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Bridging the Gap - The Great Central Railway Reunification
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- Welcome back to my Great Central Railway Reunification series. We're picking up again at Loughborough station. In the last episode I had a look at the Great Central heritage railway and a look around the station. We had a ride behind a steam locomotive from Quorn too.
Looking north from Loughborough Central station, the once through running lines now run into the railways main engine shed. This will be the first obstacle. Everything we will see in this video is part of bridging the gap section of the reunification. There are a number of engineering challenges - some of which have alreayd been dealt with. Straight after leaving the loco shed, the line crosses the Grand Union Canal. This bridge was renovated for double track in 2020.
After crossing the canal we see a length of embankment, followed by a new viaduct before the line crosses Railway Terrace. This is where lots of the forthcoming work will be focussed. After railway terrace we can see the new bridge installed in 2018 crossing the 4 tracks of the Midland Mainline.
After here, more missing embankment before a link line with the Midland railway.
It is here we technically join the northern heritage railway - Great Central Railway Nottingham. The A60 bridge had a new deck in late 2022 and therefore is the newest bridge on GCR.
Great Central Mainline was built as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway. Opening in 1899, it was designed to be as straight as possible with as little gradient as possible. Speed was the aim and express trains travelled between London Marylebone, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. It was the last UK mainline to be built before HS1 over a century later. It thrived initially, however with a lack of upkeep, neglect and dwindling usage, it was mothballed during the great railway rationalisation of Dr Beeching in the 1960s - known as the Beeching Axe.
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Plenty of work to still do but if they can pull it off then this could be one of the best heritage railways around
Paul, another excellent video.
In late 2022 I visited from Australia and travelled on this excellent heritage railway.
I hope your series of videos encourages those who can afford to donate to the GCR either for the Reunification Project, or generally. It's a world class preserved railway.
the team organising the reunification say that they are taking the shed down and be relocated. Caroline
I hoping they atcually extend the tracks to the tram tracks as then not only you have a space for a massive shed but also a station connecting to Nottingham itself via said tram tracks.
Yeah they uploaded a video about it
@@deathmisser85 I think it may be a long term goal going by what's on East Midlands Railway Trusts website.
Very well put together video. I know this railway well 🙂
Thanks Keith.
Spot on mate, BR always destroyed infrastructure, bridges, tunnels, everything. Sold off land for roads, supermarkets, industrial estates anything to obliterate the railways. Considering that BR were/are in the business of carrying passengers & freight, makes you wonder why they always destroy everything?
I used to work for the Permanent Way on BR, so what I'm telling you is the truth.
👍 it is very puzzling. A very destructive approach.
Paul, It was really interesting and enjoyable to watch your "Members Only," "Behind the Scenes" video before watching this, as the pieces from the two different videos fall together watching this one. Cheers!
Glad you enjoyed them. I'll try and do more of the behind the scenes. I always intend to do them, but end up forgetting to capture any footage.
Enjoying this little mini-series a lot, thanks. If I remember rightly, the new single-track bridge over the Midland mainline is slightly further to the south-east than the original bridge to go round Preci-Spark's car-park. On the original alignment this was one of the fastest stretches of the London Extension, speeds being well into the 80mph region as trains left the Loughborough dip northwards to climb into the Stanford/Normanton hills. Talking of the new bridge, it's got graffiti already, I see! Stanford viaduct is plastered too. Makes one wonder what the concrete viaduct idea will look like months after completion, an absolute eyesore, no doubt.
I thought exactly the same about the graffiti, Nick.
Didnt take them long to tag the new stuff. It does seem to be a problem around that way.
@@WobblyRunner Well, as you know, it's not an eyesore/'beautiful artistic statement' (delete as applicable) restricted to Loughborough. Perhaps we should have stringent restrictions on spray-paint can sales as was once applied to tins of Evo-stik back when sniffing glue was the awful blight it was...
