Mansfield Town Station

Mansfield Town Station saw its passenger services finish on 10th October 1964 when, as a result of the Beeching cuts, services on the ex Midland line between Nottingham Midland and Worksop were withdrawn.  The line was worked by steam till the end and when the Saturdays only Nottingham to Elmton and Cresswell left northbound at 10.25pm, it ended 115 years of passenger services on the ex Midland line. 

The ex Midland line through Mansfield remained open for coal traffic but it took another 31 years to reinstate passenger services, when in November 1995, Stage 2 of the Robin Hood Line opened. Stage 2 saw services reinstated between Mansfield Woodhouse and Nottingham. Stage 1 of the Robin Hood line saw services reintroduced between Nottingham and Newstead in May 1993. Services between Worksop and Nottingham finally reappeared in 1998 after an absence of 34 years.

Comments about this page

  • Hi, I’m building a OO gauge model of Mansfield Midland Station based around the mid 20 when the Midland Railway became the LMS. I would be grateful for any photos of this era that I could copy. I can be reached via the Museum or the editors of the web site.

    By Gordon Price (02/03/2020)
  • I can’t remember my mobile number but I still remember 41712 and 41844!

    By Peter Thorne (14/01/2019)
  • My father grew up on Sibthorpe Street , near to the Mansfield LMS sheds. On one Sunday in the early 1950s whist visiting my grandmothers there, my uncle, Arthur Spencer who I believe was foreman at the shed at the time took me to see where a Stanier 8 Freight loco had crashed through the shed wall and was hanging out over Bradder Street as far as its driving wheels! Does anyone recall this incident?

    By Andrew Spencer (29/05/2018)
  • The moment I saw these photos the first thing that hit me was the smell. I 

    grew up on Bradder St. and remember these images very well as my grandad used to take me to see his mate in the signal box and hang me on the levers.

    By Mike wilson (30/10/2017)
  • As an old woodus lad, on my summer holidays I would visit the goods yard near the Woodhouse Station hoping I would get a lift on the 3f engine that was destined for Pleasley Vale Mills so I could see my dad who worked there, it always worked. I had to sit in the tender till we got past the station masters house then head off to Sill’s Quarry to shunt coal wagons for the kilns, we then waited for right of way towards the vale mills. After the bottom and top mills we would then proceed to Pleasley Pit for more coal with me helping to fire the boiler not bad for a 14 year old lad great great memories, going back to wood house I would be dropped off at the station from the brake van, health and safety  rubbish!

    By Ted trenam (31/07/2017)
  • I lived in Mansfield from 1942-1965 and our house was a 3 minute walk to the bridge over the Midland line on Park Avenue near the Girls Grammar School. I recall the heavy coal trains working hard up the 1:132 gradient from Woodhouse to Mansfield Town. The shed code 16D was in use until the late 1950’s when it was transferred to Annesley, probably to coincide with the transfer of the ex GCR main line from BR(LNER) management to BR(LMR) in the very late 1950’s. I would make casual visits to Mansfield, Kirkby, Annesley and Langwith sheds on Sunday’s with two friends who were passed firemen based at Kirkby, but for variation in loco classes, Langwith would sometimes throw up the odd surprise such as a B1 or K3 and even a D11, but Annesley was the best of all with all the usual WD, O1-O4, K3, B1, V2, B16, the odd A3 and latterly Britannias, Royal Scots, Patriots and Jubilees.

    I attended King Edward School from 1947-1953 and was always popping into the goods depot on Baums Lane where the yard shunter was always an LNER N5 69319 or 69321 as I recall from Langwith. This line carried a variety of locos from WD, O1-O4, on coal trains with the daily fish trains hauled by B1’s or K3’s, my favourite being 61127 from Retford loco, these fish trains latterly being hauled by Britannias from March loco I believe. There was a daily fish train except Sunday passing through Central Station at approx 4pm and 9pm from Grimsby south to Woodford and onwards, I often saw these but never saw the train returning empty back to Grimsby, perhaps it went via another route. I also managed to see the odd B1, K3 and V2 ex works on a trial running in trip pass through Central Station. Now the whole line is gone without virtually any evidence to say that it ever existed.

