Trains routed via Chaddesden

[LNW-GW Joint]

Moderator note: Split from

History of services from Euston to Manchester - routings

Good morning. I just travelled back to London from Manchester last night and the train I took 19.55 went via Wilmslow and Crewe. Some 20 years ago, I was on a train that did this, although this was having been reversed back from Macclesfield, brought back into Piccadilly for restocking of...

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The 1700 Manchester Central-St Pancras service on Sundays was nominally non-stop to Leicester via Matlock.

It used to avoid Derby on the Chaddesden sidings route, except on one occasion when it was diverted through Derby and then via Melbourne to Sheet Stores and back to the main line

 

[70014IronDuke]

The 1700 Manchester Central-St Pancras service on Sundays was nominally non-stop to Leicester via Matlock.

I know the Midland Pullman avoided Derby via Chad, but I've not heard of a regular service doing this.

 

[Taunton]

I know the Midland Pullman avoided Derby via Chad, but I've not heard of a regular service doing this.

The Chaddesden line was also used for dmu services departing Derby for Nottingham etc, which left Derby station northwards, the opposite to the main route, and then turned right onto this line and onwards. It seemed commonly done for such services to arrive at Derby by one route, and then return by the other without reversal.

** Edited to keep this split thread on topic.

 

[Merle Haggard]

B.R. ran advertised excursions from all over the L.M.R to the Derby Works open day* on August Bank Holiday, and the first time I caught one was 1961.

Regarding Taunton's last paragraph above, I met someone at work who said that, about the same year, he went on one from North Notts and they were routed through Trent and then turned right at Spondon J, via Chad. then into Derby Midland from the North (i.e., the route mentioned by Taunton but in reverse). The reason was that this saved turning the loco for the return journey - presumably the loco. just went off with the stock to stable somewhere nearby.

I distinctly remember we spent some time stationary opposite Loom's scrapyard before moving off. As the delay was immediately before the junction it may have been that we were waiting to be routed that way. After all these years I would still like to know if we did!

* Organised by the Work's Horticultural Society but sadly I don't think there was much interest in the prize marrows etc

 

[Bevan Price]

On a point of historical accuracy, in many years, the Derby Works open day & flower show was held on the last Saturday in August.
Without checking my records, I cannot remember which train, but I did once enter Derby from the North, having travelled via the Chaddesden loop.

 

[Magdalia]

The Lincoln mails, when they connected with the West Coast Postal at Tamworth not Crewe, ran via Chaddesden. I think this lasted until 1967.

Various summer Saturday trains from the East Coast, that terminated at Derby, also ran in via Chaddesden. I suspect that this made for easier disposal of the ECS.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Would I be right in thinking that the Chaddesden route was actually the first route into Derby from the south, built in Midland Counties days?
Or at least it was at one time well used as an alternative to the route via London Road Jn, to avoid reversal in Derby station.
One of the sights of the routeing from Manchester was the splitting distant semaphore north of Derby, with the left-hand one raised for the Chaddesden route.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Would I be right in thinking that the Chaddesden route was actually the first route into Derby from the south, built in Midland Counties days?

I think that is correct - you can tell because the route heading to Chad is the 'straight' route at Spondon.

Or at least it was at one time well used as an alternative to the route via London Road Jn, to avoid reversal in Derby station.

Yes, this is my understanding. Chad was closed as a through route a few months before my regular time in Derby, but AIUI, it was common for eg Nottingham - Birmingham trains to enter Derby from the north, and v v.

Also the diverted WCML trains from Manchester London Rd to St Pancras via Stoke. There is a photo of a Class 40 approaching Derby with one of these trains in a Trains Illustrated (I think it was) at the time these services were inaugurated, c summer 1960.

What interested me originally in this subject was Man Central - St Pancras expresses using the route, as I had assumed all would stop at Derby (bar the Midland Pullman). This was what dragged the original thread off topic (sorry mods!).

 

[Senex]

Yes, it was the original Midland Counties Railway route (and the North Curve was, I think, the first piece of new railway built under the auspices of the Midland Railway). The Litchurch Loop came in the 1860s and still reminds us of its late arrival by the speed restriction where Spondon Junction used to be. (For some years in the early days Midland trains from the south ran round the North Curve and then backed into Derby station to make their call there. Ditto for a period at Leeds.)