Great Central Railway (Nottingham)

I have looked back and done a "search" but there doesn't seem to be a dedicated thread on this Railway Centre. Obviously it is closely aligned with the GCR and also the "Gap" project threads but it does have its own identity so perhaps we could use this for specific aspects?
One question...What is the status of the Hotchley Hill signal box renovation?

 

There are regular updates if you do Facebook on the Greater Great Central group, but they are generall making the building secure and watertight at the moment.

This was posted yesterday evening advising the appeal they posted in early December for funds for the windows was now complete!

 

Good News... The vandals will be in for a shock - Vandal throws rock at window expecting to hear that lovely sound of shattering glass - BUT Polycarbonate window chucks it back - hope it hits the B*+@"*¬ds!

 

Fantastic news the LNER? signalbox is coming back to life, lets hope one day the fully united both physically and mentally GCR is signalled from there.

 

There was no sign of any work being done to the A60 bridge when I drove under it today. Hopefully there are discussions/meetings going on in the background.

 

There is good news that the A60 bridge may be able to be used in the near future as the basic structure is still good for its age.

 

Volunteers have been given a prospective timescale for the reopening process (Covid permitting of course!). Expect an update to the public on Social Media channels in due course

 

Thanks ruddingtonrsh56
Great to read that the GCR(N) will be re-opening this year .....when covid permits!

 

A few days late on the NP Update, but this was posted on the GCRN Facebook Page on Thursday: https://www.facebook.com/GcrNottingham/posts/10158089617493691
For those without access to FB for whatever reason, the jist is the site will be reopening further to the public from 12 April (dates and times to be confirmed) beyond the current opening of the Heritage Cafe for takeaways on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Opening from 12 April will include the outdoor model layout, outdoor access to the Nottingham Area Bus Society Collection and sit down outside meals from the cafe. Stated intention to start running Heritage Rail services in time for the summer, as well as other attractions as restrictions allow, but of course subject to change depending on the situation in Britain and how the government responds. For those who are able, any support you can give to the railway as it reopens, even if it is partial, would be most welcome.

 

Does anybody know if the A60 bridge has been re-opened for gypsum trains yet?

 

There were 3 or 4 workers on the A60 bridge today who seemed to be shovelling ballast around, so something is happening....

 

There has been more work on vegetation clearance along parts of the line and I believe that a lever frame has been sourced for the HH signal box.

 

There appear to be some additions to this page since I last looked at it.....

https://emrtrust.co.uk/looking-forward/

...in particular the South Chord and the Taking the Long View one mentioning an application to the DoT "Restore Your Railway" Fund.

 

That is a very useful link Johann - the GCR(N) website seems to be much less up to date - do they rely on the FB pages?

 

They seem to update their FB postings more than the main website, but until the line is available for service again, they can't really do much forward planning at the moment.
I thought that Taking the Long View article didn't worry too much about possibly upsetting a few people with statements like ... "It is an obvious fact that so much about the Ruddington Heritage Centre has to change. It has amazing facilities and yet is a shambles." ... but I would wholehartedly agree with that. Groups such as the Model Engineers , the excellent Cafe and the Bus Group are well developed and attractions in their own right, but you drive into the "car park" from outside and first impressions are that it looks a right tip! I do wonder how many of the Public visiting the Country Park area just take one look from outside and decide there can't be anything worth seeing in the place and turn away without realising what is actually there (and more importantly, spending money on site).

 

It's interesting reading, but it's not really much more than has been said over and again previously. I've got a lot of time for the GCRN because its one of those places you can see has masses of potential, and their ambitions reflect that, but it gets a little frustrating when at roughly 6-month intervals pretty much the same list of aspirations is produced, but beyond that there doesn't seem to be much of an overall unified plan to turn those words into action. Rather than a plaintive wail how necessary bridge repairs are draining the bank balance, I'd sooner be reading a leaflet detailing how I can support those repairs. It comes back to a point I've made previously, if they're serious about achieving their list of wants, they'll need people to donate. But there's no appeal, that I've seen, to donate to...

By way of contrast, I had a letter from a carriage restoration group this morning that went along the lines of, '1) we've been thinking about building a dedicated storage and restoration shed for the last few years, 2) we've decided to do something about it, 3) this is where we want to put it, 4) this is what we're thinking of [a 2-road shed], 5) this is what we think it will cost, 6) if you want to donate toward it please send cheques or direct debit forms to this address.'

Seems to me that the GCRN are going in a bit of a circle of reiterating points 1 through 4 but never quite get to 5 or 6.

 

Spot on, all great aspirations but very little or no action.
What is happening with the two bridges that may or may not need serious repairs, when will gypsum traffic be able to resume? All we seem to know is that the bridges have been inspected sometime ago and a bit of ballast shovelled about. If they need repairing shout about and I am sure people will contribute.
A lot of what happens at Ruddington never seems to get reported, seems a bit like a secret society. Fair play to the signaling guys and the cutting edge team they give weekly updates.
Come on GCRN share what’s going on please.

 

Agreed about the excellent work that the Cutting Edge and signalling teams put into getting their message across; they make me almost welcome Sunday evenings!

 

Very interesting, and well written plan - this section is rather revealing though shows the North know full well they hold the key / ball to the whole venture.


"We accept the PLC's reasonable expectation to access to the MML but we will all


need to understand and conform to the EMRT basic plan for the junction between the three

railways (GCRN, GCR PLC and NR). The connection can be made only by trains crossing over

EMRT infrastructure, so getting it right is fundamental to success."

 

Having now read all the papers on the link the plan does sound like a very good one, the cold hard look they've had at themselves is also very refreshing to see!
But, there does seem to be a lot of planning (which is welcome) but little in the way of how it'll all be funded, there's an suggestion that they'll tap into the DfT restore your railway fund which I think should actually be used for this type of regional regeneration style project that fairy land national rail reopening's.

I do think the tone is a little hard on themselves, like they want to be seen as the little under archiving brother of the GCR.

Personally I feel Ruddington could be a fantastic northern terminal for the complete Great Central, especially with the curve in place to the south the options for 11 car train running into a Kidderminster style terminal station is really something special.
Interesting the idea for two single lines for the commercial freight traffic/charters, and heritage operations.