Rare Track Days #6: Diverted from the Robin Hood Line

On Sunday 17th February, I took a day-trip to Mansfield, just north of Nottingham. Until 1995, Mansfield had been the largest town in the country without a railway station, surprising given it has a population now of over 100,000 people. Between 1993 and 1998, however, the Robin Hood Line re-opened a route from Nottingham to Worksop, connecting the towns of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Sutton and Mansfield to the railway network once more.

On this occasion, however, the usual line between Nottingham and Kirkby was shut. Instead of running parallel to the NET, Nottingham's tram network, out via Hucknall and Bulwell, our train today had to be diverted via Toton yard and a very little-used line via Pinxton. I had, in fact, planned to do this the previous weekend, but my stomach had other ideas and I had to postpone a week; fortunately this was the third of three weeks on which the diversion was taking place.

1024 Coventry to Birmingham New St, arr 1047
Headcode: 1G02, operated by Virgin Trains using Pendolino 390001
Distance: 19 miles

I started, as always, with a Pendolino to New Street. This was, in fact, the first Pendolino of the day from London to Birmingham, and so was pretty busy: Saturday night and Sunday morning is used for a complete block of the tracks south of Rugby, to allow essential maintenance, meaning the first Pendolino north out of Euston leaves at 08:50. On arriving in Birmingham, I once again had a long wait for my train north to Derby; although the train had come in from the depot at 10:45, it wasn't until five minutes before we departed that the guard came down and released the doors:

1130 Birmingham New St to Derby, arr 1238
Headcode: 1S43, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 221137
Distance: 39.5 miles

Due to another set of engineering works, the mainline between Birmingham and Derby via Tamworth was shut, and trains were diverted via Lichfield. While the line to Tamworth sees little in the way of suburban traffic, the line from Birmingham to Lichfield gets six trains an hour in each direction on weekdays, providing Sutton Coldfield and the northern suburbs of Birmingham with a frequent service. On Sundays, however, the service is reduced to half-hourly, giving enough space to squeeze in up to two diverted CrossCountry trains each hour.

That said, the track via Lichfield is only maintained to a speed of 60mph rather than the 125mph on the line via Tamworth (simply because most of the time it doesn't need it), making the journey a bit slower. However, between Lichfield and Wichnor Junction, the line usually sees no traffic other than a few freight trains and a few empty stock movements. While I'd done this bit of rare track a couple of years ago, last time I was standing in an absolutely rammed Voyager; this time I made sure I was first on the train and grabbed a good window seat.

In fact, while the train was busy, it wasn't rammed and I had two seats to myself, making a swift getaway on arrival at Derby a little bit easier. I hoped to make a two-minute connection at Derby: the Birmingham-Derby and Derby-Nottingham trains were both running hourly, but no-one had really thought of people wanting to make connections from one to the other. So in spite of waiting for time - we were early! - for 7 minutes at Lichfield City and 13 minutes at Burton-on-Trent, I had to cross my fingers... We arrived at Derby a minute early, and I legged it over the footbridge...

1240 Derby to Nottingham, arr 1300
Headcode: 1D00, operated by CrossCountry using Turbostar 170520
Distance: 16 miles

Made it (with about 30 seconds to spare). Because of the engineering works, the Birmingham-Nottingham services were just running a shuttle between Derby and Nottingham; this one didn't even call in between, and after twenty minutes we arrived in Nottingham.

Nottingham station is in the midst of a major rebuild, with a six-week blockade planned for the summer holidays later this year to completely replace the signalling, during which no trains will run. In the meantime, the station canopies are being renovated, and a new bridge is being built over the station to carry an extension of the tram lines to Clifton and Beeston. After wending my way over a footbridge covered in scaffolding, I waited for my train to arrive from Mansfield.

1328 Nottingham to Mansfield Woodhouse, arr 1421
and
1426 Mansfield Woodhouse to Nottingham, arr 1517
Headcodes: 2H04 and 2D04, operated by East Midlands Trains using Sprinter 156404
Distance: 29.75 miles each way

Unlike on weekdays, when Mansfield gets a half-hourly service to Nottingham and hourly to Worksop, on Sundays the service is reduced to just one train every two hours between Nottingham and Mansfield Woodhouse, consisting of one train just shuttling back and forth. As such, if I'd missed my connection at Derby it would have lengthened my day out by two hours...

(Map based on OpenStreetMap; © OpenStreetMap contributors)

The engineering works at Radford Junction prevented us from taking the normal route - shown in orange on the map above - and instead we went the long way round shown in blue. (For reference, the Midland Main Line is shown in yellow.) Going through Toton was itself relatively rare - most trains between Nottingham and Sheffield run via Radford Junction and Trowell Junction, and avoid Toton. But the section from Ironville Junction to Kirkby Lane End Junction, via Pinxton, was much rarer - the only regular use it gets is by freight trains and a couple of empty stock movements, with passenger trains only using the line when absolutely necessary.

