Time Capsules - Old Photographs from the past

Arkwright Town station in 1955

Situated in Derbyshire, this station was opened by the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway in March 1897, and joining the Great Central Railway it became part of the London and North Eastern Railway during the Grouping of 1923. The station then passed on to British Railways on nationalisation in 1948, only to be closed in 1951.

It is now part of the Trans Pennine Trail, which here also forms part of National Cycle Route 67, following the former Great Central Railway Sheffield to London main line from Killamarsh on the border of Yorkshire as far as Staveley. From there, an unnamed cycle path continues along the line to Arkwright Town, which was formerly a coal mining village. Arkwright Colliery closed in 1988 and it was then discovered that the community was threatened by emissions of methane gas that caused some of its houses to be evacuated. The whole settlement was owned by British Coal and a decision was taken, along with Derbyshire County Council, to transfer ownership of the 52 properties to a housing trust, construct a new settlement of 56 properties to the north of the site affected by methane, and move all the residents. Construction was completed by 1995 when the old Arkwright Town was demolished.

Photo © The Step Back Through Time Collection
Text courtesy of Peter Langsdale