Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway


The Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway was a British railway company, which hoped to connect Lancashire with the port of Boston, in Lincolnshire. It was authorised in 1846 but was unable to raise much money. It opened a standard gauge line from a junction near Nottingham to Grantham in 1853. At Nottingham it was to rely on the Midland Railway, but that company was hostile and obstructive.
The Ambergate company was leased to the Great Northern Railway in 1855, and they built their own Nottingham station, opened in 1857. In 1860 the company changed its name to the Nottingham and Grantham Railway and Canal Company. In 1875 the Great Northern Railway opened a line into Derbyshire and the former Nottingham to Grantham line became an important trunk route, particularly for goods and mineral traffic.
The original line from Colwick to Grantham is still in use as the Nottingham–Grantham line. The freight traffic has greatly diminished, but the line is used for long distance passenger trains between Liverpool and Norwich, as well as from Nottingham to Skegness.

Origins

In the speculative days of the Railway Mania, many railways were proposed and much investors' money was committed to railway schemes. Surveys were carried out, and Parliamentary draughtsmen were employed, not always prudently.
The Ambergate, Nottingham, Boston and Eastern Junction Railway was authorised on 16 July 1846 to build a line linking the manufacturing districts of Lancashire with the collieries of Nottinghamshire, and the port of Boston, Lincolnshire. A partner in this scheme was the Manchester, Buxton, Matlock and Midland Junction Railway, authorised on the same day. It was to connect Cheadle on the London and North Western Railway south of Stockport, and Ambergate. The ANB&EJR was itself a combination of two railways authorised in the 1845 session of Parliament, but not yet built: the Nottingham, Erewash Valley and Ambergate Railway, and the Nottingham, Vale of Belvoir and Grantham Railway.
By the Act, the Grantham Canal and the Nottingham Canal companies were to be acquired by the Ambergate company on completion of certain administrative processes.
In 1839 the Midland Counties Railway had opened a line at Nottingham; the station there was at Carrington Street. In 1844 the company merged with others and formed the Midland Railway, and in 1846 the line to Lincoln was opened.
The through route would rely on running over the Midland Railway from Bulwell to Colwick, a distance of about seven miles crossing Nottingham.

Construction and opening

Following the peak of the railway mania, there was a collapse in confidence in railway schemes, and money was almost impossible to come by for some time. In 1849 Parliament granted an extension of time, and permitted the proposed lines west of Nottingham and east of Grantham to be abandoned. The company managed to build from Colwick Junction to a temporary station at Grantham adjacent to the canal basin near Dysart road. The Great Northern Railway was being constructed at the time but had not reached Grantham yet. Sidings and a warehouse were constructed at Colwick. The engineer was John Underwood.
The double track line opened for passengers on 15 July 1850, with goods trains starting one week later. There were four trains each way daily, with two on Sundays. E B Wilson & Co were the contractors for working the line at first, but Neale & Wilson of Grantham took over after a period. For two years it was the only railway at Grantham.

Prospective purchasers

Notwithstanding its shaky finances, the Ambergate line was an attractive potential acquisition for a larger company. The Great Northern Railway had offered to purchase it as soon as it was authorised: it would give useful access to Nottinghamshire; but the line's own directors refused, expecting its value to increase. Now in April 1851 the London and North Western Railway and the Midland Railway, working together, offered to acquire the company, offering 4% on its capital. The directors of the Ambergate company agreed, but the shareholders rejected the offer; this was probably due to the influence of Graham Hutchinson, a director of the GNR: he had foreseen the value of the Ambergate company to the GNR and had acquired a commanding number of shares.
Accordingly on 31 March 1852 the Great Northern company agreed to work the Ambergate company and pay 4% on its paid-up capital. This was agreed to by the proprietors on 19 May 1952, but the Midland Railway, whose offer had been rejected, arranged for an injunction against the proposed working arrangement, arguing that the funds of the GNR ought not to be used for such a purpose. The injunction was granted, and the intended arrangement could not proceed.

