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The Leicester Line in the 1980s The Leicester Line goes from Burton-on-Trent to Knighton Junction and is just less than thirty miles in length. Coalville is situated approximately half way along. The branch comes off the main Derby-Birmingham line at Leicester Junction, where a signalbox once stood outside Burton loco sheds (17B/16F). As the route curves eastwards it is joined by a spur line at Birmingham Curve Junction. Crossing the old A38 road it then passes over the River Trent via a 16-arch viaduct. Drakelow Power Station is accessed through Drakelow West arrival, which lies alongside the down departure. During the time of this book it was accessed by the Stanilow oil tanks and Pressflow fly-ash trains. A night tripper sometimes arrived to replace crippled wagons, which were then taken for repair at Burton MGR. The west line then joins the sidings and meets with the east arrival and departure. These lines were even busier, with constant use by coal trains from various locations along the branch. In the early 1980s class 20s would trip trains of conventional wagons into A/B sidings, from where CEGB shunters would take them for unloading at the mechanical loading plant, which actually lifted and tipped each wagon. After having a brake van attached the 20s would then take away empties for reloading. All these movements were signalled by small semaphores controlled from a shunt frame. A/B was later turned into a Merry-Go-Round circuit. A loaded train entered the circuit and departed after unloading without having to run round. Apart from Drakelow's A/B station the only other MGR circuit I knew of was at Ratcliffe power station. C-station used the same method but required trains to be run round. The complex was built on the site of Drakelow Hall, once owned by the Gresley family who resided in the area since Norman times. Their most famous son was railway engineer Sir Nigel Gresley. The power station was built in three phases. A-station was started in 1950 and completed in 1955. It closed in 1984. The building of B-station commenced in 1955 and was completed in 1960. The final phase, C-station, was begun in 1960 and finally inaugurated in 1966. For some years the biggest power-generating complex in Europe, Drakelow has dominated the skyline of Burton for over forty years and, at the time of writing, is still going strong. After leaving Drakelow the next significant spot is Swadlincote Junction. From here a line went to Bretby, but this had closed long before my time. Another line went to Cadley Hill Colliery, which was turning out vast amounts of coal right up until the early 1980s. Trains were in and out of the place all the time during the week. Access to the branch was by a ground frame worked by a shunter (usually Bud Abbot) who then gave the driver a token to authorise him onto the branch - a practise that ceased in the mid-1980s. Another ground frame was worked to gain access to the full side. Cadley Hill is noteworthy as one of the last NCB collieries to use steam power. The locos were:
Runt of the litter was a Sentinel diesel. The engines were kept busy shunting empty and loaded coal trucks and had their own steam shed for maintenance. Enthusiasts and photographers came from far and wide to view and photograph one of the last bastions of colliery steam. The mine finally closed in 1988, Further along the branch, on the down side Moira end of Gresley Tunnel, was the open-cast mine of Swains Park. It began life in late 1979 and remained in use until the mid-1980s when it was mothballed and eventually demolished. We took empties to the top of the yard and stabled, before taking yet another loaded train out. Swains Park had a man-made incline so loaders were issued with a brake stick and 'gravity-loaded' the trains. A few hundred yards beyond was Moira West signalbox. It controlled trains from the east end of the tunnel and accepted them from Derby power box. Trains were then offered to Mantle Lane signalbox from a colour light starter signal at Moira. This once busy but lonely outpost controlled movements in and out of Swains Park, Overseal and Rawdon by use of a mixture of semaphores and colour lights. Alongside Overseal Sidings a number of derelict buildings could be glimpsed amongst the trees. These were all that remained of Overseal sheds, once a sub-depot of Burton. Never home to any more than six or seven engines at most the shed closed in the summer of 1964. Until the mid 80s the branch went as far as Measham and Donisthorpe, from where coal was tripped out on a daily basis. Some years earlier it went as far as Abbey Junction (Nuneaton). The line was once very busy and passed through, amongst other places, Shackerstone, home of the popular private railway The Battlefield Line. Across from the Moira box was Rawdon Colliery, where a small single line led to a concrete loading bunker. This once busy place loaded train after train throughout the day. It also had its own loco to bring coal from the pit-head to the storage sidings. In the mid to late 1980s Coalville men worked trains of household coal from Rawdon to Garston Docks in Liverpool, from where it was despatched to Ireland. Coal for the power stations was loaded from the bunker while the wagons were moved forward at half mph by use of slow-speed equipment fitted to the locos. Lounge open-cast mine opened in the late 1980s. Trains were at first pad-loaded, but a bunker similar to the one at Rawdon was later commissioned. The mine's name was supposedly derived from its location between the two villages of Lount and Tongue. As the area was remodelled around the new M42 a bridge was slotted in to carry the line. New signalling was also brought in to enable trains to enter from either the Burton or Coalville direction. Prior to that there had been a very long signal section from Moira's colour light to Mantle Lane's home signal. A fixed distant