112-408: The Great Central Main Line ( GCML ), also known as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR), is a former railway line in the United Kingdom. The line was opened in 1899 and built by the Great Central Railway running from Sheffield in the North of England , southwards through Nottingham and Leicester to Marylebone in London. The GCML
224-603: A branch to Hyde from Newton , on the main line on 1 March 1858. Newton station had been called Newton & Hyde (now Hyde North), and an omnibus service to Hyde itself had been operated at one time. (The Hyde station is now Hyde Central .) Parliamentary sanction was given in 1858 to extend the Hyde branch to Compstall Bridge, then a local centre of industry. In fact the extension was from Hyde to Marple , with intermediate stations at Woodley and Romiley ; it opened on 5 August 1862. A further extension looked advantageous, and this
336-771: A continuation of the new main line to London, with the entire route from Sheffield Victoria to London Marylebone (via the original MS&LR main line, the Derbyshire Lines and the London Extension) being considered as the Great Central Main Line. In the 1890s the MS&;LR set about building its own line, having received parliamentary approval on 28 March 1893, for the London extension. The bill nearly failed due to opposition from cricketers at
448-720: A day were introduced between Sheffield (Bridgehouses) and London (Euston Square) via Beighton, Eckington and the Midland Railway and the LNWR. A considerable step forward was taken when the new Sheffield station (in due course named "Victoria") was opened on 15 September 1851. It was very commodious; the Bridgehouses station was converted to a goods depot. The second bore of the Woodhead tunnel opened for traffic on 2 February 1852; its beneficial effect on train operating
560-455: A future high-speed railway between London and Birmingham that would reuse about 12 miles of the GCR route. The proposed line would parallel the current Aylesbury line (former Met/GCR joint) corridor and then continue alongside the GCR line between Quainton Road and Calvert. From there it would roughly follow the disused but still extant GCR trackbed via Finmere as far as Mixbury before diverging on
672-477: A line from Huddersfield to Penistone on 1 July 1850; MS&LR passenger trains began to run over it into Huddersfield. The Leverton line, leading towards Lincoln, was opened on 7 August 1850, forming a shortened route between Retford and Lincoln. It was supposed to enable MS&LR trains to run through to Lincoln over the GNR, and in return for the GNR to reach Sheffield; however because of its traffic agreement with
784-501: A loop line passing through Chesterfield . The primary purpose of the Derbyshire Lines was to give the MS&LR access to the collieries of Nottinghamshire, but also served as the first phase in the company's plan to construct an independent route to London. At Annesley the line from Woodhouse ran into the northern end of the marshalling yard built and operated by the Great Northern Railway (GNR) since 1882. This yard
896-540: A new alignment towards Birmingham. Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway ( MS&LR ) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsby . It pursued a policy of expanding its area of influence, especially in reaching west to Liverpool, which it ultimately did through
1008-583: A relatively direct southward route ending at Quainton Road north of Aylesbury. The line left the crowded corridor through Nottingham (and Nottingham Victoria ), which was also used by the Great Northern Railway (GNR), then struck off to its new railway station at Leicester Central , passing Loughborough en route , where it crossed the Midland main line. Four railway companies served Leicester: GCR, Midland, GNR, and LNWR. Avoiding Wigston ,
1120-556: A second bore of the Woodhead Tunnel. The eastward construction from the Bridgehouses terminus across Sheffield was started in May 1847. The MS&LR soon ran short of money, and a loan of £250,000 had to be negotiated; deliveries of locomotives were slowed, as were certain infrastructure improvements; the stations at Dog Lane, Hazlehead, Oxspring and Thurgoland were closed to passenger traffic as from 1 November 1847. One new station
1232-624: A skeleton shuttle service operated. This last stretch was closed to passenger services in May 1969. Goods trains continued to run on the London Extension between Nottingham and East Leake until 1973, and continue to run between Loughborough and East Leake to this day. There is a north branch from the Midland Main Line onto the Great Central tracks at Loughborough. The closure of the GCR was the largest single closure of
SECTION 10
#17327717749671344-515: A tram stop at the station before transitioning back to the city streets. North of here the GCML route is blocked by the Victoria shopping centre , built on the site of the GCR's Nottingham station. Sections of the GCML around Rotherham are open for passenger and freight traffic, indeed a new station was built there in the 1980s using the Great Central lines which were closer to the town centre than
