FALL MILL: A PORTRAIT OF THE ASHOVER LIGHT RAILWAY

When I was five, my father would often take my granddad in the car to meet one of his old work pals in the Miners’ Arms at Milltown. This would have been the early 1960s, with me and my elder brother usually going along too. In those days, youngsters weren’t allowed inside the public house, so dad would bring us out a bottle of lemonade and a packet of crisps each.

I vividly remember sitting on the low stone wall at the front of the pub and seeing a set of narrow gauge rails embedded within the road surface that lay on the other side. I also remember that the rails to the right suddenly ended, disappearing into the undergrowth. The rails to the right, however, continued.

Being inquisitive, my father told me that the rails were part of the old ‘Ashover Light Railway’ (ALR). I was instantly interested to know where the rails would lead to, and one Sunday, my father took us to follow the tracks. I seem to remember, after a short distance, we emerged into a working yard, this being ‘Fallgate’. At this time, Fallgate yard was still active and we were greeted with rows of wagons that had definitely seen better days. The wagons in question were the ex-WD bogie type ‘D’s and ‘E’s both with drop sides. Further along the sidings were more wagons loaded with limestone and they were accompanied by a small diesel locomotive.

Later, I realised this was the only remaining part of the light railway and was used for moving materials around the site internally to be used in the flour spa washer and tarmacadam plant. By this time, everything