November 21, 2016

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THE ‘PENNY EMMA’ TRAIN

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I belong to the Rail group in Congleton U3A organisation and I had opportunity for a bit of reminiscing on a meeting entitled ‘Memories of Steam’.

The terrace house at 26 Heathcote Place, Sutton in Ashfield Nottinghamshire where I was born in 1942  bordered a railway line. It linked the Town  and the Sutton Junction stations, a distance of 3/4 mile. The train was known as the ‘Penny Emma’.

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I found this wonderful image thanks to ‘Picture the Past’ website which has a library of historical images of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.

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http://www.picturethepast.org.uk

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I also discovered that the name came from the initials of the Midland Railway MR and it cost an ‘old’ penny to travel.

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This is me in the yard clutching my precious wooden train made by my Dad who was a joiner by trade. Sadly I have no memory of the steam train only a photo of me on the front step pointing to it! However I do remember going to Hardwick Street primary school and walking over the footbridge after the train had passed with the smoke ‘puthering’ through the boards.

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Then in 1950 when I was 8 years old we moved house , down Station road to a new estate over ‘the junction’. The trains must have been so commonplace that I still have no memories , other than their means of transport to elsewhere.

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The line to Nottingham closed in the 1960’s but in the late 90’s reopened as the Robin Hood line. It rekindles many memories as I now travel from Kidsgrove to the new Sutton Parkway station to visit relatives.

 

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And the Penny Emma is immortalised in a new road name.