Lacey Fields

12th August 2007

Just south of Langley Mill and known officially as Heanor Junction, this was where the route to Ripley left the Erewash. That line lost its passenger services in 1926 and was an empty cutting known as '40 steps' when I was a little boy before it was filled in in 1972.
It was also where coal trains from Ormonde pit near Loscoe were brought up to the main line, one of my earliest memories is of an 8F shunting the yard in April 1966.
I'd love to find any photos of the two industrials that used to work the line, an 0-4-0 sentinel and an 0-4-0 version of a class 07.
The pit closed in September 1970 and the branch was lifted soon after although the sidings remained until well into the middle of the decade.

I must have spent more time on the footbridge here than any other location along the route and probably in the British Isles. The 1898 vintage footbridge was replaced in 1998 with a modern structure of considerably less character but its still a pleasant peaceful location to watch trains, being out in the countryside.
The 2007 resignalling has marred the location slightly, there are now just three tracks and the signals have been placed in just the right spot to hamper shots of southbound workings-sod's law I suppose-and the continued growth of lineside vegetation has removed some of the best viewpoints. Compare the latest shots with those from just a few years ago to see what I mean.

31271 heads north light engine at lacey Fields 7/5/96 1024x610	37095 on up coal Lacey Fields 3rd March 1980 1024x653	37203 passing Lacey Fields 7/5/96 with a lightweight freight 1024x631	40099 near Lacey Fields July 6 1981 on Corby-Lackenby steel empties. 1024x706
45148 at Lacey Fields with a St pancras-Sheffield train 18th April 1979 850x1024	56062 heading for Langley Mill yard on a bitterly cold 7th January 1982. 1200x849	56065 heading for Langley Mill Yard with empties from Ratcliffe 3rd March 1980 1024x641	60011 on the Lindsey-Rectory Jn tanks, Lacey Fields 23/1/03 1024x708
60044 Empty MGR at Lacey Fields 1776x1140	60097 on the Tunstead-Ratcliffe PS lime, Lacey Fields 23/1/03 1024x691	66507 at Lacey Fields with an up coal working 28 August 2007. 768x926	66552 on Theale-Earles sidings cement empties at Lacey Fields 28/5/03 1024x732