Ticknall Tramway
This was a 4'-2" gauge horse drawn plateway of approx 8m in length as opened. The route was from the Ashby Canal at Willersley Basin NE to Ashby-de-la-Zouch and North to Ticknall in Derbyshire where it served the Lime Yards and Brickworks there. The line was built to move Bricks, Lime and Coal and and had a number of branches. It was built by Benjamin Outram and was opened in 1802 by the Ashby Canal Co as building the canal would have been to expensive given the vertical distance to Ticknall and the number of locks required. The line as built had to be hidden as it passed thru the Calke estate resulting in a tunnel and trees/hedges as the owners of the estate insisted the line should not be seen.
The line was became owned by the Midland Railway (MR) as part of its aquisition of the Ashby Canal. The line was truncated at Old Parks junction after 1874 due to the lack of traffic and finally closed in 1915, the last train having run in May 1913.
Traffic in latter years was almost non-existant and a bi-annual train was run to retain the right of way.
Today, near the entrance to Calke Abbey is the Tramway Bridge which went to the Brick works and is now a Grade II listed structure. Close by the route turns adjacent to the Limeyard (see "The Limeyards" in a tunnel nearly 140 yards in length. The National Trust restored it in the 1990s and it can be walked thru with great care given the uneven floor. The tramway passes thru the Calke Abbey estate and can still be traced intermittently along its route, in some areas there are stone setts still in position.