As early as 1860 there were eight and a half miles of track serving the local quarries of the Mountsorrel Granite Company, now owned by Lafarge Aggregates.
Soar Valley embraces the large villages of Quorn, Mountsorrel, Barrow upon Soar, Birstall, Rothley and Sileby and a number of smaller communities all on or near the River Soar as it flows from Leicester to Loughborough in Leicestershire.