Memories of rides on the 10¼ inch gauge miniature railway during the summers of 1946, 1947 and 1948 might have been the inspiration for something more permanent.
In 1970, the Plymouth Miniature Steam Locomotive Society was formed with the aim of providing a track for locomotives which were being built by its founder members at a local night school. They achieved their aim on 22nd September 1974 when the Lord Mayor, Mr Fred Johnson, opened a quarter-mile circuit on the field behind the bowling pavilion. A report in the Western Morning News the following day stated that, “After he had snipped a ribbon across the track, the Lord Mayor and Mrs Johnson were the first passengers to do a circuit of the track – their carriage drawn by a sturdy model 14 XX class locomotive.” The report also quoted from the Lord Mayor’s speech in which he said, “When I look around and see the track that has been laid, I am filled with amazement. It is the work over a period of three years by a group of very dedicated people who have not only given their time and labour, but who have also given the materials with which to build this wonderful track.”
The railway opened six months after the Council had given permission for Argyle to enclose seven acres for their training ground and to level a large area of parkland for football pitches. It led to the Plymouth Parks Preservation Group being formed to voice the anger felt by many about these developments and the loss of greenspace, and this extended to the railway with its raised track surrounded by fencing. With such public pressure, the City Engineer was directed to review Central Park’s history and development, and when he reported in 1981, he recommended that the Miniature Steam Society’s annual licence should not be renewed but the track should be relocated elsewhere at the society’s expense. Central Park’s miniature railway closed soon afterwards after just seven years of operation.
The Miniature Steam Society found a new site and obtained planning permission in 1986. It was a former rubbish dump below Pendeen Crecent, Southway, which the society proceeded to clear assisted by labour from a Manpower Services Commission programme to alleviate unemployment. The Council’s leisure services committee awarded a grant of £4,000 towards the £10,000 cost as some compensation for the closure of the miniature railway in Central Park. Goodwin Park, as it became known in recognition of the society’s chairman, was officially opened by the Lord Mayor in April 1990.