Leicester Central on the Great Central Railway
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 2 авг 2022
- join me as I visit Leicester Central Station on the former GCR. Now a thriving business with a bars, coffee shops and even a bowling alley lets see whats left of the old railway and find any forgotten gems...
I’ve seen the big GCR building on my travels into the city centre, but I have not seen either the remnants of the platform or the romantically named The Last Arch. If I had the money, I would have relocated the fencing company and set up a small railway themed bar there instead (no prizes for guessing what I would’ve called it!). Thanks very much for all that you do and continue to do in highlighting the history of the GCR. Yet another top Middy Explores production!
Thank you David and we are only ever one lottery win away!! Lots more to see in Leicester coming up very soon! Thank you for your continued support 👍
It was sad in the first place to lose the GCR in Leicester. Considering the wonderful engineering and amazing structures it's even sadder that they have to erase these last few monuments to show what was there. Many thanks for sharing.
Thanks for watching. I always find it sad that city planners see these historical structures as a inconvenience rather than trying to incorporate them in the plans. The station is a great example of what can be rather than demolition.
Its just criminal what Marples tory government did to our railways.
He was the chief instigator of the destruction of the network and his construction companies turned most of the closed lines into roads. Beeching was the stool pigeon.
A lot of the bridges, viaducts etc in Leicester survived into the 1990s and 2000s - the bowstring bridge lasting until 2009!
Myself and lots of others believe that Anti Rail Leicester Council had a cull of anything Great Central in the 1990s - 2000s because someone suggested using the alignment of
the GCR as part of HS2. So they made sure that it would never happen.
I cannot find words to describe how I feel about the people responsible for destroying the beautiful Great Central Railway.
It was known as 'legalised vandalism'
There is a picture of him standing on the trackbed at the north end of the station looking very pleased and smug with himself
shortly after the station was closed.
'Him' being Ernest Marples.
Totally agree on that, and if we loose the arches on Slater street 😢
Thanks for watching and I totally agree with you. Looking back it feels like they couldn't destroy it quick enough to make sure it couldn't reopen. A corrupt government who would have thought it!!!
@@MiddyExplores Has there ever been such a thing as a non corrupt government??????
@@22whizzo56 now you mention it...🤔
I can remember arriving at this station from London in 1966. I'd be to a prize giving in London with my then girlfriend. We missed the train at St. Pancras, dashed through the tube and caught the last mixed goods with a couple of coaches. It was nice to have an alternative to the Midland line.🙂
Thanks for watching
Fantastic memories of this line which as I have said was ahead of its time. Thank you for sharing 👍
Most of the closures of our national railway network piss me off, but the closure of the GCR in particular. We had a fourth north to south mainline in this country which was incredibly well engineered and still had so much potential, and it was thrown away
Thank you for watching. I totally agree and now it's more apparent than ever with the mess that is HS2 swallowing billions of pounds to build something we already had! I along with many others will never understand it.
I remember as a child late 1950 s standing on the end of that platform asking my Grandad where the lines went.Memories eh !
Thanks for watching. This station has conjured up some great memories from people all over leicester. It just shows sometimes they are more than just buildings or railways. Thank you for sharing
So thrilled about its renovation. 2017 when I visited it was a scruffy old car repair shop.
Thanks for watching. It definitely looks better now than it did and ensured the building has a future
What a brilliant video. I lived in Leicester for over 20 years and I've never seen the GCR station; I feel so ashamed, esp as I lived 2 mins from the old line and used to walk / ride to work in the city on it daily.
I'm even more embarrassed as my Dad, a former Chairman of the Leicester Civic Society was a key figure in saving the Victorian facade of Leicester Station when it was facing being razed and replaced with a concrete box in the 70s.
Thank you for this video as I'll be visiting the city again soon and seeing as much as possible before it goes.
I owe you a pint sir.