    At least common sense prevailed and the ex Midland line survived for coal traffic and then the passenger service was reinstated only to see the coal traffic virtually disappear after that. But hopes are high that in the not too distant future we shall see passenger trains running from Mansfield Town to Warsop, Edwinstowe, Ollerton and who knows where.

    Bill Tooke (Plymouth Resident)

    By Bill Tooke (29/12/2015)
  • I wonder if anyone with knowledge of Midland Station remembers my dad who was a signalman at that station circa 1954-1955. We lived at the station masters house during this period as a family dad, mum and 5 children. We could often be seen walking across top of the walls that surrounded the old house … fond memories they were, have also stood on foot bridge when trains went underneath. Wonderful times they were.

    By Frank Smith (26/12/2015)
  • For those who are interested, Mansfield Town Station name boards can be seen on display in the Swanwick Junction loco shed at the Midland Railway Centre.

    By Roger Stephenson (21/01/2013)
  • I remember Mansfield Town Station with great affection its the place I started train spotting in 1958, its the place that gave me a life long interest in railways. It was very Victorian, probably its only 20th century features being electric lights and the locomotives that stopped at and passed through this wonderful place, the only exception on the loco front was a 19th century class 1F 0-6-0 tank engine 41712 or 41844 pottering about in the goods yard and occasionally coming into the station. To stand on the footbridge between platform 1 and 2 when a train was passing underneath and smell the smoke and hot oil is an experience never to be forgotten. The waiting rooms were clean and had coal fires, someone must have cleaned the ashes out and relit them every day, there was even a ladies waiting room. There was also an underpass to get from platform 1 to platform 2+3 which if you were in it when a train passed over you got a deafening rumble and the ground shook. At the time it was going to be there for ever, how wrong we were, I’d give anything to go back in time and stand on that wonderful station for just 10 minutes, I’d be very happy.

    By Peter Bowler. (Not yet approved)

     

    By Peter Bowler. (11/01/2013)
  • Regarding the green unit at Mansfield loco shed. This is the reply from an ex 16C driver. ” Yes I can remember these coaches. They were put there whilst our canteen in the shed itself was being updated and renovated. We used to have our snap in there. We were not too welcome in our dirty overalls though. Don’t recall ever seeing any photos of them. “

    By Allan Parker (02/01/2013)
  • Like all you others, I grew up near Pleasley and used to go round Mansfield shed most Sundays. I never saw 48119 which was a life long resident. I have a BR scale ground plan of the loco shed, coaling stage and station area. Also one or two photos of the shed as it closed. The two locos which ran through the end shed wall were a MR 0-4-4 of which I have a photo and in BR days a crab which had its brakes off and was nudged by a Class 8. I have quite a lot of photos of Town Station. Also a 00 model of the loco shed. When I went to have a look at the centre support pillars a few months ago the man who allowed me in showed me a folio of photos he had. The turntable for the shed was in the North curve ( photo)

    By A. Parker (26/12/2012)
  • By the way, the photo of the shed has Crab 42769 off 16A Nottingham. So you can virtually say it’s a Saturday afternoon as the Crab would be taking the Sunday Matlock or Cleethorpes. By the way it’s facing it would be the Matlock. If you could ask Neville Stead when it was as it was his photo.

    By A. Parker (26/12/2012)
  • The picture of the empty station would be just before closure in the late 1960s, you can see the short siding of what used to be the cattle dock has been lifted. Also the cab of a lorry can just be seen sticking out past the end screen of platform one (top right of the picture), this looks to me to be a Bedford T.K. which were introduced in the 1960s.

    By Peter Bowler. (19/12/2012)
  • The picture of the engine sheds is between 1948 and the mid to late 1950s, the engine on the left of the three outside has a British Railways number which puts it post nationalisation. The engine on the right of the three is an ex London,Tilbury and Southend 4-4-2 tank engine these were replaced at Mansfield by Stanier 2-6-2 3MT tank engines in the mid to late 1950s and used on the Nottingham to Worksop passenger service.

