 Hello, thank you for joining me. I'm sitting on a bench at an abandoned railway station in Derby This was the Mark Eaton Park Railway. It was a 15-inch gauge railway Which ran for about three-quarters of a mile around the rather vast Mark Eaton Park. Now it's rather sad to see it like this because it's only opened in 1989 So when you think most of the disused railway stations we go and see they closed in the 50s and 60s with beach And some were before that somewhere after that but this Opened after most of them were closed so it really feels sort of even sadder in a way to see it Like this there are actually still some sleepers in between the ragwarts Some sleepers are still there now just up here There is a section Of track where you can just sort of see two lines. That's actually because there's track and The weeds are growing up between them So that's the section of track they haven't been able to lift because it's concreted in Building over there behind us. That's the famous trains model railway. That is worth a visit It's a double-o gauge model of chinley in the 1950s I'll point out that isn't actually to do with this railway. So um You know, it's a shame this railway closed but they were a separate thing and they're still there So there is a railway presence here in Mark Eaton Park Steel, which is great But unfortunately you're only able to watch model trains and I have been in now. I've made a video So I'll post that so do watch that and do come and visit it But if you want to do the Mark Eaton Park Railway, you're going to have to do what I do You have to follow it on foot where the railway line used to go. So there's the Bench that's still in situ Which probably for the time being no one's going to wait for a train. It'd be nice if they just Rebuild it and reopen it because the park is I mean, I probably wouldn't have come here if it wasn't for the famous trains model railway exhibition Um, you know, so people do come to parks if there's a railway of some sorts without a railway The park visitor numbers no doubt will have dropped. Anyway, so there's a section of track Still in situ. I think it's because the rails Are congregated in at that end. So it's one long piece of rail. That's why they haven't taken them out and you can just see There's another set there. So this would have been the end of the run round And the run round loop would have actually been on this level crossing So I think the sheds were probably in there and I believe they've had to demolish them because um They were in a bad state repair, which again wasn't the railways folks the railway only leased the sheds from the council There's actually old army shed. So that one Has the famous trains model railway not sure what that one's for Um, so crossing here you can just see where the point lever would have been for the end of the run round loop. So standing here Can look back into the railway station with some tracks to the in situ all the sleepers have gone from the track bed but the palace is there so certainly For the for the moment, it's going to be easy to trace. So my plan is I'm going to follow this railway and um, I'll do some More recording as we get further around the old track bed. I'm not going to record the whole Track bed because that might take a while. So Let's see where we go to next So here we are we've come up the track bed a little bit You can see the trees are starting to encroach on the track bed a bit We're about 100 or so yards from the railway station. You can just see out there the road In and out mark eating park and over there that is the derby ring road. But coming up to here There are now still some sleepers in situ So I don't know how long There will be how long We'll be able to follow the track with sleepers, but it's quite pleasant. I mean, it's quite a clear mark There was a railway this little cutting here It must have been a really pleasant ride though just going, you know gently through the woodlands You know on a steam or diesel train. They originally had a steam loco from the x-more steam railway They also had a baby delta, which I believe once ran ironically another railway, which is closed The one that steam town in carmforth before it came The west coast railways depot it is when it was more of a railway attraction So That's strange at that loco I'm not sure where it is now, but let's hope wherever it is now that railway doesn't close Coming up here. It's interesting. Look, we can see a sign ahead of us saying whistle. So Again, there's more Something else surviving. It's nice to see so much survives So I'm not sure if there was a cross in here, but I obviously want you to whistle and Can't see any cross in the head. Let's say whistle on this side Yeah, looks like it did so I can understand it saying whistle if you're going this way because you're coming sort towards the main entrance of the park and people are more likely to cross The track bed, but I'm not sure why I said whistle up there, but what I'll have to do I'm going to carry on walking up the track bed a bit further and We'll see where what we find next We've now come probably another couple of hundred yards up the track bed Where as you can see we're quite close to the Fizzy roads they all run around the edge of derby and just on this side You can see the rest of the park. So it's kind of got this, you know, half sort of Urban feel to it. I mean this makes it look very urban Now we've got a footbridge or the Circular ramp up to the footbridge almost going over the railway. I should think That's fairly unique for a miniature railway to pass a structure like that The only other one I can think of is in Milton Keynes at Will and Lake. It's a miniature railway there that Goes underneath a dual carriageway and then comes back. So It's not 100% unusual, but it is It's certainly different. Let's put it that way You can see here There'd have been a crossing here So, um, I didn't see a whistle sign back there, but it looks like up there. There's a whistle sign, but you can see Where they've had to take the rails out and they've put concrete in to, um, field a space where the rails would have been so there's I think this is a whistle sign Just up here We shall See in a second Yep, it's another whistle sign So we're now going to follow on along the track up here. I can obviously see the next whistle sign Certainly the sleepers don't appear to be in this section further back there where we did find them They were in situ and then we went through another Very shallow cutting and they all appeared to be gradually getting buried In the mud, it's probably like when it rains water perhaps washes into the cutting But now they appear to have gone completely. There's an interesting one here It says whistle And it says bridge Because here the railway crosses the McWhorst Brook Again, we get a very clear view of the semi-urban nature of the railway the fact that we're passing the Ring Road So this is where the railway would have crossed the McWhorst Brook And you see on that side, it's a fairly, you know, smallish river but on this side It's a rather large lake because this is the main lake of Mark Eaton Park So it's quite has quite varied scenery for a railway that's only three-quarters of a mile long It looks like now that the track bed's going to run for a bit longer, quite close to the road so I'm going to Carry on making the video, further up the line so let's see where we get to next We've now come away from the main Derby Ring Road And it's a lot sunnier now, now we're out in the open And I think where we've come up to here, this