Derby Racecourse station was never a public stop. It was built to deliver horses to the track, which was where the cricket ground is and the park area nearby. There was a path to Mansfield Road and the grooms would ride or lead the horses down the hill and onto the course. The council, which owned the land, ended the lease for racing in 1939. Trains had to stop and set back into the platform. The land through Breadsall was always unstable and the track bed slipped regularly. The area up the hill to Mansfield Road bridge went during construction, holding things up considerably, and it’s still known as The Slip. All the stations were of a similar design. If you look up Alfred Henshaw’s RCTS books on the GN in the East Midlands you’ll find a plan of one. The tiled area was part of the living quarters for the Station Master and his family.
What I always find remarkable about the places in your videos is that tress seem to grow all over where there was open spaces before. The places are unrecognisable in 50/60 years!! Nature just keeps on growing!!!
Morley tunnel was a magnificent and handsome structure - as was Mickleover. Why must these idiots bury these fine works? They don't pull down the lovely bridges - so why not preserve the tunnels too ? Makes me very cross! Thanks for another super video, Ant.
It's all about the risk of retaining the structures. Tunnels attract explorers and potential danger from roof falls, and illegally set bonfires or torching of stolen cars. Overbridges are demolished to weigh in the steelwork or to protect people beneath from idiots throwing ballast or bricks from above.
Thanks for another interesting and informative video. Pity so much expensive infrastructure has been condemned to go to waste by our modern throw away society.
Good Afternoon Ant from a cold clear Monday afternoon here in Stratford, New Zealand. You always provide an emotive pulling back the curtain of time to show us rail as it was, and as it is now. You always leave me thoughtful and contemplative as to what life was actually like back then, what it was like to work on the railway. I'm sure it wasn't always pleasant, particularly for the Navis building tunnels, bridges and track lines. The Engineering would have been a real challenge as well; these days we have the benefit of computers and nice warm offices to work in; back then it was all calculated out in your head (Which I don't mind as a former Engineer myself, but it is a whole lot of work). Many thanks Ant for giving me these experiences, I am most grateful for your effort. All the best, and keep making these videos please.!
Many thanks Ant for your films from an octogenarian who can't get around and explore like I used to. They remind me of the age of steam and many other places of interest. Please keep it up. You are leaving a legacy for future generations. Leslie.
Thank you very much for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation which is very much appreciated. It is great to see the structures that remain, reminding us of the work that went into the opening of this route. We must be grateful to those who took the photographs from generations past allowing us to see the now buried structures and also to see the line in operation.
My great grandfather was killed at derby racecourse station in November 1934. He was a guard on a racehorse train. The dip in the track bed north of racecourse station I ve been told used to have a wooden Lattice bridge over the low ground. The Train crews used to complain about it and wanted it replacing but it never happened
Wow where have them 5 years gone since I watched your first video with your family with you. You have come along way since then and your videos have just got better and better. Well done Ant on your excellent explores and videos and here’s to the the next 5 years and beyond 👏👏👏👍
Thanks for posting this, it brought back some happy memories. I watched the Breadsall viaduct being blown up back in the 1970's to make way for a new road scheme. It was interesting to see you notice the dip in the track bed just before Breadsall Station, this was where the bank was excavated to extinguish an underground fire in the 1980's. Originally this section of line was carried on timber trestles and then later banked over with spoil/ furnace waste as an improvement, it was those trestle timbers which caught a light and subsequently smouldered for years. Another interesting fact regarding the signal box at Breadsall, which I can just remember standing, is that it was "manned" by a very ferocious lady back in the fifties who bought up six children on her own in that tiny space. The lady who lived in the station house, a Mrs Jeffries, remembered her well and used to retell the story with a wry smile. The Jeffries were the last people to live in the station house, that was the section with the tiled floors, they moved out in the mid seventies and not long after the building was set on fire, later to be demolished. I walked past that building and on up the track, through those level crossing gates, everyday to go to school. The sidings and old track were used for years as a coal storage yard, that's why the ground is concreted. The small shed on the opposite side near the crossing was a lamp shed, later our den and later still became the retaining walls to my parents patio, every brick cleaned and then carted in an old wheelbarrow in 1976, the hot summer. A further point of interest is that the track bed was used by lorries in the early seventies to cart the ballast and earthworks that made up the raised embankments which extended from Breadsall viaduct through Chester Green and up to the river Derwent. The spoil was used to fill Morley Tunnel and some of the cuttings out towards Ilkeston. I cycled out that way along the track to see what was happening and very nearly lost my bike in the mud at Morley it was that boggy. They didn't actually fully fill the tunnel, there's a sizable space between the fill and the brick arch so in theory you could still walk through. Thanks for taking the time to do these films I always enjoy them, it's great to see the places I enjoyed back then. Take it easy youth and keep up the good work, best regards, Matt W.
