Loughborough Central railway station
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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 tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
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) The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, named after the company that originally built this stretch of railway. It runs for between the town of Loughborough and a new terminus in the north of Leicester. It has ...
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 larg ...
.


History

The station was opened by 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 ...
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 on ...
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 rai ...
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 In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
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 Irel ...
.


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, se ...
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 Enigma may refer to: *Riddle, someone or something that is mysterious or puzzling Biology *ENIGMA, a class of gene in the LIM domain Computing and technology * Enigma (company), a New York-based data-technology startup * Enigma machine, a family ...
'', '' 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 #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 Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' 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 The Loughborough Gap is a missing section of the Great Central Railway to the north-east of Loughborough, England. The gap was created by the removal of embankments and bridges during the 1980s and the restoration project has been branded Bri ...
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. Cumb ...
, 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.


See also

*
Loughborough railway station Loughborough railway station is a Grade II listed railway station in the town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, on the Midland Main Line, north of St Pancras railway station, London St Pancras. The station is north-east of the town centre. Hi ...
- formerly Loughborough Midland.


References

{{authority control Former Great Central Railway stations Heritage railway stations in Leicestershire Grade II listed buildings in Leicestershire Grade II listed railway stations Museums in Leicestershire Railway museums in England Great Central Railway (preserved) Central Railway Station Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1899 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1969 Beeching closures in England Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1974