"The majority of the Five Pits Trail was the Great Central Railway. The Great Central Railway was the brainchild of Sir Edward Watkin. The mainline was to be constructed between Manchester to Sheffield to Nottingham and then further down to London itself. This was in the time of the 1890s, very, very late.
"All the other railways had been built and constructed, but Sir Edward wanted to build a 20th century railway, and he wanted to ensure it was fast. Getting the businessmen to go from the north down to London and there was no gradient steeper than one in 176, I believe, and no curve less than a mile in radius. So that meant deep cuttings and very, very high embankments, and so this meant that this line was exceptionally flat. Obviously going through Derbyshire and going through some of Nottinghamshire that was somewhat difficult."