Mansfield Railway

It was built to serve collieries opening in the coalfield around Mansfield, and ran between junctions at Clipstone and Kirkby-in-Ashfield on the Great Central Railway.

The passenger service was withdrawn in 1956 and the line closed in stages as collieries ceased work, completely ending operation in 2003.

[3] The Midland company was widely believed to exploit its monopoly position in setting mineral traffic rates beyond what was reasonable, and considerable hostility developed on the part of coal-owners.

The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway obtained authorisation for a branch line to Mansfield, but the LD&ECR was perpetually in financial difficulty and abandoned the plan.

In the early years of the twentieth century the coalfield was being developed and new pits with considerable promised output were being made ready.

[7] The result was the promotion of the Mansfield Railway, led by the Duke of Portland, who owned considerable coal-bearing estates in the district.

The first coal train left Mansfield for Immingham on 6 June 1913, and regular mineral traffic began ten days later.

[10][7] The line was extended through Mansfield to a large goods depot constructed on the approach to Nottingham Road: the extension opened on 2 June 1914.

[6][13][14] The route of the line posed engineering difficulties, due to difficult ground conditions and also the necessity of building through the expanding built-up area of Mansfield.

The goods yard facilities at Mansfield were on a very large scale, occupying a broad swathe of land between Nottingham Road and Littleworth.

The area was already well provided with stations on the nearby Great Northern and Midland routes, and road bus competition was already making itself felt.

In the autumn of 1955 there were eight northbound and seven southbound passenger trains over the Mansfield Railway, but they had become increasingly loss-making and the decision was taken to withdraw them, on 2 January 1956.

Mansfield Concentration Sidings ("Con", locally) handled and distributed countless wagons of coal to all parts over the years.

[17] A significant study of the signalling on the line was published in three parts in 2011-12, in Forward, the journal of the Great Central Railway Society.