X-Nico

6 unusual facts about Great Central Main Line


Harrow-on-the-Hill station

The GCR ran on the former Great Central Main Line, an intercity trunk route and provided services from Harrow to destinations such as Rugby, Leicester, Nottingham and Manchester.

Hucknall Central railway station

Hucknall Central railway station was a station in Hucknall on the Great Central Railway's main line from Manchester to London.

Stanford Viaduct

Built as part of the Great Central Railway's London Extension opened in 1899, it carried the Great Central Main Line over the River Soar and a road (Meadow Lane).

Upper Catesby

Catesby Tunnel is a disused railway tunnel on the route of the former Great Central Main Line.

Wilwell Farm Nature Reserve

The Great Central Main Line was closed in 1969, and in 1976 it was proposed that the cutting should be filled with rubbish.

Wolfhampcote

There are also the remains of two abandoned railway lines, the first being the old Weedon to Leamington Spa (via Daventry) railway, part of the London and North Western Railway (later the LMS), which closed to passengers in September 1958 and to freight in December 1963, and the second being the Great Central Main Line, which closed to all traffic in September 1966.


GCR Class 9K

With the introduction of the Class 9Ns, the 9Ls were moved to stopping services on the Great Central Main Line and by 1922 they were based around Nottingham, with one of the twelve stabled at Woodford and some occasional allocations to Hitchin and Hatfield.

Mansfield Railway

The Mansfield Railway Act was passed on 26 July 1910, authorising the newly formed Mansfield Railway Company to build a railway line from a junction with the GCR's former LD&ECR main line near Clipstone in Nottinghamshire, to a junction with the GCR main line, eleven miles away near Kirkby-in-Ashfield, also in Nottinghamshire.

Rugby Central railway station

Rugby Central was a railway station serving Rugby in Warwickshire on the former Great Central Main Line which opened in 1899 and closed in 1969.

Swithland Sidings

The original plans for the MS&LR's London Extension had a station situated at Swithland instead of Rothley, although Rothley was much the larger village of the two, and only slightly further from the line.


see also