Colliery Lines

LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Miscellaneous: Colliery Lines

Newdigate Colliery

According to Peter Lee in his book 'Nuneaton, Coventry & Leamington Railway' an agreement was made on 22nd July 1897 by the LNWR for the provision of a connection to a private siding forming the exchange sidings and the branch to Newdigate Colliery. The branch was two miles in length and connected the railway to Newdigate Colliery which had commenced sinking its shaft in 1898. The exchange sidings was comprised of two sets of sidings; a set of three sidings of considerable length for stabling fully laden wagons and two reception sidings which, according to Peter Lee, 'held forty-five wagons'. The branch was built by Charles Baker & Sons Ltd. Peter Lee suggests that the exchange sidings might predate the agreement as 'there were sidings here serving Hawkesbury Collieries Speedwell pit before Newdigate Colliery was built'. Approximately half way along the branch, a land sale yard* and locomotive shed were established at Smorrall Lane. A spur to Exhall Colliery was constructed at this point in order to provide an alternative route for that colliery's traffic, particularly via the canal wharf. In August 1961 the land sale yard and shed were closed and moved to the colliery, the shed being replaced by a two-road structure built as part of a reorganisation of the surface plant which included a new coal preparation plant and the general relaying of colliery sidings.

* A landsale or land-sale system was a rental or tenement system occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries in Great Britain, named after the practice of local selling of coal and operation of small-scale 'land sale' collieries. Land-sale coal was free of tax, and so coal users in coal producing areas could obtain coal free of duties for 'water-sale coal' shipped by sea or canal, such as duties paid at the ports of London.

Much of the information provided above and below has been derived from a number of sources including Peter Lee's book 'Nuneaton, Coventry & Leamington Railway', his excellent website 'www.nuneatonhistory.com' and an informative and in-depth article written by Mike Kinder and Ray Fox published in the August 2002 edition of Railway Bylines '. Subsequently, in August 2016, Mike Kinder, Ray Fox and Peter Lee collaborated to produce An Illustrated History of Newdigate Colliery Railway published by the Nuneaton Local History Group. For more information on the activities of the group or on how to purchase a copy of the book please contact Peter Lee via his email nuneatonian@gmail.com.

Newdigate Colliery Exchange Sidings and Miscellaneous

Ref: misc_newd270 A Fox Looking towards Bedworth with Newdigate Siding Signal Cabin on the left and the colliery line off to the right

Ref: misc_newd267 P Lee Looking from the exchange sidings towards the junction with Nuneaton being to the left and Coventry to the right

Ref: misc_newd266 P Lee Looking towards Nuneaton with the two reception sidings on the left and the signal cabin on the right

Ref: misc_newd261 P Lee Looking in the direction of the Colliery with just one of the exchange sidings being used to stable the coal wagons

Ref: misc_newd269 A Fox A Peckett is seen hard at work propelling wagons bunker first into the exchange sidings in late 1950s

Ref: misc_newd272 RA Fox Peckett 0-6-0ST No 4 emerges from beneath the Coventry to Nuneaton Road bridge on its way back to the Colliery

Ref: misc_newd273 RA Fox A view from the footbridge towards Newdigate Colliery with the Coventry to Nuneaton Road bridge in the distance

Ref: misc_newd281 P Lee Looking from the rail weigh bridge towards Newdigate Colliery screens just after the colliery closed in 1982

Ref: misc_newd295 K Lane Looking towards the winding house, headgear on the left and the coal screens on the right with waste conveyor above

Ref: misc_newd295a K Lane Close up showing Newdigate Colliery's coal screens which could handle loading coal into both road and rail vehicles

Ref: misc_newd276 Bedworth Echo The last rake of wagons have been marshalled and loaded and now wait to be taken down to the exchange sidings

Newdigate Colliery locomotives in action

Ref: misc_newd275 KJ Cooper Newdigate Colliery Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST 'Susan' is seen standing in the yard on Wednesday 21st May 1952

Ref: misc_newd277 A Fox Peckett No 4, in poor condition not long before withdrawal, heads back after dropping off the photographer

Ref: misc_newd278 RA Fox North British 0-6-0ST 'Coventry No 1' is seen standing next to the spoil heaps at Newdigate Colliery

