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Worcester Road, NOTTINGHAM, NG5 4HY

This was the old Great Northern Railway line from Nottingham to Derby via Ilkeston. It was a roundabout route for passengers, but resulted from the fundamental need for the carriage of coal from the Nottas and Derby coalfield. Today the railway alignment carries a footpath, seen here from the bridge carrying Thackerays Lane.

The part of the route followed by the former Great Northern Railway Derbyshire Extension ("The Back Line") that ran from Netherfield & Colwick on the Grantham line to Derby via Kimberley and Ilkeston. The steps seen here rise to the top of the embankment and then, beyond it is the centre of Arnot Hill Park. This footpath and cycle route can also be accessed from Aylesham Avenue and from Greendale Road (both ahead). It seems that the line east of Daybrook was finally closed in April 1960 when Mapperley Tunnel was once again the subject of subsidence and repairs were deemed non-viable from an economical perspective.

Recreating this 'First' for the square http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/18589

Now a footpath, this was once the Great Northern Railway line from Colwick to Derby, always known as The Back Line, busy carrying coal from the Erewash Valley and occasional Basford (via Gedling) local passenger trains, which began their journeys north by leaving from the south end of Nottingham Victoria and taking the Grantham line at Weekday Cross Junction (where the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery now is) before heading north then west from Netherfield & Colwick. The line closed east of Daybrook in April 1960 when Mapperley Tunnel, made unsafe by colliery subsidence, was deemed uneconomical to repair and maintain. Coal and empty ore trains were then diverted to the Great Central line through Victoria Station and reached Colwick from the west. The bridge carrying Thackerays Lane is beyond the cyclist.

Roundabout at junction of Thackerays Lane and Arno Vale Road.

A wing of Gedling Borough Council's Office complex seen from a footpath linking the "Go Sport" retail store car park - off Mansfield Road - with this area. Since the closure of Arnold Police Station in 2017 the local police contact point is now located within this building.

A westward view of the rear of the Mansfield Road B&Q DIY Store from the top of the 'frying pan handle end' of a remnant of a former railway embankment in Arnot Hill Park. The Great Northern Railway Derbyshire Extension ("The Back Line") ran from Netherfield & Colwick on the Grantham line to Derby via Kimberley and Ilkeston. The 'frying pan handle end' of the embankment continues behind the photographer until it eventually reaches a more substantial part of this public park and an entrance/exit into Arnot Hill Road.

An important milestone in the development of Catholic liturgy in the mid twentieth century. The church was designed by Gereard Goelen and the stained glass by Patrick Reyntiens https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1376603?section=official-list-entry

The small park behind The Vale public house at the corner of Mansfield Road and Thackerays Lane was once home to Woodthorpe Cricket Club, for which I played in the late 1960s. There is no sign of a wicket now, or of the tennis courts which restricted the width of the cricket field - which also had such short straight boundaries that it was only a delicate chip for a six into the garden of the club president, on Park Road, to the right. The trees in the background are growing on the embankment of the short-lived Nottingham Suburban Railway, whose passenger service lasted only from 1889-1931, but which remained open until 1951 to serve Mapperley brickworks. It curved south from Daybrook Junction (just offstage left, where B&Q now stands) and passed through and under Woodthorpe Grange Park, serving stations at Sherwood and Thorneywood, before joining the Grantham line at Trent Lane Junction, trains terminating at London Road. Its course through Woodthorpe is marked by the curve of Worcester Road, while further south the almost appropriately-named Raibank Gardens is built on the trackbed.