Great Central Railway - News and "Stuff"

[Flying Phil]

The GCR was targeted by metal thieves early on Saturday morning. Four men in a red Nissan 4x4 were spotted on CCTV. They cut through the fence from the adjacent industrial property, then broke into a container. They stole parts for the restoration of locomotive 34039 Boscastle including a steel curved Expansion Link. The value of parts is between £30,000 to £50,000.......scrap value £100's. There is a substantial reward for the return or information leading to the return of these parts.

Needless to say the restoration team who have spent years working on returning the locomotive to steam are devastated - as are all the people who support the locomotive and GCR.

[Flying Phil]

This is the press release about the theft - together with pictures of some of the items stolen:-

[Flying Phil]

There is an update about the missing parts, on the Boscastle website. Over 80 parts have been stolen.

[Flying Phil]

Work has been continuing on the embankment to the South of the A60 bridge.
In fact this is a Network Rail project at present. They are doing work on the Midland Main Line bridge over the brook. This has involved draining the water and diverting it through 4 large pies with pumps.

[Flying Phil]

Sad news is that 7027 Thornbury Castle is being sold - and its boiler is to be used on a "new build" class 47XX no 4709. This project is under the GWS umbrella at Didcot.
Needless to say a lot of people at the GCR have spent a lot of time and effort on the locomotive over the past two years and this decision is not going down well....

[Flying Phil]

Meanwhile on the wagon front we have finished B565224 and started on B570618. This is another rebody from the 1970's and we have been replacing the lower body sides with specially shaped repair panels. We have also refurbished the brake cylinder, rewelded some cracked underframe welds etc and are replacing the whole floor.

[Flying Phil]

We are looking forward to the Autumn Gala (Sept 29th - Oct 2nd) when we will see our Windcutter wagons in action, together with other freight trains. Our latest restoration, B 570618, was not quite finished by the end of Friday but we will be working during the week to complete the last few details. We will also have our Information/Sales Stand outside Rothley shed on the Saturday and Sunday. Please pop along and chat to some of the team and see our display.

[Flying Phil]

News from the GCR website

Work on replacing the A60 bridge is starting this weekend

"Temporary road closures are will be in place on the A60 Nottingham Road between the junction of Station Boulevard, Loughborough, and the junction of Loughborough Road, Cotes, from 01st October 2022 to allow Volker Laser, on behalf of the GCR to safely undertake works to replace the rail overbridge.

The existing 120 year old structure is life expired and has been struck many times by over height lorries. Replacing it with a twin track structure, will allow freight trains from the national rail network to use the line again as well as paving the way for heritage trains to run between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire as part of the Reunification project".

[Flying Phil]

I have just been e mailed this...."the A60 bridge, there are two excavators on the track bed removing the ballast, so its begun!!!!!

[Flying Phil]

Taken this afternoon at the A60 bridge.

[Flying Phil]

Well I did quickly paint them all when they were at Quorn in 2018!
Our rake was running over the weekend...but I didn't see them as my car decided to break down at Wanlip

Edited by Flying Phil on Tuesday 4th October 22:21

[Flying Phil]

A quick trip into Loughborough shows prep work being done on the A60 bridge abutments.

[Flying Phil]

Hi 100SRV
There are a variety of GC related books available in the shop on the platform at Loughborough Central station. There are also Second Hand books in the "Emporium" on the platform.
An ideal opportunity will be on Nov 19/20th when the GC will be very busy.
The timetables for the "Last Hurrah Gala" are now available on the GCR website. It is good to see that there will be a variety of authentic motive power to haul our 25+ "Lengthy Train" of 16T mineral wagons. (9F, 8F, Std 5, and Std 2). A sight and sound not to be missed!

[Flying Phil]

The two large pre-cast concrete "caps" have been put on the A60 bridge abutments. There are a couple of You Tube videos of the installation over the weekend.

[Flying Phil]

I popped along to see the "caps" in place - 44 tons of pre-cast concrete!

[Flying Phil]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

"An extra few inches" is said on a GCR press release. The old bridge was stated as 4.3m and I suspect the new one will be 4.4m/4.5m, but we will have to see. The constraints are that the roadway floods and the rail track cannot have a greater gradient coming off from the Midland Main Line up the chord line.

[Flying Phil]

This weekend should see the new bridge decks being put on the abutments. It is also the "Last Hurrah Gala" on the GCR with an intensive timetable - including that "lengthy train" of Windcutter 16T minerals operating mid day on Sat and Sunday. In a few years time it will be fantastic to see them going North over the new bridges!

[Flying Phil]

mcdjl said:

You might know, how often does the mountsorell branch actually get run? After all the effort that went into building it, it feels very rare for a train to run on it, even at galas.

I think the intention is to have running on the branch about 6 times a year (Plus shunting demonstrations). There has been a problem with a damaged trap point (?) plus covid, which has meant no through running recently.
I believe it is scheduled to be in operation for the January Gala and in March - when the main GCR line is closed around Quorn to allow for two bridges to be repaired/replaced.

[Flying Phil]

Work is progressing well at the A 60 bridge with a large crane on site and one of the bridge decks waiting to be installed.

[Flying Phil]

At the A 60 bridge tonight (Sunday) I was told that the two decks and two anti-collision beams were now in place. The big crane is being dismantled. There is some grouting to be done and other finishing work over the next couple of days, then it is ready for ballast and track!