November - Intercity Railway Society

Great Central Railway (North) Diesel Gala, 6-7 th Oct 2012 by Mark Richards:
The Great Central Railway Nottingham (GCRN) is an approximately 10 mile heritage railway that
operates over part of the former Great Central Railway from the Nottingham Transport Centre at
Ruddington to Loughborough. There is no station at Loughborough presently on the GCRN although
there is a connection to the mainline which is regularly used by gypsum traffic to and from East Leake.
The current end of normal passenger operation is situated adjacent to the still impressive Brush Works
and within view of the Nottingham to London St Pancras International mainline. There is a proposal to
open a station on the GCRN here which will provide an easy interchange with the mainline station.
overall view of the Ruddington site from the bridge
Access to Ruddington if not travelling by car is not easy. The village however, is served by a regular
bus service operated by Nottingham City Transport which picks up outside Nottingham (Midland)
station. The bus ride through the outer suburbs of Nottingham takes about 20 minutes and once at
Ruddington, it is a further 15 minute walk to the GCRN station, which is inconveniently situated on the
boundary of the Rushcliffe Country Park. The lack of signage makes finding the railway difficult unless
you have a map or as I did on my visit, a companion who has been there before and knows the way!
The bridge over the railway just to the east of the Ruddington site provides a good vantage point to
photograph stock in the yard and also trains arriving at and departing from the station.
The current Ruddington station is situated on the site of a former MOD Depot that was mainly
employed with processing decommissioned arsenal remaining after World War II. The line curves
sharply after about ½ mile to join the original formation of the Great Central Railway. The site of the
original Ruddington station is a little further to the north and will eventually be reached by an extension
of the Nottingham Tram Network.
Rushcliffe Halt is currently the only other station on the line and is immediately adjacent to the East
Leake gypsum terminal. The unloading pad here forms an excellent vantage point for photographing
trains in either direction as this is the only location where they can pass. Operation of the passing loop
appeared to be very restrictive with some form of token operation being used. There is a derelict
signal box, Hotchley Hill Sidings, on the Ruddington side of the double track section. The remains of
East Leake station (which is proposed for reopening) can be clearly seen about a mile to the south of
Rushcliffe Halt.
The facilities at Ruddington are fairly extensive comprising a shop, café, small museum, workshop,
loco shed, a modest collection of buses, model and miniature gauge railways.
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