Ghosts of the Great Central Railway Part 1 - Culworth Junction

Welcome to Part 1 of my Ghosts of the Great Central Railway Mainline. We're kicking off with a look at Culworth Junction, just north of Brackley. Here we find the charred remains of the old signal box foundations and adjoining disused railway infrastructure. Around the junction, we see an old permanent way hut. Here the line to London diverged from a branch towards Banbury that linked up with the Great Western Railway (GWR).

We are visiting various locations on the GCR between Culworth Junction in Northamptonshire and Rugby in Warwickshire. Visiting former station sites, bridges, junctions, old infrastructure, viaducts, tunnels and some other interesting stuff.

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. Lost railway artefacts and relics are left scattered along the route.

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