The Mansfield Lines Act of 8 July 1865 authorised the construction of the branch,[1] along with others in the area which was undergoing rapid industrialisation, especially in the coal and iron industries.
The primary purpose of the line was to give access from the east to the booming coal and iron industries in the Staveley area.
Three trains a day plied between Mansfield and Chesterfield, calling at all stations via Elmton and Creswell, Clown, Netherthorpe, Staveley and Whittington.
[14] The station's goods facilities closed in July 1960, leaving its sole purpose excursions, such as for football matches, and Summer Saturday holiday traffic, notably from Radford to Blackpool North.
[20] The site continued in railway use until Spring 2006, latterly to load coal opencasted from Arkwright colliery and brought to Oxcroft by road.
Otherwise light engine movements to and from Shirebrook Diesel Depot became the sole regular through traffic, supplemented by occasional freights and power station coal diversions.
This continued until the 1990s when an underground fire threatened to undermine the line, compounded by the expensive need to replace the points at Creswell Junction.
At 20 July 2013 the track between Oxcroft and Creswell had been lifted and piles of concrete sleepers had been placed beneath overbridges in Clowne and Woodthorpe Road (between Shuttlewood and Mastin Moor) to deter wheeled access.
In 2016, the line was purchased from Network Rail by Derbyshire County Council for future development into a greenway for walkers, cyclists and horse riders.
Funding to undertake the physical works is still being sought but as an interim measure local volunteers keep the line passable by walkers and cyclists by regularly clearing overgrowth and picking litter.