Ticknall Tramway fly-through: Ticknall to Willesley via Ashby-de-la-Zouch

Built by Benjamin Outram and opened in 1802, this 12.5 mile tramway system conveyed horse-drawn mineral trains between quarries and works on the Leics-Derbys border, and the Ashby Canal near Moira. This flight simulation, powered by Google Earth, follows the course of the tramway from Ticknall in Derbyshire, through the streets of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, to Willesley Basin in NW Leics, a route which included three tunnels and possibly the world's oldest survivng railway bridge, the Ticknall Arch.

[@johnjephcote7636]

I remember, reading old Railway Magazines, photos of a man leading a horse and chaldron full of coals over the Ticknall Plateway on a once-a-year trip in order to maintain the right of way.

[@thisisbob1001]

Like the music

[@AndyPriceVideos]

Fascinating, never knew this existed back in the day. Thanks

[@johnbillett8233]

Really good, but if you don't mind me saying (I'm not criticising), you've got the final approach to Willesley Basin wrong after it crosses the Willesley Woodside Road. Instead of continuing in a straight line towards Saltersford Brook lake, it jinked to the right slightly and continued running down the side of Willesley Lane for a while. Where the lane took a bend further to the right, the tramway at that point left the roadside and curved over towards the basin. Still great work though. Thanks for posting.

[@flymuzza9205]

Thanks for that John. I knew that part of the route was tenuous, but I hadn't been able to source a contemporary map. Instead I followed the field boundaries on the victorian OS map, Incidentally, Rail Map Online shows the line veering further south, crossing the middle of the current lake and terminating at the site of Oakthorpe Colliery - but I never really believed them! Do you have any idea of the track layout at Willesley Basin?

[@johnbillett8233]

@@flymuzza9205 It's understandable about the railmaponline route, because the tramway had disappeared before even the oldest Ordnance survey maps. What the old maps show is that from the road crossroads, where the tramway reached, there is a footpath running straight down to Oakthorpe colliery, and the footpath did run across where the current lake is. That's where probably where railmaponline assumed the route from. Have a look at oldmaps.co.uk and the colliery (with it's internal tracks) is shown on the 1:2500, 1883 Leicestershire map, and the 1884 Derbyshire map. However, the colliery is at the southern corner of the canal loop, but as you've shown, the canal basin wharf and tramway terminal was at the north corner. The best I found for the tramway route is a sketch map in the following document, which shows the tramway going to the north corner. Hope this helps. www.le.ac.uk/lahs/downloads/AshbyPagesfromsmvolumeXXXIV-4.pdf

[@johnbillett8233]

@@flymuzza9205 See on the aerial photos, from the crossroad there's a path through the trees that runs close to the road for a bit and then continues on down towards Oakthorpe Picnic Site? Maybe it roughly went that way? Who knows, thinking about it maybe it did follow the field boundary as you've shown. It's only a sketch map to go off. But either way, you're not a million miles off and certainly closer than the railmaponline path.

[@flymuzza9205]

@@johnbillett8233 I've no doubt that you're right about the route. I had indeed noticed the apparant path through the woods parallel with the road, but this also corresponds to a power line for some of the way, and the point where it meets the picnic area is a little to the north of where the basin shows on the old OS map. I suspect that the area was extensively bulldozed prior to re-forestation, and that any trace of the tramway alignment is long gone. Unfortunately it's not permissible to make incremental changes to a youtube video, but I'll change the alignment in my Google Earth files now, and the change will be reflected in any future version of the fly-through video.

[@flymuzza9205]

@@johnbillett8233 Perhaps you could please advise me on the correct name for the original northern terminus of the Ashby Canal? In my video I've labelled it as Wadlands Wharf, but I've also seen it referred to as Woodlands wharf, Ashby Woulds, Donington Interchange, and Bath Yard Basin.