Description: Whittington Road Crossing looking south-west with the gates closed across the road in readiness for a train to pass through. This level crossing was situated on the LMSR (ex-Midland Railway) Sheepbridge Branch, a goods only line that extended from the North Midland route at Dunston and Barlow Junctions (between Chesterfield and Barrow Hill) in a north-westerly direction to reach Sheepbridge Ironworks. Beyond Sheepbridge Works it split into two at Cobnarwood Junction, the southernmost arm being known as the Nesfield Branch and the northernmost the Monkwood Branch. Both served coal and ironstone pits.
The level crossing gates are of typical Midland Railway design with pyramidal cast iron tops to the posts and vertical bars preventing anyone or anything climbing through. To the left a wicket gate is provided to separate pedestrians from road traffic. A red-painted circle, split in two across the gates, provides an additional visual warning. The crossing is controlled from the small ground-level signal box - also a typical Midland structure - on the right, while on the left is the red brick gatehouse associated with the Crossing.
Waiting at the gates is a Chesterfield Corporation single-deck Straker Clough trolleybus, one of 14 obtained in 1927 to replace the town's electric trams, although the tramway system itself never came this far out of Chesterfield. The enormous height of of the Post Office telegraph pole is a result of the need for the GPO wires to clear not just the railway but also the overhead wiring for the trolleybuses.
In fact, Chesterfield's trolleybuses proved to be short-lived and were in their turn replaced by motorbuses in 1938. The Sheepbridge Branch lasted much longer and was not closed until 1983, although the signal box had been abolished 10 years before that. Apart from the terraced houses in the distance, by 2013 none of the buildings visible in this scene remained.
Website contributor John Cuttriss adds (December 2013): 'This picture clearly shows the railway crossing gates looking towards Whittington Moor after leaving the bottom of Whittington Hill and crossing the River Whitting. The railway line ... served both Sheepbridge Works and the Hurst Nelson of Glasgow (later Chatsworth Wagon Repairs Ltd) Wagon Works. After the crossing beyond the house on the left is a low gabled property ... this as a small boy I knew to be the 'Weigh Bridge'; there was a low wall in front which I and many other children would walk on or behind when going to catch a train at Sheepbridge station or go shopping on the Moor with our parents. Note when Chatsworth Wagon Works eventually closed it relocated to the Blue Circle Cement Works at Hope and is still in operation today.