Bridge that Gap: Great Central Railway News

Drifting off topic slightly (unusual on here I know ;-) ), how did the GC previously get 'mainline' loco's in and out - obviously using road transport to a degree!!!

Cheers
Will

 

How big are these steps?

 

'50 Steps' is a colloquial name for Bridge No. 290, a footbridge which carries a footpath over the line where the branch to the Heritage Centre (former MOD depot) joins the GC main line south of the former Ruddington station. I'm not entirely sure when it was built but the Fowler plans from the 1890s show a smaller bridge spanning two tracks so I presume it was replaced with the present structure (wide enough for about 5 lines) when the MOD branch was built.

 

My apologies.

I read it as being the length available, not being familiar with the colloquial names for locations.

GCR (N) is one the locations I've not managed to visit yet.

I used to be too tied up with volunteering at BRC, now I struggle to fit my KESR duties in with my work and my boating.

Michael

 

Some photos taken whilst waiting for an AGM to start about 18 months ago.....

50 Steps Bridge...



"View from a Bridge" (Without Kim Wilde...)

Looking North towards the former Ruddington Station site (beyond the foliage)



Looking South...

Ruddington spur to left, GCR Mainline south straight ahead..

 

I spy a Peppercorn A1 Masquerading...!

 

Exactly that. Lorry in, lorry out

 

How far from there is the GCR(N) station? is there room there to actually put a chord line in,? If there is, could it form a triangle with the existing lines, which would then give the railway a turning facility also,

 

Looking at Google Earth, it's about 250 yards north of the end of the track to where the GC Ruddington station used to be. As the existing curve from the GCR (N) Ruddington site is east to north, any curve to make a triangle has to be east to south.
You could no doubt extend the loop a bit further north to give a decent length run round loop, but I do not know where the land ownership boundary is. There is a fair bit of former rail land by 50 steps bridge, so there is space for a fully signalled loop, sidings etc, given loads of money being thrown at it. They have packed housing in by the old station site and once you are north of that, you hit an SSI (Site of Scientific Interest) in a cutting before reaching the NET line on the former GCR trackbed.

This is the NET Clifton line coming in to join the former GCR trackbed from the first bridge south of the diverging point..



And this is the southward view onto the GCR trackbed from that bridge...

 

As there is quite a lot of railway land at 50 steps bridge, , once regular services are running Ruddington to Leicester North, Might it be worth the GCR, building a new Ruddington Station on that site, a terminus station, with a walking route to the heritage centre, leaving the tracks as a siding to access the heritage centre ? As regards a chord, if there is enough land, could the chord run into the old up line and the join the main running line by the bridge, that would keep movements clear of the main line, of course if the heritage platform is intended to remain, then services to Loughborough, if a chord is built, could depart via the chord line, And servives from Ruddington,if the platform has a passing loop, could use the exsisting loop, run round, arrive at the heritage centre, run round, then depart via the chord line, possibly when the next service is running round in the loop outside the centre.

 

The current desire of the railway is to install a South Chord so that reversal via 50 steps is no longer necessary, but trains can run straight from the Heritage Centre onto the mainline. This would probably involve some reworking of the track, both by Asher Lane crossing and by Bridge 300 (the next bridge South of 50 steps), in order to fit it in, but I believe it has been looked at and deemed possible. Plans are also afoot to develop the existing Ruddington Fields Site, including construction of a station building in GC style. A terminus station at 50 steps would be a non starter, it would be very expensive, especially considering there is space to develop the existing station site, which draws in many passengers from the adjacent country park (whose patronage would likely be lost if they had to walk the quarter mile or so to 50 steps to board the trains which were not running past them), and it's close to a lot of rather nice housing, the residents of which probably would object to a brand new station being built in their back yard, especially as there already exists a station just a quarter of a mile away. I believe it is likely that by the time the gap is bridged, 50 steps will serve solely as a turning triangle, and a distant vantage point for watching trains traverse the South Chord on their way into or out of Ruddington Fields.

 

A couple of points the loop is unlikely to be able to be extended in the down direction (north) as the T&WO is only for 152 M north of the northern parapet of the 50 steps bridge (https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/2143/schedule/1/made) which scaling of google sat is the far end of the stop blocks for the head shunt so a new one will be needed to make it longer. Also trying to get the line extended in the down direction will come across another problem as the south side of the Clifton Road bridge has been filled in and a new duel purpose path has been built across the down end of the old platform blocking the old trackbed. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...x75eb0e344edee9fb!8m2!3d51.015344!4d-3.106849 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.8...265.04333&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192

 

Perhaps the Mods could move these last posts to the dedicated GCR(N) thread?

 

Why? I think the lines between what could be considered specific to one half of the GC or the other, and what could be considered part of the GGCR conversation are rather blurred. I don't think the most recent posts are inappropriate or irrelevant for the GGCR thread, and I don't see any harm in there being a bit of overlap or a small amount of thread drift.

 

Agreed. It helps to reduce the division and increase understanding between the two branches by presenting information from both.

 

eventually both halves of the railway will become one anyway, because once services run beyond their present boundaries, it will in effect become one line, and will be viewed as one line , I see part of the disused formation is in use as part of the Nottingham Tram network, was there ever a desire to see that extended to Ruddington fields to serve the country park also?

 

Go back to page 44 of this thread and you will find discussion on tram links/extensions.
The current edition of Tramways & Urban Transit mentions the Clifton Pastures extension and it is suggested it continues beyond there to East Midlands Airport! There are 3000 houses going in on the Clifton Pastures site, but that is well to the west of the GCR(N) and Country Park area.

 

There's a very good 16-page booklet for the Reunification that has come with the latest copy of Mainline (landed on my doormat this morning and always gives a most enjoyable afternoon's reading). The centre spread is of especial interest (for me at least) but looking at the dimensioned drawing... Granted the level of the car park is approximate and to be confirmed at 40.000m, but then the "666 approximate minimum headroom" between carpark level and underside of the spans... that's surely a misprint?!?

 

Looks like it, should read 3395 using figures from the detailed section, more than adequate for car parking even if the car park is higher.

 

I too was puzzled by that number but thought that it might refer to the clearance for the highest type of car (SUV or camper?).
What I think is very positive is that the type of fabrication could result in a rapid build....... once the finance is in place. There is also the detailed article in the new "Main Line" about the new bridge North of Quorn - which was a very speedy construction!