Photo Gallery - Railways 6
The Great Central Railway

The pictures on this page were all taken on Sunday 29 June 1997, during a trip organised by the Basingstoke and District Railway Society to the Great Central Railway. The GCR has reopened an eight mile stretch of the former Manchester to London main line of the original Great Central Railway. The original route was built during the final years of the nineteenth century, and was the last main line to reach London, having Marylebone as its terminus there. It was closed piecemeal from the mid- to late-1960's. (Note about the pictures - despite being near to midsummer, it was a very dull day, and the pictures reflect this.)

This is our coach depositing members at Loughborough (Central) station. (Some of the members chose to visit the Midland Railway Centre at Butterley instead - they stayed on the coach.) A coach was necessary because the reopened stretch of the GCR does not connect with the rest of the railway network yet. (A northern extension to Ruddington may change this in years to come.)

At the southern end of the line, there is a new station called Leicester North, built just south of the site of the former Belgrave and Birstall station - which was demolished after closure. The facilities are basic there, not much more than a single platform. This picture shows former London & North Eastern Railway-designed locomotive number 60532 Blue Peter, running round its train at Leicester North.

The next station northwards from Leicester North is called Rothley, and it has an attractive signalbox which controls the turnouts at either end of the platforms. The route here is single track, but the platform is an island, allowing trains to pass. Rothley has been preserved with a turn-of-the-century theme. Period advertisements and gas-lighting add to the atmosphere.

Here's former Southern Railway locomotive 30777 Sir Lamiel, arriving at Rothley with a northbound service. All the steam-hauled trains on this particular day consisted of a locomotive and six coaches. This corrsponded with the length of the platforms.

The next station northwards from Rothley is Quorn and Woodhouse, where this three-car diesel multiple-unit train was photographed. It was running a shuttle service to Swithland, a location with extensive sidings. (For the record, it's nowhere near Harpenden!) At this point, the GCR has twin tracks, but they were being operated as single lines on this occasion.

In common with Rothley, Quorn and Woodhouse has been preserved with a theme. This time it represents the Second World War period - hence the flag. The most convincing part of this reconstruction must be the ststion buffet (sorry, "NAAFI") which is located in an "air raid shelter" under the road bridge at the end of the platform.

The northern end of the line is Loughborough, which has extensive facilities. To the north of the station, there is a locomotive shed, and at the southern end of the platform is a museum, housing a collection of station name signs and other artifacts.

Overall, a good time was enjoyed by those who went, and the staff of the Great Central Railway are to be commended on their efforts. They have successfully recaptured the atmosphere of days gone by.

Talking about days gone by, I discovered that the original Great Central Railway was responsible for transporting quite a few people who were emigrating from Europe to America in the early years of the twentieth century. If you'd like to read more about this, click here.

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