stood near the site of the old station at Swannington. After the crossing at Hough Hill we approach Coalville itself. On the left is the old West End shunting neck where, in the 1980s, a coal train ran away down 'The Lickey' (our nickname for No.1 road Mantle Lane). The two Class 20s in charge smashed through the stop-block and buried themselves buffer height in soil! Mantle Lane signalbox worked all the movements around Coalville. Next to it was Mantle Lane Sidings, used primarily for the storage of loads. A pond caused by mining subsidence separated this yard from another yard - the 'long side' -, which was used to back empties into. Across the line was Coalville traincrew depot, which consisted of offices, messroom, washroom and lockers. The engine holding sidings consisted of No.1 and No.2, shedside, shedroad, which ran through the goods shed, and the dock. Attached to the goods shed was the stores. Back on the upside went the shunting neck under the box and almost up to Coalville crossing. A spur went into Marcrofts wagon repair yard, which was situated almost on the site of the old Coalville steam shed (17C) that lay behind the station. According to records, loco-servicing facilities dated back to the 1860s, though the brick-built shed, consisting of three roads and one through road, wasn't completed until the 1890s. The first official ASLEF branch was founded in October 1910, and though it had just five drivers at first it soon grew. The steam shed finally closed on 4th October 1965 and the new traincrew depot was relocated to Mantle Lane. A stone's throw from the old steam depot, the town's Coalville Crossing signalbox controlled the gates that spanned the A50. Formerly known as Coalville Town the whole box stood on a raised platform giving the signalman/crossing-keeper an unbeatable view of his domain. Built in 1907, it superseded an earlier Midland-style box. Coalville Crossing box closed in late 1986 and Mantle Lane took over on 21st December the same year. In the centre of town was Snibstone Colliery. Coal was shipped up the short branch to the ' Top End' sidings by NCB engines, and from there Class 20s tripped the wagons down to Mantle Lane to await their journeys further afield. We also backed empties into Snibstone Sidings and the single road on the other side known as Whitwick. Both sidings were accessed by use of a ground frame. Further east, off Coalville Junction, was the single line branch to Coalfields Farm, an open-cast site adjacent to the village of Hugglescote. Due to mining subsidence the branch was like an extended Big Dipper, falling steeply and then rising at the same rate. All run-rounds were accessed by a ground frame. This was operated by a shunter up until the mid-1980s, when it became a guards job. Coalfields had its own small shunter but it was rarely seen outside of its shed. The next port of call was Bardon Hill Sidings. Access was by a ground frame which was released by Bardon Hill signalbox. The yard was shared by loaded stone wagons from Bardon Quarry and Prismo bitumen tanks from Ellesmere Port that disgorged their sticky loads into waiting lorries. Stone was tripped from the quarry across the A50 road and secured in the yard, then the empties were taken back up - routine tasks that were performed by the quarry's own locos. Half a mile on the up side was Cliffe Hill Loading Bunker. Wagons were filled here by use of a moveable chute. Amongst the trains loaded here in the Eighties were our 6V76 'Hayes & Harlington', two daily Bescot trains, and the 'Doncaster'. Crewed by Derby men, these latter trains were examined at Coalville before commencing their journey. Cliffe Hill closed in 1989 and the huge quarry complex known as Stud Farm opened, taking over the loading of all Cliffe Hill trains. Bagworth Loading Bunker - completed towards the end of 1979 - was fed by a conveyor belt which crossed the open fields from Nailstone Colliery. This operation had a life of just under ten years. Below the bunker site lay Bagworth village. The station there closed in 1964, as did all passenger services on the branch. By the early 1980s only the footbridge, sidings and box remained (though the latter closed with the opening of the new bunker). Leaving Bagworth the line falls heavily towards the village of Desford, home of the huge Desford Colliery complex. In the early 1980s Desford coal was taken to Didcot or Rugeley via the south Leicester. Sometimes we were required to bring coal to or via Coalville but with Class 47s being the usual motive power at that time a banker would be required for the challenging Desford bank. From Desford a very long single-line section winds its way to Knighton. Just before Saffron Lane, on the left-hand side, is a single line which once led to the old Braunston Gate Goods Yard, later known to rail enthusiasts simply as Vic Berry's. The well-known scrap dealer bought his first consignment of redundant mineral wagons in 1973. So many arrived after that he was forced to stack them five high! This same method was used to store locomotive bodies as they awaited the cutter's torch - the famous 'stack' which could be seen from the Leicester line. Diesel enthusiasts had never seen such a sight and it inevitably invited comparisons with the legendary Dai Woodham's steam graveyard at Barry Island. People came from miles around. Some just for a last glimpse of their favourite engines, others to make a firm cash offer in order to secure the locos for preservation. At last we arrive at Knighton Junction and come to a stand at the junction signal. We sit and wait for the road. (Time for a chat and a cup of tea perhaps?) At last the signal wire tightens, the semaphore goes up, and with a friendly wave from the bobby we're on our way. Alas these things are now just a memory. The box and the semaphores disappeared in 1986. The area is now controlled by colour lights and the sidings just a mess of weeds and rusty rails. |