Schools and community groups get involved

We're pleased to report that several local schools and community groups, including the Guides and Scouts, are now involved with our schools project!

They'll be working with us during the summer term to undertake a large scale planting of wild flowers along the sides of the trackbed. This should encourage the ecology of the trackbed after the lack of light, resulting from the tree canopy, which had stifled plant growth for many years. Our local young people will also have the opportunity to study the history of the railway first hand with metal detecting and archaeological investigations.



We would like to express our thanks to Brooklea Nurseries Ltd of Rothley, and Loughborough Road Nurseries and Garden Centre of Quorn, for their kind donation of seed trays for use with the schools project. It's great to see more local businesses supporting the project. If your firm would like to support the Mountsorrel Railway, please contact George Overton.

If you're involved with a local community group, or a school that is not yet taking part, please email Steve Cramp for more details. The project doesn't make any charge for undertaking these visits; we merely seek to open up the ecological and historical educational possibilities of the project to as many people as possible.

Wood Lane bridge restoration gets underway

If you have passed over the Wood Lane bridge during the last few weeks, it would have been very difficult not to notice the collapsing end section of the bridge wall. The wall was at imminent risk of falling into the railway cutting below, so action needed to be taken quickly to protect the structure of the bridge.



As a charity community project relying entirely on donations, paying for contractors to repair the bridge was beyond our financial capabilities. Nevertheless the Mountsorrel Railway project couldn't simply stand back and let the bridge collapse, so our volunteers decided to rise to the challenge and rescue the bridge ourselves!

We still needed tools and materials to undertake the work so, with the bridge only days away from collapse, we set about contacting local companies appealing for help. We're very pleased to say that the owners of Mountsorrel Granite Quarry, Lafarge Aggregates, responded quickly and offered to provide hand tools and materials to undertake the restoration! We're deeply grateful to Lafarge for offering to assist with this kind donation and at such very short notice! It's great to know that local businesses support our efforts to preserve Mountsorrel's heritage.

With tools in hand, work was able to start last Saturday. With only hammers and chisels our team of volunteers began carefully separating each of the granite stones. All of the important stones were labelled to ensure they could be replaced in their original positions when the bridge is rebuilt over the coming weeks.



The removed stones have all been removed from site to prevent the possibility of theft. This was an undertaking in itself as there are over 350 stones weighing around four tonnes in total!

With volunteers working on Saturdays, we estimate it will take seven weeks to restore the wall to its former glory. Further website updates will detail the work over the coming weeks. If you are passing whilst the team is at work, please say hello: we'd be happy to answer any questions you have about the project.

Stay in touch with the Mountsorrel Railway project

We'd really like to keep you regularly updated about progress with the Mountsorrel Railway project. Here's three easy free ways to stay in touch!

1. Join our new mailing list, where you'll receive the latest news from this website directly to your e-mail inbox. To sign up simply e-mail mountsorrelrailway-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mountsorrelrailway, or enter your e-mail address in the box at the bottom of the page.
2. Join our Facebook group.
3. Use a blog reader like Bloglines or Google Reader.

We hope you'll want to stay in touch with us so you can hear the latest news about the project. Thanks.

Main Line magazine article available for download

The Mountsorrel Railway was recently featured in the Spring 2009 edition of Main Line magazine. The editor of the magazine has kindly created a downloadable version of the article and has given us copyright permission to put it up on our website. Please take a look to see all the latest news about the project.

Main Line is the quarterly magazine sent to the Friends of the Great Central Main Line supporters group (FOGCML), which you can find out more about here. Please join FOGCML if you want to play a part in preserving and operating the remarkable Great Central Railway. By joining, you’re entitled to benefits like the award winning Main Line magazine, exclusive offers and ticket discounts.

Many thanks to Dennis Wilcock for allowing us to use the article.