1456-518: A year. This was accepted and the MS&LR withdrew its staff. It was a move that the MS&LR came to regret. Financially, 1855 was not a good year for the MS&LR. Trade generally had been adversely affected by the blockade of the Baltic ports , owing to the Crimean War . Passenger traffic showed decreases in all categories except second class. In the same year the maintenance of permanent way
1568-604: Is 'under review'; the Transport and Works Order states that no provision is to be made for a Milton Keynes Central–Marylebone service. Currently, this stretch of route is used for freight consisting of binliner (containerised domestic waste) and spoil trains going to the Calvert Waste Facility ( landfill ) site at Calvert just south of Calvert station . Four container trains each day use the site, originating from Brentford , Cricklewood and Northolt . There
1680-474: Is north from Ruddington Lane tram stop as far as the River Trent , used by the 2015-opened line 2 of NET. North of the river the Great Central route was eliminated by housing development in the 1970s and the tramway uses a different route across the river and north to Nottingham railway station (the former Midland station). The GCML crossed above this on a bridge, and NET uses the same alignment to provide
1792-649: Is operated as a heritage railway by the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) (GCRN). The section of GCRN route between Loughborough South Jn and East Leake is maintained to mainline standard and used by trains serving the Gypsum works at East Leake. North of Ruddington, and as far as Nottingham, sections of the GCML right of way are used by the Nottingham Express Transit (NET), Nottingham's second generation tramway . The first section
1904-399: Is underway which will unite the two surviving preserved sections of the GCR. This will result in an 18-mile (29 km) section of the line from Leicester North station to Ruddington station , south of Nottingham, open for heritage trains. Network Rail were involved in reinstating a bridge taking the Great Central over the Midland Main Line. In March 2010 the government announced plans for
2016-593: The British Railways era. In the 1923 Grouping the Great Central Railway was merged into the London and North Eastern Railway , which in 1948 was nationalised along with the rest of Britain's railway network. The Great Central thrived in the early years of nationalisation. However, from the late 1950s onwards the freight traffic upon which the line relied started to decline, and the GCR route
2128-655: The Chiltern Main Line ) using the line between Neasden South Junction and Northolt Junction which was built, maintained and run by the GCR. A short extension of Chiltern passenger services to a new Aylesbury Vale Parkway station on the Aylesbury-Bicester main road opened on 14 December 2008. There are also heritage diesel shuttle services on the May Bank Holiday and August Bank Holiday weekends between Aylesbury and Quainton Road stations,
2240-647: The East Lincolnshire Railway (now leased to the Great Northern Railway) was nearing completion too, and both lines opened on 1 March 1848. There was a through train service between New Holland and Louth , operated equally by both companies. A pier 1,500 feet in length had been provided at New Holland, which was the terminal of a ferry service to Hull. It was promised that "the rails of the New Holland line will be continued to
2352-408: The Great Central Railway between Leicester and Loughborough , and the Great Central Railway (Nottingham) between Loughborough South Junction and Ruddington's former GCR station site. At the end of the 20th century and in the 21st century, the line has been subject to a range of proposals for its use and reuse. The GCML was very much a strategic line in concept. It was not intended to duplicate
SECTION 20
#17327717749672464-538: The LNER began running special fast coal trains between Annesley and Woodford Halse – a distance of around 70 miles (110 km). Wagons filled from the South Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire collieries were assembled into trains at Annesley and taken to Woodford Halse where they would be sorted into separate onward trains depending on the wagons' destination to the south. The relatively sparse service pattern on
2576-712: The London Extension was opened in 1899. The Sheffield, Ashton under Lyne and Manchester Railway had opened throughout on 23 December 1845. Its line ran through the Woodhead Tunnel , a little over 3 miles in length. The line connected with the Manchester and Birmingham Railway at its western end, and had a basic terminus in Sheffield at Bridgehouses . There was a branch from Dinting to Glossop , and another from Guide Bridge to Stalybridge . The SA&MR had been short of money during construction, and
2688-421: The Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). He had grand ambitions for the company: he had plans to transform it from a provincial middle-of-the-road railway company into a major national player. He grew tired of handing over potentially lucrative London-bound traffic to rivals, and, after several unsuccessful attempts in the 1870s to co-build a line to London with other companies, decided that
