Old disused railway at Stretton Derbyshire. Cannot find anything about it on the net,apart from disused before WW2. Pics taken by me today. Can anyone shed any light on it?      +3 Like Comment You, Mike Noble and 26 others like this. Comments  Hugh Chadderton frown emoticon Not well maintained, though not as bad as some. As with so many of these paths, it needs local volunteers to do the work. The Trans Pennine Trail conservation volunteers do great work, and show us what's possible. Like · Reply · 8 hrs  Tim Ballam Ashover Light Railway Like · Reply · 7 hrs  Nic Barfield Route map here, which is a page from the useful website of the Ashover Light Railway Society. They currently have some rolling stock but no track on which to run it frown emoticon http://alrs.org.uk/route/  The route - The Ashover Light Railway Society ALRS.ORG.UK|BY PAUL GODNEY Unlike · Reply · 3 · 7 hrs  Russell Firth Is it the old line that runs South of Morton? Like · Reply · 1 · 7 hrs  Lee Murfin Cheers Nic. Like · Reply · 7 hrs  John Oram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stretton_railway_station Stretton railway station - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Stretton station was first opened in 1841 as Smithy Moor, a year after the line opened, but renamed in 1843. It is also called "Shelton" in the Railway Guide.[2] EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG Like · Reply · 1 · 6 hrs  Russell Firth It's not the Ashover light railway. That line was west of the line where Stretton station was, this line is on the east side of that line. It's the line between Doe Hill towards Stretton that runs South of Morton. The 3 arch bridge in the photos is on Higham Lane, Morton. I cannot find any info on this line either it just shows it as a disused line on all maps I look on, it's not even on my British Railways pre-grouping atlas and gazetteer. Like · Reply · 1 · 6 hrs 3 Replies · 4 hrs  Philip Langham I tried to get to the bottom of this last year and failed....trackbed shows up on old maps but teack never laid. Too long to be a headshunt but didnt Clay Cross Company own a few mines and quarries near here...maybe an ill fated venture from them ? Like · Reply · 6 hrs  Nic Barfield Neat theory, Philip Langham - see the end of this thread, where I've managed to find a fact that might clinch it! Like · Reply · 1 hr   Write a reply...   Christy Fry Can't do it right now, but check 1800s OS Maps, as that will answer your questions, if indeed it was ever an active line of any sorts. I can do on Monday... Like · Reply · 4 hrs · Edited  Russ Nelson There are dozens of unfinished railroads in New York State. Perhaps this is one like them? Like · Reply · 4 hrs  Nic Barfield Trackbed as mapped on the OS 6-Inch sheet Derbyshire XXXV.NE (published 1900 from 1898 revisions) carries two bits of puzzling detail. The western section, which passes under Higham Lane as per Lee Murfin's photo, is marked "Railway (Dismantled)"; while the eastern section, which leaves the MR Erewash Valley line just S of Pilsley Jcn, is marked "Railway (Disused)" with a single track shown. The 1884 sheet at the same scale (also Derbyshire XXXV.NE), which is the first 6-Inch sheet for the area, doesn't show the line at all, merely the sidings running into Morton Colliery. Looking at satellite mapping today, the trackbed appears to stop dead just short of Mickley Lane (although on the 1900 OS map it is shown as crossing the lane). There's no trace of mine workings there, either on the 1900 map or using Google Street View, just open fields that still correspond fairly accurately to the field pattern shown on the 1884 map... So why build a branch line (or at least a trackbed) that doesn't appear to serve any town, industries or mines? The 1900 OS sheet is here: http://maps.nls.uk/view/101601084 View: Derbyshire XXXV.NE (includes: Blackwell; Morton; Shirland and Higham; South Norm... -... MAPS.NLS.UK Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird  Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird Is that the right area? Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Russell Firth I found the map xxxv.nw but couldn't find the ne one. It even as you say shows it as dismantled railway on that map as well. It did branch off the line South of clay cross at Doe Hill and then headed west and just seemed to end abruptly like you said which I thought a bit odd too. Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird I can't see any evidence on modern satellite to show it even joined the line left of Stretto . Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird  Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Russell Firth Similar area but wrong line, the line in question runs from the junction just north of Doe Hill towards the "MID" just south of Stretton.  Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Nic Barfield Looks very much like a branch that never reached its (unknown) destination. Found this exhaustive MR line codes table at http://www.s-r-s.org.uk/railref/ref-mr.html See ref entry MR 753  MR Line Codes Midland The Signalling Record Society - for everyone interested in railway signalling, from the very beginning of... S-R-S.ORG.UK|BY WEBMASTER Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird The map I took a screen shot goes from the line to the right of Morton but stops abruptly just below Stretton. Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird This image shows on a short section of track on the line.  Like · Reply · 3 hrs  Nic Barfield Yes Edd, that's either the 1900 OS 6-Inch or a later sheet. The SRS record data (taken from MR Distance Book 1909) confirms that 47 chains of line from Morton Branch Junction was in use in the early 1900s. However it doesn't get us any nearer to knowing why the 1900 OS map shows the western section towards Stretton as "Railway (Dismantled)". If it was indeed 'dismantled', it had a very short life - the trackbed wasn't there in 1879 when the first 6-Inch sheet of the area was surveyed. Was it perhaps originally intended to link from MR's Erewash Valley Line to the old North Midland mainline at/near Stretton? Like · Reply · 3 hrs · Edited  Edd Les Paul Bird  Like · Reply · 2 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird I'm afraid that's the best answer I can find. Like · Reply · 2 hrs  Edd Les Paul Bird I think your theory may be correct about possibly to join the Erewash valley line. It does mention the plans in the Midland Railway centre but even they sound confused. Like · Reply · 2 hrs  Nic Barfield Good piece of sleuthing, Edd - it's impressive what's in the public domain these days! However I've another log to throw on the fire, namely a short announcement in the Derbyshire Times, 12 May 1894: " The Clay Cross Company is about to sink another colliery at Mickley Higham. The seams to be won are the Blackshale and Tupton at a depth of 250 yards. When completed the colliery will find employment for 400 men. " I was initially confused by this. Mickley is a lot closer to Stretton and the old North Midland (Derby-Chesterfield) line than it is to Morton/Doe Hill and the Erewash Valley line. However, looking at the topography, it would have been impossible to connect a colliery branch from the North Midland formation to the intended Mickley pit due to steep contours immediately to the W of the Derby-Chesterfield road (now A61) - the mainline being much lower down in the valley bottom. The branch line formation W of Morton heads towards Mickley but disappears into thin air just short of the (post-WW2) residential estate settlement. The Clay Cross Company never sank the Mickley shafts and no colliery rose from the fields... but a branch line was surveyed, engineered and constructed. By the late 1890s, the Midland Railway must have realised they had chucked away good money on the trackbed, deep cutting and bridges, so either they never finished laying the track or took up what they'd laid with the exception of the 47 chains branching off the Erewash Valley line at Morton. OK, it's a theory spun around a small newspaper entry. But an elderly (living) local historian posting elsewhere about Morton village in WW2 writes about "the disused Mickley Branch" - so if that's how the line is remembered locally, I'm guessing that's where it was intended to serve. Unlike · Reply · 1 · 1 hr  Edd Les Paul Bird  Like · Reply · 59 mins  Edd Les Paul Bird This supports the theory as this is where the line ends. Like · Reply · 59 mins  Nic Barfield Blimey, you're a night owl like me! Great bit of digging - the site of the intended pit must have been just across the lane, as the 1900 map shows the trackbed crossing to the W of the lane. But I've checked local mapping since 1900 and there was no colliery. (There's another Mickley Colliery just S of Sheffield, which threw me as it appeared in an 1896 list of Derbyshire collieries I found... but not Mickley Higham pit!) If you look on Google Street View on Mickley Lane (looking S), you can see the line of the railway formation running off left beyond the triangle of uncultivated land that your screenshot shows. I think we've probably nailed it! Time for bed said Zzzzzebedee.