Thank you for sharing your walk. Having 'boots' on the ground allows for a better feel of the terrain, this is particularly useful for tracing train tracks which are long gone. As you correctly point out during the film there are numerous 'anomalies' whereby the rise and fall of the track bed just doesn't appear to make any sense. Trains are crap for going up and down hills and yet this old line, elevation wise, is all over the place. Landslides or slipping? Based on the fact we've previously had heavy track and train laid here, must rule out such ideas as subsidence, slips etc.
😂 very nice and interesting your videos. Just started to watch them.Educational .😊I like railways programmes,well done.interesting Derby area railways ❤ love Stephen
Well crikey! I walked that whole stretch in June 2023 and I've even got photos of the blue brick wall, but never realised it was a station! As for that filled-in portal, looking on NLS Maps you can see that the road has been re-landscaped into a much more straight line, instead of the sharp angled shaped it was before. So the tunnel was quite short (more of a bridge really) and the other portal is actually buried under that large patch of verge just right of the wall. It's not even in the middle of the new road.
Fantastic video thanks Ant. What a beautiful area. Loved the birdsong. Those bridges were quite a treat, just loved them. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
6.38 "improving life for local people" having the line back would be an improvement for locals and not so locals, Derby friargate should never have closed, I believe it was a parcels station for royal mail well into the 1980s, great video as always, thank you. 😊
Wonderful old pics How magnificent were those Stations. The cost of construction? They then had such faith in the future rail network - how sadly misplaced. We have the road network and cars and trucks to thank for the sad demise of those railway lines.
@TrekkingExploration Yes it is and still lots of things to see from the railway days. My father used to show me where he sat watching the steam trains come up the hill from derby. Wasn't that long ago really but it's so different now. Good that people like you keep it alive 👍
Fab explore. You are so enthusiastic Ant. Rubs on to us . Lovely findings especially the ladies and gents. Thank you again for all your research and walking. Most enjoyable.
Between the underpass and the second platelayers hut (on the way to Stanley) you missed a gorgeous piece of track furniture. A collapsed telegraph pole just to the right of the trackbed and a couple of feet down the embankment!
These vlogs are an excellent source of information. I’m an avid walker and wondered if you could produce a “joined up” vlog linking these walks together please? I live near Ripley and know the area reasonably well, but I’m not so knowledgeable as yourself. I can walk up to 20 miles in one go and use the bus to access certain routes. I do have a car but it’s pointless if you have to go back to collect it. I’m more of a “round robin” walker. Thank you 🙏
The drop down you mentioned at the start of the video heading towards Breadsall was as a result of a landslip after an underground fire under the old trackbed. I lived until 7 years ago 5 mins walk from the start of your walk and I well remember before the GN greenway was started the old trackbed was frequently littered with burnt out cars that had been nicked and then thrashed along the old line till they crashed etc. Its so much better up there now and is much used by locals.
19:43 Portal, even entrance would do; tunnel portal. What it deffo cannot ever be is a "bridge mouth", can it?! Entertaining and engaging video, thank you.
Isn't it wonderful how or minds go back to more romantic times , yet deep down we older guys know it wasn't so romantic back then. The photos just trick ones eyed into a what we now believe was better life/ times ,or am I just kidding myself ? Or maybe it's the Whyte & Makay and a few 5.5 % pale' ales that's clouding my memory, Ant ? 😏😊
Excellent walk Ant, lots of interesting bridges and station remains even after all these years. Was the racecourse near the staion, didn't see it on the map? Seems like yesterday when I first started watching your channel, can't believe its over five years since you were here last. Been a great journey, thank you. All the best, keep 'em coming!!👍👍👍
As someone who grew up in the area and spent many teenage years {late 70's early 80's} that dip in the track bed had always been there, why unknown. I remember the station buildings heaverly vandalised, then they were demolished. The small walls are a modern construct to show the outline of the original buildings, it's to do with the Greenway scheme. I can remember the bridge which went over the footpath from Hilltop to Brookside Road and it being demolished {considered dangerous}. And one final thing It's pronounced "Breadsul" Not "Breadzul". Reat volg fully enjoyed. Bob,
You can access the old tunnel adjacent to the Great Northern pub on Station Road. There's a hole behind the parapet on the same side as the pub which goes down into the tunnel. Wouldn't recommend going down there without a rope and harness on.
