 Hello, thank you for joining me. Today is another episode of Miniature Railway Britain and today's episode is really a completely different one It's going to be very strange. We are going to hopefully go to Miniature Railway Very much doubt we're going to get a ride on the Miniature Railway We might not even see any trains But I'm going to make up for it with a few more exciting things because firstly might not look it I'm actually standing on an old full-size railway track bit and to give you a clue as to where I am all Have to do is walk into this car park and I should turn the camera around and I shall reveal where I am Those of you who recognize the location will know I'm at Shrewsbury Abbey This is the old Shrewsbury Abbey station and of course the building in the background is Shrewsbury Abbey So what's the Miniature Railway got to do with this? Well, we'll find out in a minute But firstly I'm going to walk along the platform of the old Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Light Railway. This would have been a fascinating railway in its time It was one of the I believe it was one the Connell Stevens light railways He designed railways or built railways such as Kent and East Sussex and East Kent and this was one of his it had Such a checkered history so many things happened I'm not going to possibly attempt to try and tell you all of them. I'll put a little clip in now So that clip I just posted then tells you all the history of this station how it opened it closed it first In 1866 and it eventually closed as an oil terminal in the late 80s So it's really had a very extensive history and it's been used for passengers and it's closed it so it's main survival really was the fact it was used by the army and It also had what I think is supposed to be the smallest standard gauge tender engine and I she is now in the Connell Stevens like Railway Museum at the Kent and East Sussex Railway So we're just walking along the platform as you can clearly see Over there is the main railway into Shrewsbury, which goes down towards Herreford etc. Now here is The surviving Abbey station and it's been partly restored to tell you so it says the S and M Rly Abbey station so Shropshire and Montgomeryshire Railway Abbey station and of course there is no mistake in the Abbey Now the Abbey before we go to the Mitch Riles all bit about the Abbey Oh, by the way, there's a quite a nice Jaguar parked here Where trains once ran as a Jaguar and a Japanese imported Toyota Lucida in Britain they were called a Previa. You don't see that many then now either So that's the railway station or sight of the railway station. There really is no mistake in the Abbey now It's for the Abbey spread out about here. So we just do a little bit on the Abbey I'm not gonna walk into the Abbey filming and but I will Might go and have a look if I take some pictures I might put them in Half-wards we got a little bit of the Abbey here and unfortunately the gate is locked so we can't go in there If we go up here, there's quite a nice little garden, which is free to visit So we're gonna have a quick look there and that has some You know some of it's done with a nod to the spectacular Abbey Behind us So the place I'm gonna take you to now. I appreciate it's a bit noisy. We are by a busy road But you can I can go and make this urban setting of an Abbey look look rural if we go in here This is the Shropshire Wildlife Trust. They've got like a little Garden and conservation area. It's really quite pleasant even in the rain. So if we wander into here You can see a bit more of the Abbey. I believe that's the old infirmary And there's these gardens, which are I think are kind of designed as a nod towards the cloisters And I see what I mean. I've kind of Gabby looks a bit more rural Setting now. We go down here. I love what they've done here. They've got this arch. It's not just any arch It's the edible arch. It's made of various things you can eat including hazelnuts and apples so I think that's a really nice idea. So these are apple trees and This bush is Hazelnut. So yeah, this is a really pleasant little garden. It's free to visit Instead the main line railways there. If you know how the train came along, I don't know if it will That's part of the old infirmary. I believe also. There was a big mill around this area, a big water mill In somewhere around here. I'm not sure all of the Abbey's history is in and out, but now Let's go and find this mysterious miniature railway. I've promised you I'm gonna let you see the Abbey first though So as we walk back past The where the Abbey station would have been. Like I said, it's latter days. It became an oil terminal There's still 74 signals on the main line, which is one thing I really like about Shrewsbury I like the name of that bus stop as well. The Abbey You can see it looks as though So thinking about it. What would be the self-transit to the Abbey? Looks like it came further You can see a little bit of ruins there. So the Abbey was obviously bigger once. I'm not quite sure how it came to be To lose that much of a self-transit. But you can see how they've had to rebuild it in the former arch So walking back past the Shropshire and Montgomery Shares light railways Shrewsbury Abbey station We're gonna go and find a miniature railway in possibly the most unlikely place ever You can actually Go in the station I didn't know about this and this isn't a miniature railway But let's go and look I'll come and have a proper look in a minute So in there is a huge Load of books on railways So I'm gonna go in and buy some and probably that will annoy my mother and my girlfriend But you know they're railway books, so they're probably gonna be exciting. I didn't know that was there I just wanted to let you see inside the station now We're leaving the Shropshire and Montgomery Shares railway in search of this What must be one of the strangest miniature railways I've ever gone to? Not made me even know about it, but it is somewhere up here. Not far now It's still here. I Last knew about discovered this place five years ago. Well, it's still be here Leave this building Into that And just up there Mysteriously ends there Yeah, we have what must be the shortest miniature railway Quietest miniature railway and strangest miniature railway ever and the Shropshire and Montgomery Shares Is just the other side of that fence or it was so from this very unusual miniature rail intrudery Thank you very much for watching and Goodbye