IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Daleside Road, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 3GN

The footpath from Manvers Street and Meadow Lane which runs on the trackbed of the Great Northern Railway Nottingham-Grantham line is currently closed while a new footbridge is being built at Trent Lane - part of the reconfiguration of the track and signalling of Nottingham Midland Station and its approaches. Colwick Woods are on the skyline.

The foot crossing is being replaced by a footbridge as part of the reconfiguration and resignalling of Nottingham Midland Station and its approaches. Straight ahead are the abutments of the girder bridge which once carried the Great Northern Railway line from Grantham to Nottingham (shown from other angles in Image] and Image]) over the Midland's Lincoln line. The spoil to the right is from the parts of the nearer abutment which have been demolished. The crossing and associated footpaths are currently closed. This is a view through the barrier shown in Image

A system of paths on former Great Northern Railway land. The view is from the new footbridge over the railway at Trent Lane.

The blue-brick abutment to the right of the train is one of the remains of the Nottingham Suburban Railway's Bridge No 1. The larger stone-and-brick abutment covered with idiot scribblings once supported the huge girder bridge which carried the Great Northern Nottingham to Grantham line over the Midland Railway's Lincoln line. All eastbound trains now use the Midland route as far as Netherfield, where the Lincoln and Grantham lines part.

The bridge in the middle distance is redundant; it probably used to carry a spur line to the main railway line, which runs the other side of the bridge.

In the heyday of Nottingham’s railways the railway infrastructure at Trent Lane was complex. The Midland Railway Nottingham-Newark-Lincoln line, still in use, is at the lowest level. From 1857 trains from the Great Northern Railway’s London Road station (and, from 1900, Nottingham Victoria) to Grantham, Derby Friargate via the Back Line through Gedling and Basford, and Northampton via the GN&LNWJt line through Melton Mowbray passed above Trent Lane level crossing on a plate girder bridge supported by the stone abutments shown here. The last addition, in 1889, was the Nottingham Suburban Railway, which left the GNR at Trent Lane Junction. Southbound Suburban Railway trains from Daybrook crossed the Lincoln and Grantham lines on girder bridges east of Trent Lane before dropping down to cross it on an arched blue-brick bridge, the most substantial surviving relic of the NSR, which lost its passenger service in 1916. The NSR then re-crossed the Lincoln line on a truss girder bridge before continuing to London Road; the blue-brick abutment on the left supported this bridge. The NSR continued to serve brickworks at Mapperley and Thorneywood until 1951; those trains used the northern junction at Daybrook as this southern section had been abandoned after being damaged by bombing in 1941. Since Nottingham Victoria closed in the 1960s Grantham trains have used the Midland route as far as Netherfield. In Sneinton little remains of the Great Northern apart from London Road Station (now a health club) and the derelict goods warehouses near it, the remains of the bridges at Meadow Lane and the bridge and abutments here. The path on the right follows the former track as far as Manvers Street. Trent Lane Junction Signal Box was at the higher level behind the tree on the right. See Image], Image], Image], Image], Image], Image] and others.

This was, until the 1960s, the route built by the Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston & Eastern Junction (later the Great Northern) Railway in the 1850s, leading to its London Road terminus and, after 1900, via London Road High Level, to Nottingham Victoria. Trains to and from Grantham and holiday specials carrying Nottinghamians to the East Coast used this line. The chimney of Eastcroft Incinerator is straight ahead, on the other side of the remaining railway, the Midland route to Newark and Lincoln (which has been used by Grantham trains, which branch off at Netherfield, since Victoria Station closed).

A view from the ramp up to the new footbridge over the former Midland Railway line to Lincoln, now used by all eastbound trains leaving Nottingham. For more about the NSR bridge and other railway remains at Trent Lane, see Image

The foot crossing is to be replaced by a footbridge as part of the reconfiguration and resignalling of Nottingham Midland Station and its approaches. Straight ahead is the northern abutment of the bridge which once carried the Great Northern Railway line from Grantham to Nottingham (shown from other angles in Image] and Image]). The crossing and associated footpaths are currently closed - determined pedestrians are diverted to Meadow Lane Level Crossing.

The foot crossing is being replaced by a footbridge as part of the resignalling and reconfiguration of Nottingham Midland Station and its approaches. The abutments of the old Great Northern Railway bridge, which once carried the Nottingham to Grantham line over the Midland Lincoln line, are being recycled as the base of the new bridge. Image] (April 2011) shows how things were, and relates more railway history.