The Ashover Light Railway in Clay Cross

Welcome to our 3rd part of our look at what remains of the Ashover Light Railway in Derbyshire. Former narrow gauge railway.
We pick up at the Clay Cross side of Ogston Reservoir, following the disused railway through Stretton, where there was a halt linking with the neighbouring Midland Railway.
The railway enters Clay Cross via several other halts, where we find remains of the trackbed in several locations.

One bridge abutment still remains on the A61 Chesterfield Road/Derby Road where the railway crossed via the Pirelli Bridge before entering Clay Cross Works. By the bridge was the Chestefield Road Halt, which no remains can be found now.

Clay Cross & Egstow was the terminus of the line and the site of the historic Clay Cross Company's Clay Cross Works. Like the railway, now consigned to history, this once vast local employer now has no presense in the town.

We also take a look at some of the engines which worked the line and what is left these days. These were mostly American built Baldwin locos, like the majority of the infrastructure, engines, carriages and wagons, were all ex-War department.

The line was built by George Stephensons Clay Cross Company in the 1920s to access it's quarries in the Amber Valley at Ashover, Milltown and Fallgate.

It carried passengers between 1925 and 1936 to it's idylic terminus deep in the tranquil Amber Valley at Ashover Butts.There were several "halts" along the line that served the various settlements.

The railway was relatively short lived and closed in 1950.

It was built in 1ft 11 1/2 inch gauge as opposed to standard railway gauge due to the availability of surpless World War I infrastructure and trains.

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