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28-583: The Ashover Light Railway was a 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) narrow gauge railway in Derbyshire , England that connected Clay Cross and Ashover . It was built by the Clay Cross Company to transport minerals such as limestone , fluorite , barytes and gritstone to its works at Clay Cross and for transport around the country by the LMS . George Stephenson surveyed

56-401: A 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge rope-worked mineral railway serving Alton colliery. This railway was not built because the cost estimates were too high. Instead in 1920 H. F. Stephens , the consulting engineer for the line, proposed building the entire railway to 2 ft gauge. This considerably reduced the costs of construction and the plan was approved. Construction started in 1922 and

84-402: A goods office and a telephone box. The loop-line at Stretton was used as accommodation for connecting trains. The timetables with the main line did not always coincide, and ALR trains sometimes had to wait for nearly half an hour. The loop line was removed in the 1940s. Hurst Lane Halt had a wooden shelter and telephone box, together with a water tank on wooden trestles. There were points for

112-399: A siding near the shelter, but this was never laid. The water tank was gone by the late 1940s. Woolley served the village of Woolley Moor . The station had a wooden platform and a telephone box, a platelayers' cabin and a coal office. There was a siding which could hold around five wagons. The coal office was closed in the mid 1930s. Some time before its closure, the telephone was moved from

140-566: A wooden shelter and a telephone box. It was located about a quarter of a mile from the main street in Clay Cross, near the Royal Oak public house. The points were laid for a siding, but this was never built, due to meagre goods traffic. Despite this, passenger traffic was initially good. Stretton provided the interchange with the London Midland and Scottish Railway . It had a wooden shelter, with

168-515: The 1 ft  11 + 3 ⁄ 4  in ( 603 mm ) gauge Brecon Mountain Railway . Derbyshire Dales Narrow Gauge Railway The Derbyshire Dales Narrow Gauge Railway ( DDNGR ) was a short, 2 ft ( 610 mm ) narrow-gauge railway located at Rowsley South at Peak Rail . It operated ex-industrial diesel locomotives and carriages. The DDNGR was established by Henry and Mary Frampton-Jones at Rowsley South during

196-607: The Clay Cross Tunnel . From here, the line swung northwards out of the town, then curved westwards through 180-degree to avoid going through Clay Cross town centre. The problem with this route was the Chesterfield Road, now the A61, and crossing it required a steel girder bridge spanning 45 feet. The height had to be 16 feet above road level, which required a half-mile long approach embankment to be built. The bridge and embankment were

224-731: The Ffestiniog Railway in Wales and the Cripple Creek and Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad in Colorado . World War I trench railways produced the greatest concentration of 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge railways to date. In preparation for World War II , the French Maginot Line and Alpine Line also used 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge railways for supply routes to

252-632: The South African Class NG15 2-8-2 locomotives started their career on the 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge. The Otavi Mining and Railway Company in South West Africa (now Namibia ) were transferred to the 2 ft gauge railways in South Africa and currently some surviving locomotives reside in Wales on the 1 ft  11 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 597 mm ) gauge Welsh Highland Railway and

280-533: The 1990s. They had accumulated a collection of narrow-gauge rolling stock at various other railways and needed a running line. At Rowsley South the area behind the turntable was found to be suitable and work started on clearing and laying the track. 1998 saw the arrival of the first items of rolling stock, and the two 40-foot containers used as engine sheds. In 2001 the Derbyshire Dales Narrow Gauge Supporters Group formed to support

308-467: The River Amber as far as Ashover. Stations along this section were Hurst Lane , Woolley, Dalebank , Milltown , Fallgate , Salter Lane (for Ashover ), and Ashover Butts . Clay Cross and Egstow An open-fronted wooden shelter with the manager's office on one side, and a room which was intended a parcels office, but was actually used as a general storeroom on the other. The station was the only one on

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336-467: The box into the office, as coal sales were initially good, but soon deteriorated. The section of track where the station once stood has now been flooded by the Ogston Reservoir. Dale Bank Halt consisted of a small wooden shelter. The halt was always very underused, despite being just half a mile from Stubben Edge Hall . Milltown Halt served the village of Milltown . It had a wooden shelter, and

364-650: The business becoming the Clay Cross Company , which was at one time the largest independent employer in the UK. The company continued to develop its mining interests and in 1918 it purchased the Overton Estate at Fallgate with the aim of extracting minerals. An order under the Light Railways Act was obtained in 1918 to build a standard gauge railway between the Midland Railway station at Stretton and Ashover, with

392-536: The fixed border defenses. Australia has over 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi) of 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge sugar cane railway networks in the coastal areas of Queensland , which carry more than 30 million tonnes of sugar cane a year. Many 2 ft ( 610 mm ) gauge and 600 mm ( 1 ft  11 + 5 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge railways are used in amusement parks and theme parks worldwide. The interchange of rolling stock between these similar track gauges occasionally occurred; for example,