A battle at Nottingham

The Ambergate company had been using a temporary station at the Old Canal Wharf at Grantham, waiting for the Great Northern Railway to open the main station in the town. The GNR did so and on 2 August 1852 the Ambergate trains transferred to the GNR station. The old Wharf reverted to goods station status. The GNR advertised a through passenger service from London to Nottingham, which was quicker than the existing LNWR and Midland Railway service. This was a through coach off the 11:00 from London, Kings Cross, and the train was drawn by a GNR locomotive when it arrived at Nottingham. The Midland Railway management considered that this was in breach of the injunction, and forced the arriving locomotive into a disused shed at Nottingham, and removed the rails giving access to it. The GNR went to litigation; they had only hired the locomotive to the Ambergate company, who were working the train with their own men. However the outcome of the legal proceedings was not decisive, and it was some considerable time before the locomotive was released.
The Midland Railway continued obstructive measures at Nottingham, and when through goods traffic from Nottingham to the Great Northern Railway system on 19 August, it had to be carted to Colwick. Finally on 24 May 1853 a traffic pooling arrangement was agreed, and the hostility cooled off.

Nottingham access, and working by the Great Northern Railway

The Nottingham situation was intolerable, and in 1853 the Ambergate company applied for an Act for an independent line from Colwick into Nottingham. This failed in Parliament, but the following year a similar Bill was passed, on 3 July 1854. The Ambergate company could build a 2 mile 61 chain line from Colwick to a station in East Croft near London Road, together with a connection to the Midland Railway there.
The Ambergate company obtained a second Act on 31 July 1854, allowing it to agree with the GNR to work the line or to lease it. The Midland secured a clause giving the Ambergate or the GNR five years to build their own station at Nottingham: the Midland station at Nottingham was not to be used by the Ambergate or the GNR after five years from the passing of the Act or when the Ambergate's own station was opened. The GNR and the Ambergate company agreed the working arrangement on 30 March 1855, effective three months later.
The new Nottingham station opened on 3 October 1857; it was called London Road, and consisted of two passenger platforms with four intervening sidings. The company transferred its offices there in addition. There was a new engine shed, and the ancillary buildings were ready by March 1858. The connection to the Midland Railway at Colwick was severed by July 1857. The GNR paid for the installation of the electric telegraph on the line. From the opening of London Road, the GNR operated an omnibus service to the Midland station, and operated its own cartage in the town.
Anderson describes the London Road Low Level station:
High Level station paled architecturally in comparison with the grand old Low Level terminus which faced it across a forecourt and service road. Though similarly constructed in red brick, the earlier building had an immensely complex frontage incorporating ample and vigorous stone embellishments such as balustrades, cornices and dripstones. Ornate gables and parapets were decorated with diaper patterning, the roof was crowned by a truncated spire capped with ornamental railings, and a projecting porte-cochere provided cover for waiting road carriages.

The Ambergate company changed its name to the Nottingham and Grantham Railway and Canal Company by Act of 15 May 1860. Soon afterwards the GNR exercised its option to lease the company. The annual rental was % on capital of £1.014 million. The agreement gave the GNR the right to purchase outright on payment of the capital at par, but this was never done.

Derbyshire Extension Railway

In 1872 the Great Northern Railway got its Derbyshire Extension Bill through Parliament; it was mainly intended for mineral traffic. It left Colwick by a triangular junction, and swept round the north of Nottingham through Ilkeston and Derby as far as Burton upon Trent. It opened in 1875, and consolidated the position of Colwick as an important goods and mineral marshalling yard and depot.

