Derby Midland was a major railway centre and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) staff college there was about to close and its Principal, Colonel Lionel Manton recommended the nearby rural freight line between Derby and Ashby de la Zouch be used as a training line.

On 19 November 1939 the section of the line from Chellaston East Junction to the Smisby Road crossing, just north of Ashby, was handed over to the War Department.

Immediately south of Chellaston East Junction[3] the railway established its headquarters, consisting of workshops, offices, and engine sheds for eight locomotives.

On 11 July 1940 nine Royal Engineer sappers training on the railway were killed by a German bomb dropped on their billet in Church Street, Melbourne.

[6] The ninth soldier, Lance-Corporal William Wild was cremated at Rochdale Cemetery [7] Major traffic on the line consisted of moving military stores to and from Kings Newton and Tonge, coal from the New Lount Colliery and lime from Cloud Hill, Worthington.

The railway track was handed back to the LMS on 1 January 1945 who then submitted a bill of £25,265 to the War Department to restore the line but in 1954 the section through Ashby was closed.

In March 1966 British Railways closed Chellaston Quarry Signal Box and the sidings were lifted in 1967 when the line was returned to single track running.