    By Peter Bowler. (18/12/2012)
  • I think Jack Tompson got it a bit wrong on Mansfield loco shed code, from the 1950s to closure the local codes were Nottingham 16A. Kirkby in Ashfield 16B. Mansfield 16C. Sometime in the 1950s Mansfield changed from 16D to 16C. Annesley 16D.

    By Peter Bowler (17/12/2012)
  • I’ve only just discovered this website so I might post quite a few items in the near future, (let me know if I get too boring). I was born in Mansfield in 1947 and moved to Underwood where I now live in 1973 so my childhood and teenage years were spent there. Mansfield station is where I developed a life long interest in railways.

    By Peter Bowler (17/12/2012)
  • There’s nothing on this site about Mansfield Central a much more interesting railway than the Midland, and not much trace left of it now but I remember it well.

    By Peter Bowler (17/12/2012)
  • Does anyone remember a green Electric 2 Car Multi Unit which was parked at Mansfield Depot next to the station for ages up to it closing? I’m looking for a photo of it and any info on what it was doing there. Thanks

    By John Allcock (16/12/2012)
  • John, regarding your point 1; I have a couple of published photos which show views of the Station North SB. One from trackside and one from Portland Wharf behind the SB, unfortunately neither is conclusive regarding the sub-structure, but I suspect it was either of brick construction or a wooden clad timber frame. 2; The viaduct widened just before the Stn North SB to accommodate the line to platform 3. I gleaned most of this from the excellent ‘Illustrated History of Mansfield’s Railways’ by Paul Anderson and Jack Cupit (Irwell Press). Hope this helps.

    By Roger Stephenson (21/11/2012)
  • Hi Roger, Thanks for the info. I already have the Illustrated History of Mansfield’s Railways and since posting the original message I have noticed a photo taken from the street showing a fragment of the rear of the signal box erected on stilts. It does seem strange that a viaduct as famous as it is, that there aren’t more photo’s of  the steam days.

    By John Allcock (21/11/2012)
  • Thanks to all who made a comment about the Bradder street engine sheds. Gosh I recall playing in them, and getting chased by some of the workers, with several other friends from Moor Street . If I recall there was a chap who raised chickens just on the other side of the engine yard. Our “gang” used to pick up the coal off the tracks and make campfires at the far side of the Hayfield that Alan Curtis mentioned, also putting pennies on the tracks to flatten them out. Was there not a signal box near the bridge crossing over Sheepbridge lane on the way to the Hermatige ? I think we all had fun and great experiences growing up in that part during each of our eras. Thanks for the Memories as Bob hope would say Mike

    By Mike Frost (04/09/2012)
  • Photograph 3 shows the roof of the signal box Mansfield Station North. My self and Berisford Jones have been researching several points. 1: Was the signal box fastened to the side of the viaduct or erected on stilts or something similar 2: Where did the widening of the viaduct start, to accommodate the line to serve platform 3. 3: The arch which Quaker Way runs under has 4 bolts, early photo’s show straps were attached to these bolts which went under the arch, but what were they for? So far we have come up with nothing. Help on this research would be appreciated

    By John Allcock (03/07/2012)
  • Thank you Steven , I had completely forgotten about the sand box….The only box that I could think of was the boxes with the axle grease in….Was it not that the sand box was where the Driver used to sit on when watching ahead, or where the Fireman/Stoker used to sit on when resting for a while ??? On long journeys that is….Alan

    By Alan Curtis (13/01/2012)
  • The sand mentioned by Alan curtis would be put in sand box’s on the engines with a pipe leading to the driving wheels. The driver could operate a lever in the cab to lay sand on the rails to gain grip when the wheels lost drive. It was essential this sand was kept dry so as not to compact in the box’s.

