Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway (GCR) was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension (see Great Central Main Line). On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway. Today, small sections of the main line in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire are preserved; see Great Central Railway (preserved). Several other sections of GCR lines are still in public operation, including the southern end of the line from Marylebone Station in London into the Chiltern region.

The main line route south of Nottinghamshire was closed down on the recommendation of Richard Beeching in the 1960s. In the 21st century there are a growing number of voices (notably the Economic Research Council) calling for restoration and electrification of the GCR route to modern standards. It would then create a cost-efficient and geographically advantageous dedicated high-speed passenger railway between London and the major northern cities of Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds - in preference to the HS2 greenfield project.

Great Central Railway (heritage railway)

The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, named after the company that originally built this stretch of railway.

The GCR is currently Britain's only double track mainline heritage railway, with 5.25 miles (8.45 km) of working double track, period signalling, locomotives and rolling stock. It runs for 8.25 miles (13.28 km) in total from the large market town of Loughborough to a new terminus just north of Leicester.

Four stations are in operation, each restored to a period in the railway's commercial history, the 1950s Loughborough Central, Second World War and the remainder of the 1940s Quorn & Woodhouse, the Edwardian Era Rothley and the 1960s Leicester North.

Background history

In 1897 the Great Central Railway itself was formed, becoming the last steam mainline in the United Kingdom. Two years later in 1899 "The London Extension" was officially opened to passenger and freight traffic, allowing more direct journeys from the capital to Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester. The entire line was built to accommodate a European standard loading gauge and all but a few stations were single island platforms. This construction scheme was devised by chairman Sir Edward Watkin, who had envisioned his railway one day running under a Channel Tunnel to France, linking Britain with the continent.

Great Central Railway (Nottingham)

The Great Central Railway (Nottingham) (formerly known as Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre) is a heritage railway and Transport Museum on the south side of the village of Ruddington in Nottinghamshire. The route consists of approximately 8.5 miles of the former Great Central Railway Main Line between Loughborough South Junction (with the Midland Main Line), to Fifty Steps Bridge and the site of Ruddington's former GCR station site, plus a branch line from Fifty Steps Bridge to the Ruddington Fields site which is located on a former Ministry of Defence site next to Rushcliffe Country Park.

There are currently stations at Ruddington Fields (within the main centre site) and at Rushcliffe Halt, but the GCR(N) aims to re-open the former station at East Leake in the future, and there are plans to build a high-level (interchange) station at Loughborough (as there is currently no platform there).

The railway is currently not connected to Great Central Railway (at Loughborough Central in Leicestershire), although there are plans well underway and work started to reunite the two preserved lines. This is a major engineering project that is expected to be completed during 2018 - 2020. Some 5.5 miles of the line is used by gypsum trains serving the British Gypsum works at East Leake.

Central Railway

Central Railway can refer to the following:

See also

Central Railway (UK)

Central Railway was a British company which proposed to build a new intermodal freight railway line, with a generous loading gauge, connecting the Channel Tunnel with the north of England, particularly Liverpool docks, using much of the trackbed of the former north-south Great Central Railway. The company argued that such a line could significantly cut road congestion by carrying lorries on flatbed rail trucks.

The company was formed in the late 1980s, and its proposals were controversial and faced opposition. The plans were rejected by the government in 1996 and again in 2003, largely because of doubts over financing its £8 billion cost, even though it is a private-sector project.

Although the Central Railway scheme did not go ahead, a similar scheme is (October 2013) under discussion as an alternative to the HS2 project.

Route

The line would run from the Liverpool Docks to Sheffield using the disused Woodhead Tunnel and then turn south via the Erewash Valley, joining the former Great Central Main Line (much of whose trackbed is still intact) south of Leicester. At a rebuilt Ashendon Junction it would join the Chiltern Main Line, running alongside it on new tracks, then paralleling the M25 motorway, entering a new tunnel between Leatherhead and Merstham and then running alongside existing railways via Tonbridge to the Channel Tunnel terminal at Folkestone. An alternative route would see the line joining High Speed 1 to the tunnel, if the latter railway were to allow non-passenger trains.

Route 21 (MTA Maryland)

Route 21 is a bus route operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore. The line currently runs from the Mondawmin Metro Subway Station to Fells Point, serving the corridors of Gilmor Street, Preston/Biddle Streets, and Caroline Street, and the communities of Sandtown-Winchester, Mt. Royal, and Butcher's Hill. The bus route is the successor to the 21 Preston Street–Caroline Street and Dolphin Street streetcar lines.

History

Route 21 was electrified in 1895 as a streetcar line along Preston and Caroline Streets. In 1938, the line was converted to a rubber tire bus service.

In 1957, the line was extended along Carey Street to the current loop at Cumberland and Carey Streets. The line did not have any routing changes until February 8, 2009, when it was extended north to the Mondawmin Metro Subway Station along Pennsylvania Avenue.

References

Great Central

Great Central or Great Central Railway may refer to:

Railways

Other

See also