Coal & Stone Trains at Moira West Junction, 1974-2015
Moira West Junction lay between Ashby de la Zouch and Burton on Trenton the Leicesterto Burton line. It was a junction between the ex-LNWR line from Nuneaton and the ex-Midland Railway Leicester to Burton line both of which were heavily used by coal trains. In the 1970s the coal originated from collieries at Measham and Donisthorpe on the Nuneaton line, collieries around Coalville on the Leicester line, and Rawdon colliery which was connected directly to Moira West Junction Junction. Much of the coal was heading to power stations in the Trent Valley.
It was 1974 when I first discovered this location from the over-bridge at the village of Spring Cottage. It could be very busy here at times and I started to record it photographically whenever I was in the area with a camera and there were trains passing.
1-of-21) Moira West Junction looking south-east on 18th April 1974. The main line heads to the left of the junction signal box towards Ashby de la Zouch and Coalville, whereas the line to the right heads towards Nuneaton. The line from Rawdon colliery can be seen coming in from the left in front of the signal box while a line of coal wagons can be seen to the right.
2-of-21) Turning round and looking north-west in the direction of Burton on Trent reveals a landscape of declining industry. On the left are the remains of Reservoir colliery, while on the right are sanitary pottery works with old clay pits beyond.
3-of-21) ‘Class 20’ 20081 & 20134 heading south at Moira West Junction with coal empties on 18th April 1974.
4-of-21) 20081 & 20134 take the line towards Coalville. The same scene 40 years later is shown in picture 21 here.
5-of-21) A return visit a month later on 28th May found 20136 & 20181 heading north-west with a loaded train of coal.
6-of-21) A few years later in 1978 found a ‘Class 56’ locomotive hauling a train of empty ‘Merry-go-round’ coal wagons back towards the collieries
7-of-21) A visit to Moira West Junction nine years later in 1987 coincided with a period of intense traffic. Firstly ‘Class 58’ 58005 approached the main line from the Rawdon colliery branch with a very fully loaded ‘Merry-go-round’ coal train.
8-of-21) 58005 then powered away from the Rawdon colliery branch with its ‘Merry-go-round’ coal train probably heading to a Trent Valley power station.
9-of-21) As 58005 heads towards the main line another train has appeared in the distance heading this way. The land to the right was in the process of being open-cast mined for coal which was delivered to the coal preparation plant in the middle of the photograph. The coal was then delivered by conveyor over the railway to the loader at the three sidings on the left, which show the effects of mining subsidence.
10-of-21) The approaching train with 58029 hauling empty merry-go-round wagons took the newly vacated branch to Rawdon colliery.
11-of-21) As 58029 takes the branch to Rawdon colliery another class 58 with a loaded merry-go-round train appeared from the Coalville direction.
12-of-21) The loaded merry-go-round train passed as the empties disappeared up the branch. Note that on the right the tracks of the ex-LNWR branch to Nuneaton had been taken up some time ago. Measham colliery on that branch had been connected underground to Donisthorpe colliery which had in turn been connected underground to Rawdon colliery here where the coal was brought to the surface and loaded into the trains.
13-of-21) Turning round to photograph the loaded train going away found another train of merry-go-round empties approaching on the main line.
14-of-21) On a visit in 1990 ‘Class 56’ 56033 was found waiting to depart with a full train of coal from the branch from Rawdon colliery. It is reported that by this time coal had stopped being mined at Rawdon but was being sent here underground from Donisthorpe colliery. This visit was to prove very busy.
15-of-21) While waiting for the loaded train to depart another ‘Class 56’, 56021, passed by heading in the Coalville direction.
16-of-21) With the loaded train still waiting at the end of the branch from Rawdon, ‘Class 58’ 58040 headed past in the Burton direction with empty merry-go-round wagons.
The photographs in these railway photograph galleries are available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. Attribution should include a link to www.nigeltout.com.
17-of-21) Looking the other way, 58040 and its train are heading towards Burton. In the distance is the yellow speck of the front of the locomotive of an approaching train emerging from Gresley Tunnel. The landscape on the left can be compared with that of photograph no. 2 on this page to show how it is here in the process of being reclaimed from previous mining activity.
18-of-21) The yellow dot in the distance turned out to be 58049 hauling a train of empty merry-go-round wagons in the Coalville direction. The train was actually traveling for loading at the Lounge Disposal Site between Ashby de la Zouch and Coalville and I would photograph it there shortly afterwards as can be seen by clicking here.
19-of-21) Here in July 2011 ‘Class 66’ 66185 heads a train of empties through an avenue of bushes for loading at the granite quarry at Bardon Hil.
20-of-21) A nostalgic visit was made in July 2015 to photograph the Tinsley Yard to Bardon Hill stone empties which were hauled by 66731.
21-of-21) 66731 and the empties head past Moira signal box. Compare this scene with that 40 years before as shown in picture 4 above
Although the working timetable lists up to three trains a day through here they are marked to only run ‘as required’ and as of 2024 have not run regularly for a couple of years. The state of the track here between the junction for Burton on Trent and Coalville has deteriorated and it has a speed limit of 20 mph. The track is monitored occasionally by a measurement train which travels up and down. For a considerable time there have been proposals to restore a passenger train service along here - we shall see!
April 1974 visit
1978 visit
1987 visit
1990 visit
2011 visit
2015 visit
Rawdon colliery closed in Dec 1989, but continued to wind coal from Donisthorpe Colliery (connected underground in Aug 1979) until that pit closed on 12 Apr 1990. It also handled coal brought in by road from Bagworth. Rail traffic resumed when part of the Rawdon site became Swains Park Opencast Disposal Point. Of note the last outward coal train from Swains Park (6 Jul 2005) to Ratcliffe Power Station was the final coal train of all on the Coalville line which survives on aggregate traffic. The site of Rawdon colliery is now 'Conkers' Woodland Adventure Park.[1]
Although coal mining had finished some traffic continued here with trains mainly to and from the granite quarries south of Coalville.