Great Central Railway (preserved)

The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire. The Southern section runs for 8 ½ miles from Loughborough to the northern outskirts of Leicester. The former Belgrave and Birstall station was demolished and the terminus (named Leicester North) built nearby. It is the only heritage railway in the UK to have double track. North of Loughborough, at Ruddington, is the Nottingham Heritage Centre, a smaller railway. In the future the two railways will be connected by means of a bridge which will be reinstated at Loughborough to cross the Midland Main Line.

Contents

1 History 2 Route description 2.1 Loughborough section 2.2 Nottingham section 2.3 The Gap 3 Locomotives 4 Nottingham Heritage Centre 4.1 Locomotives 5 How to get there 6 External links

History

The Great Central Main Line was built in 1899 connecting Sheffield to London via Nottingham and Leicester. It was the last main line to be built in the country, and was built to a continental loading gauge, with flat gradients designed for speed.

The line was transferred to the London Midland Region of British Railways and listed as duplicate of the Midland Main Line. Apart from the most Southern section into London, the line was closed as a through route in 1966 as part of the Beeching Axe. Although a section of the line between Nottingham and Rugby remained open until 1969. Local groups opposed the closure, and a small preservation concern was started at Loughborough.

In 1976 a shortage of funds saw a public limited company, the Great Central Railway (1976) plc formed with the intention of selling shares in the line, which would be bought by enthusiasts and former railwaymen, and thus generating revenue. The charitable body, Main Line Steam Trust (MLST), supports the GCR with grants for specific projects, and also provides volunteers to maintain and run the line.

In the 1990s, a campaign was launched to fund the double track project. Apart from aesthetic benefits, the double track enables good timekeeping.

Route description

Loughborough section

Loughborough Central Station Template:Gbmapping is a medium-sized station set in the 1960s and has an extensive canopy. It also has a small museum. Loughborough shed Template:Gbmappingsmall) is to the North, and is open to the public.

Travelling south from there, the first station is Quorn and Woodhouse (Template:Gbmappingsmall), where there is better car parking than at Loughborough and disabled access (Loughborough only being accessible via stairs). Quorn is laid out to appear as it would in the 1940s. Near Swithland, the railway crosses Swithland Viaduct over Swithland Reservoir (Template:Gbmappingsmall).

At Swithland Sidings (Template:Gbmappingsmall) there is a small freight yard but no station (though one was originally planned). This is just north of Rothley (Template:Gbmappingsmall), set the 1900s, just after completion of the line. There is a carriage shed at Rothley but it is not open to the public.

At Rothley, the double track ends but the line continues single-tracked to Leicester North, (Template:Gbmappingsmall), where the line terminates. Leicester North was built in the 1990s, and is just south of the site of the former Belgrave and Birstall station. There is a tourist bus that runs from Leicester North to Leicester and the National Space Centre.

Nottingham section

Nottingham Heritage Centre is located in Ruddington (Template:Gbmappingsmall), situated on a former Ministry of Defence site off the main line. A chord joins the Heritage Centre to the main line, but trains have to reverse to travel south. After passing the site of Gotham sidings and the trackbed of the Gotham branch, the first station is Rushcliffe Halt in Rushcliffe (Template:Gbmappingsmall), which is as far as trains normally travel. East Leake (Template:Gbmappingsmall), the only station with an underbridge rather than an overbridge, is further south but this has not yet been reopened. Continuing South Fox Hill tunnel (Template:Gbmappingsmall), Stanford Viaduct (Template:Gbmappingsmall) over the River Soar. The line then approaches Loughborough across the floodplain of the River Soar on an embankment before ending at the A60 road bridge, from which a chord connects the line to the Midland Main Line (Template:Gbmappingsmall).