It's clear why it's not normally used: the diversion adds more than twenty minutes to the journey time, and the stations at Bulwell, Hucknall and Newstead are well-used, and the station at Langley Mill is served by Nottingham-Sheffield services. (Oddly, though, the line passes through Ilkeston without having a station there. I wonder why...)

Being diverted, however, meant that our first stop was Kirkby-in-Ashfield. To get there, we headed back the way I'd came, towards the complex of junctions at Trent, turning sharply right at Attenborough Junction to head north through Toton. From there we followed the Erewash Valley, once the Midland Main Line from London to Sheffield, through Trowell Junction and Langley Mill, before turning right at Ironville Junction.

From Ironville Junction we climbed up the hill to Pinxton, at first at 40mph, but slowing once we passed over Pinxton level crossing to crawl at 20mph up to Kirkby-in-Ashfield. The line produced some rather nice countryside views, looking resplendent in the first hints of spring sunshine after what has been a long, cold winter. Once we got to Kirkby-in-Ashfield, normal service was resumed and we called at Sutton Parkway and Mansfield Town before arriving at Mansfield Woodhouse, technically a separate village which has now coalesced into Mansfield proper.

With one train every two hours, I decided not to hang around and after a brief leg-stretch on the platform got back on the train, which left after just five minutes. Having eaten my lunch on the way up to Mansfield, I spent the ride back down the hill to Nottingham enjoying the views. The main difference was that, rather than the engine roaring just to keep to 20mph going up the hill from Pinxton, going down the hill the driver was able to coast most of the way.

While the way up had been fairly quiet, the journey back to Nottingham was slightly busier with people heading into Nottingham for a Sunday afternoon. Thanks to a good run from Attenborough Junction, we arrived into Nottingham a few minutes early (at least according to the public timings), and I trotted over the footbridge to get a train back to Derby and head home.

1522 Nottingham to Derby, arr 1550
Headcode: 2A46, operated by East Midlands Trains using Sprinter 156415*+153321
Distance: 16 miles

An unusual combination of a 156 and a 153 ran this stopping service back to Derby, calling at Beeston, Attenborough and Long Eaton. Long Eaton station is not ideally sited for the town, but it's a case of needing the station to be near the railway line: the obvious place for a station, and indeed the former site of Long Eaton station, is on the Erewash Valley; but there are no regular services on the line between Trent Junctions and Trowell Junction, precluding the possibility of a station there for the time being.

I had another rushed connection at Derby, this time with four minutes to make it from platform 2 to platform 1, exactly the opposite change to what I did three hours previously. Fortunately, the CrossCountry train I was connecting into was a few minutes late, and I made it with time to spare:

1554 Derby to Birmingham New St, arr 1626
Headcode: 1V85, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 220016
Distance: 40.75 miles

The line via Tamworth was only shut until about 15:30 or so, so we were one of the first trains to head south via Tamworth rather than Lichfield. The difference in running time was stark: here we took just 32 minutes to run non-stop from Derby to Birmingham, where this morning we had taken one hour and 8 minutes to do Birmingham to Derby via Lichfield (albeit with an enforced 12-minute stand at Burton-on-Trent). I think many people had decided to leave travelling until later in the afternoon, to avoid the engineering works, because my train was full and standing from Derby, and I was lucky (or, more accurately, quick enough) to get a seat.

In the end we were three minutes late leaving Derby. I had held out hope of making a four-minute connection at New Street onto the next train back to Coventry, but the three-minute delay persisted all the way to New Street, and the doors opened on the dot of 16:29 on platform 10. The 16:30 was leaving from platform 6, and I duly legged it across the concourse at New Street...

1630 Birmingham New St to Coventry, arr 1650
Headcode: 1B53, operated by Virgin Trains using Pendolino 390009
Distance: 19 miles

Made it, again; fortunately it was held for another arrival to make it in from Walsall before it could leave, and we duly left a minute late at 16:31 or so. Given the policy of locking doors about 30 seconds before departure, I doubt I would have made it but for that. Admittedly I could have quite easily made the next train - just four minutes later out of New Street - but making tight connections is always rather satisfying.

It also meant that I arrived home in Coventry before 5pm, and with the lengthening evenings this afforded me the rare privilege of walking home through Spencer Park with the sunset bright on the horizon to the south-west. For one very enjoyable day in February, it almost felt like spring...