Mickleover is 2 miles outside of Derby and despite the main supermarket in the village, the Old Market Place and Orchard Street around The Square means that the village retains its old character. The Great Northern Railway which arrived in 1876, meant the number of houses expanded in the village which has continued ever since. In 1968, the boundary of the city of Derby was extended and absorbed the village.

Factoids

• The Old Hall in Orchard Street is the oldest building in the village
• Oliver Cromwell stayed at the Old Hall during the civil war
• All Saints Parish Church is 14^th century although it was restored in the 19^th century
• The Community Centre used to be a National school for Boys and Girls in 1881
• Britain's 1st Children's matinee was shown at the local school
• The Nags Head pub used to have an old Pullman railway carriage in its garden

The old Mickleover Railway Station now beautifully restored as a private home, British Rail vacated the building in the late 1960's and it was left to decay before being restored to the condition we now see

This line was originally part of the Great Northern Railway's cross country line from Grantham, Nottingham, Stafford and Burton,  the line closed in early 1967.

The line has now been transformed into a cycle path forming part of the Sustrans national network

These old model test tracks (on the right and below left) can be found near to the Station and they are the remains of a scale track which used to test aerodynamics in relation to trains passing structures and through tunnels - one purpose to which it was put, I believe was the Channel Tunnel, although having said that this may have post-dated the period the rig was located at Mickleover

The Mickleover old line was used extensively to handle various track test work between 1967 and 1990 by the BR Research Division.

After the closure of Mickleover, the tracks were relocated to the Railway Technical Centre where they remain in use today, now owned by AEA Technology, thanks to Tony Griffin and Mark Higginson for the information

Above left shows the remains of the polythene covered tunnel in 2002, the remaining hoops of which can still be seen. and above right we have a view inside the test tunnel before it's demolition

The Advanced Passenger Train (APT-E), was an unsuccessful prototype tilting train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, the train was tested on these main lines while the tilt tests took place a little further up on the old Dalby line

The APT series train, the one on the left showing the revolutionary tilting mechanism in action

Mickleover Tunnel, seen in the 1970's. Both portals are now sealed over with spoil, the picture above left is taken from inside the tunnel and looking out towards Mickleover, the pictures on the right are a view of the western portal of Mickleover tunnel, again now long hidden with spoil.

Below left the Great Northern track bed at Mickleover, taken from Station Road and looking towards Mickleover Station and the start of the then test track, June 1974

Many thanks to Tony Griffin who supplied the tunnel pictures and information

The Great Northern Public House which was named after the Great Northern Railway (GNR Line) which once ran on the lines below the bridge next to the pub, It was built in the late 1800's as The Northern Hotel.
The two pictures above show how the pub used to look, possibly little changed over the years, however in August 2005 the pub had a major refit and coat of paint, as shown below. You'll also notice the large chimney that was perilously leaning above right has been capped off in the picture below right.

Opposite the Great Northern Pub, once stood the Nestle factory which Rolls Royce later took over for there apprentice training centre and  also the HQ of Miller Homes, which are now both the sites of  housing developments as shown above. The Rolls Royce site was sold for £10m to the house builder Birch, and is shown above right, Radbourne Court, the old Miller HQ site is shown above left

Continue to Page 3