The Gap

Main article: Loughborough Gap

Between the A60 and Loughborough locomotive shed is "The Gap", a section of embankment and a bridge over the MML and that need to be reinstated to join the two concerns together. That is a long term (and expensive!) project and in the mean time there are plans to construct a new "Loughborough North" (or "Loughborough High Level" depending on who you talk to!) station on the embankment near the A60 road bridge. This would allow easy interchange with Midland Main Line trains with trains from the GCR(N) (and later when the Gap is bridged, the Greater Great Central).

Locomotives

Locomotives marked with an asterisk (*) are not permanent residents on the Great Central Railway. The Class 421 electric multiple unit has been acquired to work in push-pull mode with the Class 33/1 diesel locomotive and the Class 73 electro-diesel locomotive.

• Steam Locomotives
  • BR 4-6-0 Class 5MT no. 73156
  • BR 2-6-0 Class 2MT no. 78019
  • GWR 2-6-2T 5101 "Large Prairie" Class no. 4141*
  • GWR 4-6-0 6959 "Modified Hall" Class no. 6990 "Witherslack Hall"
  • GWR 4-6-0 7800 "Manor" Class no. 7821* "Ditcheat Manor"
  • LMS 4-6-0 Class 5MT nos. 45231 and 45305
  • LMS 2-6-0 Class 2MT no. 46521
  • LMS 0-6-0T Class 3F "Jinty" no. 47406
  • LNER 2-8-0 Class O4 no. 63601*
  • LNER 0-6-2T Class N2 no. 69523
  • SR 4-6-2 West Country Class no. 34039 "Boscastle"
  • SR 4-6-2 Merchant Navy Class no. 35025 "Brocklebank Line"
• Diesel Locomotives
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 08 no. D3101
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 10 no. D4067
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 20 no. D8098
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 25 no. 25265
  • BR A1A-A1A Class 31 no. D5830
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 33 no. 33116 "Hertfordshire Rail Tours"
  • BR Co-Co Class 37 no. 37255 (on loan from Fragonset Railways)
  • BR 1Co-Co1 Class 45 no. D123 "Leicester and Derbyshire Yeomanry"
  • BR Co-Co Class 47 no. D1705 "Sparrowhawk"
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 73 no. E6003 "Sir Herbert Walker"
• Diesel Multiple Units
  • BR Class 101 units 50321+51427 and 50193+50203
  • BR Class 127/120 hybrid unit 51616+59276+51622
• Electric Multiple Units
  • BR Class 421 unit 1393

Nottingham Heritage Centre

The line from Loughborough to Ruddington on the southern outskirts of Nottingham was kept intact with a spur built with spoil from the embankment between the Grand Union Canal and the MML connecting the MML to the GCML. This was to enable access to a Ministry of Defence base there, and later British Gypsum works. After the MOD base was closed, the Nottingham Heritage Centre was established at a former MOD base at Ruddington, Nottinghamshire. The eventual plan is to reinstate the embankment between the Grand Union Canal and the MML and the bridge over the MML to give a 18-mile long railway.

Locomotives

• Steam Locomotives
  • LNER 0-4-0T Class Y7 no. 68088
• Diesel Locomotives
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 08 nos. D3180 and D4115
  • BR Bo-Bo Class 25 no, D7629
  • BR Co-Co Class 56 no. 56097
• Diesel Multiple Units
  • BR Class 108 unit 53645+53926
  • BR Class 116/117 hybrid unit 51138+59501+51151
• Electric Multiple Units
  • BR Class 488 units 8304 and 8310
  • BR Class 489 unit 9108

How to get there

• Loughborough Central (http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=454500&y=319310&z=1&sv=454750,319250&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf)

External links

• Homepage of preserved Great Central Railway in Leicestershire. (http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/)
• Main Line Steam Trust, the GCR's charitable body. (http://www.mlst.org)
• Nottingham Heritage Centre. (http://www.nthc.co.uk/)
• BBC site with stuff. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/leicester/virtual_tours/steam_trains/great_central_railway.shtml)
• "Bridging the Gap" - The project to reinstate the missing embankment and bridge. (http://www.bridgingthegap.org.uk/)

Template:British heritage railways