Sneinton: view from Meadow Lane railway bridge

Image: © John Sutton Taken: 8 Sep 2010

In the golden age of railways, six tracks - the main passenger and goods lines into the Great Northern station at London Road - crossed Meadow Lane here. Since the railway closed, the bridge - which now carries a footpath from Sneinton Hermitage to Trent Lane - has been much reduced in size, the embankments and two more bridges to the north removed and the land used for housing. The bridge is now the equivalent of single-track width, along the line of what was once the slow arrival line. The remains of the original bridge's abutments are on the right. Just to the north of here Meadow Lane was crossed by the bridges carrying the GNR to Nottingham Victoria via Weekday Cross and London & North Western goods trains to its large Manvers Street goods station. The railway is remembered in the names of the two new streets straight ahead, Gresley and Ivatt Drives, named after two of the Great Northern's most famous locomotive engineers (Sir Nigel Gresley, of course, designed the steam speed record holder, "Mallard").

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