Using Google Earth Pro, we follow the course of the former Great Central Railway main line, from Heath, in Derbyshire to Nottingham Victoria. Intermediate places include Pilsley, Tibshelf, Hucknall, Kirkby, Annesley and Bulwell.
The line closed mostly on 5 September, 1966. The trackbed was severed within days for the M1 extension, some way south of Tibshelf Town Station. The book "Forgotten Railways of the East Midlands" states that it was extremely difficult to trace parts of the railway as early as 1974, just eight years after closure.
Surprised you could follow the route! Just amazing how so much of the route has vanished completely. You can't really tell if the bits where it goes through woodland has traces left. But on the open fields there's not even a mark. Even where pits where there's nothing.
