02/02/12 Frithwood to Whaley Thorns

I’m finally coming up to the last part of the Beighton Branch, This walk was from Frithwood Farm (where I first started) on towards Langwith Junction, but actually finishing short of there.

A little past Frithwood farm there is a large sign on a field gate stating Private Land and asking you to keep out, which meant I was straight back into the car and onto Mag Lane, and a view of a private property that has been built over the line.  At this point I carried on in the car to Poulter Country Park, a nature reserve built over the old colliery, here I parked up and started the walk back towards Creswell and picked up the old railway line on the other side of the private residence.

Here the trackbed can be seen clearly as for some reason the farmer farms only part of the field, however the next field is less hospitable.

Immediately after this patch of trees came 2 short branches, 1 link to the Midland line that ran parallel, in the picture the main track is amongst the trees and the midland line runs off to the right

Then a little further towards Whaley Thorns the main branch off to Langwith Colliery runs off to the right also.

There are still sleepers lying around on this part of the branch  although there is no obvious crossing point when you reach the Midland line

Back on the main line and there’s further railway evidence as we walk along, and here the cutting hasn’t been filled in so its similar to walking at Killamarsh and I have to say, a little more realistic looking than when walking through Creswell with its filled in cuttings.

Back at Poulter Park we have the remains of a bridge and a view of the embankment the railway ran along

Of course further along is another bridge crossing the A632 at Langwith which would be my final stop for the day, so with this in mind I scrambled up the embankment to get a look at what was on top

Another part of the trackbed that can’t be walked without a machete. So there it was, I finished in Langwith, but not at the Junction where the Beighton branch starts, that will be done another day.

19/01/12 Killamarsh To Clowne Part 3 (Into Clowne)

Distance Walked 0.75 Miles

Most of it was either on the old trackbed, or where it used to be.

This walk was a tale of two paths.  When I was scouting this last part of the Killamarsh to Clowne route my first thoughts were I would have to descend onto the railway from the bridge over it on Boughton lane, luckily this proved not to be the case.  But first the start, made at the Skate park where I finished part one of the walk. 

                                       

 The bridge and tunnel have long been filled in to make way for a Tesco car park, so this bit was quite easy, and although the trackbed has been built on up to Boughton Lane there was a track that ran parallel.

Once I had reached the road bridge it became clear that I couldn’t just clamber over, but whilst walking a little further down the road, there was a public footpath sign leading towards the trackbed over a field., So waving hello to the 2 horses munching on the grass I followed this and found myself eventually on the old trackbed a couple of hundred yards from where I wanted to be.

I made my way back towards the bridge and this was the first tale of a path, it was very marshy and I ended up wishing I had my wellies on as I trudged back to the bridge.

There I could see what I would have had to climb down to get here and it just wouldn’t have happened.

                                

After a quick look at the blocked bridge, I turned round and made my way back to the public footpath entrance and from here to the Midland Rail line it was a normal everyday footpath, well worn but nice and dry.  Halfway to the line I spotted my first wild fox, too quick for a photograph unfortunately.  I finally managed to reach the bridge over the Midland Rail line (now also disused but with the rails still intact) and a view of the golf course I left on part 2 of this bit of the walk.

16/01/12 Killamarsh To Clowne Part 2 (Barlborough Trading Estate)

If you read my previous post marking the attempt to walk from Killamarsh to Clowne you will know I failed quite miserably, ending the walk at Barlborough just before the motorway.  Today I will attempt to get a little bit closer to Clowne but with time constraints I am expecting to get only as far as the golf course where the LDECR crossed the M.R. Clowne Branch.

I started off looking back at the motorway and as the fence had signs up saying that wild guard dogs roamed loose, I decided against walking back up to it.

The view the other way towards Clowne wasn’t much better so I hiked round the industrial estate and got these views, the first back to where I should have walked from the motorway and the second where the trackbed continued.

So far on this part of the walk I hadn’t really been close to the trackbed, but that soon changed once I had gotten past the Tesco distribution centre.  This is the view back to the motorway from just before the golf course, and the views of the path I climbed up and what I could have climbed up if I had avoided the trackbed and walked on the sanitised council path.

The trackbed would have continued here over part of the golf course, which I quickly walked over and reached the finish for today at the crossing of the old M.R. line.  I couldn’t have gone further as the way was blocked by 2 six foot fences topped with barbed wire.

Overall this was a disappointing part of the walk, although from google map pictures I knew what to expect.   And because I was stopped short of Clowne part three of this particular section is still to come.

16/01/12 Chesterfield Town Centre

Well, after a long break of nearly 2 months, I started back on the walk.  Of course I had to pick the coldest day we have had here for a long time (it was so cold my camera stopped working twice).

For the first walk today I did Chesterfield town centre, concentrating on the area from Market Place Station to the viaduct at Horns Bridge

As can be expected of a modern redeveloped town centre area nothing is left of the original railway station although the Portland pub next door still stands.

Walking from there on towards the viaduct, I cross the dual carriageway where the points system to send the goods wagons to the goods yard was and from here you can see the site of the former Focus store, now torn down (I’m sure it lasted less time than the railway) and where the track used to run.