Thanks for another excellent informative video Paul. I'm very much looking forward to Part 3.
Glad you enjoyed it 👍🙂
A very useful update - thank you for your dedication.
You're very welcome 👍
Brilliant again Paul be great when its all linked up some work to be done but will be well worth it.
Cheers Chris. Looking forward to what the next few years brings
Thanks for the update on reunification.Your report is so detailed and informative that I think yours is a better and more fully informed description than the actual report from the GCR. Great work.
👍thank you.
Interesting video, nice to learn more about the reunification of the line. Many thanks.
I love this series of videos and look forward very much to the next one. It’s so good to see the bigger picture within the geographical and historical contexts. After watching your masterful videos, one can watch the Official GCR videos, which focus more on the financial and technical details and implications of this amazing project. If only BR/Railtrack/Network Rail and HMG worked with so much foresight and thoughtfulness.
Thanks very much Mike.
Nice one Paul, love blue brick bridges! ❤😊👍
Me too! Plenty more to come :)
Thanks for bringing us this series, it puts into context everything they are trying to do with this railway to see the route from the ground and above. It said on one of their videos that i watched that the railway shed was life expired and that they were going to demolish it and build a new one in a different location as at the moment like you said it is blocking the route of the reunified railway. This project seems to be steaming away at an amazing pace and i do not think it will be long before we see this reunification completed. It will be one of the best Heritage lines in the country when it is.
Thanks Mary. Great Stuff. I see they submitted planning applications last week for the viaduct too.
The British way of knocking down the infrastructure is almost unique to BR (as it were). In the USA lines no longer in use are left for the simple reason that another company may wish to reopen it so instead if having to deal with the nightmares of new structures on the trackbed such as at Tavistock North and the cost of demolition and re-siting these buildings, the line is ready to go. Perhaps desperation for cash from selling of the sites and the metal, in fact anything which would make moneyfor BR (and the Treasury) has added heavily in this country to the cost of re-opening closed lines.
I think its was deliberate policy to render routes useless judging by the way it was carried out -- not just on the old GCR route but all over the country. The savings from line closures and the relatively small amounts from most land sales are vastly overshadowed by the cost to rebuild the infrastructure where its been found necessary.
@@martinusher1HS2 would have been viable if so many links hadn't been severed.
You're too right. Added the extra complications of planning consent and red tape. And nimbyism whenever a railway is lobbied for reopening. So much red tape.
Part of it is because although disused, British Railways/British Rail/ Railtrack/Network Rail, were/are still responsible for the upkeep and keeping the infrastructure safe. So they were quite happy to demolish and get rid of the responsibility especially of the bridges and tunnels across the country. Awful lot of them to maintain for lines not used for many decades. Still sad to see 😢
Another interesting video Paul, there's quite a lot of work to do to join the railways not to mention building a new depot
Cheers Russ. Looking forward to seeing the progress step by step.
I keep looking at Google maps to see if there's anything new on there, but your drone footage was fantastic. Best views I've had of the whole area. Can't wait to see the building start. GCR said they'd be moving that shed to keep the original alignment. Watched all those vids of the canal, A60 and Midland bridges going in from 2020 onwards, when I discovered the former GCML by chance, and it captured my heart and imagination, as it has done for so many.
There's something about the GCR as a whole. So much interest. I think the vastness of it. Glad you liked the drone footage :)
Hi, many thanks for sharing this informative video of an important reunification of an equally important line of route. Good to see it coming together.
Take care,
Jon B.
Thanks Jon. Take care.
Its very exciting!
It's a great story to follow isnt it.
Another cracking video lads
Cheers. Glad you enjoyed it.
The fact that I work on the railway on this patch, cruise the canal near this patch and the GCR is going that little bit more north, makes it even more exciting.
👍 Great to be able to follow the progress.
Great work.
Thanks Michael!
Nice one Paul...
👍
That was really informative, next time I'm at Loughborough competing I must get to those bridges for some photos. Part three sounds like it's where all the action starts🤣!!!!