Hello Ant - Liking all the old B / W Photos that you keep on digging up - May I ask you - On your walks along the dis-used Railway lines - you've found ballast - but have you ever found bits of old Coal which has fallen off the Tenders of the Steam Locos??? I have found loads of Coal which has fallen of the Locos & sat on the Ground since 1968 when the Midland Railway (now the M. T. Monsal Trail) closed in 1968!!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
Derby Racecourse station was never a public stop. It was built to deliver horses to the track, which was where the cricket ground is and the park area nearby. There was a path to Mansfield Road and the grooms would ride or lead the horses down the hill and onto the course. The council, which owned the land, ended the lease for racing in 1939. Trains had to stop and set back into the platform.
The land through Breadsall was always unstable and the track bed slipped regularly. The area up the hill to Mansfield Road bridge went during construction, holding things up considerably, and it’s still known as The Slip.
All the stations were of a similar design. If you look up Alfred Henshaw’s RCTS books on the GN in the East Midlands you’ll find a plan of one. The tiled area was part of the living quarters for the Station Master and his family.
What I always find remarkable about the places in your videos is that tress seem to grow all over where there was open spaces before. The places are unrecognisable in 50/60 years!! Nature just keeps on growing!!!
Morley tunnel was a magnificent and handsome structure - as was Mickleover. Why must these idiots bury these fine works? They don't pull down the lovely bridges - so why not preserve the tunnels too ? Makes me very cross! Thanks for another super video, Ant.
It is sad about the tunnels, but perhaps they did it to prevent "undesirables" hanging out in them, or it saves having to maintain them.
It's all about the risk of retaining the structures. Tunnels attract explorers and potential danger from roof falls, and illegally set bonfires or torching of stolen cars. Overbridges are demolished to weigh in the steelwork or to protect people beneath from idiots throwing ballast or bricks from above.
Thanks for another interesting and informative video. Pity so much expensive infrastructure has been condemned to go to waste by our modern throw away society.
Good Afternoon Ant from a cold clear Monday afternoon here in Stratford, New Zealand. You always provide an emotive pulling back the curtain of time to show us rail as it was, and as it is now. You always leave me thoughtful and contemplative as to what life was actually like back then, what it was like to work on the railway. I'm sure it wasn't always pleasant, particularly for the Navis building tunnels, bridges and track lines. The Engineering would have been a real challenge as well; these days we have the benefit of computers and nice warm offices to work in; back then it was all calculated out in your head (Which I don't mind as a former Engineer myself, but it is a whole lot of work). Many thanks Ant for giving me these experiences, I am most grateful for your effort. All the best, and keep making these videos please.!
FIVE YEARS OF SUPPLYING EXCELLENT ENTERTAINMENT AND INFORMATION! Congratulations Ant👍🫡👏👏👏🙌🙌🙌
Very kind Nigel thanks very much indeed
thank you for the last 5 years and looking forward to the next 5 years ant .
Thanks Clive very kind
Many thanks Ant for your films from an octogenarian who can't get around and explore like I used to. They remind me of the age of steam and many other places of interest. Please keep it up. You are leaving a legacy for future generations. Leslie.
Great historical content again, Ant. That's why I love your channel.
Thank you very much for bringing us this very interesting and informative video presentation which is very much appreciated. It is great to see the structures that remain, reminding us of the work that went into the opening of this route. We must be grateful to those who took the photographs from generations past allowing us to see the now buried structures and also to see the line in operation.
what amazing finds on this journey amazes me how you tell the history of a once great network thanks for sharing your journey xx
Excellent really enjoyed watching.
Very good, with some great finds. Had nearly everything except a piece of track. Ah well, always enjoyable. All the best.
My great grandfather was killed at derby racecourse station in November 1934. He was a guard on a racehorse train. The dip in the track bed north of racecourse station I ve been told used to have a wooden
Lattice bridge over the low ground. The Train crews used to complain about it and wanted it replacing but it never happened
Wow where have them 5 years gone since I watched your first video with your family with you. You have come along way since then and your videos have just got better and better. Well done Ant on your excellent explores and videos and here’s to the the next 5 years and beyond 👏👏👏👍
Excellent vid as always Ant .
5 years where has that gone !!
Thanks for posting this, it brought back some happy memories. I watched the Breadsall viaduct being blown up back in the 1970's to make way for a new road scheme.
It was interesting to see you notice the dip in the track bed just before Breadsall Station, this was where the bank was excavated to extinguish an underground fire in the 1980's. Originally this section of line was carried on timber trestles and then later banked over with spoil/ furnace waste as an improvement, it was those trestle timbers which caught a light and subsequently smouldered for years.
