Chellaston Quarry Locomotive sheds, Derbyshire, February 2020

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HughieD

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1.The History
Hidden in woods near Chellaston, South Derbyshire is Chellaston Quarry Locomotive sheds. It became home to both the Railway Military Training School of The Royal Engineers and the Melbourne Military Railway in 1939. The section used by the military was between junctions near Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire and Chellaston and Swarkestone. It was named the No. 2 Railway Training Centre (No. 1 being at Longmoor). The engine sheds/wagon repair depot were immediately south of Worthington Junction (formally Chellaston East Junction) and comprised of the engine shed, workshops, army huts, offices and railway sidings. There were 8 or more railway engines based here and in steam daily. They were predominantly used to train Royal Engineer sappers in railway operations, until 1st January 1945. This included practising the demolition and rebuilding of railways and the running and maintenance of a railway line and its rolling stock. The site was handed back to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) after the Second World War had ended. The LMS submitted a bill of £25,265 to the War Department to restore the line, but in 1954 the section through Ashby was closed

The sheds were then subsequently used as a wagon repair depot and then storage dump for disused steam locomotives after the end of steam power during the 1960's. The quarry’s signal box closed in 1966 and the sidings lifted and main running lines singled a year later in 1967. The final lifting of all remaining track was done by Trackwork of Doncaster Ltd in 1988. At one stage there were plans to convert the shed into a railway museum but problems regarding access meant that nothing materialised on this front.

The engine shed in 1989, already looking a bit worse for wear:

49601505317_cb7ea5ecb5.jpgChellaston Sheds by HughieDW, on Flickr

2. The Explore
Thanks go to @motionlessinmike for this one. Was in the area having been to Willington cooling towers earlier in the day. Not the most epic of places, but atmospheric and buried deep in the woods with nature taking over. The shed is in a pretty bad way and sadly we didn’t find the military huts that MIM included in his report, but still just about enough for a bijou report though.

3. The Pictures

The first thing you come to is a brick build hut with two fireplaces:

49598118262_0d0efb90ee_b.jpgChellaston 10 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49597846927_a9f23e961b_b.jpgimg5852 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49598120307_55b6bf0769_b.jpgChellaston 01 by HughieDW, on Flickr

A few ‘externals’ of the shed:

49597614341_c18ffc951c_b.jpgimg5831 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49598119472_4d913e550b_b.jpgChellaston 05 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49597111698_76906305bd_b.jpgimg5836 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49597861442_85a965fab2_b.jpgimg5833 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49597115743_b26c65d399_b.jpgimg5832 by HughieDW, on Flickr

General views inside of the shed:

49598118502_6335df11ef_b.jpgChellaston 09 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49598118752_f97c427ac8_b.jpgChellaston 08 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49598119212_828a862369_b.jpgChellaston 06 by HughieDW, on Flickr

49597868281_2411659949_b.jpgChellaston 03 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Some of the old electrics:

49597602041_066f5cf0b0_b.jpgimg5847 by HughieDW, on Flickr

And the tiniest bit of rail:

49597603606_3035542e02_b.jpgimg5842 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The graff ain’t up to much to be honest:

49597856132_d79e32daf7_b.jpgimg5839 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Looks like nature is making a come back. If you do find rails try to look for a date stamp on the side of the rail, if it's there.
 
Nice one mate, I saw this place on a YouTube video but your pictures make it look so much better.

Cheers Newage
 

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