Coalville Crossing Confusion (2)

 100 Years Old

Midland Red opened their depot in Coalville in 1925 and, coming from the centre of the town to Snibston, you are obliged to pass the former establishment. The depot consisted of a substantial office block in Art Deco style ...

... with the company name and the opening date clearly displayed.

Of course there was a booking and information office as part of the block. Later, new windows were installed although fbb does not know whether these came after Arriva (successors to Midland Red) vacated the premises.

Back to the original with a better view of the booking office ...

... we continue a few yard further along the Ashby Road and there is the depot itself.

Again we see later modification after departure of the bus operation.

A more recent view from above shows a brand new roof throughout, which would have cost much fine gold.

The most recent view from the road shows the garage front completely infilled with panelling.

So, adieu 100 year old bus garage. Snivel, snivel!

What is, of course, significant is the change in the structure of bus operation over that 100 years. Services have been reduced, fares have risen by nearly three times the rate of inflation and many many more potential customers have cars.

How is the move to net zero going, then?

Some of the 100 Years Remembered.

Last Sunday, visitors arrived in good numbers to celebrate the centenary. Older visitors could revel in nostalgia for the good old days when red buses plied the roads of Leicestershire in great profusion.

Some would remember red buses with black roofs, usually gleaming cleanly for their role in long distance express services.

And they were luxury!

Thanks web site designers for telling us twice! fbb has not seen any photos of double deck buses at the event.

A good day was had by all - and there was a small reminder of the strong competition for the buses that would eventually change the industry ...

... namely the motor car.

Remember those railway tracks that were NOT controlled by the Coalville Crossing signal box?

The sidings once led back towards the town and made a junction with the Leicester to Burton branch east of the former Coalville Town station.

But where the thin black siding line crosses the BROWN road is, apparently, another level crossing. Indeed there are still rails in the road ...

... and gates no longer closing. This side is a footpath leading to Snibston Park. Opposite and also gated ...

... is another footpath on the former track bed. This leads, ignominiously, to Coalville's extensive car parks and, via a left hander, leads out on to the former A511 east of the former station and former signal box. 

Here is the path but Coalville doesn't overdo the direction signs.

So you would never know that this footway will take you along the route of the Snibston Colliery sidings and crossing Belvoir Road at Oliver's Crossing.

Oliver?

Crossing what was then known as Hugglescote Lane and because it formed the main outlet for coal from Snibston Pit it was much used, interfering for many years only with limited traffic. The lane was initially very little developed with housing but, as the town grew in importance industrially, more permanent gates were needed, served by an attendant.

The identity of many of the early “gate minders” is not clear but by 1881 Oliver Robinson, aged 62, was described as such. It is understood that he suffered an accident in the pit in the 1870s and was given this duty in compensation.

You wonder what Oliver would have thought if he could ever know that he featured in blogs about Coalville and was a star of the town's history even in 2025.

The above view hasn't changed much today, apart from a lick of paint on one of the shops.

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 14 Sept 

Coalville Crossing Confusion (1)

 A Moving Story?

Last Sunday, Leicester chum, David, had a day out from Groby. He went to the above and fbb will examine what he examined in a later blog. 

But, at first, fbb was baffled. 

The event took place at Snibston Colliery, the entrance for which is just a short stroll along the Ashby Road from the bustling town centre of Coalville. Only it doesn't bustle too much on a Sunday!

Parts of the colliery have reopened post Covid ...

... and part of the area is a pleasant park.

But things are somewhat confusing to an outsider.

As you enter the former colliery gates from the main road ...

... there, in front of you, is a very tall Midland Railway signal box. It even features in the Snibston on-line publicity complete with obligatory smiling young gell.

Look left as you totter towards the box and there is an odd selection or crossing gates, beyond which is some track and a few wagons.

This infrastructure appears to fizzle out at another gate in the far distance.  Turn through 180 degrees and there is another small crossing gate. Note that none of the gates protects a crossing of any kind. But there, beyond the little gate, is the huge signal box with projecting cabin, overseeing nothing.

The name board on the front f te box is clearly a fake, not Midland Railway style at all.

Now; fbb thinks that he has travelled by train via Coalville

Coalville is about halfway along the line that linked Leicester Midland (now just Leicester) with Burton-on-Trent. fbb has ridden the line in about 1961 and remembers that it was slow and very industrial. The line got diesel units in 1958 ...

... and was closed to passengers in 1964.

It was not long before the station was demolished.

An old map extract shows us where it was.

If we motor slowly westwards along what would be the A511 if Coalville centre had not been by passed ...

... we will cross across Coalville crossing. And yes, it still carries trains, but no longer anything for passengers. You might see a stone train from Bardon Hill Quarry or perhaps a Notwork Rail test train which uses the line to test the testing equipment!

The white building was the Railway Hotel, now a childrens' day care centre ...

... and that patch of scrub on the right ...

... is where the station building once stood. Swing round a bit further to the right and ...

... there isn't Coalville Crossing signal box.

But there are pictures of this esteemed edifice on-line. This is looking from the roadside and across the tracks towards where the station isn't.

Here we look back from across the crossing and opposite where the station entrance isn't ...

... and here we are a bit further away in distance and years with the station entrance in all its glory!

A more modern view from further back shows the box and the footbridge which  threads its way behind the signalman.

We are looking east in the above shot. Back looking west (ish!) are the access steps to the foot bridge from the other side.

Here a view of the actual bridge for feet ...

... from which you could, back in the day, take good pictures of steam trains.

Of course, the signal box was moved in two large chunks ...

... and rebuilt at Snibston.

Mystery and most of the confusion removed!

To conclude this post, a picture or three of The Notwork Rail test train testing Coalville Crossing.

Wig wags flash red ...

... barriers descend ...

... and the train trundles slowly by ...

... in the Burton-on-Trent direction.

The former Railway Hotel peeps in on the right.

Tomorrow we see the buses on show at Snibston and explore a lesser known level crossing. There is a link!

 Next Crossing Confusion blog : Sat 13th Sept