1860s

Trent Station opened in May 1862.

On 29^th August 1862 an express train to Scarborough left Nottingham Midland station at 11.30am.  Rather than stopping at Trent it seems to have been routed straight up the Erewash Valley line, but taking the curve at from Long Eaton junction at about 30mph the engine came off the rails, tearing up the tracks before falling onto its side.  Luckily there were only 6 passengers.  The first of the four carriages, which was empty, jumped onto the coal tender and was smashed.  The next (first class) carriage had both ends stove in and fell on its side.  The third carriage lost its wheels and turned over and the fourth carriage ended up on top of the third.  The passengers only had minor injuries, but the driver was badly scolded and had a crushed foot.

On the evening of 16 March 1863, the evening coal train from Derby to Leicester became stuck between (the original) Sawley station and Trent Junction No9 when a wagon axle broke and it derailed.  A short time late the 8.30pm service from Derby to Leicester was held up behind it.  The driver of the coal train then decoupled his engine and continued to Trent Junction to ask permission to use the other line.  This being agreed, he took the down line to Draycott, where there was a crossover between the lines.  He then returned on the up line and hooked up the lightly loaded 8.30 passenger to pull it back to the crossover point.  Approaching Draycott he thought he saw a white signal lamp from the pointsman, showing all clear, but it was the headlight of the 9.20 train from Derby to Nottingham, which was standing at Draycott.  The engine pulling the 8.30 backed into the engine of the following train.  There were no serious injuries although the passengers on both trains were bruised and badly shaken.  The 9.20 finally arrived at Nottingham around midnight and was met by the stationmaster and a doctor.

On the evening of 30 Nov 1864 Mary Catherick was crossing the line from her home [Trent Cottages] (presumably to/from Trent Station or the footpath to Long Eaton) when she was hit by an oncoming train and killed instantly.   She was 23 and the wife of John Catherick, the foreman porter at Trent.  Before marriage she’d worked in the refreshment room at Trent, and before that at the Midland Hotel in Derby.   She was pregnant when she died.  John and Mary (nee Bookhouse) had married in Long Eaton 18 months earlier. She was from Derby and was buried in Long Eaton.  John was originally from Barnard Castle and after the accident he went to live with his parents near Leeds.

One day in July 1866 Francis Wright and three friends took a train to Trent Station.  After having lunch, they walked across the fields to Long Eaton, which was then a picturesque village of a few thatched houses and scattered farms.  They crossed the (Derby Road) canal bridge and continued down the country lane towards Wilsthorpe.  They finally came to a gate in the hedge on the left and admired the view towards Red Hill and the Soar valley stretching away to Charnwood Forest.  And that was how the site for Trent College was chosen.

On the morning of 4^th January 1869, a passenger train from Derby hit a train of empty wagons running up the mainline from Leicester.  There was dense fog and the driver couldn’t see the other train (or presumably any signals).  The engines and some of the carriages were damaged.  None of the passengers were seriously hurt, but one of the guards was badly injured.