must be the old halfway passing loop You can see the lake there which is fed by the Matworth Brook So we've kind of come, we've started over there, we've so far come all the way around here And it looks as though the railway then goes off into the trees And it terminates somewhere over there so I'd say I must have walked a third of a mile, maybe a bit more Maybe half way, the line's three-quarters of a mile but Although this is where the passing loop would have been Doesn't necessarily mean it's halfway round So we'll have to work that one out when I get to the end It looks as though, just up here, when you get to the end of the passing loop The railway goes into another shallow cutting But slightly deeper than the other shallow cuttings we've already seen So as we leave the passing loop behind You can just see another little depression in the grass That's where the point lever would have been I'm not sure if they changed the points each time Because I never ever saw this railway when it was up and running Or if what happened was the points were sprung So one way you'd only go into the loop one way The other way you could only go in the other way Quite a lot of miniature railways do operate to that sprung system There's a fair going on the other side of the lake That's where that music you might be able to hear Is coming from, it's not really my kind of thing I'd much rather explore the remains of an old miniature railway Than go to a fairground So everyone has their own preferences So as we now enter the disused shallow cutting One thing I've been wondering And if I don't have any of my viewers Might be able to help me on this one Was this cutting dug out for the railway? Or was this cutting already here? And the other thing my viewers might be able to tell me is I know the railway opened in two stages Opened in 1989 But was extended in 1986 So I imagine this is probably the newer half As the sheds were where we started But that's not necessarily the case So maybe the railway originally terminated at that passing loop So maybe this was dug out I think it was, yeah it was in 1996 when it extended So maybe this section was built then I'm not entirely sure So again, anyone who knows Anyone who knows comment and tell me please There's another slightly more vandalised whistle and bridge sign So we must begin across another watercourse I should have thought We're just coming up to the bridge now I'm not sure if when the railway was running As if I don't think it was fenced off Because miniature railways don't have to be So whether people could walk over the bridges And trains could run on them at the same time I'm not entirely sure But again if anyone knows Was the track bed in the middle or was it to one side If you know please comment and tell me You almost hit two tracks over here So rather what probably is normally quite a small stream Following against those heavy rain Is flowing a bit faster And the water looks more murky What this has made me think though doing this Is this is a railway That I didn't, you know I was too late to visit it And I'm slightly annoyed in myself about that I thought if I only had to come here three years ago If I'd come here three years ago We'd be doing this on the train And this would be a video about a miniature railway Stroke Marigold Railway It wouldn't be this sad Oh I didn't get to go on this miniature railway Kind of thing So let me think to two things really One is there's a lot of miniature railways that have come and gone You know Since I've been interested in railways Miniature railways have closed Someone never got to go to ones like Dobwells Yeah I'm really disappointed I missed out on going to Dobwells There's been others which I've made emergency visits to Such as Western Supermere That took two attempts The first one I went it wasn't running The second one I went it was running And then not long after that it closed all together There's a path here That's about the railway not being fenced It looks like it was fenced Just where there was a major crossing So there's in people have crossed here So there's a few more sleepers So they just sort of keep you away from it Really where people are more likely to be And the rails still in situ So regarding railways that have come and gone Yes there's quite a lot of miniature railways that have closed So if I hear a miniature railway is closing I will usually try and get there before it closes But like there's ones like this I just didn't make it in time But then the other thing is there's so many Miniature railways anyway And I of course want to go on all of them So my plan is to try and gradually get to them all I'm going to make a Henry's Adventure series We'll call it Miniature Railway Britain So where we'll gradually go and see all these miniature railways There's been some near misses like Brookside Was talks it might close So I made an emergency visit Thankfully it didn't So what we'll do we'll make this series Called Miniature Railway Britain Where I'll go and visit miniature railways That are still up and running And can still be enjoyed Because you just sort of never know When you know for whatever reason they could close And then from now on then We'll make a few more videos more like this one Where we'll go and look at miniature railways Which unfortunately you can only enjoy in this way So there's quite a few of them You may have seen the video when we were at Weymouth Where we saw three detues railways in one We saw we walked a bit on the track A bit of a miniature railway Which closed a lot before my lifetime anyway So I could never have gone on that one But you know so there's sort of This has made me think of two things We'll do a series You know where I'll go and explore miniature railways That are running We'll do a series where I'll go and explore miniature railways Which like this one I'll no longer run Going into another rather narrow cutting Now it's a bit more overgrown I think there's a one lonely sleeper there I have a feeling we must be coming towards the end of the line But I'm not entirely sure So what I'm going to do I'm going to carry on walking along the track bed And I'll see what we find further on So now I've just come through that narrow cutting Where we were a minute ago There appears to be behind us There's this large wire of course Which looks you know quite fun And I think we've reached the end It's just feeling more kind of you know Town park right There's a lake there And here is the old railway station Completely trackless But still fairly obvious it was a station You just see on where you're supposed to The queue duct to come on the train You have to come through this gate And you've got on the train You've got to enjoy either a steam hauled ride Or a baby delta hauled ride Around the park I've want to walk to the very end of the track bed Where so it looks like there's no turntable on this line They just round around at each end That's the boat in the lake over there Let's just have a look See if we've come Yeah so it looks like it simply just ended Like that there So it's probably actually a shorter walk To go from here to the other end Via the park And it is via the miniature railway But of course it's more fun to discover the old miniature railway So from the other end I believe it's called Mundy Hill I think this end There's no station name board Hope you enjoyed exploring this disused miniature railway And you never know If someone does decide let's reopen it Of course I'll be back to have a ride So from Mark Heaton Park Thank you very much for watching And goodbye