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Was wondering how that book could be updated? not as if history has changed? but thinking about see what you mean, newly discovered facts etc? I have a old copy and an excellent source of facts photos etc, my only criticism is it's a bit impersonal ? I seem to recall the London Rd Low Level station in use in the early 1960's as a goods depot though closed to the public?

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I seem to recall the London Rd Low Level station in use in the early 1960's as a goods depot though closed to the public?

I can just remember seeing it in use. The Forster and Taylor book says "passenger trains stopped calling from 22nd May 1944, but public service in the form of goods traffic, continued until December 1972"

And a book on the GNR states there was activity "........ until BR ceased to deal with parcels there after 1st June 1981"

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Another bit of information.

When the Victoria Station opened in 1900 the L.N.W.R. took over the running of the London Road Low Level station & so did the L.M.S. in 1923.

Information Nottingham civic society newsletter No 62 September 1983 ( page10)

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The LNWR became part of the LMS but London Rd Low Level Station was owned by The GNR which became a part of the LNER so you would have LMS trains running on LNER lines there as the LNWR did not own any track apart from their 4 track branch off the GNR near Trent Lane to it's Manvers St Goods Shed and one assumes similar lines again off the GNR into it's own 8 lane shed at Colwick. An undated photo, suspect 1930ish, shows the London Road Station sign as "LNE & LMS LOW LEVEL STATION" whilst an old van in the yard has LNER on it

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  • 8 months later...

"The LMS used Victoria Station from about 1944 & B.R.(Midland Reigeon) until the L&NWR/GNR joint closed to passenger traffic in 1951? "

Er sorry No! Nottingham Victoria was a joint GNR and GCR station. These two companies were amalgamated into the LNER from 1 jan 1923 when the BIG FOUR were created. These were

SR

WR

LMS

LNER

Nottingham Midland became an LMS station after 1923 having been a Midland Railway station. The LMS did not use Victoria, they used Midland.

The LNWR became part of the LMS - they had rights to use part of the GNR line from Bottesford into Nottingham and had a lage goods yard and shed in Sneinton and trains from Northampton continued to run into Nottingham London Road Low Level up until the 1940s. They also had a steam shed at Colwick which shut when they were absorbed into the LMS..

In 1948 the Big Four became BR or British Railways

BR had four regions

BR (S)

BR (W)

BR (M) Nottingham Midland in this..

BR (E) Nottingham Victoria in this

Railfans have their own versions of what the railway initials stood for eg

Great Central Railway - Gone Completely Railway

LMS - Hell of a Mess

Manchester Sheffield and Lincoln Railway - Muddled Sunk and Lost Railway - this along with its "Southern Extension to London through Nottingham was a precursor to the GCR!!

It took me a long time to work all this out!!

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Not so. Trains on the LNWR joint line from Market Harborough never ran into Nottingham Midland. (It was physically possible to do so, but awkward, required a reverse shunt from London Road Low Level across the spur that linked the two systems). From 1944 London Road Low Level was closed to passenger traffic (the LNWR trains were the only ones regularly using it after Victoria opened) and the residual ex-LNWR (by then LMS) service moved to Victoria via London Road High Level. There are plenty of published photographs around 1950 showing LMS 2P 4-4-0s in the south end bays (Platforms 11 and 12) at Victoria waiting to leave for their leisurely stroll through the Vale of Belvoir and east Leicestershire.

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Er. I'm no expert on this because I wasn't around at the time, but didn't trains run up the Old Dalby line to run into Nottingham Midland after London Road was closed ?

I'm sure I've seen pictures of the Thames Clyde express running through Widmerpool to Midland and then out again to go north on the Trowell route even as late as 1967.

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Again, I'm no expert on these matters. Perhaps someone who is in the know can give a definitive answer to this.

I assumed that from 1857 London Road was the terminus for the GNR and LNWR and ran trains to Grantham using their line through Netherfield, and to Northampton using the line across the Lady bay bridge and through Old Dalby.

When Victoria station was built the GNR transferred to there and from 1900 all the Grantham trains ran via the new chord to London Road High Level and into Victoria.

This left London Road Low Level as the terminus for just LNWR trains which continued to run to Northampton until 1944 when London Road become a parcel depot and trains from the Old Dalby line then ran into the Midland.