Thank you and thanks for watching. I am still finding things in Leicester and Leicestershire and I have lived here all my life! A whole history is right on out doorsteps! I will hold you to that pint😂👍
Thank you for shewing the superb remains of the GCR which is now is dead and gone - so far as Leicester is concerned. Redevelopment of the site is natural good management of diminishing resources. Take good care of what Railway is left in Leicester! - the Leicester London Road Station. This was the Midland Railway Station. Amazing though that Leicester North is now functioning as the Leicester Terminus of the Steam Preservation G.C.R. - "The only double tracked Railway in preservation".
Thank you for watching and I am glad you enjoyed it. It is amazing really after nearly 60 years that there is anything left at all. Features on the restored line will be on here in the future 👍
@@MiddyExplores Maybe we have to count our blessings and thank goodness for the GCR heritage railway, if the line had not closed then which of those restored buildings would still be here in 2022?
Loving these GCR videos, only found your channel tonight
Thanks for watching and I am glad you have found the channel. Loads more coming up from the GCR . Videos are released every Tuesday or Wednesday 👍
Good stuff!
I've been through Leicester London Road station, as it was called on the Midland Main line, but not through Central. This building is a beauty as regards architecture, and it's pleasing to know that it's been preserved for good use. I hadn't a clue that it was even still there and part of the viaduct as well intact. Be a shame if that viaduct gets pulled down for that frightening word' development'. I looked up Leicester Central's loco shed allocations, and noticed that No.60103 'Flying Scotsman' was listed as being on the books in 1950, obviously before preservation came into it. Many thanks for this showing.
Thank you for watching. It is a beautiful old building and although it will never see trains again it's nice that is still there and has some original features. I am going back to do a feature on the goods yard as I missed a building (wagon repair shop?) Which is still standing and in use.
Thanks for this. I live near Leicester and will give it a visit. When I'm a billionaire I'll get Central linked to North!!!😁😁
Thanks for watching. I say exactly the same everytime I am on the GCR! One day we will be rich!!
An interesting look around and it is amazing those pieces of viaduct are still around now. Some great bits of history there 👍🏻
Thanks for watching. I agree they seem to have escaped so far... More coming up from the area very soon 👍
The GCR was a high level railway - you'll have noted how it came into Central station, and left raised above the rest of the city. That enabled it to jump easily over other railways and roads as it passed through the city. The station buildings left show it was a magnificent design, architecturally similar to the still surviving Midland. But after about the mid 1950s, the heyday of the old steam railways (which pioneered electric light signals on this line) it shrank to a sleepy branch line though you could catch diesel trains to Arkwright St Nottingham and to Rugby and beyond (and for instance get a train to Lutterworth!) until about 1965
Thank you for watching and the information. I always say it was ahead of its time and wasn't appreciated until it was too late! I would love to have it back today as it would be so useful.
Great to see that thank you for sharing
Hope your both well x
Thanks for watching glad you enjoyed it. Yes we are all good here thank you 👍
I’m really enjoying this GCR series. Still makes me want to scream though. I took a last look at Calvert several months back, and was glad you explored at track level. These videos are now historic documents.
Thank you for watching. Calvert is a really sad example of progress destroying everything in its path. One of my favourite explores and one off the saddest as I think I was the last to film it with platforms intact. Leicester central is a survivor and proof that they don't have to be demolished, hopefully some more of the viaduct will survive as well.
Another great video. The remains of the platforms can’t be demolished as they form part of the bridge underneath. I worked for the company that owns that part of the old station (now a hgv training school) and we parked our cars in between the 2 remaining parts of platforms. Travelling north from there it used to pass the central hotel later renamed the van dam pub before going over north bridge steel girder bridge the whole area after that was demolished and car showrooms took over the area as far as the canal
Thank you for watching and sharing so much great information on the area. It's sometimes hard to image now what went between there and the canal! Shame we have lost so much history. Thanks again 👍
Finding it difficult to get my bearings. My Nan used to live in Slate Street, and we used to visit 4 or 5 times a year. Slate street was opposite the station and we used to watch trains shunting at night from her bedrooms and from the back yard. Grandad was a rail worker at the station. Whether Slate Street and Slater Street are two different streets or i'm remembering wrong, i'm not sure!