2800-504: The Marylebone Cricket Club in London through which the line would pass, but it was agreed to put the line through a tunnel under the grounds. The first sod of the new railway was cut at Alpha Road, St John's Wood, London, on 13 November 1894 by Countess Wharncliffe, wife of 1st Earl of Wharncliffe , the chairman of the board. The new line, 92 miles (148 km) long, started at Annesley, being in effect an extension of
2912-614: The Metropolitan Railway (MetR) over use of their tracks at the southern end of the route, the company built the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway joint line (1906) from Grendon Underwood to Ashendon Junction , by-passing the greater part of the MetR's tracks. Apart from a small freight branch to Gotham between Nottingham and Loughborough, and the " Alternative Route " link added later (1906), these were
3024-665: The River Mersey . It had opened on 21 February 1833, and its route included rope worked inclines. It amalgamated with the Sankey Brook Navigation , forming the St Helens Canal and Railway by an act of Parliament of 21 July 1845. The construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway showed that merely acting as a feeder to waterborne transport was no longer competitive. John Meadows Rendel ,
3136-625: The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway at Woodford Halse proved strategically important for freight on the route. Another major centre for freight was at Annesley . The relatively sparse passenger service on the GCML, especially as traffic declined after the Second World War , allowed time and room on the line for more heavy fast freight services than on the busier Midland Main Line or East Coast Main Line. In 1947
3248-530: The Stratford-upon-Avon and Midland Junction Railway ), and slightly further south the GCR branch to the Great Western Railway station at Banbury diverged. From Woodford Halse the route continued approximately south-east via Brackley to Calvert and Quainton Road , where Great Central trains joined the Metropolitan Railway (later Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway ) via Aylesbury into London. Partly because of disagreements with
3360-478: The 1930s, there were six expresses a day from Marylebone to Sheffield, calling at Leicester and Nottingham, and onto Manchester. Some of these achieved a London–Sheffield timing of 3 hours and 6 minutes in 1939, making them fully competitive with the rival Midland service out of St Pancras in terms of journey time. Freight traffic grew healthily and became the lifeblood of the line, the staples being coal, iron ore, steel, and fish and banana trains. The connection with
3472-510: The 40-mile (64 km) stretch of main line between Calvert and Rugby, closed in 1966, is still intact except for missing viaducts at Brackley and Willoughby. Various proposals for its reopening have been made. Frequent passenger services operated by Chiltern Railways run over the joint line between London Marylebone and Aylesbury Vale Parkway , and also between Marylebone and High Wycombe (continuing northwards to Princes Risborough , Bicester North , Banbury and Birmingham Snow Hill via
Great Central Main Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
3584-550: The Beeching era, and one of the most controversial. In a letter published in The Daily Telegraph on 28 September 1965, Denis Anthony Brian Butler , 9th Earl of Lanesborough, a peer and railway supporter, wrote: [Among] the main lines in the process of closure, surely the prize for idiotic policy must go to the destruction of the until recently most profitable railway per ton of freight and per passenger carried in
3696-553: The British railways, as one of the "bodies whose undertakings are transferred to the [British Transport] Commission ". In 1993, British Rail (now Chiltern Railways) services calling at Moor Park ceased. The route north of Aylesbury was closed to passenger trains in September 1966. The railway line and stations are used today by Transport for London 's Metropolitan line as far as Amersham , and Chiltern Railways provides
3808-516: The Euston Square agreement, had been negotiating with the GNR for a territorial division between the two companies, to the detriment of the MS&LR. Dow refers to this as "deplorable duplicity" by Huish. Watkin had a challenge before him; at this time traffic receipts were falling short of fixed obligations by about £1,000 a week. Huish resumed his attempts at coercion. Members of the LNWR and MS&LR boards met at Rugby on 20 July 1854. It
3920-424: The GCML and the line's high engineering standards with near-continuous but gentle rising and falling gradients, made it possible to run these trains at much higher speeds than was normal. Coal trains, consisting of mineral wagons not equipped with brakes that could be controlled by the driver, usually ran at no more than 25 mph (40 km/h) and had to descend steep gradients at little more than walking pace. On