Is this not the case ?

Please chime in and put the record straight.

We obviously need a bit of clarity on this one.

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NO the L.N.W.R. trains ran along the Grantham branch as far as Saxondale Junction then onto the G.N.R. & L.N.W.R. joint line.

It was not possible to get on to the Old Dalby line from the Low level Station.

http://www.meltonmowbray.steamrailways.com/Harby%20-%20Stathern.htm

You are confusing two completely different railways the Old Dalby route never ran into London Road Station it was the Midland Railway's new direct route(missing Leicester)to London(123 miles)the old route via Leicester &Trent. was(is) 126 miles.

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The line which includes Old Dalby was what is often referred to as the Melton Line, which was a Midland Railway thing. That's the line which came from Old Dalby through Edwalton, West Bridgford, Lady Bay Bridge, back of Eastcroft, then in Midland Station from the east.

Here's a photo from Nottingham Midland looking east; the low level station is on the left, the line to Netherfield is straight ahead; and the Melton Line (including Old Dalby) is curving away to the right

melton-1.jpg

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Er. I'm no expert on this because I wasn't around at the time, but didn't trains run up the Old Dalby line to run into Nottingham Midland after London Road was closed ?

I'm sure I've seen pictures of the Thames Clyde express running through Widmerpool to Midland and then out again to go north on the Trowell route even as late as 1967.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but I don't think the Thames Clyde called at Nottingham. However the Waverley certainly did - that was the corresponding train from London St Pancras to Edinburgh, via Leeds, Carlisle and Galashiels. As far as I remember the Thames Clyde was routed via Leicester, Trent and the Erewash Valley. Later changed to run via Derby.

There were also overnight sleeper trains. Again the Edinburgh service ran via Melton and Nottingham, the Glasgow via Leicester and Derby. However in the late 50s the southbound Glasgow sleeper served both Derby and Nottingham on Sunday mornings (6.04 from Derby non stop to Nottingham). In the 70s the Glasgow sleeper was diverted to Euston, running from Derby via Leicester, Market Harborough and Northampton. In the end the sleeping cars only ran between Nottingham and Glasgow via Derby - they were invariably parked in Platform 2 during the day. The rest of the train came from London St Pancras (via Leicester - the Melton line had closed by this time). I believe Rolls Royce had a regular block booking for the sleeper between Derby and Glasgow for staff travelling on business. When this was discontinued the sleeper service died.

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The Thames Clyde Express ran From London St Pancras to Glasgow St Enoch.

Route being St Pancras - Sheffield (direct route through Trent & Toton Yard) Leeds - Carlisle (Settle & Carlisle route) - Glasgow St Enoch(Ex G& S.W.R. route)

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If my memory is right in the 1960's the two sleeper trains left St Pancras on a Sunday evening at 9:15pm and 9:30pm, the first to Edinburgh calling at Kettering, then via Melton Mowbray to Nottingham up to Sheffield and Leeds, over the Settle & Carlisle line then the Waverley route to Edinburgh. The Glasgow train called at Wellingborough then through Leicester, Derby, Sheffield Leeds, Settle & Carlisle line then the G&SWR line via Dumfries to Glasgow. I believe the two trains were in Leeds at the same time.

My future wife lived in London and when we were courting I used to travel to London after work on a Friday evening returning on the 9:15pm sleeper (it also contained ordinary coaches). When I got to Nottingham I had to dash up to the Old Market Square to catch the late bus to Bulwell. (money was short in those days).

The Sleepers were a continuation of the practice that was set up by the Midland Railway when the Settle & Carlisle line was built.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I don't know when it began taking that route, but in the early 1970s the Thames-Clyde ran via Nottingham Midland before reversing to go north via the Trowell route. Departure time from Nottingham was around 10am. I forget when it lost its name, but you could still get direct to Glasgow from Notttingham in the mid-1970s.

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A bit later than that re Nottm to Glasgow Direct my wife and son did it for

Christmas 1980 returning after the new year, eventually after being stuck

for hours in snow at carstairs junction on a non restaurant train, think it

was due in at around 8pm? made several visits to the Midland, the last one

resulting in stay at pub opposite till chucking out time, finally got phone

call from irate wife about 4.30 am to say waiting for me to collect them

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