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The Great Central Railway
This compelling book centers on the Great Central Railways early history, focusing particularly on its drive to reach London. It follows the subsequent fortunes of the London Extension right up until its closure, and into the preservation era, examining the remarkable achievements of hundreds of enthusiasts and their continuing struggle to fulfill the aspirations of those 1969 visionaries.
In 1899 the Great Central Railway opened a new main line between Nottinghamshire and London. It was built to the highest of standards; civil and mechanical engineers able to benefit from the experience of over fifty years of British railway construction. It was a glorious achievement. Yet, despite incorporating some of the best facilities to enable it to operate in a more efficient way than its older rivals, it had a short working life compared to its contemporaries. By the end of the 1960s, most of it had closed. However, ironically, that abandonment by the state-owned British Railways presented an independent and enterprising group of railway enthusiasts with a unique opportunity to operate their own main line with their own engines. In 1969 the Main Line Preservation Group was formed with a vision to re-create a fully functioning, double track, steam-worked main line between Nottingham and Leicester.
This book explores the journey, development and changes of the Great Central Railway and is a fantastic guide to how the railway industry has changed over time.
In 1899 the Great Central Railway opened a new main line between Nottinghamshire and London. It was built to the highest of standards; civil and mechanical engineers able to benefit from the experience of over fifty years of British railway construction. It was a glorious achievement. Yet, despite incorporating some of the best facilities to enable it to operate in a more efficient way than its older rivals, it had a short working life compared to its contemporaries. By the end of the 1960s, most of it had closed. However, ironically, that abandonment by the state-owned British Railways presented an independent and enterprising group of railway enthusiasts with a unique opportunity to operate their own main line with their own engines. In 1969 the Main Line Preservation Group was formed with a vision to re-create a fully functioning, double track, steam-worked main line between Nottingham and Leicester.
This book explores the journey, development and changes of the Great Central Railway and is a fantastic guide to how the railway industry has changed over time.
128 pages, Hardcover
Published August 8, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 24, 2018
As a rail enthusiast and professional, I take a lot of interest in railway history, and the Great Central Railway has been on my radar recently. The GCR's London Extension, opening in 1899, was a very late addition to the railway network, and was one of the most controversial closures of the Beeching era. Debate has raged ever since about whether it should have closed, especially as plans for HS2 developed. However, we are where we are, and I was keen to read up on the GCR's history.
The book's primary focus is actually the modern-day preserved sections of the Great Central, and that takes up much of the space, with a selection of good photos. However, there's a concise but fairly detailed section describing how the London Extension came about, the sort of traffic it carried, and how it declined and died in the early years of BR, and that was the part that interested me most.
Ultimately, the GCR was driven to build the London Extension because of the complex rivalries of the Victorian rail industry, but by the time it was complete, it was probably no longer necessary. In its early years it struggled to attract custom, and largely served small towns or cities that already had well-established rival routes to London. However, the route did successfully carry a lot of cross-country traffic, and this continued well into the sixties.
It's clear that following the Grouping of 1923 and nationalisation in 1948, the importance of the line declined very rapidly as the competitive environment that spawned it disappeared completely. This decline was hastened by transfer from Eastern to London Midland Region control in 1958 - the LMR already had the Midland Main Line for London - Nottingham/Sheffield traffic, and all their resources were being poured into electrifying the WCML for London - Manchester trains. The GCR just didn't fit into those plans. The book explains all of these issues clearly and without bias or hyperbole. The GCR has achieved legendary status amongst enthusiasts who treat its closure as a crime against humanity, and I'm glad this book doesn't fall into that trap. Given BR's enormous financial challenges in the fifties and sixties, I don't really see what else they could have done with a line that had completely lost its purpose.
In discussing the line's high standards of engineering, I'm glad the "continental loading gauge" myth wasn't repeated. I'm not sure how this has ended up being accepted as fact, but the GCR was not capable of taking continental sized trains, and at best was simply built to a fairly generous loading gauge by UK standards. Holding up its supposed loading gauge as a reason to have kept it open is a rather daft argument, given that all the lines connecting to it are to standard UK specifications anyway, so it wouldn't have been much use even if it did survive into the era of cross-Channel rail traffic.
The section describing the preserved GCR's birth and expansion is certainly interesting, especially the restoration of fully-signalled double track, which makes it unique in UK preservation and represented a major challenge - unfortunately BR lifted most of the track before the preservationists could establish themselves. There's also some description of the "Bridging The Gap" project, which will see the two sections of the preserved GCR joined together and forming a continuous railway from Leicester to Nottingham.
I'm staying in the area in August so I hope to take a trip on the Loughborough - Leicester section - this book was very good background reading, and has made me keen to read more about the history of this significant line. Thankfully the detailed bibliography will point me in the right direction. A good read.
The book's primary focus is actually the modern-day preserved sections of the Great Central, and that takes up much of the space, with a selection of good photos. However, there's a concise but fairly detailed section describing how the London Extension came about, the sort of traffic it carried, and how it declined and died in the early years of BR, and that was the part that interested me most.
Ultimately, the GCR was driven to build the London Extension because of the complex rivalries of the Victorian rail industry, but by the time it was complete, it was probably no longer necessary. In its early years it struggled to attract custom, and largely served small towns or cities that already had well-established rival routes to London. However, the route did successfully carry a lot of cross-country traffic, and this continued well into the sixties.
It's clear that following the Grouping of 1923 and nationalisation in 1948, the importance of the line declined very rapidly as the competitive environment that spawned it disappeared completely. This decline was hastened by transfer from Eastern to London Midland Region control in 1958 - the LMR already had the Midland Main Line for London - Nottingham/Sheffield traffic, and all their resources were being poured into electrifying the WCML for London - Manchester trains. The GCR just didn't fit into those plans. The book explains all of these issues clearly and without bias or hyperbole. The GCR has achieved legendary status amongst enthusiasts who treat its closure as a crime against humanity, and I'm glad this book doesn't fall into that trap. Given BR's enormous financial challenges in the fifties and sixties, I don't really see what else they could have done with a line that had completely lost its purpose.
In discussing the line's high standards of engineering, I'm glad the "continental loading gauge" myth wasn't repeated. I'm not sure how this has ended up being accepted as fact, but the GCR was not capable of taking continental sized trains, and at best was simply built to a fairly generous loading gauge by UK standards. Holding up its supposed loading gauge as a reason to have kept it open is a rather daft argument, given that all the lines connecting to it are to standard UK specifications anyway, so it wouldn't have been much use even if it did survive into the era of cross-Channel rail traffic.
The section describing the preserved GCR's birth and expansion is certainly interesting, especially the restoration of fully-signalled double track, which makes it unique in UK preservation and represented a major challenge - unfortunately BR lifted most of the track before the preservationists could establish themselves. There's also some description of the "Bridging The Gap" project, which will see the two sections of the preserved GCR joined together and forming a continuous railway from Leicester to Nottingham.
I'm staying in the area in August so I hope to take a trip on the Loughborough - Leicester section - this book was very good background reading, and has made me keen to read more about the history of this significant line. Thankfully the detailed bibliography will point me in the right direction. A good read.
December 26, 2022
Interesting quick read about the Great central railway. Good for any introduction to the line with a brief history on its operation and the subsequent heritage line. I feel an update on this will be required as the book only runs up to 2015 and more is changing with the reunification project getting slowly but surely closer to a complete reality.
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