Preservation
The main line through here was closed on 5 May 1969. The trackbed was subsequently taken over for preservation, but in 1990 the sidings were wasteland. Led by the vision of GCR benefactor David Clarke, the nephew of a former signalman on the GW&GC Joint Line, double track was relaid from Swithland to Rothley, and then from Swithland to Quorn, eventually reaching Loughborough in 2000. Swithland thus forms the centrepiece of the double track, with GWR signalling as used on the GW&GC Joint Line. The signal box is the former Aylesbury South box which was located at Aylesbury railway station. The station was once again considered, but it was then decided that it would be close enough to Rothley not to be needed.
All the sidings, the Mountsorrel Branch and the second main line had gone. So what you now see is what members of the Great Central Railway have painstakingly put back in what is the largest track and signalling project anywhere in railway preservation. Swithland Sidings now has the Up and Down main lines, Up and Down passing loops, a complex of sidings for the storage of railway vehicles and the re-instated Mountsorrel Branch. It has a re-erected signalbox and is fully signalled with semaphore signals. The signalling became operational in the summer of 2012.
The facilities at Swithland allow for the storage of railway vehicles and the passing loops will allow trains to be held in the loop while an express passes on the main line. Diners will be able to relax while eating their meals while trains pass by on the main lines. It will be possible to see trains coming and going on the branch and joining the main line in a unique display of former railway operations. The Great Central Railway’s famous galas will be enhanced by the facility and will provide experiences of main line steam operation not available anywhere else.
In the Winter 2012 edition of Main Line Magazine (Issue 153), it was announced that RVP had proposed plans for a four road carriage shed at the back of Swithland Sidings. It will mark a great step forward in the storage of carriages and help to clear the Swithland site to give a better prospect from passing trains. It will also help significantly in prolonging the condition of carriages after restoration. The 65 meter long shed will be able to house a total of 12 coaches over the four roads. Planning permission was put in with Charnwood Borough Council in Autumn 2012 and on 4th February 2013 the ambitious plans were given conditional approval. The conditions relate mainly to screening, trees and hedgerows and RVP will be working to meet these conditions before fund raising and building commences. The estimated cost of this superstructure comes out at around the £120,000 mark.
From 26 - 28 April 2013, the Great Central Railway will be opening Swithland sidings to the public for a gala to celebrate the achievements of all volunteers who have worked on this huge project. This will be the first time in many years that the public will have access to this location.
Read more about this topic: Swithland Sidings
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
“The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
“There is something to be said for jealousy, because it only designs the preservation of some good which we either have or think we have a right to. But envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“If there is ANY THING which it is the duty of the WHOLE PEOPLE to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity, of their own liberties, and institutions.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)