From looking at the OS maps, I’m pretty sure the railway ran over this bridge, (or this is a replacement) before the viaduct started carrying on towards Horns Bridge. 

The track runs pretty much where a new pathway runs, with superstores either side.  This is quite lucky as I didn’t fancy wandering through Toys R Us in order to find where the Viaduct used to cross, and considering it is on an industrial estate is something of a miracle. There is of course onlt one piece of the viaduct still standing.

From here the line carried on, skirting Hasland and onto Bolehill Tunnel (Duckmanton) Tunnel. 

This part of the  walk stopped here, as I wanted to get 2 in today.  The next part of this particular area will be from beyond the dual carriageway (not seen above, and what used to be the track of the G.C.R. Chesterfield Loop).

21/11/11 Killamarsh to Clowne Part 1

I started the next part of my walk in Killamarsh.  My aim was to walk from around Killamarsh Station, back towards Clowne and finish at Clowne Station, It didn’t exactly go to plan but there was more to look at here than on any of my previous walks.

I started at this bridge over the Rother (Picture 13) and headed back towards Killamarsh Station in the process discovering this bridge (Picture 14)

which is the most complete section of track on this branch. Due to the fact I didn’t have my map, there is no picture of the station but the trackbed was easy to walk upon and the cutting was quite deep and not filled in.  As I approached each overbridge there was a pile of rubbish fly tipped, a common site along this part of the line and not something I can see stopping, but on the plus side there was plenty of wild mushrooms growing and once again hardly anyone else about.

Upon approaching Spinkhill station there was plenty of evidence of the railway, with sleepers and ties.  (picture 15 + 16)

The following picture of Spink Hill Signal Box was donated by the "D Chandler collection"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29644579@N07/6024635279/in/photostream

and after passing the station which is now a private residence and under repair I got my first glimpse of Spinkhill Tunnel (picture 17).

The run offs are still in place (picture 18)

 but there was no way I was entering the tunnel (picture 10) .

This is where I had to leave the line temporarily as I headed towards the main village to find a way around. Once again the lack of a map meant I didn’t find the line again till I came to where it crosses Syday Lane and then the A6135 Sheffield Road.  Here barbwire and a healthy growth of trees stopped me re-joining and I had to wait till a path through some fields led me back to the line.

This part of the line has obviously been less well travelled and was quite tough going after a while but I did find my first structure (not including Station Buildings) (picture 21 + 22),

any information on what it was used for would be greatly appreciated.  After walking for another couple of hundred yards I came to a stop, the overgrowth was getting impassable and it had taken me a lot longer to get here than I expected.  I decided to return to the main road and carry on from the other side of the motorway another time.

03/11/11 Creswell To Clowne

This next part of the trail is without doubt my favourite, simply because it holds so many memories, from using it to get to a park I used to visit constantly, to nearly falling off my bike from whilst riding above the track bed and finally to going through Markland Grips to get to college at Clowne so I was looking forward to seeing it again.

Starting from Creswell Station, going on towards Clowne isn’t possible anymore.  A detour West Street is needed, although a new entranceway has been cut onto the track bed for people from the new housing estate.  The track bed has once again been filled in and is once again listed as part of the Sustrans trail although it is not kept as well as the path to Frithwood.  Once over Hazelmere Lane there are glimpses of how deep the cuttings used to be with a short area not filled in for some reason (Picture 5)

before coming to where the viaduct once stood.  Of course it’s no longer there and I have to admit I have no memory of it at all but there are some stones marking where it once was and some stones which if someone can confirm would have been part of it. (Pictures 6 and 7)

After this the track bed continues on towards Clowne through countryside and crossed by farm tracks, quite easy walking and once again a sleeper or two still about, and gets even easier when it reaches the Linear Park across Hollis Lane (Picture 8 and 9)

This is maintained by Bolsover Council I think and where the Station once stood, and where a Car Park (which I also used whilst at college) once was there is now skate park, not in use whilst I was there.  There are still some outlines of the station buildings but nothing like what remains of the other line that met the LD&ECR here. (Picture 10 and 11)

This is as far I went today, the next walk should be from Killamarsh back to Clowne and hopefully ending up at the same skate park J

From Frithwood Farm to Creswell Station

This is the first part of the line that I attempted to walk.  Having grown up in Creswell I wanted to start here.

Distance Walked - 0.65 miles

Most of the walk was on the old trackbed with deviations where housing has been built.

Walking from Frithwood Farm towards Creswell the track has been taken over by the Sustrans Trail organisation. This and the closure of Creswell Colliery in 1991 means that the line has been filled in and mostly sanitised with new tree plantations and a nice little footpath to walk along.

Immediately after Frithwood Farm we come across possible railway sleepers, These are on the side away from the Colliery and even closer to Creswell is the remains of an old bridge facing onto the track bed.

The Sustrans Trail stops following the track bed when it reaches the housing development on Elmton Close and across the Main Road on Bank Close. On these 2 roads there is no trace of the railway at all with a signal box being lost on Elmton Close and of course more importantly Creswell Station being lost on Bank Close.

Housing now stands where the station once stood and how I regret not exploring more in my younger days when something may have lingered.