Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway

MetaSidebar|30%|#eeffff|right|Stations and Landmarks
Chesterfield
Arkwright Town
Bolsover

Scarcliffe
Shirebrook North "Langwith Junction"

Warsop
Edwinstowe
Ollerton
Boughton
Tuxford "Dukeries Junction"
Fledborough
Clifton-on-Trent
Doddington and Harby
Skellingthorpe "Pyewipe Junction"
Lincoln Sheffield Branch
Sheffield
Tinsley West

Catcliffe
Upperthorpe and Killamarsh

Spinkhill
Clowne
Creswell and Wellbeck "Langwith Junction"The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway was an early British railway company, which opened its line from Chesterfield to Lincoln in 1897.

It arose out of a perceived need for an East-West line, the plan being to take it from Warrington on the Manchester Ship Canal to Sutton-on-Sea on the east coast of Lincolnshire. It was largely financed by a group of coal owners, led by William Arkwright, a descendant of Richard Arkwright.

Due to lack of investment, only the portion from Chesterfield to Lincoln was built, with some extremely expensive engineering works. As an example, it included a plan to cross Monsal Dale in Derbyshire with a viaduct some three hundred feet high. In Chesterfield itself, on leaving the Market Street station, a seven hundred foot long viaduct carried the line over both the Midland and the MS&LR lines at Horns Bridge.

In 1900 a branch was built from Sheffield to meet the line at Langwith Junction near Shirebrook, using the Midland Line for part of the way.

In 1907 the line was taken over by the Great Central Railway. A continuing problem had been the convert|1|mi|km|sing=on convert|864|yd|sing=on long Bolsover Tunnel, not only because of water ingress but also mining subsidence and in 1951 it was closed along with the section of the line between Langwith Junction and Chesterfield. Passenger services over the rest of the line to Lincoln finished in 1955. They had virtually ceased on the Sheffield branch before the Second World War.Sections of the line remained open for freight traffic(mainly coal) until the late 1990's, chiefly from Shirebrook to High Marnham power station, but this ceased when High Marnham closed.

References

Kingscott, G., (2007) "Lost Railways of Derbyshire" Newbury: Countryside Books ISBN 978-1-84674-0428

Further reading

Cupit, V & Taylor, W., (1984) "The Lancashire , Derbyshire & East Coast Railway" Usk: Oakwood Press ISBN 978-0-853613-02-2