OF FERRIES, SLUICES AND BASINS

The village of Owston Ferry is our next stop. There used to be a ferry across the Trent, but it's long gone. Here's the Market Place.

Two windmills - Owston Ferry.

Regatta Day on the River Trent.

The White Hart is still in business today, with a couple of cask beers.

Setting out from Owston Ferry on Scutt's charabanc.

Scutt's continued in business into the 1980s, based in the village.

Isle Coaches also operated from a garage in Owston Ferry. They've only recently ceased trading.

Follow the map here to see our route and you'll find us approaching Haxey on the Isle of Axholme Joint Railway, through a cutting, seen here being excavated.

Haxey Town station, on the AJR, was well situated in the centre of things.

Here's an old postcard of Haxey.

A mile or so away is Westwoodside, centred around the village pond.

In 1991, a couple of preserved buses passing through Westwoodside, en route to the Sandtoft Gathering,

To the south of Haxey is a bit of ribbon development called Graizelound.

South of here the Axholme Joint met the GN & GE Joint line at Haxey Junction.

The GN & GE Joint line station here was known as Haxey for Epworth. The AJR station can be seen in the left of this photo.

Haxey for Epworth station in 1969, after closure, but still intact.

A class 31 passes on a down freight, circa 1972.

A DMU stops for instructions at the signal box.

The former goods shed at Haxey for Epworth was, in the 1970s, used to house several preserved buses.

Into Nottinghamshire now, along the GN & GE Joint, to Misterton station.

A short branch line ran from Misterton, towards the Trent, to a factory at West Stockwith, as seen on this period map.

There was once a ferry across the Trent at West Stockwith.

The River Idle joins the Trent here, via this sluice gate. At times, the Idle is navigable right up to Bawtry.

The Chesterfield Canal terminates at a basin in West Stockwith, with a lock providing access to the Trent.

West Stockwith is blessed with two good pubs, the Waterfront Inn and the White Hart.

That's where I'll leave you for this post. We'll have a wander around Gainsborough next time.