The Chesterfield Loop - Lost Great Central Railway

We're back in Chesterfield on this video. The 4th episode in our Chesterfield Lost Railway series and we're looking at the Great Central Railways Chesterfield Loop.
The Chesterfield Loop ran between Staveley Central and Heath Junction on the Great Central Main Line. It was built by the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, opening in 1892 as part of their Derbyshire lines. It became the GCR, later LNER and closed in the 1960s after years of decline. Dr Beeching put the axe on the railway, with stations closing in 1963-64.
We start our journey today at the former Staveley GCR station. Opening in 1892 as Staveley Town before being renamed Staveley Central in 1950 - the which is had until it's closure in 1964. This was the junction where the Chesterfield Loop left the GCR mainline. A busy junction with many local colliery lines intersecting and joining the GCR as well as goods and engine sheds nearby. Now extinct and underneath the Staveley relief road.
We follow the alignment through Staveley town centre tracing the footsteps towards the Chesterfield Canal and the Staveley Works complex. Here we find the new alignment of the canal that was rerouted upon the opening of the railway. Now a popular canalside spot but there is plenty of the old railway to find here. The old date stone from the Chesterfield Tunnel (see part 1) can be found here and the fantastic remains of the old abandoned Staveley Works railway station. Opened 1892 until 1963, it's scarcely believable from the old photos. Remains of the platforms can still be found in the woods by the canal. The complex of sidings are long gone that served the local industry.
We continue towards Chesterfield town centre and meet another former station - Sheepbridge and Brimington railway station. The site keeps the name Old Station Yard but the station buildings are gone - the last one burned down a number of years ago. This station closed in 1956, slightly earlier than the others. The station was renamed to just Brimington in 1951.
The line follows the canal into Chesterfield, but shortly after Brimington was erased by the A61 new road through the town. We covered the Chesterfield Central station in part 1. We'll pick up the section after the town centre towards Heath in the next episode.
Links to previous related videos
Part 1 - Chesterfield GCR - • Chesterfield and the L...
Part 2 - Hornsbridge and the LD&ECR - • Chesterfield Lost Rail...
Part 3 - The Brampton Branch - • The Brampton Branch Li...
Barrow Hill, Staveley Works shed - • Day out at Barrow Hill...
GCR Staveley to Arkwright, Duckmanton - • Disused Railway Derbys...

[@couzeukian5122]

You are correct in the description of the abutments at the twin bridges, they were where the GC went under the Midland. The stone bridge on the Old road, was built in 1840, and the bridge on the new line was built around 1870, which is why they differ in one being a steel deck and the other one stone. My Father worked in Staveley works as a fitter, my Grandfather worked there as an engine driver and drove Gladys, a Markham built steam engine that is preserved at the Midland railway centre, and my Great Grandfather worked at Whittington Wagon works. As kids we used to play on Bluebank Lock; one day we found an old door on the towpath, so we wedged it over the front of the lock, to see if we could get the water running over the bywash. The door was there four 4 or 5 days, and we saw the water get to around a couple of inches from the level of the bywash, but when we went down the next day, half the door was in the bottom of the lock and the rest had vanished. I had to wait 40 years for the water to flow when the canal was restored.

[@WobblyRunner]

👍 some nice tales there. I believe the old Whittington Wagon works is still there as an empty shell of a building?

[@LeiceExplore]

Nice one Paul. I love that part about the date stone, great touch that was by whoever shifted it to there. And that bloody toastie looked shamazin lol

[@WobblyRunner]

😄 yeah I love that date stone. A great piece of history saved

[@MMTWRX]

@@WobblyRunnerI think the date stone was left forgotten near the Trebor Factory car park for many years until it was fitted into the hub lock wall.

[@jasinere35]

ive done the canal along that area & you went more into depth with the railways around that area some stuff that i knew of but couldnt confirm it im greatful you've carried on where i left off its the same with ant & darren whos doing leeds & nottingham there is a lot more to explore than meets the eye & your doing a fantastic job of doing just that

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Jason 👍🙂

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

Some great footage there Paul, especially around the old Staveley Works. The track bed goes on for longer than I thought.

[@WobblyRunner]

I didnt realise before ths last few days that there was open cast in the area.

[@DYLINGTONMODELRAILWAY]

My grandson found this video very interesting as we don't live far away from the Hollingwood Hub and have enjoyed canal boat rides from there. I must try one of those toasties next time we're down there ....cheers James 🙂👍

[@WobblyRunner]

👍 glad he enjoyed it

[@TonyFisherphotony]

Nice one fascinating I often walk down the canal here great to know all this

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Tony. Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Life_Of_AL]

Another excellent video Paul, loads of little nuggets I’ve missed when I’ve explored along there myself. Fascinated by Staveley Works, imaging routing and signalling all those lines back in the day 😅 Had the drone up a few times for posterity

[@WobblyRunner]

Fantastic stuff. That's area is so rich in history.

[@mrbetamax1969]

Nice to see a bit of blue sky paul . Am sure chesterfield had more miles of rail than road at one point of history.

[@WobblyRunner]

😄 well it was still technically autumn when I filmed this. Crazy isn't it

[@daveattrill2712]

Corking work again, Paul. Going to be doing this one for my channel too quite soon though also including other parts of the route as well.

[@ceanothus_bluemoon]

Very interesting explore. I've been fascinated by the GCML(and saddened by the loss of it) for a while now, so this is right up my street. So many times I've seen sites where cuttings have been filled and then grassed over and trees planted. Usually fenced lightly where a line crossed a road, sitting between rows of houses, and they become very easy to spot on maps/streetview, along with engineering brick, either in situ, or re-used in some garden walls. Those kinds of things made tracing the line from Nottingham up to Sheffield slightly easier as so much has sadly now gone.

