Railways
Coleorton Railway
Railways were built to get the coal from the Coleorton mines to Leicester and other conurbations. Horse and wagons were just not up to the increase in output and demand.
The Coleorton Railway or Tramway was a horse drawn railway transporting coal from mines in the Lount and Newbold area to Swannington for onward dispatch by the Leicester and Swannington Railway. It was was opened in 1833 to extend the Leicester-Swannington railway from the base of the Swannington incline to mines in Newbold and Lount. It used 4'8½" gauge edgerail and horse-drawn wagons.
Construction of Coleorton Railway began in 1832 and was formally established (by Act of parliament) at the end of 1833. It was built as an extension of the Leicester Swannington Railway to serve the coalmines of Coleorton and Peggs Green and the limeworks and quarries of Ticknall and Cloud Hill, financed largely by Sir George Beaumont 8th baronet, who owned the Coleorton mines at Smoile.
The railway was for horse-drawn wagons rather than the newly invented steam locomotives. It was designed with consultancy from George Stephenson, with tunnels from the end of the Swanningon incline to Peggs Green under the turnpike (now the A512) and from Gelsmoor to Newbold and a bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, over Aqueduct Road.
The plan for the railway was to enable coal and lime to be transported to markets at Leicester at economic cost and be competitive with the emerging Derby and Staffordshire mines who were using canals for transportation. However, a combination of factors - massive increase in productivity at the new mines in Derby, increased costs of the old mines at Coleorton, less than expected use by Cloud Hill and Ticknall and Midland Railway establishing direct lines between northern towns and coalfields and the South / Midlands - meant that Coleorton Railway was never profitable and eventually closed. Coleorton was also dependent on the operation of the Swannington incline, which encountered technical and political difficulties meaning they could not operate for 6 months during 1834/35.
The business never really took off and gradually closed over the subsequent decades.In the middle of last century the bridge at Aqueduct Road was demolished much to the dismay of local people who used the disused track as a footpath from Peggs Green to Newbold.
Coleorton Tunnel
The tunnel ran under the Peggs Green roundabout on the A512 Ashby-Loughborough Road.
- Length: 480 yds. Single track.
- Number of ventilation shafts: None.
- Date opened/closed to railway traffic: c 1835 - c1877
- Grid reference of tunnel portals: SK414172, SK411176.
- Current status: Disused, filled in and portals destroyed. No evidence of tunnel remains.
After closure of railway the tunnel was used for several different purposes, including as a rifle range.
This information taken from an article by Bill Pemberton in the Leicestershire Industrial History Society Spring 2018 newsletter >> which contains details of other tunnels including Newbold.
The development and demise of the new railways and tramways was closely linked to the mining industry Coleorton coal-mining >>
Melbourne-Ashby Railway
Bridge MJS2/39 takes the road from Melbourne to Coleorton over the closed Ashby de la Zouch to Derby branch railway, built by the Midland railway in 1874 and closed in 1968.
© Copyright Richard Green and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
John Blunt remembers walking in the woods with his father near bridge No MJS2/39 on Melbourne Road and tells us about it's history. Bridging the Line.
Melbourne Line Military Railway
Coleorton Railway ran from the base of the Swanningto incline to the mines, pipe-works and limestone quarries in the Newbold / Worthington areas. When New Lount mine opened in 1924 it connected to that as well. There were railway lines connecting Ashby, Melbourne and Derby. During WWII these lines
Video about the use of the Newbold Worthington railway during WW!! >>
Coleorton Railway bridge passing over Aqueduct Road. The railway was used for transporting coal using horses and mules to pull the wagons. The bridge has been removed but the embankments can still be seen. More >>
The railways & tramways were built to improve transport of coal from various mines in and around Coleorton.
Read more on the Coleorton Mining page >>
Before the railways coal and other goods were moved by road.
Coleorton Highways >>
The Impact of the Railway on Society in Britain: Book by A. K. B. Evans and J.V. Gough has a good section on Coleorton and Ashby Railways. Read summary, buy book or ebook