Monument record MDR14215 - Paved concrete railway track, The North Midland Railway, Duffield/Little Eaton

On the east side of the main railway line from Chesterfield to Derby, for about a mile between Duffield Station and Little Eaton Junction, there is a continuous slab of concrete on the trackbed of the former Up Goods line. This was laid in 1971 as a trial railway track, with rails laid directly on to concrete as an alternative to conventional sleepers on ballast. The main line track at each end of the section was slewed so that all southbound trains ran over the trial section for a period of several years. When the trial was finished, trains were diverted back on to the conventional track. The rails were lifted from the trial section but the concrete base and rail fastenings remain. The experiment was successful, and from the 1980s onwards, paved concrete track has been routinely used in tunnels where accurate alignment, low maintenance and minimum construction depth are valuable features that outweigh the increased cost compared to conventional ballasted track. (1)