Derby Friargate railway station

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Derby Friargate Station was the main station in Derby on the Derby Friargate Line, or more accurately the Great Northern Railway. Today little remains of the station except Andrew Handyside & Co's impressive bridge over Friargate, although a careful observation of the area where the pretty station once stood, will reveal other interesting details.

For example observing the remaining arches attached to the south side of Friargate bridge on the right side, will reveal a boarded up arch, the inside of which contains the original staircase that ran up to the central island platforms. Now vanished is the canopy that provided passenger access to the station, which was situated directly adjacent to the boarded up arch. Whilst today it is impossible to access this, a walk round the other side of the arches and up onto the old platforms themselves, which can still just about be observed, (having survived but now in a much deteriorated state), will reveal the boarded up recess where this staircase ascended. The bridge is believed to be the place where Bud Flannigan wrote the song 'Underneath the arches' [[1]]

Once up onto the old station site (which may be dangerous in some areas and should be explored with extreme caution), the atmosphere is eerliy peaceful and one is able to walk right up to Handyside's bridge, the crossing of which is impossible having been fenced off for safety reasons, and look down the old route towards Chester Green, much of which has now been filled with office blocks and new housing developments. Walking away from the bridge and back down the old route of the line towards Mickleover can be seen the awkwardly steeped bridge taking the line under Uttoxeter Old Road and where the main line and sidings once stood is now an industrial estate.

From here the route approaches the site now occupied by Sainsbury's and there are still some signs of the existence of the old railway, such as a disused bridge over where the line once stood. Further along and a bridge carrying the old Manor Road can be observed, although today it only carries a little used pavement.

Next the line crosses the line of the A38 and climbs through a deep cutting to a summit at Mickleover tunnel. Neither end of the 464-yard tunnel is visible, having been hidden beneath spoil since 1982.

Flanagan and Allen's song "Underneath the Arches" may have been written here when they appeared at The Hippodrome in Green Lane.[2]^{[citation needed]}