A HORSE, A HORSE, MY KINGDOM FOR AN IRON HORSE!
The Battlefield Line is the last remaining part of the former Ashby & Nuneaton Joint Railway that opened in August 1873. Prior to its arrival, transport in the area was largely by the Ashby Canal, the construction of which finished in 1804.
Like the canal of the same name, the A&NJR never ran to Ashby itself; it was served by the entirely separate Leicester to Burton-upon-Trent line, owned and run by the Midland Railway.
The A&NJR was the culmination of years of attempts by rivals the Midland Railway and the LNWR to establish a route to take advantage of the potential traffic through this mineral-rich district. After several years of each vying for the right to construct a railway along this route, the two companies collaborated to form the A&NJR.
Construction began in 1869 and, according to the Nuneaton Advertiser, was beset with “great and numerous difficulties from land slips, as well as from the scarcity of labour.” However, building was completed and the line opened first to goods traffic in August 1873 and then to passenger traffic the following month. The new line connected the colliery and mining areas in the north of the Midlands with the rest of the country in the south.
The Daily Telegraph and Courier carried a short paragraph reporting on the opening of the railway, with local newspapers running a significantly longer account. Despite wet weather, the line was opened with all due pomp and ceremony; the local brass brand was installed in the rearmost vehicle, playing the train out of the station.
The inaugural journey complete, passengers alighted at Bosworth to a field full of marquees where the contractor responsible for the construction, one John Barnes Esq, gave an enormous celebration dinner to mark the completion of the line. Workmen, friends, and family were all invited, reportedly totalling 300 in number and – after the usual speeches – the evening’s entertainment began, which included drinking, dancing, and wheelbarrow races!
Using a junction at Shackerstone, the new route linked the stations of Moira and Coalville Town with Nuneaton.
