Little could he have imagined that that visit would spark a love affair with the popular Butterley heritage attraction that is still going strong 45 years later.
Since that memorable day dedicated Chris has poured in countless hours of his life working for 25 years as chairman of the Midland Railway Trust, which runs the cultural treasure, and as a train guard and museum archivist in recent years.
“A friend at university brought us down here on an August bank holiday on a beautiful sunny day,” explains Chris.
“We weren’t running passenger trains then but there was a train operating and there was a spitfire flying around.
“It just clicked that it was only a few miles away from where we live and that maybe we could start volunteering here and that was it, we got sucked in.”
The Midland Railway attraction has developed impressively as the years have ticked by and now offer visitors a wonderful ride down 3.5 miles of track on historic railway carriages dating back to the 1860’s.
The journey runs from Hammersmith down to Ironville through 80 acres of land owned by the Midland Railway Trust on a ride that offers far more than meets the eye.
“There’s a tremendous amount of work that goes on behind the scenes,” adds Chris. “Everything that comes here is effectively life expired. Even the station you see here isn’t the original station. The original station got demolished and what you see now came from Whitwell. It is exactly the same as the original but it is in brick.
“The footbridge came from Loughborough and the signal box came from Kilby Bridge. Everything was collected. The main museum site was a colliery, nothing was there 45 years ago.
“We normally run the vintage trains on May bank holiday and August bank holiday. We operate in all the school holidays, so once the Santa events are finished then we will go into a maintenance pattern until February half-term and then run on until November.”
Perhaps the highlight of the journey for many is the stop at Swanwick Junction, which offers a 57 acre site featuring a transport gallery with buses and steam rollers, a diesel shed, cafe and a narrow gauge railway.
It is also home to the Midland Railway Trust’s fascinating museum which charts the railway’s role in the nation’s industrial heritage and the gripping stories of the people who lived, worked and bonded together on the railways.
Here you will also find hard-working Anne Deeth who, like her husband Chris, has devoted more time of her life than she’d care to remember, helping to preserve this chapter in our history.
“Each year we try to use the smaller items to put on an annual exhibition,” explains Anne. “This year we focused on railway people and have everything from the great and good to the track workers.
“I don’t think people nowadays appreciate what a major revolution the railways brought to the country.
“People stayed in their own villages and towns, they didn’t move anywhere and although the railways initially came about largely to move coal and other goods about, people soon cottoned on to their movement as well.
“We cover a period between 1830 and the 1990s looking at the Midland Railway’s history, as well as its successors and predecessors. It is not only a history of the locomotive and track, there is an entire social history.
“If we think about computers and what they have done, I like to think that the trains were a revolution that is not too dissimilar to that.”
To find out more on the Midland Railway - Butterley and some of the events going on, or how you can get involved, visit https://www.midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk/
