Redmile Station &
The Great Northern &
London & North Western Joint Line
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Redmile Station &
The Great Northern &
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The line that formerly served Redmile and Belvoir station was built as a joint venture between the Great Northern Railway, which controlled traffic along what is now the East Coast main line through Grantham, and the London and North Western Railway, which worked what is now called the West Coast main line from London Euston. These two companies came together to fight for traffic in the middle ground controlled by the Midland Railway. It was in effect like the modern day competition for mobile phone customers and as with the provision of mobile phones today, these big companies spent thousands of pounds to get a piece of the action. Transportation of coal and
ironstone
was the incentive, passengers were almost an afterthought and this traffic never reached the expectations of the early timetable. Click here to see a map of the line |
| Notice December 1879 attached to the GNR Timetable for that year. A service of passenger trains is being run between Melton Mowbray and Newark. It is expected that the line will open throughout between Nottingham and Newark in early December. The line is already open for goods and mineral traffic.
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| Great Northern Railway Timetable July 1881
"NEW LINE between NOTTINGHAM, NEWARK, GRANTHAM
and Melton Mowbray,
Showing L&NW connections to Birmingham and Leamington Spa and GN connections to Kings Cross,
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| Redmile and Belvoir (pronounced Beaver) station built to a lavish design served the important visitors to Belvoir Castle, home of the Duke of Rutland. A seven bay canopy covered the south bound platform and the private waiting facilities were fit for a King and occasionally served this purpose. An imposing fireplace topped by a carved scene of the hunt in full cry dominated the room. When the station was demolished in the early 1950's the overmantel was carefully crated up and dispatched to the British Transport Commission's Norwood depot. |  The picture above, taken after part of the canopy had been removed, shows some of the detail including decorative brickwork on the south gable end. | |
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The north gable end had the Duke's Coat of Arms formed from red brick. A 'porte cochere' (seen in the background of the picture left) provided for carriages and offered a grand approach on the road side of the building. With thanks to Sheila Marriott for use of this picture. | |
In 1881 the station was well staffed with Mr George Copley having moved, some twelve months back, from Bradford to take the post of Station Master. He was assisted in the running of the station by two signalmen. John Wilkinson had moved from Staffordshire and John Waller from Boston. With porter George Robinson they worked long hours serving train departures from 8am to 9.30 in the evening.
By 1891 the post of porter was taken by a local man, John Pickard-Day and the signalmen were now Joseph Cuttock and Henry Clipstone. By 1892 Mr Copley had moved on to be replaced by William Parrish, still in post in 1904. In 1908-16 William Higgins is recorded as Station Master.
| From the autobiography of Augustus John Cuthbert Hare (1834-1903) "A Story of my Life" Belvoir Castle Jan, 6, 1893. "Be firm with the weather, and it's sure to clear up" said old Miss Hammersley, and, after the terrible early winter, the weather, though bitterly cold, is most glorious. My arrival at this stately castle was a fiasco. The Duchess had forgotten that she had told me to come to their little station of Redmile, and when I arrived at that desolate place, with deep snow on the ground and night fast closing in, there was nothing to meet me. The stationmaster sent his little boy to the next village, and in an hour he returned with an open waggonette, agonisingly cold across the open plain. But I was repaid when we entered the still loveliness of the ice-laden woods, every bough sparkling in tlie moon- light like crystallised silver; and still more when we emerged upon the plateau at the top of the hill, and the mighty towers of the castle rose pale grey into the clear air, looking down into the wooded frost- bound gorges like the palace of the ice-queen. I found the Duchess waiting for me in the corridor, with that genial solicitude for one's comfort which goes straight to the heart when one does meet with it, which is so seldom.
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| Market day 3rd class tickets issued from Redmile 1910 | ||
| Melton Mowbray | Tuesday | 1/3d |
| Nottingham | Wed. & Sat. | 1/9d |
| Newark | Wednesday | 1/3d |
| Leicester | Wed. & Sat. | 2/9d |
| Grantham | Saturday | 1/2d |
Track Diagram appropriate for Redmile Signal Box
