IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Tunstall Drive, NOTTINGHAM, NG5 1LZ

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.

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.

The trees to the right are growing on the remains of the Great Central Railway embankment. Beyond them, the embankment - 40ft high where the railway crossed Valley Road on its way south to Nottingham Victoria - has been levelled and the houses of Tunstall Drive built. Fenton Road follows the course of Bagthorpe East Curve, which brought trains from the Great Northern Derby Friargate line to join the GC at Bagthorpe Junction (which was just north of Valley Road bridge, way above the roofs of the present houses, and those on Harmston Rise and Heatherley Avenue, whose alignments follow the bottom of the former embankment). In railway days the downward slope straight ahead was a single railway line rising to meet the main line. To the right of the houses in the distance on the left of the picture, the railway passed through the cutting in the sandstone ridge shown in my Image

The main line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield and Manchester ran straight ahead - the right wall of the modern factory is parallel to the former tracks. Bagthorpe East curve, carrying Derby Friargate trains to Basford North and on to Kimberley and Ilkeston, passed to the left of this building, where the bushes are. Behind the camera the embankment - 40ft high where it crossed the ring road - has been levelled and the houses of Tunstall Drive built. For more about the railway network in these parts, see 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.