That was an absolute treat, can you imagine that viaduct travelling across Leicester, it must have been one hell of a sight. You picked out all the highlights that I have earmarked for a visit, I'm currently trying to figure out if there is a way to get up on the embankment by the signal, I'm thinking it might be possible with a bit of a scramble, especially on a Sunday when it is quieter🤣😂.
Thanks as always for watching and your support. I imagine it was an incredible sight and sound. How useful would it be today! The signal is rather inaccessible tbh I don't think it would be an easy one. I had my drone with me but it was too busy to fly it. Perhaps a short video for the future?!
Oh yes this is the former station where my dad's mum used to work some of the stories my dad has told me she had to deal with working on the platform even back then she saw people take thier own lives just devastating that people felt the need and still do to do that as it impacts so many more people than just them it's a great business venture now but of course I do wish they could've kept the station working like so many other sites!
Thanks for watching and your continued support. I have heard so many stories good and bad about the old station. This station and line would be so useful now but at least the renovation ensures there is some history left
Closing the great Central was a crime !
Absolutely agree. 👍
4:18 Loads of IBC's (Intermediate Bulk Containers) on that old platform.😲
Not much is left of Roman Leicester above ground but it has a respectable past as one of the earliest of Roman towns and a centre of government. The evidence is that it began life as a village of the local Britons - the Corieltavi - a tribal confederation of growing power in the first century AD. It would seem that after Claudius left in 43 army groups moved north south and west from Colchester to subdue and garrison the island. It's likely that the first Romans to arrive in Leicester turned up in about 44 and built a vexillation fortress on the site of the city, at the crossing of the river Soar. When the Fosse way was built about two or three years later it passed smack dab by the city straight as a ruler. We know the name of the Roman town - it was a 'civitas capital' for the Britanni living in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland, and probably attained ' municipium' status early on. Boudicca didn't get this far - likely her army didn't survive north of High Cross, though obviously this is just conjecture
Thanks for watching and the wealth of information. I will be doing a series on the history of Leicester in the future 👍
Great video!
Thank you and thanks for watching 👍
Where or what is "Leicester North"? The first station North from Leicester Central was Belgrave and Birstall. I often used the GC line which gave lovely views of the city and the countryside as much of it was on embankments. The blue brick viaduct through the city was a late Victorian work of art, the station was magnificent and the huge blue brick arch over the Thurcaston Road was an engineering wonder in its own right. The destruction of the GCR route was a sin of huge importance as it robbed the country of a ready made HS2 route to Nottingham, Sheffield, and Manchester that was built with a ruling gradient of 1 in 178 and was constructed to Continental loading gauge, having been designed to connect through London to the Channel Tunnel which was started on but stopped by the government of the day over fears of invasion. The long term cost of this act of vandalism would probably have paid for the Channel Tunnel, but now we are spending millions to build another new line that would not have been required had anyone used their brains.
I left Leicester when the city began tearing itself to pieces in 1973 and cannot believe the mess that's been left where there was once a city with a centre to be proud of and which has now missed out on the opportunity to be on a new fast line to the North of England with all the benefits that would have brought.
Leicester North is the first station on the preserved line that goes upto Loughborough. It was renamed as it was rebuilt.
Totally agree with your comments and what's left of the viaduct is now covered in stupid graffiti and under threat from development. A missed opportunity for sure.
Belgrave and Birstall station was mostly destroyed by vandals before it was demolished. Leicester North replaced it but isn't in exactly the same location. Moving it a few hundred yards south puts it just inside the city boundary.
A few years ago there were plans to build a branch of the National Railway Museum nearby but they fell through.
The Great Central was NOT constructed to "continental loading gauge". That's a very persistent myth.
I'd love to see the view from a top the viaduct. It reminds me of some of the arches around the site of the old St Enoch's Station in Glasgow.
Also, in the centre of Barrhead, near Glasgow.
It's a view that wont be available for long if the council have their way ☹️
@@MiddyExplores another mob who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing!
The remains of a platform is too wide for passenger use, I’d suggest it was a loading bay, especially with the wedge of concrete on the edge.
