IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Newfield Road, NOTTINGHAM, NG5 1HF

The low brick wall on the other side of the road is all that remains of the south abutment supporting a huge plate girder bridge which carried the Great Central main line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield 40ft above the road. That bridge, replacing the original simple brick arch, was built in the late 1930s, when Valley Road was widened and became the northern part of the ring road. The houses opposite are built where the embankment has been removed; the trees above them are growing where the sandstone railway cutting shown in my Image] once was. For more about the railway network in these parts, see Image], Image], Image], Image] and others.

I hope the poor technical quality of this picture (scanned and cropped from a tiny square print) is outweighed by its historical interest. The Great Central Railway no longer exists and this cutting in the soft sandstone has been filled in and built on - see Image I was excited enough by the sight of a British Railways 9F 2-10-0 belting southwards with the nightly Immingham fish train to press the shutter - too early, as usual. The signals and signal box at Bagthorpe Junction (where the line to Derby Friargate diverged) are just visible in the distance. They too are long gone, along with the bridge which once carried the line high over Valley Road and the embankment beyond it.

This playing field, known as 'Valley Road', is a superb facility in all respects except that it is some two miles from the school itself. In this autumn term scene 17 years ago, groups of boys are being coached in the art of rugby football. It is a sobering thought that they will be aged around 30 now.

The Great Central Railway main line from London Marylebone to Sheffield via Leicester and Nottingham was the last trunk route to be completed (1899) and the first to close (1967). North of Nottingham and in the city much of its route has disappeared - embankments flattened, cuttings filled, viaducts demolished - and it is hard to follow. The best part of fifty years ago I used to cycle up here of an evening to watch the trains pass under Perry Road bridge. On the left the newer houses between the 1930s ones are on the site of the cutting shown in Image] and the concrete wall on the right (over which I took Image]) is the site of the bridge parapet from which Image] was taken.

Tween-wars housing off Hucknall Road.

The conclusion of Quorn Road, Basford at the point where it divides to turn into Quorn Grove (marked with an old and very prominient circular-style street sign) and where it also leads into Bagthorpe Close. Bagthorpe was an earlier name for a large part of Basford that featured in the names given to a number of local institutions, e.g. Bagthorpe Workhouse (later integrated into the City Hospital) and Bagthorpe Gaol (now HMP Nottingham). A footpath in the distance connects Quorn Road with Perry Road.

Junction of Quorn Road, Bagshot Close, Quorn Grove and track with railings leading to Perry Road.

Looking north west.

Tunstall Drive is built where the Great Central Railway main line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield and Manchester once ran - on the top of an embankment in the region of 40ft above the present road level. The trees in the background grow on the slope of the truncated embankment and give an idea of how wide the earthworks were. Bagthorpe Junction and its signal box once stood roughly where I stood to take this picture, but a long way above my head. The scene at the top of what remains of the embankment is shown in Image], and for more about the railway network in these parts, see Image], Image], Image] and others.