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When you speaks of Langley Mill Railway Station, you normally
mean the existing station, near to the church. (See
Railways for a chronology of rail activity in
the area.) This was part of the Midland Railway network.
However, Langley Mill also had another station, on the Great Northern line.
Until the boundary changes in the 1990's, this had always been in
the parish of Eastwood, in Nottinghamshire, but was located near the canal
basin, in what was the original Langley Bridge area, and could rightly be
classed as Langley Mill. The site is now in Derbyshire. The station was known as Eastwood and Langley Mill
Station, and the nearby public house was renamed the Great Northern some time after
it had opened in 1875.
The station was closed to passenger traffic on 7 January 1963, but was kept
open for coal traffic from Moorgreen Colliery until 1966. Demolition of the
station buildings was complete by around 1970. The
A610 Eastwood bypass, which opened in 1976, followed the route of much of the railway from
Langley Mill to Newthorpe, Derby Road was diverted slightly towards the new
roundabout, and much of the old road, including the bridge over the railway, was
removed. The extension of the A610 in 1982, bypassing Langley Mill, finished the obliteration of the old railway line.
The track plan of the station and other buildings is worth comparing with the
photographs below.
The following photographs were taken in 1966, three years after the closure of the
station itself, but while the lines were still intact. (Click on any of the
thumbnails to see the photo in more detail.}
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The station building from the front.
The station was built on the bridge where Derby Road
passed over the railway. The bridge and the remainder of the road was
demolished in February 1974, after the current A610 island had already been
built, to the rear of where the photographer was standing for this shot. |
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The rear of the station buildings, taken from the end of the
Up-Platform in front of the North Signal box, looking towards Newthorpe.
After Newthorpe and Eastwood and Langley Mill, main line
trains continued to Codnor Park and Pinxton. |
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This picture was taken from the opposite side, showing the
Derby Road bridge, with the Booking Office standing at road level. |
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With the Booking Office being perched well above the
platforms, there were separate covered staircases leading down to each.
This is an
external view of the steps leading down to the Up platform. |
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And taken from the Up platform, this shot shows the steps
leading down to the opposite platform from the Booking Office. |
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A closer view of the platform buildings on the
Down-Platform. Both platforms had brick-built waiting rooms and toilets.
The station was extremely well-used between the wars for excursions to
the east coast resorts of Skegness and Mablethorpe |
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The North signal box was located at the end
of the Up platform, and this controlled the workings onto and from the
former Barber Walker Colliery lines, by this time under the National Coal
Board. |
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The South signal box, on the Newthorpe side of the Derby
Road Bridge.
The road bridge to the right of the picture carried Bailey
Grove Road down towards the Nottingham Canal at Loscoe Wharf, and the
Erewash Canal. The building to
the left of the picture was a railway cottage, and, out of view, behind the
signal box, was the Station Master's house. |
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Between Derby Road and Bailey Grove Road
bridges, there was a large goods yard.
This view, taken from the Derby Road bridge looking towards Newthorpe,
shows the main warehouse, which stood opposite the South signal box. |
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A closer view of the Warehouse, which also housed office
accomodation.
The goods yard saw an additional workload each August Bank Holiday, as
this was the nearest station to the annual Moorgreen Show, and much heavy
livestock passed through the station on the way to the showground. |
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A water column was situated at the end of the Down
platform, directly opposite the North signal box.
On the far side of the platform there were four sidings
used for empty coal wagons - still clearly in use at the time that this
photograph was taken. |
The station plan is taken from "The Great Northern
Railway in the East Midlands: The Erewash Valley Lines" by Alfred
Henshaw, published by the Railway Correspondence and Travel Society - an
excellent publication, with hundreds of photographs.
Photographs on this page were taken in the 1960's by Ken Green, of Langley Mill, who
emigrated to Australia with his family in 1976. We are grateful to Ken, and his son Tony,
for sending copies to the Society, and allowing their publication on this site.
Last modified on
29 July 2010 06:36
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