Great Central Railway General Matters

There is a rumour on one of the social media posts of trains running at Ruddington for this event... to be confirmed precisely what and where to in the next few weeks.

 

There is a very interesting new video - about Reunification, but mainly the news that the present engine shed is to be effectively "moved" so that there will be two tracks to the North from Loughborough Central....on the original alignment.

 

This was running yesterday for crew training, ready for display at the GCR 125 event this weekend.

 

This may be one for the bridging the gap thread, but what does this tell us (if anything) about the practical layout of the running lines over the gap?

For example, it might suggest a double track out of the station throat, perhaps over the canal, but then what? I assume the MML bridge and presumably the factory flyover is locked in as single track, but is everything else up for debate?

 

I was under the impression that the embankment north of the canal bridge would also need to be single track

 

Presumably the key thing is being able to clear the platforms so there is somewhere for a northbound train to be looped, or slotted in out the way, whilst still being able to turn stuff from tjr south around at Loughborough, and receive trains from the north.

I would imagine, and I don't know the exact lengths, double track/loops up to the canal bridge would suffice, without having to go much further.

Edit: as per Mark-108, aren't there some access issues around Hermitage Brook, and a service road for the water company, which would make doubling the embankment difficult?

 

It's certainly been said that the embankment north of the canal needs to be single track. But both bridge decks have been repaired. So quite how far north of the bridge the reduction to single track will be, I don't know. I guess the first official confirmation will be whatever drawings go in with the planning permission for that stage.

I'm also of the impression that a 'holding road' for a NB train to hide in, clearing the platform for either the SB arrival or a following NB terminating train, is one of the requirements. And very probably why the penny has finally dropped that going around the shed won't work. Without this facility, and if for example one platform at Loughborough is occupied by a dining train which isn't due to leave for the next 45 minutes (quite plausible, even if it could be prepared elsewhere, which it currently isn't), then a NB through train would have to sit outside Loughborough, for as long as it takes, before the SB train arrived and departed. So any delay on the SB would have a massive knock-on effect on everything else, and recovering the timetable would be virtually impossible.

 

It would certainly make since to have a double-track / 'holding loop' section north of the station for as far as possible. It looks looks there's plans for a loop at the other side of the gap too, if these plans are still valid? - https://emrtrust.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/FEATURE-2-1.pdf

I wonder what will control the setup? Loughborough 'box? or an outpost 'box / Ground frame? Apologies if I've missed something in the article! Either way, it probably make sense to have any remote setup occupying a limited space so having points as close to each other as possible?

 

Had a great time over the weekend, so much going on we didn't get to the northern end and instead did the Mountsorrel Heritage Center on the Sunday. My video from across both days...

 

Photos from last weekend... https://www.flickr.com/photos/alts1985/albums/72177720315590188

 

Thanks for the photos and video Ashley. It was good to see (and be on) the steam train going North past the locoshed!

 

A busy weekend on the GCR for the Road Rail steam event. Loughborough Engine shed is open for guided tours by the Boscastle team. Lots of activity at Quorn with Steam traction engines etc. More details on the GCR website.

 

The Great Central needs a bit of work on their website. Had a look earlier, it’s not optimised to work on a smartphone and requires lots of zooming-in.

But worse, there’s very little about what’s coming up events-wise. I was thinking about bringing the family up from Bristol for the ‘steam by night’, which I assume is a gala, but there’s nothing really to tell you what’s going on, what the price is, etc. The Mountsorrel branch seems to be operating the same day but confusingly that’s sold as a separate event. Must do better!

 

At the time of typing this they haven't even got the "Enhanced t/t" up on the website for this coming weekends Quorn bus event......

EDIT: Still no timetable posted and it's now 07.45 on Tuesday morning with about 97 hrs to go before the first train (presumably) runs !

 

Timetables and other details are now on the GCR website for this weekend bus and steam event.

 

Not the only one, there a few of us wondering if it’s worth crossing the county borders but with very little details and confusion with the branch event we might plan something else…

 

The GCR has tried running through the night during last weekend and it seemed to attract a reasonable number of passengers. The ones I spoke to on Sunday certainly enjoyed the experience and there have been some stunning images taken over the Swithland reservoir in the early morning.

 

I am planning a trip to the GCR over the weekend of 6/7 July.
The website says there is a vintage vehicle event happening. But seems to give no clues to train running. Indeed, running days appear to be 4th July then 10th July.
Is this really right...no trains running that weekend? The website is inpenetrable, it is showing running days in June, but just says "timetable to follow"
Tried to ring them today, but got no reply.
Anhy clues if I can travel over weekend 6/7 July?

 

As it has been mentioned a few times recently in this thread, it seems the website would get a school report of “must do better” - worth pinging an email with feedback to the GCR to put awareness on potential customers being turned away.

As to travel over the weekend of 6/7th July, I’m on my phone atm so not checking what is on the website, but having checked HOPS there is definitely a provisional working timetable for the weekend, 2 steam 1 diesel and potential for shed tours via the Boscastle group etc.