Concrete on the end was set to finish off the broken brickwork after the rest of the platform to the north was demolished. Looking south as the camera is, this is the main 'up' southbound platform.
came out really well middy! 😀 whos them 2 scallys in the foreground?
Thanks buddy! Just two blokes who followed me around leicester! 😂
It's nice to see it refurbished! And not left to rot or even worse destroyed to make room for luxury flats that nobody can actually afford! Very sad about the other old timers who are awaiting there execution dates!
Thanks for watching. I totally agree at least it's still there and retains some features. It's a shame for the rest of the structures that unfortunately will fall to progress.
That's absolutely amazing, I've only seen small bits of it but it's nice you got to see it. Thankful it was spared, mostly. Great video! Wasn't it island platforms, sort of with bays at each end? On pictures the building on trackbed looked like a goods or parcels building, the main platforms being accessed by an underpass from the main building. It would be criminal to destroy the remaining viaduct.
Thanks as always for watching. Yes the access was underneath as you say, I explained it badly!! The viaduct north of the bridge and by the canal is earmarked for redevelopment and we all know what that means. The last arch as I name it had no plans and house a thriving business so hopefully will be spared the axe.
Very interesting video, thanks for uploading. Had to go onto google earth as spotted a few features I thought was a ghost sign 1:29, However did discover a stink pipe on Jarvis street. 👍
Thank you for watching glad it spurred your interest!
1970/1971 when I was at the then polytechnic, I used to take lunchtime walks along the recently closed line from Central to Abbey park. Would that I could do that today.
I would have loved to do that ! Sadly after the station there is hardly any left of the original viaduct. Thank you for watching 👍
So sad 💔
Thanks for watching.
Now let's see you looking into the medieval castle and it's motte (which you can still climb) (John of Gaunts tower) a bowshot from the medieval bridge - the one Richard III bumped his head on. And the remains of Prince Ruperts seige in 1644. And the Roman baths at Jewry wall
Thanks for watching. I will be doing more around Leicester in the near future not just railways!! Loads of history
New sub. MartinZero does a lot of urban exploring in Manchester on his channel and uses google satellite views and National Library Of Scotland maps to pinpoint the area and specific points that feature in his videos. It's useful for those who aren't local as the two sites used can be accessed by anyone and they can explore them at their own pace. I'm not knocking your content but it may be something worth considering in uploads (you may have done it already but I haven't done my usual binge watching trick when I find a new channel yet so my comment may be a bit premature).
Thanks for watching and welcome to the channel. I have used it before so may start using it again!! If it's useful then I am more than happy to use it! Enjoy the videos plenty more coming every week.
Great video! Not sure if you ventured north from here but before you hit the GCR preserved railway there's a few other bits you can see. Bridge stubs as the line crosses Beaumont Leys Lane and then there is a footpath that follows the route up towards Red Hill Circle and the Leicester North station.
Have been loving watching this series as it's all local to me - can't wait for the next video.
Thank you for watching and I am glad you are enjoying the videos. I will be venturing all the way up to Nottingham eventually!! Loads to see in Leicester still and the next Leicester video will backtrack slightly to the area around Vic Berry's scrap yard and the Ivanhoe line crossing.
Great explore mate, they'll pull them arches down, putting folk out of business and chuck up non descript hi rise accomodation 😡
Thanks for watching. The plans appeared on the Leicester Mercury website a day later! Exactly as you describe...☹️
@@MiddyExplores Leicester going to have no historic industrial transport heritage soon but plenty of accommodation making the city area even more crowded
@@tonywilson4704 and probably the worst road network ever designed
Why aren't the viaduct remnants archways being retained as businesses? Why demolish?
Thanks for watching. Redeveloping the area with hundreds of featureless flats and townhouses.
Such a shame that there is so much horrid graffiti - what IS the point of it? Thanks for such an interesting video. I was a real Great Central fan!
Thanks for watching. Most of that graffiti was added recently a d sponsored by the council! If you ever get an answer then let me know!
That,s not good !!!!!! , from whot was ,to whot,s now !!!!!!!!!!!, who,s in charge of this destruction !!!!!!!!!!!!, not good !!!!!!!!! .