Mountsorrel Railway
Encyclopedia
The Mountsorrel Railway was a network of industrial railway lines that served the granite
quarries
which dominate the Leicestershire
village of Mountsorrel
.
Aggregates. The line ran from the Great Central Railway
at Swithland Sidings
, around the quarries, over the Grand Union Canal at Mountsorrel, to the Midland Main Line
at Barrow-upon-Soar.
The line fell out of use in the 1950s, the track was taken up in the 1960s, and most of the route was abandoned.
A local resident has been researching the railway and, as well as writing a book about it, is leading a project to rebuild the part of the railway going from Swithland to Mountsorrel. Donations have already come in for the project, including from Lafarge. The project will reinstate one and-a-quarter miles of new track to a small halt station under Wood Lane bridge. This will allow the villagers of Mountsorrel to catch a train for nearby and then onto the rest of the preserved network. The line climbs at a grade of 1 in 62, which when put into contrast with the gradients on the Great Central Mainline, is far steeper, as they only reached only 1 in 175.
Despite numerous examples, none of the original Mountsorrel wagons had been preserved, so three wooden-bodied open wagons (two 5-plank bodies and one 3-plank) which closely resembled the old ones were selected to be returned to service in the official light grey livery of the old Mountsorrel Granite Company.
Many open days have been held on the trackbed since May 2009, involving ecology groups and trackbed tours among children and adults. When finished the plan is to provide the Great Central Railway with a secondary attraction, recreating various scenes from the past including a time when children would ride in the open wagons during days out.
At present the group have completed ballast laying over the first mile from the junction with the GCR to Wood Lane. On 10 May 2010 the track work began with the placement of a right-handed point at Swithland Sidings, the first part of the new junction. In June the group received a £5000 donation from the Great Central's support charity, bringing them closer to their goal to complete the track laying. An ex-British Railways AC Cars
railbus which has been stored at the back of Loughborough since 2006 is also planned to be restored for use on the branch and the rest of the railway in general, with work due to start as soon as enough money has been raised. Work is due to continue as finances allow and the group are currently looking for more track, sleepers and fittings for the branch.
By May 2011 track had been laid over the first 300m of the branch line, which allowed the first trains to run on the railway since the track lifting trains in 1959. The group are currently in the process of fund raising for £16,000 to allow the next 450m of track to be laid.
One of the original Mountsorrel locomotives was also preserved, Peckett and Sons
0-4-0ST Works No. 1759 Elizabeth of 1928. It is currently undergoing restoration at the nearby Rutland Railway Museum
. It is a long-term ambition of the project team to return this locomotive to the railway in the future.
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
quarries
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
which dominate the Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
village of Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel
Mountsorrel is a village in Leicestershire on the River Soar, just south of Loughborough with a population in 2001 of 6,662 inhabitants.-Geography:...
.
History
As early as 1860 there were eight and a half miles of track serving the local quarries of the Mountsorrel Granite Company, now owned by LafargeLafarge
Lafarge is a French industrial company specialising in four major products: cement, construction aggregates, concrete and gypsum wallboard. In 2010 the company was the world's second-largest cement manufacturer by mass shipped behind Holcim.-History:...
Aggregates. The line ran from the Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway (preserved)
The Great Central Railway is a heritage railway split into two adjacent sections, one in Leicestershire and the other Nottinghamshire.The Leicestershire section is currently Britain's only double track mainline heritage railway, with of working double track, period signalling, locomotives and...
at Swithland Sidings
Swithland Sidings
Swithland Sidings is a set of railway sidings on the preserved Great Central Railway, situated just south of Swithland Reservoir and Swithland Viaduct which crosses it....
, around the quarries, over the Grand Union Canal at Mountsorrel, to the Midland Main Line
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...
at Barrow-upon-Soar.
The line fell out of use in the 1950s, the track was taken up in the 1960s, and most of the route was abandoned.
Today
The line between Mountsorrel and Barrow is still followed by a mineral conveyor to Barrow, where quarry rock is sorted for distribution.A local resident has been researching the railway and, as well as writing a book about it, is leading a project to rebuild the part of the railway going from Swithland to Mountsorrel. Donations have already come in for the project, including from Lafarge. The project will reinstate one and-a-quarter miles of new track to a small halt station under Wood Lane bridge. This will allow the villagers of Mountsorrel to catch a train for nearby and then onto the rest of the preserved network. The line climbs at a grade of 1 in 62, which when put into contrast with the gradients on the Great Central Mainline, is far steeper, as they only reached only 1 in 175.
Despite numerous examples, none of the original Mountsorrel wagons had been preserved, so three wooden-bodied open wagons (two 5-plank bodies and one 3-plank) which closely resembled the old ones were selected to be returned to service in the official light grey livery of the old Mountsorrel Granite Company.
Many open days have been held on the trackbed since May 2009, involving ecology groups and trackbed tours among children and adults. When finished the plan is to provide the Great Central Railway with a secondary attraction, recreating various scenes from the past including a time when children would ride in the open wagons during days out.
At present the group have completed ballast laying over the first mile from the junction with the GCR to Wood Lane. On 10 May 2010 the track work began with the placement of a right-handed point at Swithland Sidings, the first part of the new junction. In June the group received a £5000 donation from the Great Central's support charity, bringing them closer to their goal to complete the track laying. An ex-British Railways AC Cars
AC Cars
AC Cars Group Ltd. formerly known as Auto Carriers Ltd. is a British specialist automobile manufacturer and one of the oldest independent car marques founded in Britain...
railbus which has been stored at the back of Loughborough since 2006 is also planned to be restored for use on the branch and the rest of the railway in general, with work due to start as soon as enough money has been raised. Work is due to continue as finances allow and the group are currently looking for more track, sleepers and fittings for the branch.
By May 2011 track had been laid over the first 300m of the branch line, which allowed the first trains to run on the railway since the track lifting trains in 1959. The group are currently in the process of fund raising for £16,000 to allow the next 450m of track to be laid.
One of the original Mountsorrel locomotives was also preserved, Peckett and Sons
Peckett and Sons
Peckett and Sons was a locomotive manufacturer at the Atlas Works in St. George, Bristol, England.-Fox, Walker and Company:The company began trading in 1864 at the Atlas Engine Works, St. George, Bristol, as Fox, Walker and Company, building four and six-coupled saddle tank engines for industrial use...
0-4-0ST Works No. 1759 Elizabeth of 1928. It is currently undergoing restoration at the nearby Rutland Railway Museum
Rutland Railway Museum
Rutland Railway Museum now trading as Rocks by Rail: The Living Ironstone Museum is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated NE of Oakham, in Rutland, England.-Overview:...
. It is a long-term ambition of the project team to return this locomotive to the railway in the future.