Great Central Railway - News and "Stuff"

[Flying Phil]

As quite a few on here will know, the present "Great Central Railway" is a preserved "heritage" railway line that runs for 9 miles between Loughborough and Leicester. There is also a GCR(N) railway that runs for 9 miles North of Loughborough to Ruddington, near Nottingham.
There is a 500m "Gap" between the two lines where BR removed bridges and embankments after they closed the line in 1968.
Over the past four years the two railways have been active in "Bridging the Gap". A brand new bridge (£2M) has been built over the Midland Main Line at Loughborough (Needed first, as that line was due to have overhead electrification installed, since "paused" then restarted then cancelled!). Now an original 120 year old canal bridge is being refurbished. So it is a huge project and will take years to complete, but when finished we will have an 18 mile railway with access to the Main Line.
There are lots of other activities on the railway including the rake of 16T mineral wagons - "Windcutter" trucks or wagons, that I help to renovate.
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[Flying Phil]

mcdjl said:

Is that second photo from behind the existing engine shed or on the other side of the river? Does the work on the tip/recycling center have any impact on the plans?

That picture is taken from behind the engine shed.
The tip/recycling centre has had quite an effect on the plans, as those high lorries will have to go under the new line. Fortunately the GCR has two, relatively new, SH bridge decks from Reading when Network Rail did some work there. These will be used to cross part of the PreciSpark car park and the Railway Terrace road.
The plans are well developed but are having to take account of various factors ie the embankment is alongside a brook and there are access and flood plain considerations. The extra height requires soil/bank strengthening in places where the footprint is narrower. The new MML bridge is slightly to the East of the old bridge centre line, due to some modern signals. There is a sewerage outflow, part way along the embankment route....etc etc.
Another complication is that, although the engine shed was placed to allow for a route North around the West side, it would have an awkward dogleg. The SH shed is 40 years older and needs extensive work..... A new shed is being considered,12m to the west of the existing shed, which would make the route North much easier.

[Flying Phil]

mcdjl said:

Those would be the bridges that were stored on the old good yards next to the station thats now houses...
Is the engine shed staying at Loughborough? Long term wouldn't it make sense to move the main hub to somewhere with parking/space eg Ruddington/Leicester North?

Yes about those bridge decks and Yes, the new engine shed will stay at Loughborough as it is central to the whole line and is an established site. I know other locations have been considered, but had to be ruled out for very good reasons. Leicester North may well see a museum complex as "Plan B" evolves, following the dropped HLF plan A.

[Flying Phil]

There has been more work done at the North end of the new bridge, all the spoil, which had been on a paddock, has been moved to the end of the embankment - not yet in its final position, there is more work to do for the base of the new embankment, as it will be very close to the brook there.

[Flying Phil]

There is a new page on the GCR website announcing the new Engine Shed funding appeal - so action soon on that project as they tend to only announce things just before they happen.
I also went to see the "tidy" embankment that is to the North of the new bridge.

[Flying Phil]

To put the "Gap" project into context, there is a good "N" gauge model that the "Friends of the GCR" use as part of their event stand. This picture shows where the new bridge over the Midland Main Line is situated and where the next bridges/arches will be built.

Edited by Flying Phil on Sunday 14th April 10:34

[Flying Phil]

davebem said:

Looking good Phil, also thanks so much for the engine shed tour yesterday!

Glad you enjoyed it...and the rest of your visit I hope.

[Flying Phil]

Nice set of tickets rs1952! and a First day to Leicester North or just an early trip?

mcdjl - There was talk that the double track would run from the Station, over the canal, along the embankment and then single over the viaducts and bridges, certainly there are only single track bridge decks.
Now only one side of the canal bridge is to be a running line and I suspect that the embankment will be built as a single track as it is close to the brook, needs to be higher, and is a few metres to the East due to the slightly repositioned MML bridge.
So a single line only to the North for the likely future. There will be two tracks North from the station up to the canal bridge though.

[Flying Phil]

mcdjl said:

I can see that makes sense but on the other hand will almost certainly preclude it happening in the future. It would be nice to see double track over the canal....its almost there through the shed anyway.

They do say the canal bridge is to be single line restored to keep the cost down, but, "could be fully upgraded later if required" and the initial part of the missing embankment is further from the brook.....

[Flying Phil]

Meanwhile back to "Windcutter Stuff"
For a bit of variety, we also have a wooden bodied Box Van to hold our stores. This was in need of some TLC and so we have been working on that, stripping paint, repairing and replacing rotten wood ready for priming, undercoating and top coating.



But then we had a bit of bad news as two of our running wagons have been inspected and failed due to "thin flanges". We have a pair of spare wheels for one but the other is unique as it has larger 10" axleboxes...and one pair of spoked wheels!

[Flying Phil]

Well the spare wheelsets have been checked, the protective wrapping on the journals removed and the surfaces re-polished with progressively finer emery cloth. Now we are waiting for the crane to be used to do the exchange.
.
It is the "Goods Galore Gala" next weekend...... with 6 different freight trains in operation! There are 7 steam engines, including 2 8F locomotives being used.

[Flying Phil]

I had to change a brake shoe yesterday.....
The old one on the ground was "excessively worn"........ They are a bit bigger and heavier than my Sprite brake shoes! However, I did not have to take wheels and drums off! This was an urgent job as the wagons are out on Sunday for the "Goods Galore Gala".

[Flying Phil]

The canal bridge has had quite a lot of work done and the top of the three steel girders has been shot blasted and coated in a heavy duty grey plastic/paint. There are still some steel repairs to do on the lower vertical plates and the brickwork will need extensive attention. [url]

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Edited by Flying Phil on Monday 13th May 10:20

[Flying Phil]

This is the view of the underside of the canal bridge, as expected, it is the parts at the ends where it sits on the abutments that are the most corroded.

[Flying Phil]

Quite correct Toasty - remaining work to be done when canal is quiet from Autumn.
Meanwhile the background work is continuing, getting plans approved and consents etc for the embankment and engine shed work. All of which costs money, takes time......and is "invisible".

[Flying Phil]

The latest news on the canal bridge is that it will be restored for two tracks after all, more work will be done when the canal is quiet over the winter - over £410,000 has been raised so far!
Meanwhile back on the windcutter wagons, a bit more prepping and painting has seen the East side of #19 looking a bit smarter whilst it is awaiting its move to Quorn.
White stripes and end door still to be painted
.

Edited by Flying Phil on Saturday 27th July 21:05

[Flying Phil]

White stripes now done and end door being worked on during a working party Saturday.

[Flying Phil]

We were able to see how the guards and drivers are trained on goods train operation over the weekend as we were allowed to be in the "spare" brakevan during the training runs. The first picture is the rake at Loughborough and second at Swithland, waiting for the service train to come through and the diner train pausing in the loop whilst coffee is being served...

[Flying Phil]

Back to work on #19 and repairs are in hand to the end door. We are also going to remove the buffers at that end as there is a worrying amount of corrosion on the ends of the headstock.

[Flying Phil]

Work has restarted on the Canal Bridge now that the boat traffic is much less.
On top of the bridge is a new girder over the North end which is being used as a cantilever beam. The new "cross girder" is anchored on the left hand side and those red and white containers have 10 tons of water to hold that side of the bridge down. At the right hand end there are 2 hydraulic rams to lift the tie rods - and the end of the old bridge girder, by a few cm. That corner of the bridge bearing surface is repaired. The Centre span girder acts as the support and does not need repair.
Repeat for the other side and other end (possibly only one corner).
They could not risk jacking up from the towpath underneath as they were unsure as to its stability and strength.