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.
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.
The bricked up station entrance below and between the twin bridges over the Swithland-Rothley road can still be seen to this day; one of the many excellent photographs taken by the Leicester photographer S.W.A. Newton of the line's construction clearly shows the view looking up the stairway towards the platform.
•
Led by the vision of GCR benefactor David Clarke, the nephew of a former signalman on the GW&GC Joint Line, double track was relaid from Swithland to Rothley, and then from Swithland to Quorn, eventually reaching Loughborough in 2000.