The station was built by the GNR as part of their Leen Valley Extension which enabled trains to run from to via Sutton-in-Ashfield, Skegby, Pleasley and Shirebrook South.
History
The Leen Valley Extension started at Kirkby South Junction where it left the Great Central Main Line. It was opened northwards in stages, with passenger services as far as Skegby commencing with some fanfare on 4 April 1898. The line through Pleasley station opened for mineral traffic as far as Shirebrook Colliery on 26 November 1900. Passenger services were extended north of Skegby to Pleasley and Shirebrook on 1 November 1901. The high embankment through the village of Shirebrook which completed the Leen Valley Extension by connecting the GNR's Shirebrook and the LD&ECR's Langwith Junction was opened on 29 May 1901. The passenger service then settled down to five trains per day plying between Shirebrook and Nottingham Victoria, with two extra on Wednesdays and Saturdays. There was no Sunday service. The GCR took the LD&ECR over in 1907, so after that date The Leen Valley extension joined the Great Central at both ends. Nevertheless, until 1925 local passenger trains ran North from Nottingham Victoria and terminated at Shirebrook, despite Shirebrook North being only a mile further on. To modern eyes this appears like running trains along the East Coast Main line from Edinburgh and terminating at Finsbury Park instead of Kings Cross. From 1925 trains started running the last mile to Shirebrook North, but the writing was already on the wall. The railways in these parts were built primarily to carry coal. Local passenger services were typically loss-making and got in the way of freight traffic. The Shirebrook North - Shirebrook South - Nottingham Victoria service was withdrawn on 14 September 1931. The line remained open for six purposes:
coal
through freight services
local freight services
diversions if the GCML was overloaded or under repair,
special trains, notably for football matches and enthusiasts, and
Summer excursions.
Shirebrook South closed for local goods on 4 February 1957. Summer weekend excursions to places such as Skegness continued to call at Shirebrook South up to September 1964, at which point the station became redundant and closed completely. The GCML closed North of Nottingham in September 1966, so diversions also ended, but a last hurrah was a sleeping car service from Marylebone to Glasgow which passed through Shirebrook South in the wee small hours from 1962 to 1964. Collieries closed or rationalised production, for example Pleasley Colliery joined underground with Shirebrook Colliery and sent its coal to the surface that way. At one time coal from Shirebrook Colliery could be sent out via the Leen Valley Extension or via what is now the Robin Hood Line, that, too, was rationalised so it only went the latter way. Through freight dwindled or went by other routes, so fewer trains passed through the Shirebrook South site. A Stephenson Locomotive Society "Farewell" railtour traversed the line on 4 May 1968. The line was closed on 27 May 1968 and has since been lifted. Shirebrook South station has been razed to the ground and the massive embankment between Shirebrook South and North has been removed, with striking visual impact.