Ref: misc_newd279 RA Fox Newdigate Colliery 0-6-0ST 'Lucia' stands on one of the roads outside the colliery's two road engine shed

Ref: misc_newd280 RA Fox Hunslet 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST 'Newdigate Colliery No 1', in blue livery, waits in the colliery yard for its next turn of duty

Ref: misc_newd282 M Kinder One of Newdigate Colliery's Peckett blasts away from the exchange sidings with a train of empties in the 1960s

Ref: misc_newd290 K Lane Hunslet 0-6-0 is seen at Newdigate exchange sidings during February 1980, two years before closure

Ref: misc_newd296 K Lane Hunslet Diesel Hydraulic 0-6-0 runs light engine past loaded steel bodied wagons on 26th June 1980

Ref: misc_newd294 John Turner Newdigate Colliery's 0-6-0ST No 4 Peckett, built in 1933, is seen topping up its saddle tank adjacent to the shed

Newdigate Canal Wharf

Ref: misc_newd260 P Lee Newdigate Colliery Canal Wharf which was used to transport coal by water up to the closure of the pit in 1950s

Ref: misc_newd274 A Fox A 1950s view of the Wharf looking back towards the colliery and the ramp leading up to the exchange sidings

Ref: misc_newd274a A Fox Close up of the siding which had been provided with a movable cover to provide labourers some protection

Ref: misc_newd271 A Fox One of Newdigate's Pecketts has just reversed a rake of internal-user wagons on to the wharf to be unloaded

Ref: misc_newd268 M Kinder Newdigate's Peckett No 4 locomotives lifts a rake of empty wagons back to the colliery in the early 1960s

Ref: misc_newd265 The Cov & Warwick Graphic The first set of photos of a rake of derailed loose coupled Newdigate Colliery wagons lying in Coventry Canal

Ref: misc_newd262 M Kinder The second set of photos of a rake of derailed loose coupled Newdigate Colliery wagons lying in Coventry Canal

Ref: misc_newd264 M Kinder The third set of photos of a rake of derailed loose coupled Newdigate Colliery wagons lying in Coventry Canal

Ref: misc_newd263 H Dunkley The fourth set of photos of a rake of derailed loose coupled Newdigate Colliery wagons lying in Coventry Canal

Ref: misc_newd271 H Dunkley The fifth set of photos of a rake of derailed loose coupled Newdigate Colliery wagons lying in Coventry Canal

Ordnance Suvey Maps of Newdigate Canal Wharf

Ref: misc_newd283 National Library of Scotland An 1886 Ordnance Survey Map showing the tramway from Hawkesbury Colliery was the only route

Ref: misc_newd284 National Library of Scotland A 1902 Ordnance Survey Map showing the exchange sidings are now in place but no siding to the wharf

Ref: misc_newd285 National Library of Scotland A 1912 Ordnance Survey Map showing the exchange sidings are now in place with two sidings installed on the wharf

Ref: misc_newd286 National Library of Scotland A 1923 Ordnance Survey Map showing the exchange sidings but with the number of wharf sidings reduced to one

Ref: misc_newd291 National Library of Scotland A 1902 Ordnance Survey Map of the Exchange Sidings and Newdigate Siding Signal Cabin and headshunt sidings

Ref: misc_newd292 National Library of Scotland A 1912 Ordnance Survey Map of the Exchange Sidings and Newdigate Siding Signal Cabin and headshunt sidings

Ref: misc_newd293 National Library of Scotland A 1923 Ordnance Survey Map of the Exchange Sidings and Newdigate Siding Signal Cabin and headshunt sidings

Ordnance Suvey Maps of Newdigate Colliery

Ref: misc_newd287 National Library of Scotland A 1902 OS map of Newdigate Colliery showing the location of the shaft, the loading sidings and on the left the headshunt

Ref: misc_newd288 National Library of Scotland A 1913 OS map of Newdigate Colliery showing the modifications to the colliery and the installation of more sidings

Ref: misc_newd289 National Library of Scotland A 1937 OS map of Newdigate Colliery showing the modification to the approach and the installation of more sidings