Volume 8 Number 10 GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER March

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1 Volume 8 Number 10 GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER March From the General Manager Many thanks to everyone who visited GCR last weekend. Over both days, our diesel fleet enjoyed some extended running on a special timetable - this seemed to be well received by the enthusiasts. In addition, on the Sunday, Quorn hosted 2013's first Swapmeet event which was extremely well attended - probably the best for quite some while, no doubt helped by some fine weather for once. A big "well done" here to the Butler Henderson team led by Kathy Hayes which dealt most efficiently with visitors' catering needs, their day beginning at 7 am - all extra income to help GCR. Moving forwards to this weekend, we'll be greeting Peppa Pig and her brother George again. This has become a major fixture in GCR's calendar and the income generated is a very significant factor in keeping the black stuff in the loco tenders for the rest of the year. I appreciate that Peppa is quite a demanding day for many staff (paid and volunteer alike), so thanks in advance to everyone who makes a big effort on GCR's behalf - it is recognised! On Monday morning, we have a new loco, no 6015 King Richard III. That's a bit of an untruth, of course, but do please have a look at the separate item below in this newsletter or go the website and you'll see what I'm talking about. Richard Patching Page 1 / 7

2 Friends of Great Central Main Line - Witherslack Hall Firebox Stay Appeal Raffle By now, you should have all received, with the latest copy of the Main Line magazine, your raffle tickets in aid of the above appeal. We have had a fantastic initial response so far, but still have a long way to go to reach our target of the 12,750 needed to complete the purchase of all the required firebox stays. Please try and sell your tickets and return stubs and monies to me at the address shown on the books. Every ticket sold will help return the Great Central Railway's very own locomotive to steam. Thank you in anticipation Andy Fillingham - Draw Promoter King Richard III Special Passenger Train March 11 On Monday 11th March, King Edward II will be renamed as number 6015, King Richard III. To commemorate the recent discovery of King Richard s remains we will be operating a special passenger train from Loughborough to Leicester North and back on Monday, 11th March. This will leave Loughborough at 8.30am and estimated return time is 10.15am/10.30am. The train will pause at Leicester North for approximately 30 minutes during which time Sir Peter Soulsby, Mayor of Leicester City, will meet apprentices of Vital Skills Training based at Great Central Railway s Greenacres facility. This is in connection with National Apprenticeship Week It is hoped there will be a photo opportunity with the renamed King prior to its departure back to Loughborough. For this one off we are offering special return fares from Loughborough and back for 10 each, with members of Friends at 5 each (valid membership card required). Passengers will be riding on board the Pullman coaches. Seats are very limited and are being sold on a first come first served basis on the day - tickets can be purchased only on the train on the day. Please note, cards are not accepted. EASTER VINTAGE FESTIVAL Fri 29th March through to Mon 1st April Join us as we celebrate the good ol days of steam. Experience a country fayre at Quorn station with steam powered gallopers and big wheel, traction engines, live music & beer tent, craft stalls and visiting locomotives. It s good old fashioned family fun and for just 30 for a family of 5, it s good old fashioned value too! On Friday night Quorn gates open again at 6.30pm with a knees up in the real ale tent with live music from The Roosters, playing no-nonsense covers of classic songs from the golden age of pop music, the sixties, the seventies and the eighties. To purchase tickets ( 5pp or 10 for 40) please call into the marketing office (opposite the booking office) or call The vintage fairground rides will also operating into the evening and we will be serving hot food. Join us for a boogie, a pint and a ride on the gallopers! For more information visit Page 2 / 7

3 GCR Extranet The GCR has launched a new information tool for staff and volunteers called the Staff and Volunteer Extranet, and this is available to anyone with an internet connection at the following url: All staff and volunteers are invited to register for access by using the link above. For registration you will need certain information to hand from your FoGCML membership, as your identity is validated against this information during the registration process. Your type of FoGCML membership is checked at the same time, and registration is only permitted for those people with a valid working membership. If your FoGCML membership lapses or you change your membership to a non-working membership, access to the extranet will be revoked automatically. If you have a "life" FoGCML membership rather than a working membership, please extranet@gcrailway.co.uk before registration. If you encounter any issues during registration or when using the extranet, please contact: extranet@gcrailway.co.uk MEET PEPPA & GEORGE - 9th & 10th March Join Peppa and her little brother George for an exciting day out for all the family. This is the sixth time that Peppa and George have come to the railway and they loved it so much they re coming again. You can meet Peppa and have your photo taken with her and then meet George and have your photo taken with him too! There are lots of lovely things to see and do, funfair rides to play on, a miniature railway and to keep you nice and dry we have even put up a special marquee where you can magic and tricks with Mr Twister. Take a ride on the big steam train, choo choo, and for an extra special treat why not get your face painted just like Peppa s, OINK OINK BOOK YOUR TICKETS ON LINE NOW, VISIT: Branch Line Society/ GCR Track Visit - 17 March 2013 Our friends at the Branch Line Society will be chartering a special train on Sunday 17th March Departing at 08:00, and due to conclude by 12:00, they are delighted to offer what is believed to be the most comprehensive track bash of GCR infrastructure. It is intended that either a 2 or 3 car DMU formation is used. The proposed route is as follows: Depart Loughborough Central Platform 1 - Quorn and Woodhouse Up Reception North - Quorn and Woodhouse Up reception South, via North crossover - Quorn and Woodhouse turntable road - Quorn and Woodhouse cattle dock road - Swithland Up Loop - Swithland head shunt - Swithland Up Loop - Swithland Up Main, via double slip - Rothley Up Platform - Rothley C&W yard - Leicester North platform to EOL Leicester North Bay platform, via South end of loop - Loughborough Down Loop via Swithland Down Loop - Loughborough Shed Road 1 - Loughborough Platform 1 North Page 3 / 7

