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Tennis Court Industrial Estate, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 4EW

I have no idea why these houses, which look like typically 50s/60s semis, should be so named: a name that sounds as though it should be attached to a Victorian or Edwardian building. The houses look a little forlorn, standing as they do on a very busy road surrounded on all sides by industry.

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.

After the closure of Nottingham Victoria Station in 1966 the parts of the Great Northern Railway Grantham line through Sneinton to Netherfield were abandoned. Since then, Grantham trains have used the Midland route as far as Netherfield, where the Lincoln and Grantham lines part. The GNR trackbed is now a footpath through Sneinton from Manvers Street to Daleside Road East.

The last addition, in 1889, to the complex railway infrastructure at Trent Lane was the Nottingham Suburban Railway, which left and joined the Great Northern at Trent Lane Junction. Southbound Suburban Railway trains from Daybrook crossed the Midland’s Lincoln and the GNR’s Grantham lines on girder bridges east of Trent Lane before dropping down to cross it on this 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 girder bridge sat on the abutment on the left of the picture, behind the lamp post. 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. In Sneinton little remains of the Great Northern and the NSR 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. See Image], Image], Image], Image], Image], Image], Image] and others.

This blue brick abutment and wing wall once supported the bowstring girder bridge and embankment which carried Nottingham-bound trains on the Nottingham Suburban Railway across the Great Northern Railway Grantham line. The NSR line swung west on a 1 in 48 downward gradient and crossed the Midland line at Trent Lane before joining the GNR at Trent Lane Junction. This southern end of the NSR (1889-1951) was abandoned after wartime bomb damage to the embankment between Trent Lane and Colwick Road. Image] shows the GNR line, looking eastwards towards here.

After the closure of Nottingham Victoria Station in 1966 the parts of the Great Northern Railway Grantham line through Sneinton to Netherfield were abandoned. Since then, Grantham trains have used the Midland route as far as Netherfield, where the Lincoln and Grantham lines part. The GNR trackbed is now a footpath from through Sneinton from Manvers Street to Daleside Road East. This is a view towards Nottingham, with the incinerator chimney just visible in the distance above the path.

These large stone-and-brick abutments and piers once supported the plate girders of the bridge which carried the Great Northern Nottingham-Grantham line over the Midland Railway Lincoln line. The Great Northern line was abandoned after the closure of Nottingham Victoria Station in 1966 and all eastbound trains now use the Midland route as far as Netherfield, where the Grantham and Lincoln lines part. The GNR trackbed behind the camera is now a footpath.

Now only a pedestrian crossing, this was once a road level crossing, with traditional gates. In the heyday of Nottingham’s railways the railway infrastructure at Trent Lane was complex. The Midland Railway Nottingham-Newark-Lincoln line, which is 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 the arched blue-brick bridge shown here, 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 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. See Image], Image], Image], Image], Image] and others.

The bridge and its approaches are built on the abutments of the old Great Northern Railway line from London Road to Grantham, which crossed the Midland Railway Lincoln line here. For comparison, see Image