The South Leicestershire Railway was founded in 1850 as the Nuneaton and Hinckley Railway, with parliamentary powers to build a railway from on the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

to in

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 ...

. In 1860 Parliament authorised the company to extend its line to Wigston Junction on the Midland Railway and to rename itself the South Leicestershire Railway. The extension was completed in 1864 which included stations at Elmesthorpe (for Earl Shilton and Barwell), Croft, Narborough,

Blaby Blaby () is a large village in the Blaby District in central Leicestershire, England, some five miles south of Leicester city centre. At the time of the 2011 census, Blaby had a population of 6,194, a slight fall from 6,240 in 2001 figures). B ...

and Wigston as well as sidings for the granite quarries at Stoney Stanton, Croft and Enderby. The South Leicestershire Railway was taken over in 1867 by the LNWR, which in turn became part of the

London, Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally u ...

in the

1923 grouping The Railways Act 1921 (c. 55), also known as the Grouping Act, was an Act of Parliament enacted by the British government and intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, by "grouping" them into four la ...

. In the 1960s

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 rai ...

ways closed all of the South Leicestershire Railway's stations except Hinckley. However, public objections led BR to reopen in 1970. Leicestershire County Council opened a new station in 1986 at , about 300 metres east of the South Leicestershire Railway's former station.

References

Railway companies established in 1860 Railway companies disestablished in 1867 London and North Western Railway Rail transport in Leicestershire Rail transport in Warwickshire 1867 disestablishments in England 1860 establishments in England British companies established in 1860 {{England-rail-transport-stub