Railways in the North Derbyshire Coalfield

The earliest scheme for a modern, locomotive operated railway in the Derbyshire coalfield, proposed in 1832, was for a line running down the Erewash valley in the south-east of the county to compete with the canals linking the coalfield with Nottingham, Derby and the Trent. This was not built for some years but The major wave of railway promotion in the mid-1830s included a line which ran north from Derby through the Derwent and Amber valleys before tunnelling beneath the watershed to enter the Rother valley south of Chesterfield, and from there continue to Rotherham and Leeds. As soon as the North Midland Railway opened in 1840, branches were built to nearby pits and the modern history of mining in Clay Cross and neighbouring villages began.