Another interesting fact regarding the signal box at Breadsall, which I can just remember standing, is that it was "manned" by a very ferocious lady back in the fifties who bought up six children on her own in that tiny space. The lady who lived in the station house, a Mrs Jeffries, remembered her well and used to retell the story with a wry smile. The Jeffries were the last people to live in the station house, that was the section with the tiled floors, they moved out in the mid seventies and not long after the building was set on fire, later to be demolished. I walked past that building and on up the track, through those level crossing gates, everyday to go to school. The sidings and old track were used for years as a coal storage yard, that's why the ground is concreted. The small shed on the opposite side near the crossing was a lamp shed, later our den and later still became the retaining walls to my parents patio, every brick cleaned and then carted in an old wheelbarrow in 1976, the hot summer.
A further point of interest is that the track bed was used by lorries in the early seventies to cart the ballast and earthworks that made up the raised embankments which extended from Breadsall viaduct through Chester Green and up to the river Derwent. The spoil was used to fill Morley Tunnel and some of the cuttings out towards Ilkeston. I cycled out that way along the track to see what was happening and very nearly lost my bike in the mud at Morley it was that boggy. They didn't actually fully fill the tunnel, there's a sizable space between the fill and the brick arch so in theory you could still walk through.
Thanks for taking the time to do these films I always enjoy them, it's great to see the places I enjoyed back then.
Take it easy youth and keep up the good work, best regards, Matt W.
Brilliant work again, thanks Ant.
Very kind Jon thank you
I used to live in Roydon Close Mickleover. I always enjoyed walking along the disused line...
Thank you for sharing your walk. Having 'boots' on the ground allows for a better feel of the terrain, this is particularly useful for tracing train tracks which are long gone. As you correctly point out during the film there are numerous 'anomalies' whereby the rise and fall of the track bed just doesn't appear to make any sense. Trains are crap for going up and down hills and yet this old line, elevation wise, is all over the place. Landslides or slipping? Based on the fact we've previously had heavy track and train laid here, must rule out such ideas as subsidence, slips etc.
A great video to end the series!It reminds me of how much of our railways were torn up.Thanks again Ant.
Glad you enjoyed it Robert thanks very much 😊
😂 very nice and interesting your videos. Just started to watch them.Educational .😊I like railways programmes,well done.interesting Derby area railways ❤ love Stephen
Another interesting video,Ant,and a lovely day for your walk,🚶♂️x
Well crikey! I walked that whole stretch in June 2023 and I've even got photos of the blue brick wall, but never realised it was a station! As for that filled-in portal, looking on NLS Maps you can see that the road has been re-landscaped into a much more straight line, instead of the sharp angled shaped it was before. So the tunnel was quite short (more of a bridge really) and the other portal is actually buried under that large patch of verge just right of the wall. It's not even in the middle of the new road.
Fantastic video thanks Ant. What a beautiful area. Loved the birdsong. Those bridges were quite a treat, just loved them. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
BEST ENTERTAINMENT ON THE SCREEN
6.38 "improving life for local people" having the line back would be an improvement for locals and not so locals, Derby friargate should never have closed, I believe it was a parcels station for royal mail well into the 1980s, great video as always, thank you. 😊
Wonderful old pics How magnificent were those Stations. The cost of construction? They then had such faith in the future rail network - how sadly misplaced. We have the road network and cars and trucks to thank for the sad demise of those railway lines.
Know this neck of the woods well, great video as always 👏
Glad you enjoyed it thank you 😊
Great to see the old platforms and bridges
It's a nice little route. Thanks for watching
This is my dog walk. Live up the road. Great video 👍👍
It's a lovely stretch
@TrekkingExploration Yes it is and still lots of things to see from the railway days. My father used to show me where he sat watching the steam trains come up the hill from derby. Wasn't that long ago really but it's so different now. Good that people like you keep it alive 👍
Great walk with some fine bridge architecture. Well done.
Thanks very much for watching Malcolm
Fab explore. You are so enthusiastic Ant. Rubs on to us . Lovely findings especially the ladies and gents. Thank you again for all your research and walking. Most enjoyable.
Glad you enjoyed it thanks very much :)
Thank you for walking tour this day. Always a quality video to gaze at. Enjoy your week ahead as always. See you on the next! Cheers Ant! 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸
Glad you enjoyed it Martin I hope you are well
@@TrekkingExploration Slow but sure, Ant. Thanks for asking. 👍🙂
Between the underpass and the second platelayers hut (on the way to Stanley) you missed a gorgeous piece of track furniture. A collapsed telegraph pole just to the right of the trackbed and a couple of feet down the embankment!
