Bouncy, bouncy

We took the Pacer unit from Worksop to Sheffield. They will soon be pensioned off to be replaced by proper trains [OK, still bug carts].

I know they have their following as curiosities but the heater wasn’t heating, the draught whistled round the cavernous interior and the rain seemed to be on both sides of the window, even though the top vent was closed, as it bounced and swayed its way over the points all the way to Sheffield.

The pedestrian walkway connecting Sheffield city centre to the station has been transformed since the last time I was there with the addition of the impressive steel sculpture and fountain in Sheaf Square. 

Legbourne Road station

The station was opened by the East Lincolnshire Railway in 1848 on its Louth to Boston route. It later became part of the Great Northern Railway, then LNER and finally BR. It closed to passengers in 1953, to goods in 1964 and the line itself in 1970. The station building became a private house and the owners operated a museum of railwayana until their retirement in 1998 and an auction the following year.

Market Rasen

The station was opened in 1848 on the Great Grimsby and Sheffield Junction Railway. It is a Grade II listed building, which once boasted an overall roof. It became derelict after closure in 1995. The redundant signal box was reinstated at Quorn on the Great Central Railway.

Restoration of the station buildings took place between 2015 and 2018 after the intervention of the organisers of the Market Rasen Station Community Project, who made a successful grant application towards refurbishment. It now has a café, community rooms and a heritage centre with a display. East Midlands Trains today run a somewhat sparse passenger service between Lincoln and Grimsby on this former GCR and LNER route. 

Great Central Railway Autumn Steam Gala 2019

Quorn and Woodhouse is always a good place to watch the action at these events. The Schools Class, Repton, and the ex-LSWR National Collection T9 were visiting. 30120 is as old as the GCR itself.

Looking at the Bigger Picture

I noticed this chalkboard on the platform at Loughborough Central station last week. It is quite an impressive list.

Incidentally, if you ever wondered who it was that stuck down the blue-tac fixing the bottom right hand corner of the map of the GCR to the table, as featured in the BBC’s Victorian Railway series, Full Steam Ahead, then I’m able to announce that, yes, it was me, actually.