Bridging the Gap - History

GCR Heraldic Device The Coat of Arms of the GCR. we think that the motto 'Forward' is particularly appropriate to this project. Reproduced with permission of the Main Line Steam Trust who have the Copyright.

The route across the "Gap" was the last mainline to be constructed into London, just before the end of the 19th Century. It was to be the "London Extension" of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSLR), a railway that had originally developed its network of lines in the north Midlands after incorporation on 24th July 1846. The London Extension was intended to provide both a freight route from the north to the capital as well as an express passenger service. The line opened to traffic on 15th March 1899 and ran from Annesley southwards to Marylebone station in London. By the time the London Extension was opened, the MSLR had renamed itself the Great Central Railway (GCR), the name by which the London Extension became more commonly known.

After the First World War, the GCR was absorbed into the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) in the 1923 Grouping (a government instigated policy to create a "Big Four" set of companies from the many smaller, and often financially unviable, railway companies that existed before then). The LNER ran the line until 1948 when the railways were nationalised into British Railways (BR). The GCR mainline initially came under the control of the Eastern Region of BR (the natural successor to the LNER). However BR regional boundaries shifted and the GCR changed hands to the London Midland Region (LMR) in 1957.

During the 1950's and early 1960's the railways as a whole came under stiff competition from road transport. Larger lorries were available, people took to the cheap, mass produced cars and the expansion of the road and motorway network all added to a decline in revenues across the network. At the same time, costs were soaring, partly due to increased labour costs and partly due to expensive and often ill-fated projects from the early days of nationalisation. It was in response to this that the Beeching Report recommended the wholesale closure of many branch lines, stations and depots. The GCR mainline was viewed by the LMR as duplicate route and so was proposed for closure in preference to the Midland Main Line (MML).

On 3rd September 1966 express passenger trains and non-local freights were routed away from the GCR and the grand Nottingham Victoria Station was closed, severing the line through Nottingham. All that remained was a local passenger service utilising diesel railcars running between Rugby and Nottingham Arkwright Street. Even this was doomed and passenger services over the GCR finally came to an end on 5th May 1969.

Part of the line from Loughborough south towards Leicester was taken by a group of railway enthusiasts, keen to run steam hauled services for the benefit of future generations. Despite shaky beginnings, this has grown in the Great Central Railway plc that now operates a year round double-track heritage line between Loughborough Central and it's southern terminus at Leicester North.

North of Loughborough the GCR metals still saw freight use after the end of passenger services. Gypsum trains and freight traffic to the Ministry Of Defence (MOD) depot at Ruddington remained. These trains initially accessed the GCR line by reversing in the old tunnels under Nottingham that had lead into Victoria Station, using the "Weekday Cross" junction with the Great Northern lines. This finished during the 1970s after a new chord linking the GCR to the Midland Main Line (MML) south of Loughborough Midland station was constructed. The chord was built using the material from the embankment between the MML and Grand Union canal and BR also took the opportunity to then remove the GCR bridge over the MML in 1980.

In the 1980s the MOD depot at Ruddington was closed and the large area of land around it was converted into a country park. A group of transport enthusiasts managed to secure the depot site itself to form a transport museum and the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre (NTHC) was born, with the company named as Great Central Railway (Nottingham) Ltd.. They were able to run trains from the Centre to a "railbreak" just north of Hotchley Hill sidings. However gypsum trains to the large Gypsum Works at Hotchley Hill also came to an end and the GCR line between there and Loughborough South Junction was mothballed by BR.

When BR's lines were privatised to Railtrack, the GCRN approached Railtrack, British Gypsum and the new EWS freight company with a view to purchasing the line to Loughborough South Junction. After a long period of negotiation and legal hurdles this was achieved and now gypsum once again travels by rail up the GCR from the junction with the MML, saving many lorry journeys through the villages surrounding the Gypsum Works. At weekends the line is used for heritage passenger services.

The GCR southern and northern groups are in close touch with one another and many volunteers are to be found working on both railways. The stated aim of both groups is to eventually join into a single railway and be able to provide passengers services using heritage trains between the south of Nottingham and the north of Leicester. To achieve this aim they must "Bridge The Gap" over the MML and reinstate the bridges and embankment removed by BR. This will result in one of the longest preserved stretches of railway in the UK and is likely to be one of the premier railway tourist attractions in the country.