Mountsorrel Railway

[v · d · e]Mountsorrel Railway
Legend Netherfield Mountsorrel Great Central Main Line northward Swithland Sidings Rothley Great Central Main Line southward

The Mountsorrel Railway was a network of industrial railway lines that served the granite quarries which dominate the Leicestershire village of Mountsorrel.

History

As early as 1860 there were eight and a half miles of track serving the local quarries of the Mountsorrel Granite Company, now owned by Lafarge Aggregates. The line ran from the Great Central Railway at Swithland Sidings, around the quarries, over the Grand Union Canal at Mountsorrel, to the Midland Main Line at Barrow-upon-Soar.^[1]

The line fell out of use in the 1950s, the track was taken up in the 1960s, and most of the route was abandoned.

Today

1950-built wagon No. B477060, restored as 654 for the Mountsorrel Railway project

The line between Mountsorrel and Barrow is still followed by a mineral conveyor to Barrow, where quarry rock is sorted for distribution.

A local resident has been researching the railway and, as well as writing a book about it, is leading a project to rebuild the part of the railway going from Swithland to Mountsorrel. Donations have already come in for the project, including from Lafarge.^[2] The project will reinstate one and-a-quarter miles of new track to a small halt station under Wood Lane bridge. This will allow the villagers of Mountsorrel to catch a train for nearby Rothley and then onto the rest of the preserved network. The line climbs at a grade of 1 in 62, which when put into contrast with the gradients on the Great Central Mainline, is far steeper, as they only reached only 1 in 175.

Despite numerous examples, none of the original Mountsorrel wagons had been preserved, so three wooden-bodied open wagons (two 5-plank bodies and one 3-plank) which closely resembled the old ones were selected to be returned to service in the official light grey livery of the old Mountsorrel Granite Company.^[3]

Many open days have been held on the trackbed since May 2009, involving ecology groups and trackbed tours among children and adults. When finished the plan is to provide the Great Central Railway with a secondary attraction, recreating various scenes from the past including a time when children would ride in the open wagons during days out.

At present the group have completed ballast laying over the first mile from the junction with the GCR to Wood Lane. On 10 May 2010 the track work began with the placement of a right-handed point at Swithland Sidings, the first part of the new junction.^[4] In June the group received a £5000 donation from the Great Central's support charity, bringing them closer to their goal to complete the track laying.^[5] An ex-British Railways AC Cars railbus which has been stored at the back of Loughborough since 2006 is also planned to be restored for use on the branch and the rest of the railway in general, with work due to start as soon as enough money has been raised.^[6] Work is due to continue as finances allow and the group are currently looking for more track, sleepers and fittings for the branch.

By May 2011 track had been laid over the first 300m of the branch line, which allowed the first trains to run on the railway since the track lifting trains in 1959. The group are currently in the process of fund raising for £16,000 to allow the next 450m of track to be laid.

One of the original Mountsorrel locomotives was also preserved, Peckett and Sons 0-4-0ST Works No. 1759 Elizabeth of 1928. It is currently undergoing restoration at the nearby Rutland Railway Museum. It is a long-term ambition of the project team to return this locomotive to the railway in the future.

References

1. ^ http://www.birstall.free-online.co.uk/Mountsorrel/mp19.html Memories of Mountsorrel Railway, Mountsorrel Post, June 2007
2. ^ http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/rvp_ltd%40btinternet.com/news.htm&date=2009-10-26+01:57:15 RVP News and Discussion, 12 August 2008
3. ^ http://mountsorrelrailway.blogspot.com/2010/03/final-mountsorrel-wagon-completed-all.html
4. ^ http://mountsorrelrailway.blogspot.com/2010/05/mountsorrel-railway-track-laying-has.html
5. ^ http://mountsorrelrailway.blogspot.com/2010/06/david-clarke-railway-trust-donates-5000.html
6. ^ "Project volunteers start railbus restoration". 8 June 2010. http://mountsorrelrailway.blogspot.com/2010/06/project-volunteers-start-railbus.html. Retrieved 19 June 2010. 

External links

• Official updates about the restoration project