420-639: The four large bogie carriages built by Gloucester RC&W survived through WW2, and all ended up as stands on the Works bowling green. Nos 1 and 2 were moved to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway , No 4 was moved to the Golden Valley Light Railway , and the last (presumably No 3) was scrapped in 1960. The mineral traffic continued but the railway declined through the 1940s. In 1949 the railway's last remaining contract with Butts quarry

448-487: The line that had electric lighting. It had had an unusually large nameboard (10 ft by 3 ft) which stood on the single low platform. Chesterfield Road was situated just before the large bridge over the Chesterfield to Derby road. It had a small wooden shelter, and was accessed by a flight of steps down to the road. It was one of the busier stations on the line because buses passed at half-hourly intervals. In 1940,

476-464: The main terminus and headquarters being Clay Cross & Egstow within the Clay Cross Works. Four further stations named Chesterfield Road , Holmgate , Springfield and Clay Lane were erected within the town boundaries of Clay Cross, with the next station being at Stretton. At this point the line was still continuing southwards, but soon swung north-westwards again to follow the picturesque course of

504-436: The narrow-gauge operation. Initially, the main running line ran from Nannygoat crossing, through Parkside Station, across a level crossing to a buffer stop beyond where the containers were positioned. A loop was created at Parkside and various sidings laid to access the containers. Top and tail operation was the norm, with a locomotive formed either side of the carriages. HMRI approval was gained for operations in 2004, and

532-463: The only major pieces of engineering on the entire route between Clay Cross and Ashover. The bridge support on the west side of the road can still be seen today. Shortly after the opening of the railway, the Pirelli Tyre Company at Burton-upon-Trent had a large advertisement painted on the bridge therefore it became known as 'The Pirelli Bridge'. Several stations were provided along the line, with

560-656: The plant was dismantled and moved to the Clay Cross Works. A tarmacadam plant was also built, operating from 1936 to 1948. Salter Lane for Ashover was just half a mile from Overton Hall . It consisted of a low platform with a wooden shelter and a nameboard. The shelter is no longer present, but the edge of the platform is still visible. Ashover Butts – see Ashover Butts railway station 53°08′38″N 1°26′56″W  /  53.1440°N 1.4490°W  / 53.1440; -1.4490 2 ft and 600 mm gauge railways Most of these lines are tourist lines, which are often heritage railways or industrial lines, such as

588-578: The railway opened to goods traffic in 1924. The formal opening to passenger traffic took place in March 1925. The line was built using surplus equipment from the War Department Light Railways . Although the line was built principally to carry mineral traffic, its passenger service proved successful during the mid-1920s, but competition from buses saw numbers decline and Winter services ceased in 1934. All passenger services were withdrawn in 1936, but

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616-459: The rebuild, it was decided to replace the Petrol engine with a 3 cylinder Diesel engine (produced by J & H McLaren Ltd of Leeds), in an attempt to improve efficiency. Now running on the Ffestiniog Railway , named Ashover. Fitted with a new cab at the Ffestiniog Railway , in order to improve visibility while shunting. The line started at Clay Cross Works , just above the northern portal of

644-483: The route for the North Midland Railway between Derby and Leeds in the 1830s. The route passed close to Ashover where Stephenson saw the potential for the development of a colliery . He formed George Stephenson & Company in 1837 and built a colliery and coke ovens at Clay Cross which opened in 1840. The company passed to his son Robert Stephenson on George's death in 1848, and in 1852 he sold his shares,

672-677: The society has had much support from the local population and the council for the area. In 2007, they bought 'Where the Rainbow Ends' cafe, and have since dismantled it and put it into storage for future use. They have also taken over the land that was the Derbyshire Dales Narrow Gauge Railway (based at Peak Rail in Rowsley , Derbyshire) and are developing a new layout. In 1947 Amos was converted to standard gauge and used at Bloxham Ironstone pits. Scrapped 1964. During

700-421: The wooden shelter was destroyed in a gale, and the pieces were used to construct a small store-shed at the back of the Clay Cross locomotive shed. Holmgate Halt had a siding capable of holding around six wagons. It was provided with a small wooden shelter and a telephone box. Springfield Halt consisted of nothing more than a nameboard at a point where the line was crossed by a footpath. Clay Lane Halt had

728-487: Was formed. In 1996, the Ashover Light Railway Society was formed with the aim of saving the surviving features of the railway. They carried out a track-bed survey and found that most of the track-bed between Ashover and Ogston Reservoir was largely intact. This changed the direction of the society from preserving the line's remaining artifacts, to reopening at least a short section of the line. So far,

756-454: Was reached by a short roadway from Oakstedge Lane. There were points installed for a siding, but this was never laid. Fallgate served the hamlet of Fallgate. It had a wooden shelter, a telephone box and a water tank. The station stood at the north end of a 100-yard loop adjacent to a level crossing. There was also a coal sales depot, and in 1927, a limestone dust grinding plant was built. However, due to repeated complaints by local residents,

784-469: Was terminated and the quarry closed in 1950. The railway closed on 31 March 1950. Most of the rail remained in place through October of that year when a last inspection trip was made. After that the majority of the railway was lifted. However a short length was left in place around the Fallgate works. This remnant track continued to be used until 1968. Part of the route was flooded in 1958 when Ogston Reservoir

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