Great Central Railway Spring Steam Weekend - 28 February to 1 March 2026

Lineup

3809 Austerity 0-6-0T
34072 '257 Squadron' Battle of Britain class 4-6-2
92134 9F 2-10-0
68067 Austerity 0-6-0T

D7018 Class 35 Hymek
Class 101 2 car blue DMU

Highlights:

• 3809 & 68067 running top & tail shuttles along the Mountsorrel branch as far as Nunckley Hill for the Mountsorrel Heritage Centre.
• 34072 & 92134 sharing mainline services and double heading on the 1640 departure each day. Griddle Car serving hot and cold food available on board these trains.
• D7018 running full line services with it's train including a Refreshment Car serving a selection of real ales.
• Class 101 DMU running Loughborough to Rothley shuttles and a couple of trips all the way to Mountsorrel during the middle of the day.
• Demonstration Mineral Wagon train at 1500 each day running the full length of the line from Loughborough to Leicester North.
• Double headed express on Saturday evening at 1815 featuring 3809 & 68067.

Further details available here:

https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/visit/events/20260228-spring-steam-weekend/

All attractions subject to availability etc. Timetable to follow shortly.

We hope you'll be able to join us for an interesting weekend!

 

The WTT isn't available on the website yet but I'm happy to share here (being 50% of the author) for those interested.

 

There will be Boscastle Guided Shed tours at this event on the Sat and Sunday, 10.30 to 3.30, with regular 30 min tours.

 

Heritage Shuttle Buses
Heritage shuttle buses will run from Loughborough Midland (EMR) station to Lovatt House, near Loughborough Central station on the Saturday of the Spring Steam Weekend, but not on the Sunday. These buses are free of charge and are open to anyone wishing to travel.

Buses depart Loughborough Midland (EMR) station at: 8.40am, 9.10, 9.40, 10.10, 10.40, 11.00, 3.47pm, 4.07, 4.32, 4.57, 5.22

Buses depart Lovatt House (150yds from Central Station) at: 8.48am, 9.18, 9.48, 10.18, 10.48, 3.20pm, 3.55, 4.15, 4.40, 5.05, 5.30

Unfortunately, due to the heritage nature of the vehicles being used, they are not suitable for less mobile passengers as they do not have step-free access. Thanks to Leicester Transport Heritage Trust for providing this service and to EMR for us to use their bus stop.

Every effort will be made to run buses at the times shown, but neither GCR nor LTHT can accept any liability for any changes that may be necessary on the day. Please note that it will not generally be possible for buses to await late-running trains

 

GCR Spring weekend timetable - the public version now live https://www.gcrailway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GCR_Timetables_A4_Spring-Steam_2026_FINAL.pdf

 

92134 & 68067 have been turned to face Leicester

 

What a farce, no shuttle bus had to get a taxi, trains jam packed, disabled passengers having to stand,that includes me thankfully I have my own walking stick seat, ridiculous why have a full brake coach?

 

The LTHT FB page (and the GCR one as well) says that there aren't any buses available due to flooding in the area that the vehicles are kept.
Having been to that particular storage location in person (where the more "modern" buses live), there is very little that you can do about that...........

 

Rough shunt at Leicester North, Hymek and rake of coaches taken out of service on return to Loughborough

 

Had a very enjoyable first visit to the GCR today, did a couple of round trips and got some mileage behind both 92134 & 34072 (both locos being key interests I've waited a long time to see!), double-track running with trains passing each other en route made for a thrilling experience - despite being standing room only at times (!)

A small selection of photos taken during today's visit -




Lastly, here's my lineside footage of 92134 & 34072 accelerating away from Loughborough Central with the 4:40pm service bound for Leicester North - hope you enjoy!

 

From Andy Royal DEPG:

''Unfortunately, ‘Hymek’ D7018‘s appearances at the Great Central Railway this weekend have had to be curtailed due to an unexpected shortage of train crew. The loco worked the first part of her planned diagram on Saturday 28th February but was then stood down, and we understand that the loco will not be able to run tomorrow Sunday 1st March for the same reason. We can confirm that the loco is fully serviceable. We apologise for any disappointment that this might cause. We will provide more information regarding future workings for this loco as soon as we can''.

The other side of the story perhaps? <BJ>

 

78019 works D7018s booked turns tomorrow

 

No other side of the story .
Only one GCR driver ( also a WSR driver ) signs hymeks and as a result of the Leicester N incident is unexpectedly not available tomorrow.33116 did third diesel trip today for the same reason.

 

Front coach of the 0900 set is FC with a £5 round trip supplement.

 

Four of us went to the Gala yesterday and had a great time there was a lot of flooding in the area as we drove to quorn we managed to get on the hymek and found a compartment we then did the Mountsorrell branch with steam which was our main objective Not sure what can be done about overcrowding although i do notice that people in bays of four like to spread out which reduces the number of seats with two large engines working on double track it was always going to be busy which is good for the finances of the railway as these events are expensive to run the big engines i believe will be running again next weekend so maybe a little less crowded.

 

My coverage from the weekends events if anyone is interested ☺️:

 

I wasn't there but I've seen a video of the Leicester North 'rough shunt' or 'incident' mentioned above.
On a scale of 0-10 where 0 is "nothing happened" and 10 is "close the site and call the RAIB immediately", I would classify this somewhere around a 1 "internet wibble".

 

Is it the one with the Hymek? It was a bit rougher than the ideal but the kids love their wibble and internet clout.