W

hoever said Indiepop music and steam trains don’t go together, has obviously never bopped out whilst trainspotting at the Indietracks Festival.

This unique summer festival attracts a horde of friendly music lovers, who whilst ostensibly there for the eclectic music line-up, weird and wonderful workshops (from sewing to running your own record label) are also free to whoop and holler on the facilities of the Midland Railway at Butterley.

Inbetween sets, it’s possible to take a ride on a steam train, help out at the working farm or stroll through the railway museum.

The Indietracks Festival was the brain child of Stuart Mackay, a middle aged Scotsman who had been restoring trains in the middle of Derbyshire. "Don't ask me why," he has said. "I think there's a lot of roots of indie pop in the Sixties, with Sixties dresses and music – and with old fashioned steam trains, that might be the tie-in."

Somehow this incongruous nature of these two proved an instant hit with happy crowds returning for the great music and to raise funds for the Midland Railway Trust.