Ashover Light Railway

The Ashover Light Railway was opened in 1925 by the Clay Cross Company which had been founded in the mid nineteenth century by George Stephenson, the famous railway engineer. It was one of the last narrow gauge lines to be built for both passengers and goods traffic. Limestone, fluorspar and coal were carried from Milltown and Ashover to the Company’s works at Clay Cross. To the great annoyance of the Jackson family, proprietors of the Clay Cross Company, the Board of Trade insisted that a passenger service should also be provided, to connect the villages to the main line of the London Midland and Scottish Railway at Clay Cross.

Col. H.F. Stephens was appointed Consulting Engineer and the whole railway was built with economy in mind using second hand military equipment from the war Disposals Board. Along with a fleet of Hudson open bogie wagons, five steam locomotives built in America by the Baldwin Locomotive Works were purchased and named Peggy, Hummy, Joan, Bridget and Guy. A sixth was bought later to replace Guy and given the same name. Four passenger carriages were new.

After opening, the railway saw a period of prosperity. Passenger traffic, although not originally intended, developed rapidly immediately after opening. Day trippers and tourists brought prosperity during the summer months. Sadly the promise of the first year did not last. By 1936 the local bus service was well established and regular passenger trains were withdrawn. World War Two gave a new lease of life to the quarries and open-cast coal mine. A daily freight train continued to operate until 1950 when on the 31 March the Clay Cross Company closed the line just one week short of its silver jubilee. It is ironic that the Ashover Light Railway closed in the same year as the Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society was formed.