4 Loughborough Shed Road 2 - Up Through siding South - Carriage siding 1, via Down loop - Loughborough Platform 2 North via Shed Road 1. As usual a track map, stock list and souvenir ticket will be provided to aid enjoyment of the day. Note that passengers will be required to sign a short disclaimer as a condition of participation in this event. The event will operate at a fare of 22 per person for members of the Branch Line Society, 27 non-members. To book your place, please forward a cheque payable to Branch Line Society to Kev Adlam, 53 Kemble Close, Wistaston, Crewe. CW2 6XN, providing an address where possible. Any queries should be addressed to Kev Adlam preferably by to kev.adlam@branchline.org.uk or by telephone 20:00 to 21:00 Monday to Friday on The fixture is expected to fill quickly so do please book promptly if you are interested. An opportunity for a supporting fixture in the afternoon is being pursued, and if successful further details will be provided. Richard Patching FORTY YEARS OF MEMORIES 23 March Forty years have passed since the first Open Day at Loughborough Central. David Putt looks back at a random collection of pictures taken over these amazing years. The people, the locomotives, the rolling stock, the stations, the track and the signals have all played a role in creating the Great Central we know today. This presentation will take place at Lovatt House, Wharncliffe Road, Loughborough on Saturday 23rd. March 2013 at 7.30pm. Admission is free but a collection in aid of the Loughborough Canopy Fund will be taken. AWARD WINNING SWITHLAND SIDINGS COMPLEX OPEN TO VISITORS AT SPECIAL GREAT CENTRAL GALA Visiting Engines to star at three day event 26th to 28th April It s the three day steam dream railway enthusiasts have been waiting for. For the first time since the completion of the award winning signalling at Swithland Sidings, the Great Central Railway is opening the area to the public. With guest locomotives and a super intensive timetable, the unique spectacle of steam locomotives passing each other, running into loops and shunting in sidings will unfold. There won t be a dull moment! The gala will feature passenger and freight running on the award winning Leicestershire heritage line, and also the first few yards of the newly laid Mountsorrel branch line. Visitors will be able to stay all day in a special viewing at Swithland, closer to the action than has ever been allowed before. Such intense action was once common place on Britain s Railways but can now only be seen on the GCR. The list of locomotives expected in action is also impressive. After an extended stay, GWR King class No King Edward II will put on a farewell performance. As the railway Page 4 / 7

5 waves goodbye to one visitor, it welcomes three others for the first time. London and North Western Railway Webb Coal Tank No 1054 will feature on the GCR s freight trains (subject to contract). Meanwhile the sidings at Swithland will be shunted by two diminutive locomotives. Bagnall 0-4-0s Alfred and Judy were built with very low cabs and short wheelbases to cope with low bridges and tight curves on the Cornish branch lines they once worked. Completing the motive power line up are engines from the GCR home fleet including Ivatt 2 No 46521, Red liveried LMS 8F No 48624, LMS Jinty No and BR Standard 2 No In all, eight locomotives are expected in action. Kate Tilley, Great Central Railway marketing manager said, We ve started to see the potential of the new signalling at Swithland Sidings at our recent major galas. However, we know people want to be allowed on the ground there, to see the true theatre of the railways for themselves. It s going to be a very exciting event and with the King, some guests, and so much to see, it is certainly not one to be missed. Children will be delighted by Alfred and Judy and they will right at home shunting at Swithland. Hot food will be available at Swithland during the three day event. Passengers will be able to reach Swithland using a complimentary shuttle bus from Quorn and Woodhouse station. When changing trains at Quorn, look out for demonstration high speed mail drops and locomotives being turned on the new turntable. On additional unusual attraction is a narrow gauge locomotive. Tallyllyn Railway No. 3 Sir Hayden will be on display at Quorn and Woodhouse station. Usually found running trains in Wales, the locomotive is coming back to Leicestershire where it was built at Henry Hughes Locomotive and Tramway Engine Works Ltd in Loughborough (the site is now occupied by the Brush Works). The locomotive will be posed alongside two large diesels also built locally as part of a Made In Loughborough display. The railways family tea rooms and bistros will all be open during the event. Timetables and fares will be available at the Great Central Railway s website closer to the event. All locomotives and attractions appear subject to contract and availability. No.3 SIR HAYDEN GOES BACK TO ITS BIRTHPLACE Talyllyn Railway s Locomotive No.3 Sir Hayden is going on its travels in April, when it is due to be moved to Leicestershire to appear at the Great Central Railway s Swithland Steam Gala between 26th and 28th April Here it will be displayed in the yard at Quorn and Woodhouse station along with a Talyllyn publicity and sales stand staffed by volunteers from the railway. This is an appropriate venue for the locomotive to visit as it is very close to the original works where it was built in These were the works of Henry Hughes Hughes s Locomotive & Tramway Engine Works Ltd. in Loughborough, which later became the Page 5 / 7

