Lottery turns down funding for GCR Museum

There was a time when the Lottery were desperate to receive any half decent applications. Sadly no more!

PH

 

Isn't Leicester North a bit like Cheltenham Racecourse? - the end of a line to nowhere

 

Yes, so that is why a museum or a grand terminus station there could only be a Good Thing!

 

I agree that from the point of view of aesthetic 'authenticity', it's probably a good thing the bid has been turned down. However, I would contest your argument that people should not go to the GCR to see stuff static but running. Yes, the main draw should be the locos that are in traffic, but the GC is lucky enough to have far more locomotives available on site than it can hope to have running at any one point in time. The ability to store more locos undercover will aid them as it will reduce the deterioration of locos due to weather while they wait their turn in the overhaul queue, and if you can store them in a way that people can go and look round them, thus drawing in extra visitors, or maybe even offering as an attraction in its own right, with a small admission fee if you don't have a full line ticket (as is the case at Highley) seems to me a sensible option where everybody involved wins - there's something extra for people to do on the railway, the railway attracts more passengers and gets more income, and locos will take a little less time and money to restore to operable condition once its their turn. What's not to like? (Apart from the proposed architecture, of course)

 

No, it most certainly isn't. (Seasonal chorus of, "Oh yes it is.")

 

Well, even I won't *entirely* disagree with that!!

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

 

Two of the other stations on the GCR (Rothley and Quorn) also have this same arrangement where you can access the station from the bridge down the stairs to an island platform (or via foot crossings across the track from the carparks). It was a standard design used on the GCR extension all the way to London. ( The others of course have long been demolished), and it works well. At Quorn there is even a really nice cafe wartime style cafe in the space under the stairs/road.

From what I can tell from reading this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgrave_and_Birstall_railway_station the station survived and was being looked after by the cough, cough 'preservationists' who then after some vandalism decided to demolish most of it in summer 1977 and then the rest of it including the staircases etc in 1985, platform in 1990

So in conclusion, they smashed up the original authentic GCR station and built this 'stunner' instead, Totally crazy .... I don't blame the lottery for turning down the money.

 

Not exactly correct, the station buildings were so heavily vandalised on numerous occasions that demolition was the only option before they fell down. This despite the best efforts of the Belgrave Station group. Access would have been a problem from the bridge as this is a narrow access road. The current Leicester North is not ideal or pretty but it does the job at the moment. A rather more in keeping building at the buffer stops was snookered by a high pressure main which was only revealed after planning was applied for. Normal local searches did not reveal its presence as it is classed as of strategic importance.

 

I think also the current New Leicster North Station is in Leicester City Councils area of responsability, the old station site was in Charnwood, as are all the other stations.

 

http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/lottery-bosses-decided-pull-out-932824

 

Yes I know that but it doesn't follow that B&B would have been suitable. Quorn for instance has a massive yard right next to it that pretty much makes the bridge entrance superfluous. Looking at the pictures, there isn't much space where the platforms were and a good bit more where they are now.

 

duplicate deleted

 

It would be mire helpfull if you actually did some research before posting outdated pictures.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...k2.JPG/220px-GreatCentralRailwayCanopyMk2.JPG

THIS is what Leicester North actually looks like at present - OK not typically GC I agree, nor as impressive as originally planned - but given its location and how much the site has been subject to vandalism (Note the reference in Wikipedia to local yobs pushing over the brickwork of the waiting room while it was being built) entirely suitable for the time being.

As noted by others it is not good practice to have a station exit spilling directly onto a narrow pavemnt of a residentual road these days, particularly as the number of visitors certainly has the potental to be much larger than when the origional Belgrave & Birstal station was built...

 

What you propose makes a fair bit of sense, but isn’t what this museum was planned to be. It was to be an NRM outpost (so free entry in line with government policy) and exhibits were to be largely drawn from the existing NRM collection (so not much if any room for out-of-ticket home-fleet locos).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

I don't think it was going to be free access. As the article I posted notes “However, the [HLF] board had ongoing concerns about outstanding risks including continuing extended timescales, future operational costs and management arrangements, and the potential for costs to increase further." Free access implies that the NRM was bankrolling the museum, hence operational costs should not have been a concern in such a scenario. All three "partners" seem to have been hoping to get something for nothing and the HLF was quite rightly not buying it.

 

Of course operational costs would be a concern, whoever was responsible for servicing them each year. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think Shildon is operated by the local council rather than the NRM directly; it’s still under the NRM branding and covered by the national museums free admission policy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Having been involved in an organisation that has applied for (and got) a few National Lottery grants, I do know that they like "moving the goalposts" in the course of the process, and the whole thing can take l long while and involve an awful lot of volunteer time and endless paperwork.
From memory, our lagest award was £135,000, which is rather a lot less than umpteen million, but it still takes a lot of effort!

The "regional bias" for grants mentioned in the GCR press release has been brought up by the local media regarding projects in this area as well, so it isn't confined to the East Midlands,

 

Sadly, remarks of the "we wuss robbed" kind are not confined to football supporters and, whilst understandable, are not necessarily correct.

PH

 

Sadly the simple truth is the HLF has much less money than it used to, due to less people playing the lottery.

However, I think the HLF have a case to answer if they are raising concerns about management costs, timescales and operational costs at this, late, stage. These sound like things that should have been highlighted and dealt with before a stage 1 pass, and before thousands were spent on working the proposals up in greater detail than ultimately proved necessary.

 

Should extend a bit as far as the National Space centre. Railway would have a proper destination then to something other than another railway biased feature. If they want to show off more railway stuff rebuild their genuine engine shed up at Ruddington on the GRN