A West Bridgford schoolboy was fined at Long Eaton magistrates court in August 1952 for leaving a train while in motion. He was due to change at Trent for a Leeds train, but didn’t notice the train was a Trent until it was pulling out again. He jumped out of the moving train, leaving the door open. A message was sent to the Trent Junction signal box, and the train was halted there, a mile from the station, while the guard checked and closed the door.
In December 1955 a train left Sawley Junction station without the guard. He waved his lamp to signal for the train to leave, but then noticed something wrong with the lamp and was distracted. The train was held at Trent Junction for 15 minutes while the guard walked down the line to catch it up.
In February 1957 nine wagons of a goods train were derailed at Long Eaton, blocking both lines between Nottingham and Trent. An emergency bus service operated between Beeston and Trowell.
Lightweight diesel trains started to operate an hourly service between Nottingham, Derby and Leicester in April 1958, connecting all the intervening stations, including Trent. High-powered diesel engines were due to be introduced 5 years later. Meanwhile, all wagons were to be equipped with an independent braking system, allowing goods trains to run at 50-60mph, instead of the 35-40mph limit with just simple couplings between wagons.
On the morning of 31st October 1959, a tender being pushed by an engine from the wagon repair sidings became derailed at the North Erewash junction, by the Meadow Lane level crossing. It damaged the points and the signalling equipment and broke through the iron fence, blocking the footpath from Main Street to Trent Station. A crane was sent from Nottingham, and the line was soon repaired. But it took all day to repair the signalling equipment, so hand signals had to be used on that section of the Erewash Valley line.
