Bridge that Gap: Great Central Railway News

Apologies if this is referenced elsewhere.

http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify/

 

Well... only a few posts earlier in the same thread!

It always pays to briefly skim the previous couple of pages of a thread before attaching fingers to keyboard

 

But to be fair the picture is new... Work has started and let's hope that this frequency of updating is maintained. I am sure those people who contributed would like to see what is happening with their money. I do! I think it can also be used for further fundraising.

 

Doh, how did I miss that?!! I did check before posting. However, huge, bold and distinctive font of earlier post must have thrown me!! Apologies

 

I agree in some ways it will be surely easier to continue to operate much as they do now, but perhaps with GCRN services having a small extension into Loughborough Central for a cross platform interchange? The full train set could then be realised into one, say for half a dozen events/galas per year, which would effectively be joint ventures.

I'm sure this aspect of things has been discussed to death in meetings of the Greater Great Central team, which I believe is formed of directors from both sides of the gap. I look forward to seeing how it all pans out in reality, as its certainly a preservation first.

Sent from my HTC Desire 620 using Tapatalk

 

They have added another picture to the site since yesterday, so hopefully that means they are going to get their act together on the publicity aspect of this project.

 

Piling work for the bridge abutments starts next week - mentioned as part of a further update to the website.

 

Now that work has started on site, they're not hanging about with it are they?

 

Time for the naysayers to start munching on their hats, methinks.......................
Andy

 

The targeted amount of the mountsorrel railway appeal was obviously reduced to 5000 pounds.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/mountsorreltrains

 

They reduced the figure from £10K to £5K as they have raised rather more money from other places than they were expecting - a good situation to be in.
Their last newsletter stated they had raised over £68K from the "other sources" as at the end of March !

 

Just been looking at the plans for the museum that's being built at Leicester.

Personally, I think that its brilliant and that it will grow the railway tremendously. With all the attention going on with the work on the bridge up at Loughbrough, someone needs to give the plans at Leicester a slight tweek. Personally, I would move the museum over slightly and put a second platform opposite the first at Leicester North. Then have the museum over to the immediate side. It would make operations considerably easier, and I don't believe the line and museum can be serious with wanting to run into a second platform much further away across the site.

I would think it obvious, that Leicester to Rothley will be doubled up with the museum at Leicester otherwise the main destination on the railway will become a significant bottleneck. It would mean only one train in the section to Leicester and without a second platform available to pass at Leicester the whole situation becomes a complete nightmare.

 

Is there scope to double the line, what size is the arch in the bridge under the Leicester Northern Bypass?

 

Constructed to allow for double track as far as I am aware, and certainly looks that way from the number of times I have passed under it since it was built!
The Leicester Museum project has put the doubling of the Rothley to Birstall section fairly high on the agenda from what has been published in the last year or so in various media sources.
Leicester North to Mountsorrel trains can be (once the resignalling works are achieved) added into the previous Leicester-Loughborough(-Ruddington) equation now.

 

More pictures have been posted on the Unify page showing the progress, also earlier entries seem to have had photos added which makes it more difficult to understand which are the latest updates.

 

Loadsa Room! Does this answer your question?

 

That would only happen if there was capacity to run to Leicester and to be honest, even with the bridge going in, the developments at Leicester will bring greater returns in the short to medium term than moving more resources into the full run to Nottingham.

Hence my alarm at noting that the plans for the museum encroach onto where I would be building the second platform at Leicester. The head of the bay at Leicester is already in place meaning that the platform just needs to be extended, and a run round loop can be put in between the two platforms allowing joint access for each platform to run round. This would be a lot easier to both build, operate and maintain than splitting the second platform that will be needed to the far side of the museum, if a second is to be built at all. From the railways perspective I would think that this would be essential in years to come allowing boarding of trains using both platforms, especially given numbers to Leicester will significantly increase.

 

Not quite sure what they are thinking of from the latest plans that they have posted on the GCR website, as the two plans that were shown in the last edition of Main Line placed the second (and third..) platforms adjacent to the existing one, the only differences being the provision of a footbridge, subway or both.
Hopefully someone will apply some railway operational logic before the final layout is decided upon!

 

I do hope that the station's operating needs don't become subservient to the museum. One of the early claims in the museum 'hype' was that visitors to the museum would be able to observe the locomotives down to ground level through a glass screen - I'm not sure how this is consistent with a second platform where it should be!
The museum should sit alongside a sensible two-platform station layout IMHO, with any viewing area on the approach to the platforms.
Andy