The embankment starts to level out as the line approaches Smart's Brickworks Siding. This was a three-chain-long spur trailing from the Up line, protected by catch points. Another 6 chains of track ran into the brickworks operated by T & J Smart, Brick Manufacturers, known locally as the Ludlow Hill Brickworks. The brickworks were opened sometime between 1882 and 1888 by a local man Mr Smart, to supply bricks for the building programme then under way in West Bridgford.

Smart's Brickyard in Dec 1952 shortly before demolition - West Bridgford Library

The age of the siding is a little better defined. At the Midland's Way & Works Committee meeting on July 29th 1887, an estimate was presented for the construction of a siding connection for Mr Smart. The cost was estimated at £260, of which Mr Smart would pay £150, although they finally settled on £100 (1). It seems likely that the pickup worked the siding as required from 1887/88, but I have not checked this specific point, the first date noted is 1896. Staff would walk from Edwalton station to the siding, the pickup being signalled as a "train stopping in section". It would then reverse back into the siding, either dropping off, or picking up.

Up Leeds 5260 passes Smart's Siding in 1938 - J. P. Wilson

Bob Collingwood recalls that during the school holidays in the 1930s, he and his friends would trespass in Smart's Brickyard to play in the quarry. There were newts in the ponds which they would capture and take elsewhere. There was a track with a trolley - which they would push up the slope, jump on and ride down. On one occasion, one of his friends got his leg trapped under the trolley and had to be taken to hospital.

The glow of the open furnaces was clearly visible by night, and it seems likely that they were shut down during the Second World War because of the blackout. During that war, timber was stored in part of the brickyard by Nixon & Knowles, and possibly Ashworth & Kirk. The yard was probably operated by Smart until the end of the Second World War when the premises were sold and developed as a trading estate.

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