That’s a really interesting place mate . Amazing what’s still out there to see & the history that goes with it etc
Great work Ant,thanks
Thanks very much Simon
Ant, great video and love that you have original photos to compare with how it is now...
These vlogs are an excellent source of information. I’m an avid walker and wondered if you could produce a “joined up” vlog linking these walks together please? I live near Ripley and know the area reasonably well, but I’m not so knowledgeable as yourself. I can walk up to 20 miles in one go and use the bus to access certain routes. I do have a car but it’s pointless if you have to go back to collect it. I’m more of a “round robin” walker. Thank you 🙏
Think its about time a lot of these old lines were restored . Too much traffic on roads. 😊
enjoy your videos so much, you have such enthusiasm which you share. If not for you some of us wouldnt know these places ever existed
The drop down you mentioned at the start of the video heading towards Breadsall was as a result of a landslip after an underground fire under the old trackbed. I lived until 7 years ago 5 mins walk from the start of your walk and I well remember before the GN greenway was started the old trackbed was frequently littered with burnt out cars that had been nicked and then thrashed along the old line till they crashed etc. Its so much better up there now and is much used by locals.
19:43 Portal, even entrance would do; tunnel portal.
What it deffo cannot ever be is a "bridge mouth", can it?!
Entertaining and engaging video, thank you.
Brilliant, really enjoying your video's. Going to watch them all now but did you visit the Riddings area?
another fine series Ant
Isn't it wonderful how or minds go back to more romantic times , yet deep down we older guys know it wasn't so romantic back then. The photos just trick ones eyed into a what we now believe was better life/ times ,or am I just kidding myself ? Or maybe it's the Whyte & Makay and a few 5.5 % pale' ales that's clouding my memory, Ant ? 😏😊
I know what you mean. It was probably better in many respects although the working conditions not so good
and to T Bousted for wonderful pics!
He really has taken some fantastic photos over the years
So informative , thank you Ant 👍
Thanks very much for watching
Excellent walk Ant, lots of interesting bridges and station remains even after all these years. Was the racecourse near the staion, didn't see it on the map? Seems like yesterday when I first started watching your channel, can't believe its over five years since you were here last. Been a great journey, thank you. All the best, keep 'em coming!!👍👍👍
great vid look for your content every week loved this 1
Thanks very much Mark 😀
Hi Ant, thank you for the video, loved it, 👍
Glad you enjoyed it thank you
Love your vids dude,keep up the good work!
Thanks very much Jason
That was fascinating ,Ant. Ant in the jungle! I'll have to look that one up in my pre- grouping atlas.
Glad you enjoyed it Michael thank you 😊
As someone who grew up in the area and spent many teenage years {late 70's early 80's} that dip in the track bed had always been there, why unknown. I remember the station buildings heaverly vandalised, then they were demolished. The small walls are a modern construct to show the outline of the original buildings, it's to do with the Greenway scheme. I can remember the bridge which went over the footpath from Hilltop to Brookside Road and it being demolished {considered dangerous}. And one final thing It's pronounced "Breadsul" Not "Breadzul". Reat volg fully enjoyed. Bob,
Sounds like 'pretzel'. ❤
Love watching your vids
Very kind thank you
Nice one Ant, take care.
Thanks very much 😊
Bridge at 30m carries Common Lane I think? Joins Stanley Village with Stanley Common.
You can access the old tunnel adjacent to the Great Northern pub on Station Road. There's a hole behind the parapet on the same side as the pub which goes down into the tunnel. Wouldn't recommend going down there without a rope and harness on.
Hi Tim which tunnel are we referring too? Not Morley? Mickleover?
@@TrekkingExploration Mickleover
@@timmellor6111 i assumed that was all buried
@@TrekkingExploration I poked my head down there and there's definitely a huge void, didn't have a torch with me though.
Walked that myself a few years ago. Isn't the path called Great Northern Way now? Great video.
Yes I think so. Thanks for watching
Hello Ant - Liking all the old B / W Photos that you keep on digging up - May I ask you - On your walks along the dis-used Railway lines - you've found ballast - but have you ever found bits of old Coal which has fallen off the Tenders of the Steam Locos??? I have found loads of Coal which has fallen of the Locos & sat on the Ground since 1968 when the Midland Railway (now the M. T. Monsal Trail) closed in 1968!!! 🤔🚂🚂🚂
There was a chunk I found on one walk around a month ago near Hucknall. I need to do the monsall
@@TrekkingExploration If you do - perhaps we can met up - I can tell you a few secrets about it!!! 😉🚂🚂🚂
Cheers Ant.Great video/series.😂
Thanks very much 😊👍