Radford Road station

Here is the picture of the Motor Mills. The article says, The Works of which we give an illustration are situated in the Foleshill Road, adjacent to the Coventry Canal, and on the line of the Electric Car Company running from Coventry Railway Station to Bedworth, a distance of 5 miles. The works are known locally by designation of the "Cotton Mills", the original buildings having been destroyed by fire some 3 or 4 years ago (the book is 1912) and reconstructed by the Insurance Company. The firm who carried on the business of cotton spinning formerly occupying the premises, went into liquidation after the fire and the immense block of buildings has been purchases by the British Motor Syndicate, who are about to commence the manufacture of horseless carriages and other automatic vehicles. One floor of the premises is to be used in construction of vehicles under the "Daimler" patents while on another floor the manufactures of the Horseless Carriage Company will be carried out, the promoters anticipating the necessity of employing some thousands of hands in the works.

Hello Anne, Thank you for the most fabulous contribution to this discussion. The photo clearly showing the railways.

This map shows the unused station building and the Widdrington Mill. I'll create a new topic for the mill and Daimler in a few days.

Thank you Helen, brill! I've deleted my in effect duplicate post.

This maybe an open topic, as a definite answer might never come to fruition. Just as Coventry council & the local railway were considering 're-opening Foleshill station, along comes the Arena shopping centre, so we will stick it there, kind of thing.

Another way to look at the maps and compare with others including satellite views at the Library of Scotland.

We are obviously discussing 2 different stations here. The stuff I have posted is the Sandy Lane one, not the one Nick was asking about. A letter in an 1857 newspaper says that as per the Nuneaton Railway Company agreed to build the railway at Radford. For some years it was not built but after years of correspondence and badgering the company agreed to erect a station on the Radford Road. The station had been built for several months but they refused to open it, They had honoured their commitment to build it but had no commitment to open it. I have put a post on the Facebook " Radford as it was " site.

This whole conversation has been & is fascinating. I didn't know anything about the actual outcome of Radford Rd station. Thanking everyone.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to this fascinating subject. Despite a life-long interest in railways and particularly those in Coventry, I had never come across any references to this Radford Road station or indeed the Cotton Mills siding. Now for an item of trivia but associated with this thread. My family home was at No.27 Three Spires Avenue and from the early 1950's I occupied the small, third bedroom at the front of the house. Just to place the house in it's geographical position, it was south-east facing on an elevated position and from my bedroom window I could see some distance through the gap between the two houses on the other side of the road. The long view was relatively unobstructed as there were only house roofs and trees to be seen. The old Barkers Butts school was behind the houses opposite but you couldn't see any of that. Having had some 'toy' binoculars as a present, I was looking at the long view and I was delighted to see a steam locomotive heading in the Nuneaton direction and I could just make out the upper parts of carriages behind it. The locomotive was puffing out quite a lot of smoke and when I couldn't see any more smoke, I assumed it had passed under the Radford Road bridge. Looking back over 70 years I realise that having that view was a great incentive to take an interest in railways, which I duly did! Although the distance was too great to make out any details of locomotives or rolling stock, the only other impediment was the greenery stretching out before me, but that wasn't a problem in the winter! Happy days.

Thank you Dayzeefun. We haven't really been able to help Nick but we have learned a lot more about that area and Anne's picture of the sidings splitting round the Widdrington Mill is a cracker. Thanks also for adding your memories.