The Nottingham Suburban Railway


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Thanks MB, my order is in.

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Hi everyone, Yes I’m back on track and I can tell you that after a wait of six years, Volume 3 of The Story of the Nottingham Suburban Railway is being published and launched at the Nottingham Model R

Ladies and Gents,   Some very good news, see:-   http://www.booklaw.co.uk/shop/index.php?id_product=4068&controller=product   My order is going in tonight!  

Welcome David and thanks for the update on Vol 3! Good to hear that you're in better health.   Looking forward to the Vol 3 launch next month and like others on this forum I have put in my o

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Hi everyone, Yes I’m back on track and I can tell you that after a wait of six years, Volume 3 of The Story of the Nottingham Suburban Railway is being published and launched at the Nottingham Model Railway Exhibition on 17th and 18th March 2018. I will be there as previous to meet, greet and sign books as requested. The book is available at £23.99 for pre-order on the Booklaw website now. 

http://www.booklaw.co.uk/shop/index.php?id_product=4068&controller=product

To keep in touch with the NSR join the Friends of the NSR. It’s FREE. You will get a new format bimonthly newsletter, which will contain in instalment form everything I have not been able to put into the 3 volumes including 100’s of photos, biographies data, charts, maps etc - there just wasn’t enough room. So email me at david@nottinghamsuburbanrailway.co.uk tell me your name, age, address, telephone number, email address and whether or not you want your details kept confidential from other members. The inserts will eventually create an Appendix to the 3 volumes or a vol. 4 if you prefer, which will not get published as a book. I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy the book. Kind Regards, David Birch

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Welcome David and thanks for the update on Vol 3! Good to hear that you're in better health.

 

Looking forward to the Vol 3 launch next month and like others on this forum I have put in my order already to Booklaw. I'm already a FONSR member and you should have had a reply to the latest newsletter from my Norfolk address.

 

Best regards

 

MB

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  • 1 month later...

The book arrived today, had a quick skip through it ready for a good read. The book is pure quality with great research done by David.

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Mine arrived Saturday, so had a quick peep at the pics, then madam took it for one of my birthday presents. Roll on August !

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  • 8 months later...

We used to live near the line when I was a child in Woodthorpe, just of Buckingham Rd. It was easily accessible through Hill’s builder yard and up a steep bank. It was all but disused in the fifties. I only ever saw one train on it. I’ve walked it from near to Daybrook station, through Woodthorpe Park to Sherwood station and then through the tunnel which ran under Woodborgh Rd. and came out on Wells Rd. The track was taken up some time in the fifties and the bridges were demolished. Some of the track  area has been built on and in other parts people have claimed it as an extension to their gardens. Thackery’s Lane Bridge was an enormous blue brick structure but a row of houses stands there now and on the opposite side, up Breckhill, is a mini estate called, I think, Raibank Gardens.

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Thanks CT and Phil Mayfield. As a boy I remember an, (what seemed to me at the time), immense railway cutting, which the local lads referred to as "Jonah's". What was used to fill this..? as, if I remember correctly, the whole area was developed very quickly in order to build the new High schools and housing estates. I hope it wasn't spoil from the nearby colliery.

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I only knew that part of the line from Daybrook to Wells Rd. It started out on the same level as the main line and then turned off just after Daybrook Station but when it reached Thackerays Lane it crossed the road over a high bridge and went over a tall constructed embankment at the side of Breckhill Rd. This went as far as Marlborough Rd. at Woodthorpe where it went over a steel bridge and then into an artificial cutting which went as far as Woodthorpe Drive, passing beneath. It then went immediately into a cutting in Woodthorpe Park which still exists and then into a tunnel under the park emerging at Sherwood Station where a multi storey apartment building now stands. It then went directly into a longish tunnel under Woodborough Rd. emerging at the side of Wells Rd. That was as far as I dared to venture at the age of 10. The houses on Park Avenue and Worcester Rd. seemed to have extended their gardens onto the railway land as have the houses on Woodthorpe Drive and Grange Road. I imagine this land was acquired by adverse possession as it was not easily accessible by road. The former railway embankment next to Breckhill Rd. and the land immediately on Thackeray's Lane was readily accessible and was levelled and developed for housing.

