What's Not In Nottingham (3)

 Arkwright Street Interchange?

Above is an aerial view of Arkwright Street station, first stop southbound for local trains from Nottingham Victoria. Arkwright Street itself runs of top to bottom of the above photograph. fbb has had a fairly ineffective attempt to boost the picture ...

.. and reveal the station in all its glory. The distinctive feature was the two pagoda like brick structures which were the top of the stairs access from the street.

Top right is the bridge across Arkwright Street itself ...

... whilst upper left on the fuzzy enlargement is the bridge across the side street, then called Westernwray Street West.

A coal train rumbles across. Note the building peeping in from the right which lasted longer than the railway!

Here it all is on a map. In practice, the station platforms stretched south west from the entrance pagodas ...

... with the luxury of covered waiting rooms.

There is better cover on the northbound side where what we now call commuters would wait; with just a hut on the southbound side as he majority of passengers would be going home to their wife and dinner!

The station closed in 1963 with the Nottingham Victoria route in terminal decline. At the end the only service was a sporadic diesel unit from Rugby. But in 1967 Victoria station closed for good and the minimalist diesel services should have closed with it.

But the protests from Rugby, Leicester and Loughborough were loud and vehement. So BR was told by the Inspectors to maintain the service; which they did by re-opening Arkwright Street in 1967 allowing the demolishers to obliterate Victoria.

This is a view from Arkwright Street just after reopening.

Those pagoda stair head buildings are well hidden, but, using the wonders of modern computing technology, we can take the taxi office away just leaving the retaining wall behind it.

Later the bridge over Arkwright Street was removed,

Terminating trains had only used one platform ...

... hence the short section cleared of snow and the railings!

The up side pagoda was left to rot ...

... and latterly one track remained to allow access tor recovery of track and other salvage.  But soon everything was demolished and the area south of the station became the redeveloped Meadows Estate.

Back then ...

... becomes now.

... with all signs of station, bridges, embankments and track expunged from history.

As you descend by tram from the former Victoria route over the bridge at the (Midland) railway station ...

... (seen in the distance on the above picture) you then pass close to the site of Arkwright Street station before turning left to trundle tramwise along the historic Queens Walk en route to the Clifton terminus.

It was quieter back in the day!

In both pictures the railway station (once Midland) can be seen in the distance.

Queens Walk runs parallel to the former Great Central railway line, but it just isn't the same!

SIGH!

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 P urposeful  P arables

Quirky Answer, is here in a parable.

A man has been robbed and left to die. A priest and a Levite (a professor or religious law) passed by, fearful of being made unclean by the blood of the injured man, such were the rules of the day. Then along came a Samaritan. His people had been despised by the Jews since the two kingdoms split apart a millennium earlier. The despised Samaritan stopped to help, took the injured man to an inn and paid for his stay.

The open criticism of the religious leadership in Jerusalem ultimately led to Jesus death sentence.

The "Good Samaritan" is not a pretty story but it does show how doing things God's way is the best way, whatever your status or situation.

So another question. What is Darnel?

It is an inedible weed which, before the time of ripening, looks very much like an ear of corn.

In this Parable, Jesus tells of a farmer who notices that someone has sowed tares/weeds/darnel in amongst his corn. His minions ask, "Shall we go and pull the tapes/weeds/darvel out of the ground?"  

"No," says their boss, "you might pull up some of the wheat with the bad crop. Wait until harvest and we will sort it out".

Helpfully, Jesus explains the meaning!

For many, it is not a pretty story!

The man who sowed the good seed is God; the field is the world; the good seed is the people who belong to His Kingdom; the weeds are the people who belong to the Devil. The harvest is the end of time, and the harvest workers are God's heavenly servants, the angels.

Just as the weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, so the same thing will happen at the end of the age: the Son of Man will send out his angels to gather up out of his Kingdom all those who cause people to sin and all others who do evil things, and they will throw them into the fiery furnace.

Then God's people will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom.

It is called "The Day of Judgement" and, for many, it will NOT be pretty!

Maybe best have a good think about this Parable, just in case.

Quirky Question : What was the Biblical yuppie's hang-up?

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  Next Nottingham blog : Weds 17th December