    By STEPHEN WALKER (12/01/2012)
  • To the rear right hand side of the picture of the Engine Sheds was a large chimney that rose from the boiler room.at the back of the boiler room, and under cover, was about 50 tons or more of washed sand warmed by the heat from the boilers. We used to play in the sand, and just occasionally were told to move. Never having been to the seaside , the sand became our seaside. I never actually knew what the sand was for, but always assumed that it was used to dampen down the fires in the engines allowing the engine to cool. Another thing I found out was, here was a wooden shed made from railway sleepers that housed fire lighters, that had been dipped in creosote. I believe these were used to make a fire in a special building, and when going well, the burning coals were shovelled into the engine’s boiler. Another shed housed ” Fog Signals ” that in the “Pea Soup” type of fogs we used to experience in those days, were fastened to the lines to let the Signalman in his box, and the manned level crossings or indeed anyone know that a train was approaching. At the Bradder Street end of the sheds, there were buffers to stop the Engines. The buffers were at the end of the long pits that allowed access to underneath the Engines. On two occasions a train has failed to stop and ended up going through the wall, ending up sticking out over the back lane of Bradder Street.

    By Alan Curtis (11/01/2012)
  • Thanks very much Al Curtis. I will try to follow that up. Cheers, JT.

    By Jack Thompson (27/11/2011)
  • Jack, according to this site you remember correctly, though it seems Mansfield was also 16C. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_Railways_shed_codes

    By Berisford Jones (26/11/2011)
  • Hello Jack, Sorry cannot help you ,but an old neighbour of our’s named Earnest Lomas, lived at number 50 Brick Kiln Lane. He worked at the sheds and knew my father…Mr Lomas told me there is a book in the Mansfield Library about the Railway Sheds. I believe it contains a picture of an old number 8 pulling wagons past the top of Bradder Street toward Sutton Junction…Looked like it was taken from the old footbridge that leads to the Brick Yard… alan

    By alcurtis (24/11/2011)
  • I think the Mansfield Engine shed was classified as 16D. Can anyone confirm this ? Jack.

    By Jack Thompson Thompson (20/11/2011)
  • Hello Berisford. Thank you for the comment. My Father worked in the Engine Sheds for many years. He used to show me around the Engines etc. Of course they were part of our childhood as we lived very near to them on Bradder Street… I recently looked at the area on Google and noticed that the old playing field was still there. It looked like a Rugby Pitch was on the field. We used to play a lot of Football there….Is it still called The Hayfield ??? Alan Curtis

    By alan curtis (21/06/2011)
  • Photograph 1. During World War 2 in the first half of the 1940’s . Trains would leave this Station at 6.15.pm daily, taking war workers to the Chillwell Ordinance Depot ( Ammunition Factory ) in Nottingham on the night shift , making Bombs and Ammunition for the War effort…They would return to Mansfield Station about the same time the morning after. The Depot survived the many bombing raids more or less unscathed, although one person was killed when a bomb landed on the Co-op Bakery in Nottingham.

    By alan curtis (21/06/2011)
  • …..and those sheds still exist, they form part of the Neville’s trailer building compound at Bradder Street. They can be viewed from the nearby footbridge.

    By Berisford Jones (11/06/2011)
  • Photograph 4…Must be the Engine Sheds alongside the L.M.S. line to Nottingham from Mansfield. The actual location was off of Cinderella’s Walk, at the top of the Back Lane to Bradder Street. Also at the top of the Back Lane, was, the level crossing leading to the Brick Yard,also there was a pedestrian bridge one could use to get to the Brick Yard , Moorlane School and Sutton Road. A man named Joe Olliver was in charge of the crossing,he only had one arm. I believe he was involved in a railway accident. He was housed in a wooden shed at the side of the railway lines between the crossing and the bridge. He was always nice and warm, the shed had a coal stove in the corner. During the war, Italian P.O.W.’s came to work at the engine sheds and were housed in an old railway carriage which looks like it is still there on the photogragh. Along Cinderella’s Walk the sheds had a 6 feet high stone wall, where coal for the engines was stored, 6 feet high and 12 feet wide. Over the lines was another stone wall, 3 feet high with a very large field called The Hayfield over the wall…Just after the war we turned the Hayfield into a football pitch. And so Bradder Street Boys football club was formed. 

    By alan curtis (25/04/2011)

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