6 Falcon Engine and Car Works. This in turn was taken over by the Brush Electrical Engineering Company in the early twentieth century. No.3 was the third of three identical s built by Hughes for the 2ft 3ins gauge Corris Railway, being rebuilt as an in It continued to serve the line until it closed in In 1951 it, along with Corris No.4, was purchased by the embryonic Talyllyn Railway Preservation Society for the Talyllyn where it has worked ever since, although it has returned to the Corris on two occasions in the last few years. It was named Sir Hayden on the Talyllyn after the long-time owner of the line before it was preserved, but often appears as its alter-ego Sir Handel from the Skarloey Railway. Currently No.3 is based at the Corris Railway where it has been displayed since its boiler certificate expired last year. The Corris Railway Society have agreed to release the locomotive early from a leasing agreement in order for this visit to take place. While the locomotive is away from Tywyn it is also planned to visit other venues, details of which will be released in due course. Richard Patching, Great Central Railway s General Manager said Although it will not be in steam it should prove to be a unique attraction during the gala, along with, hopefully, another standard gauge diesel Loughborough locomotive, plus the other attractions at the station including the working turntable. All Talyllyn members are also entitled to privilege ticket rates during the gala, upon production of a valid membership card. A spokesman for the Talyllyn commented Our thanks must go to all those who have made this visit possible and enabled No.3 to return to its birthplace. Particularly we would like to thank the Corris Railway Society for being so gracious in releasing the locomotive to us. We hope that it will prove to be a great attraction during the gala. Leicestershire area group March 8 Steam in the Snow Les Nixon Wintry scenes from pre-60 s to the present century in the U.K. and worldwide. All meeting are held at St. Bartholomews Church Hall, Church Lane, Quorn, near Loughborough, starting at Free admittance, although donations welcome to defray costs. Refreshments available during the interval. Any enquiries to John Calton on , Keith Satterly or Peter Hack Shed News So, recently passed apprentice James really has left us for the comparative luxury of East Midlands Trains, starting last Monday. He was seen waiting on Loughborough platform first thing heading for Derby, hope the EMT train wasn't late! We shall miss his chirpy good humour, and occasional culinary masterpieces. As a leaving present he cooked us a killer Page 6 / 7

7 cake containing everything you could imagine is bad for you if trying to cut down on your sugar intake. That leaves the depleted rest of us to battle it out against the elements. As predicted, the copper welder, who drives down from north of Aviemore for a day s work at Loughborough, completed the welding in of the new copper firebox rear laps on 73156, all I have to do now is convince the NDE man that all is well before trimming of excess metal and drilling for patch screws. Down at the front end the weather has been sufficiently encouraging to get up on top of the smokebox to cut the aperture for the superheater header patch. This is a sort of optional extra for Standard 5s, the later ones had it but the earlier ones did not. So although our loco counts as late, the boiler was swapped for one off an earlier engine, so we are cutting new ground. Luckily we have the drawings, so can do it properly. The machine and white metal shops must be suckers for punishment, as I saw yet another set of rods off a very important three cylinder engine coming in for sub contract overhaul last Friday. In addition we have just started the machining of the eight axle boxes off the Butterley based S&DR The owners of the Austerity 3890 from the Buckinghamshire Centre are probably wondering about the inner firebox material of their loco that I suggested was copper in last week s notes. Their new inner box is of course the steel one made by the South Devon railway, and Kermit has this week competed the drilling of all 600 plus holes in its shell prior to tapping out for new stays. The fact the inner box is steel facilitates things no end, as the mag based drill sticks to steel, but not copper. Next in line to it is the Avonside that now has the newly produced throat plate from Israel Newton loosely attached. As for locos for the weekend, nothing rostered as of Monday, but no doubt we will find something from our varied selection. David Mathews John Muddimer My family and I wish to say a big Thankyou to you all for the Guard of Honour you provided at John Muddimer s funeral. We know John would have appreciated it, we certainly did. Thanks once again for your turnout and we wish you all at the Great Central the very best. Yours sincerely Sid Muddimer (John Brother) & Family of John Muddimer. If you have any news or photos you d like included in the weekly newsletter, please forward to martin.ward@gcrailway.co.uk by 10.30am Wednesday. GCR Plc Page 7 / 7