Pilsley railway station is a disused station which served the village of Pilsley in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England. It was on the

Great Central Main Line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), is a former railway line in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899 and built by the Great Central Railw ...

. The station was opened on 2 January 1893 by the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

(later part of the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

and subsequently the

LNER LNER may refer to: * London and North Eastern Railway, a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1923 until 1947 * London North Eastern Railway, a train operating company in the United Kingdom since 2018 * Liquid neutral earthing resistor, a typ ...

), on its line from Beighton in the outskirts of

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Annesley Annesley is a village and civil parish in the Ashfield district of Nottinghamshire, England, between Hucknall and Kirkby-in-Ashfield. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 1,162 (including Annesley Woodhouse to the west). Annesley Hall ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

, which later became part of the

Great Central main line The Great Central Main Line (GCML), also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), is a former railway line in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899 and built by the Great Central Railw ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Along much of the route between

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

the line ran through a mainly industrial landscape dominated by mining. Pilsley had its own

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

a short distance to the north of the station, with extensive sidings on both sides of the main line. The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

also gained access to Pilsley colliery, via a section about 2.5 miles in length which branched off their Erewash Valley Line just to the north of Doe Hill station, and ran across country to join the Great Central at Pilsley, running virtually alongside Pilsley station before making its connection with the line near the colliery. Pilsley station closed on 2 November 1959, the line itself on 5 September 1966. The collieries also closed around this time, although coal mining continued to be a source of employment for the village until the 1980s. The route of the Great Central line was redeveloped by

Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire, England. It has 64 councillors representing 61 divisions, with three divisions having two members each. They are Glossop and Charlesworth, ...

in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and now forms part of the

Five Pits Trail Five Pits Trail The Five Pits Trail is a rail trail in Derbyshire, England. It consists of a network of surfaced walkways for recreational use. The approximately trail links Grassmoor to Tibshelf. The Trail can be extended to by continuing al ...

network. These efforts received a Countryside Award in 1970, as indicated by a plaque at the site of Pilsley station. The trail runs approximately 12 miles, from

Tibshelf Tibshelf is a village and civil parish in the Bolsover District in Derbyshire, England. Located between the towns of Clay Cross, Shirebrook, Mansfield and Chesterfield. It had a population at the 2001 UK census of 3,548, increasing to 3,787 at th ...

Grassmoor Grassmoor is a village in Derbyshire, England, approximately three miles to the south of Chesterfield. Its original name, according to 16th-century parish records, was ''Gresmore''. The appropriate civil parish is called Grassmoor, Hasland and Wi ...

Country Park, though with the filling in of cuttings and removal of embankments it is virtually unrecognisable as a former railway line. Similarly the collieries that had once been such conspicuous features of the landscape have vanished without trace. The area is now once again mostly rural in character.

External links

Pilsley station on Subterranea Britannica

Disused railway stations in Derbyshire Former Great Central Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1893 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1959 {{EastMidlands-railstation-stub