[@WobblyRunner]

It's a shame there's not more of the GCR south of Heath. Im in the middle of filming a bit more of the GCR south of Sheffield at the moment, you'll be glad to hear.

[@julianhaywood-mj2rx]

Where the track used to run under the road at the side if the white house if you look at the pavement to the right of the bus stop you can see whats left of the bridge sides after been cut off with some kind of acetylene torch it sticks up about an inch out of the tarmac next to the grass.

[@WobblyRunner]

Oh god yeah. Just looking at that on google maps. How did I miss that.

[@julianhaywood-mj2rx]

Also another bit of structure is a bridge behind M&S near curry’s. If you walk down the left side of M&S to the fence you can see it with some kind of office built on top. You can’t see it on google maps.

[@scottc1589]

That's pretty funny. I can see my question about the Chesterfield Canal was right on cue. Cheers!

[@WobblyRunner]

😄

[@swipewrite]

Another very interesting video. I passed through this area around 1969 and came across work going on removing a couple of quite large bridges.

[@WobblyRunner]

What a sight that must have been. It's a shame camera phones weren't around back then to capture it all.

[@MalacdenValleyModels]

Thanks Paul, I do have a soft spot for the GCR. Fascinating video as always. Good to see what is left and nice to see some sunshine ☀️ keep the videos coming, all the best 😊👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks very much David. The GCR just keeps on giving. Makes a change from the wind and rain doesnt it 😄

[@petedemaio168]

Thanks for this! I've always been fascinated by this loop. Yep, how many tracks around Staveley.

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Pete. Love the history of the Chesterfield Loop.

[@chrischapman7514]

Very interesting and brilliant video once again enjoyed it merry Christmas Paul thanx for sharing.

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Chris A very merry Christmas.

[@martinmarsola6477]

Thank you for the walking tour this day. Always interesting to see and you explain what we are looking at. The remains are eye catching also. Enjoy the Christmas holiday and The New Year. See you on the next, Paul. Cheers Paul, and greetings to your family! 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Martin. All the best. I wish you a very happy holidays 👍🎄🙂

[@steveradford5460]

Great video Paul. Several times each year I've cycled from Forest Town to Hollingwood Hub, have a break at Katie's. Sometimes loop back via canal to Chesterfield, other times along canal to Rother Valley/Worksop/Clumber. Also detour to Barrow Hill (Flying Scotsman there a few years back). Your videos provide great insight, the things you don't see when cycling. If only some railway infrastructure like Chesterfield loop had been preserved, would have enabled better local transport for light rail.

[@WobblyRunner]

That's some decent length rides there 🙂. We're so lucky to have great trails/paths around this way. Hopefully they crack on and get passenger trains running again on the barrow hill line. Although it's not into staveley, it would be great to see the area served by a station again.

[@maestromanification]

Amazing Paul. I've been doing quite a few jobs along the old road and looking to see where this was . I didn't realise it went under the Midland near tapton. The area would have been fantastic back in the day

[@WobblyRunner]

Hahaha you'll have look out for the missing bridge next time you're over the old road :) You can see the duplication in a lot of these lines can't you.

[@maestromanification]

@@WobblyRunner I'll be looking for that bridge. For some reason I thought it went over the Midland. Probably quite a climb to Chesterfield Central. Those old pictures with sparce vegetation make the area look like a model railway

[@eggy77]

I'll get someone to collect that trolley right away. Bet you pocketed the pound out of it didn't you? 🤔 The embankment back of the Staveley gym is slightly deceiving, I tend to think the railway ran on that embankment rather than in a cutting, although I can remember seeing some of the wall from the bridge on Chesterfield Road next to the white house, formerly a pub. I'm guessing the green space has been left as just that, plus it forms a nice protected privacy boundary between the houses and the town centre (there were more flats were the gym now stands). Didn't realise the canal at Hollingwood had been rerouted, guess there's nothing left of the old route, assuming it quickly became railway.

[@WobblyRunner]

You can make out the old route upto the road, then it's pretty much been eaten up by the works.

[@WobblyRunner]

😄

[@eggy77]

@@WobblyRunner guessing the tree line to the road... But yeah Staveley works site would have obliterated it.

[@WobblyRunner]

Yeah. When you're stood on that corner and you know about it, it looks pretty obvious. But it's blended in nicely over time. There's still evidence in the oldest nls maps.

[@eggy77]

@@WobblyRunner I assumed that bit of canal on the old nls maps was to a wharf

[@johnwatson3616]

Great vid pal. Was the sun an issue tho, you should have said ;)

[@WobblyRunner]

😄 you should have seen how many sun related moaning clips I threw away

[@50001mike]

shame they had to remove the platforms to make the carpark, there was quite alot on the carpark side left

[@WobblyRunner]

Ah I didn't realise that. That would have been worth having a look around now.

[@nicholasjones7645]

Very interesting thanks for the Vid. What did they used to make at the Staverley works ?

[@WobblyRunner]

Hi Nicholas. I believe it was iron and later chemical works.

[@Carolb66]

Thanks

[@WobblyRunner]

Thank you ever so much Carol. I hope you enjoyed the video

[@psychicspies673]

I decided to have a break from Xmas shopping and watch this in the Portland Hotel. Very apt! Glad you showed the bridge at 20:30 as I thought you’d missed it. Staveley Spaghetti is just awesome. I will be exploring a bit more in the new year! Merry Christmas to you, the Mrs and Gordo!

[@WobblyRunner]

Uuurgggh Xmas shopping. I feel for you 😊