IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Harmston Rise, NOTTINGHAM, NG5 1NQ

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.

Arnold Road (B6004) is joined beyond the supermarket by Heathfield Road (named after of its association with Bagthorpe Isolation Hospital that later became Heathfield Hospital perhaps). The supermarket opened in 2011 in what was previously "The Heathfield" pub. Traffic travelling down this road ultimately reaches the David Lane tram stop.

These sloping gardens occupy what was once a railway embankment: Bagthorpe West Curve, which took Derby-bound trains from Bagthorpe Junction, half a mile to the south on the Great Central main line, to Basford North and then west to Kimberley and Ilkeston. There were carriage sidings, where spare coaches were stabled, to the left, between the Derby line and the Great Central main line, which crossed Arnold Road just to the north. Image] is the view in the opposite direction, towards Arnold Road. It is well worth consulting old OS maps to get an idea of how much railway infrastructure there once was here - all now landscaped away.

To Nottinghamians of my vintage, the interest of this picture may be in the grassy wooded slope on the left, which is all that remains of the Great Central Railway embankment. This was the site of a girder bridge which carried the Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield and Manchester main line, closed in 1968 and its course largely obliterated in the city and to the north. This was a good spot for trainspotting, with traffic on the GC and also the GN Derby Friargate line. Derby-bound trains took the Bagthorpe West Curve, which crossed Arnold Road a little way down the hill (see Image]); when the smoke of those from Derby was spotted away to the right, beyond the sidings where a depot now is, there was a frantic dash under the GC bridge to see them emerge from the short "Rathole" tunnel which had brought them under the GN Back Line to Daybrook and Colwick and the GC (under the present Britannia Avenue, to the right) - they then passed under Arnold Road (just behind the camera) on their way to Bagthorpe Junction and Nottingham Victoria along the single-track Bagthorpe East Curve, whose route is echoed by the northern end of Fenton Road, which was built after the railway was closed and its cuttings and embankments filled or levelled, landscaped or built on. (Those post-War trainspotters were of course sustained by sherbet lemons and penny chews from Nellie Bisby's shop on Arnold Road.)

This landscaped area and children's playground, serving the houses on Roman Drive, Gothic Close and Script Drive, is built on land once occupied by the Great Northern Nottingham to Derby Friargate railway, which crossed Arnold Road behind the camera. The street names recall the Barlock Typewriter Company, whose factory was on - and gave its name to - nearby Barlock Road.

The bridge crossed the former Great Northern Railway's Derbyshire Extensions line, known as the 'Back Line'. There is a benchmark https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7107260 on the near parapet abutment.

The line of trees marks the former course of the Great Central main line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield and Manchester, which crossed Arnold Road on a bridge just to the right. This was a good spot for trainspotting, with traffic on the GC and also the GN Derby Friargate line. Derby-bound trains took the Bagthorpe West Curve, which crossed Arnold Road a little way down the hill to the left (see Image]); when the smoke of those from Derby was spotted away to the left, beyond the sidings where the depot behind these railings is, there was a frantic dash under the GC bridge to the right to see them emerge from the short "Rathole" tunnel which had brought them under the GN Back Line to Daybrook and Colwick and the GC - they then passed under Arnold Road on their way along the single-track Bagthorpe East Curve, whose route is echoed by the northern end of Fenton Road, which was built after the railway was closed and its cuttings and embankments filled or levelled, landscaped or built on.

See https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7107264 for location.