Bridging the Gap - The Great Central Railway Reunification

Welcome back to my Great Central Railway Reunification series. We're picking up again at Loughborough station. In the last episode I had a look at the Great Central heritage railway and a look around the station. We had a ride behind a steam locomotive from Quorn too.

Looking north from Loughborough Central station, the once through running lines now run into the railways main engine shed. This will be the first obstacle. Everything we will see in this video is part of bridging the gap section of the reunification. There are a number of engineering challenges - some of which have alreayd been dealt with. Straight after leaving the loco shed, the line crosses the Grand Union Canal. This bridge was renovated for double track in 2020.

After crossing the canal we see a length of embankment, followed by a new viaduct before the line crosses Railway Terrace. This is where lots of the forthcoming work will be focussed. After railway terrace we can see the new bridge installed in 2018 crossing the 4 tracks of the Midland Mainline.
After here, more missing embankment before a link line with the Midland railway.

It is here we technically join the northern heritage railway - Great Central Railway Nottingham. The A60 bridge had a new deck in late 2022 and therefore is the newest bridge on GCR.

Great Central Mainline was built as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway. Opening in 1899, it was designed to be as straight as possible with as little gradient as possible. Speed was the aim and express trains travelled between London Marylebone, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. It was the last UK mainline to be built before HS1 over a century later. It thrived initially, however with a lack of upkeep, neglect and dwindling usage, it was mothballed during the great railway rationalisation of Dr Beeching in the 1960s - known as the Beeching Axe.

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