Description: Canal, railway and road at Stanton Gate. The photographer is looking south-east from the Stanton Works dirt tip with Stapleford on the horizon. In the foreground is the bridge carrying the ex-Midland Railway Stanton Works branch (the furthest track) and the same company's Stanton and Shipley line (nearest track), which by the date of this photograph terminated at West Hallam Disposal Point where opencast coal traffic was handled. Despite the appearance of double track, these two routes were worked as independent single lines from the junction with the Erewash Valley main line at Stanton Gate - the semaphore bracket signal on the left controls this. The M1 crosses both railway and canal in the background.
The Erewash Canal runs for 12 miles (19 km) from the River Trent via Long Eaton, Sandiacre and Ilkeston to Langley Mill and includes 14 locks. The Canal was engineered by John Varley and opened in 1779 at a cost of £21,000. Serving the industrialised Erewash Valley with its many coal mines, iron works and factories, it remained a useful transport artery well into the 20th century and it was only after World War Two that it began to fall into disuse. The section north of Gallows Inn at Ilkeston up to Langley Mill was declared unnavigable in 1962 and closure was proposed. The Erewash Canal Preservation and Development Association was formed in 1968 and after much restoration work the Canal was reopened throughout. In the 1980s it was duly upgraded from a 'remainder' waterway to 'cruiseway' status.