Description: The Erewash Canal looking north towards the bridge carrying the railway line connecting Derby with Nottingham, Leicester and London over the waterway between Long Eaton (formerly Sawley Junction) station and Sheet Stores Junction. The latter takes its name from the MR's Sheet Stores, part of which can be seen on the right. It was here that the railway manufactured and maintained its stock of tarpaulins etc used for sheeting over merchandise carried in open wagons. The Stores were served by a basin off the canal and the towpath can be seen rising beyond the right-hand span of the bridge in order to cross the entrance to this. The houses in the background are in Oakland Avenue but would later be obscured from this viewpoint by the construction of Fields Farm Road.
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. 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.