 

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Viewing some old maps on the internet, the cutting I mentioned previously was the Arnold side of what is called, on the 1930's map, the Mapperley tunnel. The other side emerged at Gedling Pit. This area was a magnet for most boys in the area, especially when the line fell into disuse. The steep sides of the cutting were the site of many climbing competitions, gradually working your way up to the virtually perpendicular sides at the actual tunnel mouth. Long lines of what looked perfectly serviceable coal and goods wagons, were parked in the cutting for some time. This was probably around the time of the Beeching cuts. The whole area was approached from down a long rustic lane off Sandfield Road in Arnold. This lane was lined with various highly productive fruit  trees, the remains of a long gone orchard, ....….. literally ' Nirvana'  for small boys . At the end of the lane ran a stream of clear water, which the locals referred to as "Jonahs". Crossing the stream brought you to a large field, dotted with the odd huge tree providing another climbing experience. Along one side of the field ran the railway line leading to the dark menacing mouth of the tunnel.

This tunnel was an awesome sight to a small boy, as light did not penetrate far into it's cavernous maw. With the constant dripping splashing of surface water penetrating the overhead  brickwork, considerably amplified by the acoustics of a large empty space, it struck apprehension  into the youthful heart. An ongoing dare amongst the assembled gang was to walk through to the other side,  which, as you could see no daylight from the Gedling end, was regarded as an heroic exploit, and never previously achieved.  

A crafty chap ( whom we shall call Fynger ) saw an opportunity to considerably enhance his standing in the group by taking on this chilling feat. Dumbstruck we watched his nervous form clumping down the sleepers, his only aid a feeble dimming light from his bike lamp. As the open mouthed crew watched the frail beam suddenly went out completely, seconds later an awful caterwauling scream erupted from the murky abyss. This was enough for any eight year old heart. Tumbling and tripping over one another, the intrepid gang fled the scene, wondering what tale they would recite to Fynger's mournful parents.

None of us wishing to face the music. we all took a sacred oath of omerta before going home.

At school the following Monday, jaws were agape as Fynger swaggered through the school gates, apparently non the worse for his meeting with the underworld.

"Did yer do it, did yer do it..!! repeated the excited mob.

"Ah course, ah course, nowt to it", bragged the hero.

Fynger revelled in his newly created persona for quite some time, but years later when I met him in the pub, he confessed that he when the lamp gave out he had lost his nerve, tripped on the rails and put his hand on something soft and slimy, hence the scream. He frantically crawled back over the sleepers, and finding no one at the tunnel mouth, hatched his plan for eternal notoriety.

Never trust a lad from Redhill.

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11 hours ago, Mot the hopeful said:

Viewing some old maps on the internet, the cutting I mentioned previously was the Arnold side of what is called, on the 1930's map, the Mapperley tunnel.

 

This is that. The train is emerging from Mapperley tunnel and heading towards Daybrook, approximately crossing where Weaverthorpe Road would later be.

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Note at the top right there's a building on the hillside. Looking at old maps I reckon that could be what is marked as 'Plains Farm'.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Isn't the Mapperley Tunnel the one that has an enormous rubbish pile underneath one of the air shafts? If so, there are several videos on YouTube of people exploring the tunnel, accessing from the Gedling end. 

 

I believe there is a Facebook group now for the Nottingham Suburban Railway. 

 

Cheers all

 

MB

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On 3/20/2018 at 5:21 PM, Bubblewrap said:

Went to Book Law shop a week ago today well worth the effort :)

 

Earlier this year (2018) David Birch began producing a Volume 4 of the NSR history, this was to be a digital volume, not a printed book like the others. After a few pages and quite a few photographs were sent out  there's been silence. Anyone in touch with David? I know he had major damage to the roof of his house from the the "Beast From The East" and maybe he's still sorting that out. If you look back to Feb of this year on this page you'll see a post from David about the new volume.

 

Cheers all,

 

MB

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