When did GCR(N) trains start running all the way to Loughborough North ?

[Justin Smith]

Does anyone know when timetabled GCR(N) trains started running all the way to Loughborough High Level ?
I used to be GCR Friend and looking back through mu copies of "Mainline" I noticed it was 2010 before the GCR(N) timetable appeared alongside that for the "main" GCR, and Loughborough High Level was given as the destination then. But how long before that had regular timetabled trains gone all the way to the end ?
Incidentally, can one actually get on or off the train at Loughborough High Level ?

 

[43096]

Incidentally, can one actually get on or off the train at Loughborough High Level ?

Passengers cannot get on or off there - there's no platforms.

 

[Justin Smith]

Passengers cannot get on or off there - there's no platforms.

Thanks for that, it rather confirms what I thought !

 

[Flying Phil]

Out of interest, have the gypsum trains been allowed to return and run over the A60 bridge yet?

 

[Justin Smith]

I have just phoned the GCR(N) and they said timetabled trains started running to Rushcliffe in 1995 and to Loughborough (High Level) in 2010. The latter date was the first time I saw any timetable for the GCR(N) in "Mainline" (the latter being the house magazine of the Friends of the GCR) and it included Loughborough High Level.

 

[LowLevel]

Out of interest, have the gypsum trains been allowed to return and run over the A60 bridge yet?

No. Contractors have been at the beidge sporadically though.

 

[Justin Smith]

I have spent a bit of time on this, but if anyone knows different be my guest to correct me.....
Researching back issues of RM* and one or two books has (possibly) clarified the dates of the various GCR(N) openings :

1990 - Ruddington site purchased
1993 - Site open to the public on selected dates
1995 - Trains introduced to the end of the spur (i.e. only as far as 50 Steps Bridge, not onto the ex GCR mainline)
1999 - Trains to Gotham
2001 - Trains to Rushcliffe (plus occasional trains to Loughborough High Level)
2010 - Timetabled trains to Loughborough High Level

I think.....

* Bearing in mind how long this took, I feel I have a right to a moan here.....
I have pretty much all the Railway Magazines back to 1941 bound with the indexes. The problem is that "system" means you need to know the year you want to research. Also, up to 2005, the index references only give a page number, so, as an example, you'd have GCR(N) then a load of dates, so you have to check all the articles to find the one you may want !
My moan is that access to the RM digital index is only available to Digital subscribers. In my opinion subscribers to the (paper) magazine should have free access to the index (but not the content) and you could then find the actual article in your paper copies. I asked the about this but the man from Del Monte, he say sod off !
If I'd have had access to that digital index I could have found all this info much quicker.....

 

[Flying Phil]

Well done on getting that information Justin. I wonder if the GCR Main Line magazines could also have that data?

 

[Dave S 56F]

I have spent a bit of time on this, but if anyone knows different be my guest to correct me.....
Researching back issues of RM* and one or two books has (possibly) clarified the dates of the various GCR(N) openings :

1990 - Ruddington site purchased
1993 - Site open to the public on selected dates
1995 - Trains introduced to the end of the spur (i.e. only as far as 50 Steps Bridge, not onto the ex GCR mainline)
1999 - Trains to Gotham
2001 - Trains to Rushcliffe (plus occasional trains to Loughborough High Level)
2010 - Timetabled trains to Loughborough High Level

I think.....

* Bearing in mind how long this took, I feel I have a right to a moan here.....
I have pretty much all the Railway Magazines back to 1941 bound with the indexes. The problem is that "system" means you need to know the year you want to research. Also, up to 2005, the index references only give a page number, so, as an example, you'd have GCR(N) then a load of dates, so you have to check all the articles to find the one you may want !
My moan is that access to the RM digital index is only available to Digital subscribers. In my opinion subscribers to the (paper) magazine should have free access to the index (but not the content) and you could then find the actual article in your paper copies. I asked the about this but the man from Del Monte, he say sod off !
If I'd have had access to that digital index I could have found all this info much quicker.....

Try looking for the Great Central Railway then and now and that will give you a good illustrated maps and pictures and written description of the G.C.R. (London extension) from Sheffield Vic all the way to London Marylebone station written by Mac Hawkins Including the preserved stretches of how they were in the glory days before closure in 1969 and how the preserved bits are at present if your interested in the infastructure of the line.