Erewash Valley line
The southern part was opened by the Midland Railway in 1847 as far as Codnor Park, where it connected to established ironworks, and soon after, a line to Pinxton and Mansfield.
It linked numerous collieries and ironstone pits, and encouraged the development of the so-called "concealed" Nottinghamshire coalfield, where the coal measures were below a thick limestone stratum.
Congestion on the Midland Railway was a grave problem, and the line enabled diversion of some goods and mineral traffic.
Large marshalling yards were developed at Toton, at the southern end of the line, to handle the huge volume of coal traffic.
This had become a lucrative business, until the opening of the Leicester and Swannington Railway in 1832 gave cheaper access to the West Leicestershire collieries, to the detriment of Nottinghamshire.
[2] In the 1836 session of Parliament the Midland Counties Railway was promoted, to run from Nottingham and Derby, through Leicester to Rugby.
During the parliamentary process, the Midland agreed to adopt the Erewash Valley Company, guaranteeing its shareholders a dividend of 6% on their capital of £6,145,000.
[6][7] The line was opened for public traffic on 6 September 1847,[7] and on that day trains ran from Codnor Park to Long Eaton Junction.
Long Eaton Junction was the focus of lines west to Derby, east to Nottingham and south to Leicester.
[6][8] As the mineral traffic increased, Platts Crossing was seen as a dangerous nuisance, but it was not until 1862 that the Trent Junctions (as they came to be called) were remodelled.
The termination of the 1847 opening of the Erewash Valley Line at Codnor Park connected with the internal tramways of the Butterley company.
The course of the line traced numerous iron ore deposits and coal seams, as well as locations where limestone -- a key ingredient in the iron-making process -- could be worked.
Its traffic potential was disappointing, and in 1870 the branch was closed to passengers and the town was served only by a wayside station on the main line.
[15] The mineral wealth of the Erewash Valley was such that the Great Northern Railway, already established at Colwick, sought to expand westwards.
After a false start, the GNR got a scheme authorised in 1872, and its own Pinxton line was begun first to bring it coal traffic.
On 1 May 1875 the Trowell to Radford cut-off was opened to allow quicker access to Nottingham, without the necessity to continue to Long Eaton.
The section on to the main Erewash Valley line, and a spur into separate platforms at Langley Mill, were opened on 1 October 1895.
These up sidings received up to seventy trains daily in 1952 and despatched sixty; between them, the two yards handled two million wagons a year.
Intermediate stations on the main line were later closed and local passenger trains ceased to operate from 2 January 1967.
