The Mountsorrel Railway was a network of industrial
railway
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 tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
lines that served the
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
quarries
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...
which dominate the
Leicestershire
Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...
village of
Mountsorrel. After being closed in the 1950s, a section was reopened in 2015 as a
heritage line
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 ...
run by Mountsorrel & Rothley Community Heritage Centre.
History
Construction started around November 1859 on a line long. It ran from the local quarries of the Mountsorrel Granite Company at the north west of Mountsorrel, through the village on an embankment high, crossing the turnpike road on an iron girder bridge of span, over the
River Soar
The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...
on a viaduct of 5 arches (the largest being in width) and then on an embankment to the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
, half a mile south of
Barrow-upon-Soar railway station
Barrow-upon-Soar railway station serves the large village of Barrow-upon-Soar in Leicestershire, England. The station is located on the Midland Main Line between Leicester and Loughborough, north of St Pancras railway station, London St Pancr ...
. The engineer was Mr. Addison of London, the contractor was Mr. Herbert of Leicester and the cost of construction was £18,000 ().
By the turn of the century there were eight-and-a-half miles of track serving the local quarries, now owned by
Tarmac Tarmac may refer to:
Engineered surfaces
* Tarmacadam, a mainly historical tar-based material for macadamising road surfaces, patented in 1902
* Asphalt concrete, a macadamising material using asphalt instead of tar which has largely superseded ta ...
.
The line was extended and by 1898 ran from 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 ...
at
Swithland Sidings.
The line fell out of use in the 1950s, the track was taken up in the 1960s, and most of the route was abandoned. Part of the 'main-line' is now covered by a conveyor belt which runs from Mountsorrel Quarry to the site of the junction on the
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands.
...
, near
Barrow upon Soar
Barrow upon Soar is a large village in northern Leicestershire, in the Soar Valley between Leicester and Loughborough, with a population at the 2011 census of 5,856.
Geography
Barrow lies on the east bank of the River Soar, where the ri ...
. The conveyor belt replaced the original railway in the 1970s.
Restoration
![GreatCentralRailwayMGC654](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/GreatCentralRailwayMGC654.JPG)
A local resident, Steve Cramp, had been researching the railway and, as well as writing a book about it, led the project to rebuild the part of the railway going from Swithland to Mountsorrel. Donations came in for the project, including from Lafarge. The project reinstated one-and-a-quarter miles of new track to a small halt station under Bond Lane bridge. This enables the villagers of Mountsorrel to catch a train for nearby and then onto the rest of the preserved network. The line climbs at a grade of 1-in-62, which is far steeper than the gradients on the Great Central Mainline, as they reached only 1-in-175.
Despite numerous examples, none of the original Mountsorrel wagons had been preserved, so three wooden-bodied open wagons (two 5-plank bodies and one 3-plank) which closely resembled the old ones were selected to be returned to service in the official light grey livery of the old Mountsorrel Granite Company.
Open days had been held on the trackbed since May 2009, involving ecology groups and track bed 'tours among' children and adults. When finished, the plan is to provide the Great Central Railway with a secondary attraction, recreating various scenes from the past, including a time when children would ride in the open wagons on Sundays and days out.
By 2010, the group had completed ballast laying over the first mile from the junction with the GCR to Wood Lane. On 10 May 2010, the track work began with the placement of a right-handed point at Swithland Sidings, the first part of the new junction. In June, the group received a £5000 donation from the Great Central's support charity, bringing them closer to their goal to complete the track laying.
By May 2011, track had been laid over the first 300m of the branch line, which allowed the first trains to run on the railway since the track lifting trains in 1959. The group are currently in the process of fund raising for £16,000 to allow the next 450m of track to be laid.
By the end of April 2012, phase 2 had been completed, with a further 250-300m laid and many hedgerows planted, and fund raising for phase three was well underway (£11,000 of £23,000 raised so far). This will allow laying of the next 500m of track and take the track to Wood Lane, on the outskirts of Mountsorrel.
In early December 2012, track-laying passed through the bridge at Wood Lane. Materials had also been secured to reach the end of the line at Bond Lane. By this time, total project spend had been £90,000, with £9,500 still to be raised to complete the track to passenger-carrying standards.
The preserved line
On 21 November 2013, the first passenger train travelled the railway towards Mountsorrel hauling the project volunteers. Project leader Steve Cramp said on the day that "It’s been an emotional time for us all, everybody has worked so hard over the last six years to bring this vision to reality and it’s so nice to actually see a steam train get back up to Mountsorrel."
On 27 January 2014, planning permission for a simple platform built into the base of the cutting next to the bridge at Bond Lane was granted by Charnwood Borough Council. The platform was constructed from concrete blocks faced with Mountsorrel Granite. The aim for the new platform was to link up with
Stonehurst Family Farm and Motor Museum bringing together the local community. The Platform is now known as Mountsorrel railway station.
After eight years and over 80,000 hours of volunteer time, the Mountsorrel Railway was opened to the public over the weekend of 24 and 25 October 2015 by
Lord Faulkner of Worcester, who is president of the
Heritage Railway Association
Heritage Railway Association (HRA) is an umbrella organisation representing the majority of the heritage and tourist railways, railway museums, steam centres and railway preservation groups in the UK and Ireland.
Groups and individuals involved ...
and vice chairman of the
Science Museum
A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...
.
The site of the former Nunckley Quarry now occupie
Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre which includes a coffee shop, heritage displays, a railway museum, a recreation of a Stonemasons' hut, like those that would have been used in Mountsorrel Quarry, a demonstrative narrow gauge railway and Nunckley Hill railway station.
, funds are needed for the construction of the Discovery Centre, a brand new building which will include teaching an even-more in-depth history of the local area and will be supplemented with an exhibition area, a library with archive storage, a lecture theatre/class room, a study room, advanced AR equipment for 'hands-on' learning and a large lobby. There is also the need for donations to complete the Railway Museum Extension, which will serve as a restoration area for rolling-stock, as well as the new extension of the Nunckley Narrow Gauge Railway, which also needs new track.
Locomotives and rolling stock
Locomotives
The last surviving locomotive of the original railway is a
Peckett and Sons
Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Locomotive Works on Deep Pit Road between Fishponds and St. George, Bristol, England.
Fox, Walker and Company
The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, ...
0-4-0ST Works No. 1759 ''Elizabeth'' of 1928
currently undergoing restoration at
Rutland Railway Museum
Rutland Railway Museum, now trading as Rocks by Rail: The Living Ironstone Museum, is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated north east of Oakham, in Rutland, England.
Overview
The museum of ...
in
Cottesmore, with ambitions to bring it back to the railway once restored.
Wagons
Coaches
See also
*
List of heritage railways
This list of heritage railways includes heritage railways sorted by country, state, or region. A heritage railway is a preserved or tourist railroad which is run as a tourist attraction, is usually but not always run by volunteers, and often seeks ...
References
External links
Mountsorrel & Rothley Community Heritage Centre
{{coord, 52.732967, -1.142911, region:GB, display=title
Rail transport in Leicestershire
Transport in Leicestershire
Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway (preserved)
Heritage railways in Leicestershire