Avoiding Grantham

By an Act of 28 July 1873 the GNR obtained powers to construct the Sedgebrook and Barkstone Junction line. This was built with the main aim of simplifying the movement of coal from Nottinghamshire to Lincolnshire without reversal at Grantham. It was originally planned to extend from Allington junction, near Sedgebrook on the Nottingham and Grantham line, to a junction with the main line at Barkston, south of the junction with the Boston line. However on 10 January 1874 a passenger train from Boston overran signals at that junction, and fouled the path of an up Scotch express. The engine of the express struck the branch train's carriages and then grazed wagons of a passing down train. The fireman and a passenger were killed. As a result it was decided to take the new line under the main line north of Barkston station and make the junction with the Boston line, a deviation authorised by an Act of 29 June 1875.
The new bridge was completed on 18 January 1875; the line was made double track, 4 miles 3 chains from Allington junction to Barkston East junction. The line opened on 29 October 1875, with three freight trains each way daily; it was soon used extensively in summer by passenger trains from Nottingham and Leicester to Skegness. There were no intermediate stations or boxes but the long section was broken in May 1883 by opening Marston box, 1 1⁄2 miles from Allington junction.
The route became used later when Skegness and Mablethorpe became popular seaside destinations, and excursion traffic developed. Between 1919 and 1939 evening excursions were run from Nottingham to Skegness, and were so popular that on many days six such trains were run.
On 3 October 2005 a chord line was made at Allington, enabling trains from Grantham to reach the Boston line without running on the East Coast Main Line.

Bottesford lines

In 1878 the Great Northern Railway completed its Bottesford and Newark line, leading north from Bottesford, chiefly built for mineral traffic. The following year the Great Northern and London and North Western Joint Railway was opened, connecting Market Harborough with the Nottingham and Grantham line, at Bottesford and at Saxondale, further west. The lines were not successful commercially, and closed from 1953.

Woolsthorpe branch

A mineral line was built from Belvoir junction, on the Nottingham and Grantham line a little west of Sedgebrook, to ironstone workings at Woolsthorpe, near a wharf on the Grantham Canal. It was authorised by an Act of 10 August 1882. The contract for construction had already been let on 6 July to Lovatt, for £14,000. It was a single line, 2 miles 76 chains in extent. Ironstone traffic over it began on 29 June 1883.
There were extensive ironstone deposits in the area, exploited by opencast mining, and the GNR soon extended the line a further three miles an ironstone pit near to Harston, forming the Woolsthorpe Branch Extension. In the 1940s a branch from the Woolsthorpe line was made to Harlaxton, south of Denton, reaching further iron workings. When the ironstone industry declined in the area, the line was closed, between 1974 and 1977.

Nottingham stations

In 1900 almost all the GNR services were transferred to the London Road High Level station; only one daily and one Wednesday-only GNR departure remained. Five LNWR trains to Northampton continued to use the station. although it was not until 22 May 1944 that the station was completely closed to passenger traffic.
The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway planned a London extension, and this cut through the centre of Nottingham. The Great Central Railway, as it became, had a "grandiose" new station, named Victoria, opened on 24 May 1900. The Great Northern Railway had participated in this scheme and made a connection to the new line, and opened a through station, London Road High Level, on the connecting line.

Connections east of Nottingham

After 1948 summer excursion traffic was run between places like Alfreton and Coalville to the Lincolnshire seaside resorts. Running through Nottingham Midland station, they could not run direct on to the former GNR line, but had to reverse into London Road yard to do so, a process that consumed 30 minutes. In 1965 the original Ambergate Railway connection at Colwick Junction was restored, obviating the problem. When Nottingham Victoria station closed in 1967, the Grantham line trains transferred into Nottingham Midland station, using this connection and the former Midland line from there. The Ambergate tracks from Colwick Junction to Nottingham were taken up.

Cotgrave Colliery branch

In 1960 a two-mile branch was constructed to serve a new deep mine, Cotgrave Colliery; the colliery itself started production in 1962. The branch left the Nottingham to Grantham line by a triangular junction a little east of Colwick Yard and ran south; a significant concrete viaduct was necessary to cross the flood plain south of the River Trent. Most of the rail-borne output of the colliery went to Radcliffe-on-Soar power station. The east chord of the junction was little used, and not used at all after 1973; it was formally closed in May 1976. The colliery closed in 1993 and the line closed with it.

Radcliffe test track

In 1968 a section of concrete slab track was installed near Radcliffe station. As well as plain line, two turnouts on curves were inserted. The purpose was to text the durability of alternative fastening systems. The experiment was considered complete in 1970, but the track was not reverted for some time.

