So, I've finally got this finished, my incredible Parochial entry featuring an expanded Nottingham Tram Network of the future.
I shall briefly go over Phases 1 and 2, as they're entirely OTL and more information can be found
here for anyone interested.
Planning for Phase 1 began in 1988 and took 16 years to completion, opening in 2004. The line on initial completion extended from an elevated platform at Station Street northwest through the City centre to the Theatre Royal via the Lace Market and Market Square. From there it heads by road to Hyson Green where the system features a one way loop. From Hyson Green, the line follows the Nottingham to Hucknall Railway Line, which was converted to 1 track from 2, though a spur to the Park and Ride at Phoenix Park splits off at Highbury Vale.
Planning for Phase 2 began in 2006 and is currently under construction. It features two individual lines extending south from a new stop at Nottingham Station where the recent renovations to the train station have allowed the tram stop to be integrated. Line 2 has been the easier of the two, being predominately segregated, and travels through the Meadows area, Wilford and Clifton, with the section from Ruddington Lane to just short of Wilford Village lain on the trackbed of the old Great Central Railway on its approach to Nottingham from Leicester. Line 3 has been more problematic, with long delays due to overrunning construction work on University Boulevard and in Beeston. It has featured some innovative ideas such as bringing the track through the Queen's Medical Centre site via an elevated bridge, following which it connects Nottingham University and Beeston via the Town Centre on road, branching off through what was formerly an open corridor through Chilwell. It currently terminates on the northern outskirts of Toton just south of the Bardill's roundabout on the A52.
Phase 3 represents the departure from OTL for the first time. Planning is currently in its earliest stages, with a campaign from local residents leading to an initial study on the route through Kimberley being commissioned. From Phoenix Park it extends along the southern flank of Hempshill Vale before heading north to follow the route of the Great Northern Line's Derbyshire and Staffordshire Extension through a new housing estate on the north edge of Kimberley, one branch heading into the old town, and one continuing via Watnall to cross the A610 twice and finishing at the Ikea Retail Park in Giltbrook.
The planning process sparked protests from the population of Gedling however, who felt that they were more needing of a new tram route as the east of the city was the only direction not yet serviced. While a road route was found to be too expensive to be feasible, a solution was found in the utilisation of existing railway lines both in use and disused along the fringes of Gedling and Carlton. From the new interchange at Broadmarsh, the line heads east on road through the new regeneration zone of the CityLink area, home to the BBC Local radio and television services, and then via Sneinton to join the Nottingham to Skegness/Newark line at Colwick, linking also to the existing large car park at Colwick Racecourse. From there, the line remains on the lines at all times, leading to the first use of the tram-train system in the network. The opportunity was thus taken to extend the service out to Bingham and Burton Joyce, with the biggest expense being the reopening of the Gedling Colliery line and construction of access routes to the elevated line through Gedling, though this did allow for almost total segregation of the route. The route was thus able to open in 2019.
The 2020s saw a period of great debate on further expansion. Early on in the planning process it was identified that there were two routes with the best potential returns. One north to Arnold, which would connect more areas of dense housing, and one south into West Bridgford, connecting less people but including stops for the great sporting nexus of Trent Bridge, where the home grounds of Nottingham Forest and Notts County sitting on opposite sides of the bridge lie next to Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. Despite early hopes for utilising the old Nottingham-Melton Mowbray line through West Bridgford, this was found to be unfeasible, and thus both lines would have to be almost entirely on road. With severe obstruction from the residents of West Bridgford, it was the Arnold Line which was built first, followed by signing of a partnership with the Robin Hood Line bringing close cooperation with that route which had failed to get backing from East coast Mainline.
Construction of the 'Southern routes' expansion thus began in 2026, with the Ruddington expansion continuing to follow the GCR route through Ruddington town where it met the head of the restored stretch of the GCR, now fully reopened as the only fully double tracked heritage line in the country and offering services from Rushcliffe Country Park to Loughborough and Leicester. Concurrently the route into West Bridgford was begun.
Matters were brought to a halt, however, with the arrival of Phase 2 of the High Speed 2 rail link. Feeling that the planned tram route expansions- from Chilwell to the East Midlands Hub Station at Toton Sidings, and then on to provide an express link to East Midlands Airport- should open at the same time as the station itself, resources were diverted from West Bridgford, where the route had been laid as far as Trent Bridge, to the new lines. Here routes by road from Chilwell north to the housing estate at New Stanton*, Stapleford and Saniacre were matched by an extension by road through Long Eaton, down the pedestrianized High Street, and then joining the existing rail lines at Fields Farm Road. From there, the route, as a tram train, extended south to East Midlands Parkway Station and then linked to Nottingham University's campus at Sutton Bonnington, as well as Kegworth and East Midlands Airport, with a second branch set of branches extending to Long Eaton Railway Station and using the existing freight line to Castle Donnngton. From there the route headed south to link with the racing track at Donington Park. The expansion was opened in 2032, a year before the HS2 line itself.
In the meantime the completed segments in Ruddington lay silent and unused, wrapped in legal battles over overrun payments. As construction of Phase 6 wound down, the West Bridgford expansion was resurrected and the line was finally opened in 2034, a partnership with the GCR being signed the following year.
The controversies over the West Bridgford Line were to delay further expansions in the city proper, and thus it was Ilkeston which was to resurrect a tram route that had been closed since the mid 20th Century. Extending from the Kimberley Line, and with the Bennerley Viaduct ruled too unsafe to use, the line extended through Amsworth to Ilkeston Junction Station and then to a line extending down the spine of the town. For the first time Ilkeston's lay connected to Nottingham by tram, the plan for the former line to be joined to the Ripley Rattler line having never come to pass.
By this stage reopening the Ripley Rattler was an ongoing campaign in the region, but was deemed uneconomical by NET. It thus fell to a consortium of private individuals who, with the help of a Euromillions win, managed to raise £350 million to build a tram route from Giltbrook to Ripley. The planning and construction process was protracted, and it wasn't until 2043 that the line was finally opened, with a partnership agreement signed after 5 years of marginal profits to help support the route.
Construction slowed over the years following the HS2 expansion, with one line opening each decade. First an 'orbital' route from Dunkirk, via Nottingham University's Jubilee campus, to join the Nottingham-Hucknall line south of the existing routes. Here an existing spur was utilised to connect Wollaton and a new park and ride at Bramcote. The main line extended north to Apsley, before taking a road route to connect the three main remaining radial lines at Basford, Arnold and Gedling.
By this point a sister operation had been established in Derby, and with the dawn of the late 2050s an idea 150 years in the making had finally been realised. With construction split between an extension of the Derby tram route from Spondon to Draycott, and one of the Nottingham rail line through Long Eaton and Breaston** to the same location, the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Tramways Corporation dream of tram routes from Nottingham to Ripley, Ilkeston and Derby had finally been accomplished.
*Currently the Stanton-on-Dale works, this estate is already planned.
**Alright, I'm getting really Parochial with this one.