The council was one of several to show defiance against the Act and of three to be ordered to comply by the Department of the Environment in November 1972 (the others being Eccles and Halstead).
The service used the Midland Main Line as far as Trent Junction, before taking the Erewash Valley Line (avoiding Derby) to Clay Cross, rejoining the Midland Main Line until Dore South Curve, before heading west along the Hope Valley Line towards Manchester Piccadilly.
Victoria Cross | International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | American Red Cross | Military Cross | Henry Clay | Distinguished Service Cross | Christian cross | clay | London King's Cross railway station | International Committee of the Red Cross | Navy Cross | Distinguished Service Cross (United States) | cross-country skiing | Iron Cross | David Cross | Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross | International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Cross River State | St George's Cross | Charing Cross | Stations of the Cross | Holy Cross | Henry Clay Frick | George Cross | Cross | Knight's Cross | Jars of Clay | Celtic cross | British Red Cross | Kings Cross |
There are monuments to the Meynell and Pole families, including a large marble altar tomb commemorating Henry Pole and his wife, an elaborate memorial to Lieutenant William Meynell who was killed at Giurgiu on the Danube in 1854 when fighting with the Turks against the Russians, and an early Victorian memorial to a Meynell 'who was deprived of his life in a collision of carriages' in Clay Cross tunnel,
The company passed to his son Robert Stephenson on George's death in 1848, and in 1852 he sold his shares, the business becoming the Clay Cross Company, which was at one time the largest independent employer in the UK.