Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway

The Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway (LDECR) was a British railway built toward the end of the era of British railway construction.

It arose out of a perceived need for an East-West line, the plan being to take it from Warrington on the Manchester Ship Canal to Sutton-on-Sea on the east coast of Lincolnshire. It was largely financed by a group of coal owners, led by William Arkwright, a descendant of Richard Arkwright.

It was the largest railway scheme ever approved by Parliament in a single session. In addition to 170 miles (270 km) of line including branches there would be dock facilities at each end. The line from Chesterfield to Lincoln was opened in 1897, but this was to be the only part of the railway actually completed.

The railway was bought by the Great Central Railway in 1907.

Like most new railways of the time its purpose was the carriage of coal. The project's leading light was William Arkwright, a descendant of Richard Arkwright who had made the family's fortune by mechanising the spinning of cotton. William Arkwright had settled at Sutton Scarsdale Hall near Chesterfield and with the land came extensive deposits of coal.

The rail network in the vicinity provided by the Midland Railway and the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway was still in its infancy and would not meet his requirements. In 1887 the Chesterfield and Lincoln Direct Railway was proposed independently to join with Midland lines at each end. It would cross his land but received insufficient support. Arkwright initially supported the proposed Newark and Ollerton Railway authorised in 1887 as a branch from the Great Northern Railway at Newark to Ollerton. The main trade of the latter, at the time, was the production of hops. However, there were vast reserves of coal and the line was being promoted by the Nottinghamshire coal masters.

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