Great Central Railway Loughborough - geograph

Loughborough Central Railway Station - geograph

Loughborough Central Station is a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

on the

Great Central Railway The Great Central Railway in England was formed when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897, anticipating the opening in 1899 of its London Extension. On 1 January 1923, the company was grouped into the ...

and the Great Central Railway (preserved) serving

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second lar ...

History

The station was opened by the

on 15 March 1899, built to the standard GCR arrangement of having an

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular ...

set between the two main running lines. The platforms are long, capable of accommodating consists of up to 6 coaches and/or mail vans. The station buildings are unique on the preserved railway, the only station with a complete canopy, the longest in railway preservation. The station was closed by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four (British ra ...

under the

Beeching Axe The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the ...

, on 5 May 1969. Reopened by the Great Central Railway as part of the restored

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

in 1974, train services currently run south from the station to . Within the station complex, the station buildings, original GCR signal box sited to the north, and the three original water tanks are all

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

Station masters

*Walter Tate *P.B. Hand ca. 1929 - 1931 (afterwards station master at Luton) *Henry Ernest Algar 1931 - 1937 (formerly station master at Nottingham High Level station) *A. Smith 1937 - ???? (formerly station master at Bingham)

Station facilities

Original station facilities include: ladies' waiting room and powder room; general waiting room; gentlemen's toilets; and a refreshment room/cafe. In 2009, a £20,000 grant allowed the station to have new toilets, and a lift in the entrance hall to be installed for the benefits of the

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, s ...

visitors. The railway society have also added a book and gift shop, a museum, and an emporium/shop. All stations on the preserved Great Central Railway are set in a specific era; at Loughborough this era is the 1950s. Many artefacts around the station aid in this atmosphere, including original and recreated British Railways posters, British Railways totem poles, a 1950s TV showing 1950s transportation films in the general waiting room, and a display of 1950s platform trolleys and bicycles. The station also plays host to the command centre of the heritage railway operations, from which the Duty Traffic Manager organizes all movements which take place on the railway from the Station Master's Office.

Media

The station has appeared in many film and television programmes, chosen for its retro aesthetic, such as '' Enigma'', '' Shadowlands'' and '' Cemetery Junction''. The station and Great Central Railway line were also featured in the fourth episode of the 17th series of

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

's '' Top Gear'' programme, shown on 17 July 2011 during a train/car feature, which was filmed in June 2011.

Running shed

From a long fenced pathway alongside the northward line, the running shed can be viewed. This large 3-road building has to accommodate both residential and visiting motive power, as well as serving as a workshop. Unlike most other railways, it is possible to go inside and see "most" of the steam locomotives in various stages of completion. Only the third road is inaccessible to the general public. The current Loughborough Gap project will result in the shed being demolished, due to its position intercepting the line to Ruddington. The replacement is a 10-road from in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

, which will be rebuilt brick-by-brick into an 8-road shed, which could have enough storage for 16 large tender engines. The

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

on which it will eventually be built, will include the shed itself (half of which will be converted into a workshop), a second carriage works, storage sidings and an education centre for school groups.

References