointwork. In a long run of point rodding small benches with compensator assemblies would be buried along the route to compensate for expansion during warmer weather. (Without these compensators point linkages could either jam or open point blades without the lever being pulled when the rodding expands in the heat of the sun.) A giveaway on whether a timber is a sleeper or other timber is the tell-tale chair drillings. They are usually obvious and when left in situ will show how they junction was laid out, there will be timber benches (of different sizes) close to where the point blades would have been. The entire rodding route will have buried small timber or, later, concrete stools on which were mounted pulleys for the rodding to glide in.
Great coverage and exploration, fabulous and thanks for sharing 🎉
Thanks Ian 👍