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9 unusual facts about Great Central Railway


Bakerloo line

By 1913, the line had been extended from its original northern terminus at Baker Street to the west with interchange stations with the Great Central Railway at Marylebone and the Great Western Railway at Paddington, and a new station at Edgware Road.

Clifton, Nottingham

The planned route is to follow in part the old GCR and LMS line parallel to Ruddington Lane and follow at the rear of "The Downs" on the Silverdale Estate.

Immingham Dock railway station

Immingham Dock was opened on 22 July 1912 by the Great Central Railway at a point where the deep water channel came close to the Lincolnshire bank of the river Humber.

Richmond Vale railway line

This new loco was designed for Browns and was based on the Great Central Railway class 8A 0-8-0 tender engines dating from 1902 that Kitsons had built for the GCR.

These locomotives were based on the pre war Great Central Railway Class 8K 2-8-0 locos design by John G. Robinson After the armistice these locomotives were surplus and J & A Brown bought 13 of these locomotives, these were built by the North British Locomotive Company (9), Kitson and Company (1) and the Great Central Railway's Gorton Works (3).

Silverdale, Nottingham

Bounded by the Clifton Estate, Fairham Brook, Compton Acres (formerly the Wilford Brick Works) and the former Great Central Railway then after the 1923 re-grouping London, Midland and Scottish Railway and London and North Eastern Railway Manchester to Marylebone Station rail line, Wilford Village and Ruddington Village.

The Nottingham Express Transit (NET) is scheduled to construct one of its new tramlines along, in part, the old GCR /LMS line and exit behind the Silverdale Estate, through farmland and exit on Farnborough Road, near Farnborough School Technology College.

Skimbleshanks

In the late 1950s, this station was the departure point for the Starlight Express, a train which ran from St Enoch to London St Pancras via the former Great Central main line, and which was known for its unusual use of steam locomotives which were not commonly seen on those routes.

The Landmark London

It was first proposed by Sir Edward Watkin of the Great Central Railway who envisaged Marylebone station, which the hotel was to serve, as the hub of an international railway which would run through a channel tunnel.


Ashendon Junction

Ashendon Junction in Buckinghamshire, England, was a major mainline railway junction where, from July 1910, the Great Western Railway's (GWR) London-Birmingham direct route diverged from the Great Central Railway's (GCR) main London-Sheffield route.

Belgrave and Birstall railway station

Belgrave and Birstall railway station was a railway station opened by the Great Central Railway in 1899.

Cambrian Heritage Railways

Most of the British Rail Mark 1 variety had already seen service in preservation prior to being brought on site, as these vehicles were originally based at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough.

Five Pits Trail

Derbyshire County Council created the Five Pits Trail in 1989, following the route of the former Great Central Railway which served the five main coal mines of Grassmoor, Williamthorpe, Holmewood, Pilsley and Tibshelf.

Gerard Dewhurst

The Great Central Railway named one of its GCR Class 11F "Improved Director" steam locomotives after him, No. 507 (later L.N.E.R. No. 5507 and B.R. No. 62661).

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.

London Midland Region of British Railways

In return the London Midland gained the lines of the former Great Central Railway that lay outside Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

Loughborough railway station

It became known as "Loughborough Midland" when Loughborough had three stations; Loughborough Derby Road (opened 1883 on the Charnwood Forest Railway, owned by London and North Western Railway from 1923 and closed to passengers in 1931) and Loughborough Central (Great Central Railway now used by the Great Central Railway (preserved)).

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.

Millhouses engine shed

Millhouses shed closed on 1 January 1962, the shed's remaining engines were transferred to Canklow, Barrow Hill Engine Shed and Staveley Great Central.

North Lindsey Light Railway

The line had its own station in Scunthorpe at Dawes Lane some 1/2 mile from Frodingham on the Great Central Railway's Manchester to Cleethorpes route (now the South TransPennine).

Nottingham Victoria railway station

Both the Great Central Railway and Great Northern Railway shared the station (they split into two lines at Weekday Cross junction).

Railway Operating Division

The ROD requisitioned many diverse locomotives from Britain's railway companies, but as the war dragged on adopted the Great Central Railway's Robinson Class 8K 2-8-0 as its standard freight locomotive to become the ROD 2-8-0.

Reddish North railway station

Although the original mileposts along this section were maintained by the Great Central Railway, the mileages are measured from Rowsley on the Midland Railway line, contrary to the latter's normal practice of measuring from St Pancras.

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).

Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway

The Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway was a British railway company formed to connect the Midland and Great Central lines at Swinton, north of Rotherham, with the North Eastern Railway at Ferrybridge, near Knottingley, a distance of sixteen miles, opening up a more direct route between York and the Sheffield area.

Tunnels of Nottingham

This tunnel is 19 chains (418 yards) long and was originally built for the Great Central Railway completed in 1897 although the Great Central's Nottingham Victoria Station was not completed until 1900.


see also