Steam Trains to Run on the Mountsorrel Railway this Weekend!

On Saturday/ Sunday 27^th & 28^th April the Great Central Railway are running their Swithland Sidings gala. The event will show the full potential of the new signalling scheme at Swithland Sidings for the first time. They’ll be a special viewing area to allow GCR visitors to see all the action close up. See the GCR website for full details.

The event will also see steam trains running on the Mountsorrel Railway with the three Mountsorrel Granite Company wagons that were restored by local children three years ago. Demonstration freight trains will run from Swithland Sidings onto the branch line and continue as far as the farm track accommodation crossing, some 450m along the line. Several runs along the branch line will be made on both days of the event.     

Please note that on this occasion the branch line trains will be demonstration only and no passengers will be carried.

The Mountsorrel Railway Project display stand will be setup in the Swithland Sidings viewing area, so please come along to see us. Our volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about the project and we are also running our “Sponsor a check chair for £15” fund raising drive to raise the money required to buy the last 100 check chairs we need for the tight curves either side of Swithland Lane.

FREE Badger Watch Event This Weekend!

The Badger Watch evening is being run in conjunction with Charnwood Borough Council. Their Environment Officer will be leading the event as part of both CBC’s and the Mountsorrel Railway’s aim to increase public awareness and understanding of the wildlife around us.

The event is looking to be our most popular yet with 50 people having booked their places already! Space is limited and we need to have a good idea of numbers for H&S reasons, so if you would like to book your place please email Caroline wildlifewarriors@hotmail.co.uk

Recognition for Mountsorrel Railway "Young Volunteer of the Year"

A 14 year-old volunteer who helps with the Mountsorrel Railway project has been recognised as the Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire’s ‘Young Volunteer of the Year’. He received his award from Lady Gretton at a ‘Young Person of the Year 2013’ ceremony at County Hall on the 11^th April.

Daniel Bowler from Mountsorrel has volunteered with the project almost every week continuously over the last three years and is always there at the start of the session and stays till the very end and this is after getting up at 6.30 to do his paper round! He gets stuck in with whatever tasks are thrown at him and often goes home with his clothes, face and hands looking more like he has been down a coal mine than at a railway, a clear sign of a hard day’s graft!

Daniel now helps to develop sub-projects behind the scenes, as well as helping on the recognised volunteer sessions. Alongside the heavy, physical work involved with reinstating the railway, Daniel plays an important part in the Project’s “Wildlife Warriors” ecology initiative. Daniel designed the group’s logo and helps his mother Caroline run the Warrior sessions. Children can attend with an adult, with a different focus at each session, and Daniel helps to devise the tasks for each event. He spent his 2012 Easter holidays building over 30 wooden ‘insect-hotels’ to be used by the children at a Warriors’ event. His resourcefulness allowed him to obtain the material needed for these as a donation from a local timber yard's scrap bucket, thus saving the project money. He thrives on helping and bringing enjoyment to other people and his devotion to the group has so far allowed over 150 children to experience and learn about the wildlife around Mountsorrel.

In addition, Daniel has helped as a young leader at 1st Mountsorrel Cubs every Wednesday night and goes on camp with them, helping to cook and serve the meals and helping with activities. Not content with that, he also designed their web site and now looks after it, keeping it up to date. Furthermore, he is now a member of Thurmaston Scout Band and gets involved with events and activities at Humphrey Perkins School. Last year he was involved with the school garden, giving up his lunchtimes to work on growing vegetables which are used in the school kitchens. He loves all things technical and loves to be involved in school productions, designing the sound and lighting for shows.

It is difficult to calculate precisely how much time he has given to the Mountsorrel Railway Project but it is estimated that he has given not less than 250 hours of his own time in the last 12 months. Also, it is probably true to say that a similar figure could be attached to his volunteering for the project in each of the previous two years. And all of this is before his other volunteering commitments.

Further Ballast Laying

On April 8th to 10th the GCR kindly ballasted most of the newly laid track along the branch line.

GCR ballast train drops ballast at Nunckley Hill

This was possible thanks to a further donation of 400 tonnes of ballast courtesy of Lafarge Tarmac's Mountsorrel quarry.

The project would like to say a big thanks to both Lafarge and the GCR for their help and support. Only 200m of laid track remains to be ballasted and the line is fast approaching completion!



Class 37 loco hauls the ballast train around the Wood Lane curve.

A film of the ballast laying is available on our Youtube channel.






Bridge Clearance Test Trains

On Friday April 5th the GCR ran two test trains along the restored Mountsorrel Railway to test the clearances at the Wood Lane bridge.

Both trains were propelled along the line by class 37 diesel loco 37198, which is currently based at the GCR. The first train consisted of two wagons and the second a full length British Rail mark 1 carriage.

The bridge portal is rather narrow, but we are pleased to say that as expected, the clearances are more than adequate to allow standard passenger carriages to run along the line.

Please see the following Youtube video.