Haha yeah it all goes downhill from part 3 😊
All ways enjoy your content
Cheers David
Great video as normal
Thank you 👍
My understanding is that the embankment was taken to provide the fill for the embankment on the north side for the link to the midland main line, in the 1970s i believe. That wasn't there originally and was added to allow continued access to the mod and gypsum sites. Previously it was accessed from north of Ruddington so it had to be connected at the southern end before the tracks through central nottingham could be lifted.
Ahhh interesting. That makes sense I suppose.
Great video but wrong Music sorry to say. I hope they join the two great preserved railways Regards Alan :o)
I’ve only just discovered your channel with the beginning of this series. An interesting couple of videos so far. I’ll have to check out your other videos too as I’ve always been interested in the GCR.
One thing though, please correct the spelling of “separated” at the start of these videos!!
Welcome!!
Yep, the horror when you've published a video and spotted a spelling mistake. Too late to save the first 2 parts as I did them at the same time, but correct for parts 3 onwards. Hopefully it doesnt spoil the videos too much.
As a non railway buff I still fund it crazy in this day and age that anyone would close a major rail link that could be diversion or extra freight line as WCML is overloaded and Freight blocks it up.
Although we do not have a Coal Industry there is a lot freight to move to/from channel tunnel..
1969 was 55 years ago so hardly current situation. They did not have a capacity issue back then.
In the London Midland Region then had
WCML
Midland Mainline
Great Central
So 3 main lines however they didn’t need all 3 and being Midland Man then the LMR chief when faced with closing either the Midland Mainline or the GCR oddly enough chose to close the GCR and keep Midland Mainline
It sure would have come in handy these days wouldnt it. It's a shame that when they closed a lot of lines, they couldn't have left the structures in place or at least not built housing estates on the trackbed. It does duplicate quite a bit, but I always think about it when I'm forced to use the Midland Mainline anywhere, that they chose the wrong line to back in retrospect.
Great video! I'm currently living in East Leake and work in the business park next to the Nottingham GCR station. I keep wondering if once it's been unified, if I can get a commuter pass, it would be handy 😅
Haha that would be handy.
What's the general feeling in the village of the railways extention?
@WobblyRunner Mostly positive as far as I'm aware. I know that the Rushcliffe Halt station would benefit from more tourism, so that would be good. My next door neighbour is right by tracks, and it'd be nice to see the steam trains go past the house but I can imagine a few other new build residents might not see it the same way!
10:58 Gypsum… lol… makes me think … Gizzm 😂😂😂😂 British Gizzm 😂😂😂😂😂
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❤
Bridge strike already??? Honestly some of these truck drivers need to lose their licence
Luckily they've installed the bar in front of the bridge to take the impact.
Probably cant read English
As far as I understand GCR south is double tracked and GCR north is single track , how will they cope with that ❓️
only double track as far as Rothley, single track to Leicester North
Be interesting to see. I assume they'd have to put in a few passing loops. I know there's one at the golf station.
New viaduct (bridge) over MML must be higher than original one, because was plan to electrify this stretch od mainline to 2020.
So, they build higher one, now line must be adjusted in height, to this new construction.
And... MML electrification plan was scrapped by tories... Typical...
Haha I wonder if electrification would reach Loughborough. It is still creeping north though. Is it up to Market Harborough now?
That bit of a climb out of Loughborough will make the engines work a bit more I suppose.
@@WobblyRunner I guess they only do electrification to Leicester.
But we have new goverment and some things may change.
But... It not make a sense for now to change this decision, because "high power diesel - electric" hybrid 810's are already build. And comming into service this Year.
I saw a video that mentioned the shed will be taken down or moved.
👍 I think I saw the same one just after I visited 😊
10:58 Gypsum… lol… makes me think … Gizzm 😂😂😂😂 British Gizzm 😂😂😂😂😂
😄