Remains
This is a list of some of the historical remains that can be seen, most of which are on the closed sections of the line.
A short length of platform has been rebuilt on the site of the second passenger station (of 1893) at West Bridge in Leicester, and has track alongside it and a semaphore signal, grid reference SK579044. From here the trackbed is now a public footpath for about a mile towards Glenfield tunnel, to SK569056.
A wooden lifting bridge, based on a design by Robert Stephenson, originally carrying a short branch over the Soar Navigation at West Bridge in Leicester, has been reconstructed next to the entrance of Snibston Discovery Park in Coalville, after spending some years installed on a footpath outside the Abbey Pumping Station in Leicester.
A public footpath in Glenfield passes close to the western entrance to Glenfield tunnel, SK544066, which has been bricked up. The eastern entrance to the tunnel has been buried, while the tunnel as a whole was sold to Leicester city council for a nominal sum, though the council has never decided what use to make of it. The tops of several brick ventilator shafts can be seen among the houses of the estate above the tunnel, for example beside the A563 at SK558064; some are in the back gardens of the houses. The tunnel itself underwent in 2008 a retrofit to install strengthening rings that are hoped to prevent a collapse of the extant tunnel shaft. The £500,000 reinforcement project was commissioned by the Leicester city council and was recorded by the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust and photographed by the Leicestershire Industrial History Society.
From the centre of Glenfield, SK543065, the trackbed has been converted to a public footpath to Ratby, SK518054, where there is a commemorative plaque next to a short length of rail.
Most of the incline at Bagworth, now bypassed by a deviation line, is a public footpath, SK444091 at top to SK453086 near bottom. Near the top was the bow-fronted incline-keeper's house,SK446091, see photograph near the top of this page. Although this was probably the oldest surviving railway building in the East Midlands. and a grade-two listed building it was allowed to fall down to become an overgrown pile of bricks.
At Coalville the original building for passengers to buy tickets is now a children's nursery beside the level crossing, SK426142.
The incline at Swannington is under the supervision of the Swannington Heritage Trust and the track bed down the incline has been opened as a footpath with information boards. The foundations of the engine house at the top of the incline, SK420156, have been uncovered and about 75 yards (69 m) of track laid have been relaid. The historic winding engine was removed from here after the inclined closed to the National Railway Museum at York.
The central part of the line from Desford to Bardon Hill, on the outskirts of Coalville, is still used daily by the stone trains and can be observed from bridges, level crossings, and footpaths.
Read more about this topic: Leicester And Swannington Railway
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