Radcliffe Viaduct

The most significant engineering feature on the line was the Radcliffe Viaduct. It has been described thus:
The viaduct carries the double-track Grantham-Nottingham railway line across the River Trent and is an interesting example of a cast-iron arch bridge that has been converted to a reinforced concrete bridge with little alteration to its general appearance... The Trent Navigation Company insisted on one span of at least 100 ft. In the event a 110 ft arch, cast by Clayton & Shuttleworth of Lincoln, was used across the north-western half of the river, the other half being spanned by three brick arches with stone voussoirs and abutments. The headroom above normal water level is about 24 ft; the arch rise is 11 ft 6 in.

The arch had six ribs, 3 ft deep in eight segments, the outer faces of the outside ribs having decorative features. Open-pattern spandrels supported the timber deck and the parapets are lattice pattern. Timber approach viaducts were built across the flood plains on each side but that on the north-west side has been replaced by an earth bank and that on the other side by two runs of blue-brick arches, 28 in all. In 1981 the iron ribs of the arch were encased in 28 in. wide concrete ribs with solid spandrels, but the outer iron ribs and spandrels have been left visible on the faces of the concrete. All the iron bracing and the timber deck have been replaced by concrete. This radical alteration, however, has been made inconspicuous by painting the exposed iron light grey and the concrete faces dark blue, so that the external appearance has been preserved, and the modification is noticeable only from close at hand.

A personal account of early working

David Joy, inventor of the steam locomotive valve gear bearing his name, recounted some adventures in the earliest days, when the line was worked by E. B. Wilson and Company under contract to the proprietors. Joy was the locomotive foreman. When he arrived two days before the opening, nothing was ready for him, and no engines were to be found. He prevailed upon the Midland Railway to lend him two Bury Single locomotives.
E. B. Wilson fetched me on a Friday evening in a cab, took me to Arthington Hall to go next evening to open Nottingham and Grantham Railway on the Monday. He had taken it to work by contract at 2s. per mile run. No engines, nothing ready. To Nottingham early Saturday. Midland Railway supplied us with two old Bury's singles to be at Grantham Sunday night. Saturday afternoon over the line with Underwood, Gough, and on the contractor's engine, went off the road, not very fast, but a jolly tumble about.

However the first train departed at 9 a.m. with half a dozen second and third class carriages and a number of wagons.
It wasn't long before the first accident in October, 1850:

We had got another engine from Railway Foundry, known as No. 266, and she did "goods"; and Nottingham Goose Fair coming, and a special ordered for Nottingham, I snapped at the chance of driving one of the engines. I don't know how it all came about, but at night I found myself on the leading engine, the other old Bury behind with old Pilkington as driver down at the junction of the Mansfield line at the front of a long line of carriages, on the down main line, which, for the day, was being used to stand lines of trains—the down trains for Mansfield being shunted at the junction on to the up line to the next station. It was pitch dark; and we waited for a signal to go on to Nottingham with our train, and waited long. At last a rustle, and I thought we were going to be liberated by the passing out of the mail to Derby. So watched for her disappearing sideways to the right, but no, I could see her sweeping round and approaching us. And instantly I calculated that she could not have stopped and passed on to the up line at the junction, so must be on our line rushing upon us. It was not many seconds before we found all this true, as we jumped from our engines and rushed forward on the "in" side of the curve, and only just in time, for I saw the flare of the ashpan of the coming engine ripple over the sleepers as she came on, and heard the broken buffers of my own engine wizz over my head. It was only just in time, the next instant our two poor little light Bury engines were one wreck of material in front of the big six-coupled, with a train of twenty crammed carriages behind her. The footplate of my engine disappeared entirely, the firebox of the engine falling in between the legs of the tank—buffers and buffer beams gone altogether. It was an awful experience, and none of us forgot it in a hurry.

The Midland lent some more engines and
one was a little Sharp . This little engine was nearly the death of a nephew of one of my directors. He wanted to ride with me on the footplate one night with a special I said, No! We ran down Bingham Bank into a fog — stuck — no weather board. Suddenly we went through the road crossing gates, the bits flew all round us, we knew how to duck.

Present day

The line between Colwick Junction and Grantham is still open to passengers, as part of the Nottingham-Grantham Line. There is typically an hourly train from Liverpool to Norwich, calling at Nottingham and Grantham, and an hourly train from Nottingham to Skegness, calling at selected intermediate stations on the line.

Stations and Landmarks