4032-417: The GCML these trains could run at 50 or 60 mph (80 or 97 km/h), continually but slowly accelerating away from Annesley (which kept the couplings between taut and the wagons stable) and being able to run without needing to slow for gradients or for other traffic until they slowed for arrival at Woodford Halse. Originally known as the 'Annesley Runners', these trains became known as the 'Windcutters' in
4144-450: The GCR served Lutterworth (the only town on the GCR not to be served by another railway company) before reaching the town of Rugby (at Rugby Central ), where it crossed at right-angles over, and did not connect with, the LNWR's West Coast Main Line . It continued southwards to Woodford Halse , where there was a connection with the East and West Junction Railway (later incorporated into
4256-505: The GCR's builders had hoped. However, there was some success in appealing to higher-class 'business' travellers in providing high-speed luxurious trains, promoted by the jingle 'Rapid Travel in Luxury'. These were in a way the first long-distance commuter trains. The Great Central also became important for cross-country trains, which took advantage of its connections to other lines. At the height of fast, long-distance passenger steam trains in
4368-492: The GNR line from Peterborough to Doncaster , connecting with the MS&LR at Retford, as well as the Gainsborough connection, would encourage a co-operation that would abstract traffic from his allies. He manipulated Allport and the MS&LR into joining a traffic agreement that contained clauses hostile to any collaboration with the GNR; this was approved on 16 January 1850. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway opened
4480-581: The GNR) to London from its main line. Annesley was also only a little more than 90 miles (140 km) from London. The Derbyshire Lines opened in 1892 and 1893 and by the time these routes were in full operation the MS&LR was already seeking parliamentary approval for the London Extension. Once the London Extension was opened (and the MS&LR had become the Great Central Railway) the Derbyshire Lines were, for all practical purposes, treated as
4592-625: The L&;YR all the goods business. The necessary junctions between the two routes at Stalybridge were ready on 1 July 1849, and on 1 August two new junctions with the London and North Western Railway were brought into use as well, end-on at Stalybridge with the new line from Huddersfield , and at Guide Bridge station, with the line from Heaton Norris . At the end of 1849, the MS&LR network amounted to 159 miles, with an additional 110 miles of canal. The Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Junction Railway had originally been conceived to connect
Great Central Main Line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4704-511: The LNWR, the MS&LR felt obliged to try to frustrate the arrangement. At the end of May 1851 a contract was concluded with the Electric Telegraph Company which, for about £5 per mile per annum, undertook to install lines between Manchester, Sheffield, New Holland, Grimsby and Lincoln, providing not only the equipment but the clerks to operate it at the principal stations. In July 1851 through carriages by three trains
4816-592: The Leverton branch (as the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Extension Railway was now called) and certain dock works at Grimsby. There was an impressive succession of openings: the Barnetby-Lincoln line was opened on 1 February 1849, and the section from Sheffield to Beighton, where a junction was made with the Midland Railway, was opened on 12 February 1849. MS&LR passenger trains ran through to Eckington on
4928-651: The MGCJR, new stations were opened at Sandy Lodge in 1910, and at North Harrow in 1915. Aylesbury station was leased jointly to the MGCJR and the GWGCJR from 1907. The branch to Watford from Rickmansworth was authorised under an Act of Parliament obtained by the Metropolitan on 7 August 1912, but was a MGCJR project. Purchase of land began in 1914, but the First World War held up further progress, and
5040-499: The MNM&;HJR at New Mills; it opened on 1 October 1866. This gave the Midland Railway access to the MS&LR system, and thereby to Manchester. The MNM&HJR company was acquired by the MS&LR on 5 July 1865. The MS&LR had sought the support of the LNWR and L&YR for the construction of a south-to-north line from Guide Bridge to Oldham , connecting with those companies' lines. The Oldham, Ashton and Guide Bridge Railway
5152-454: The MS&LR allied itself with the Great Northern Railway. Passenger traffic, especially around Manchester, was also an important business area, and well-patronised express trains to London were run in collaboration with the GNR. Nevertheless, the MS&LR was never greatly profitable. For many years its General Manager, and then chairman, was Edward Watkin , a dynamic leader who sometimes allowed personal vanity to drive his priorities. Watkin
5264-510: The MS&LR needed to create its own route to the capital. Construction of the GCML was commissioned to enable Watkin's railway company to operate its own direct express route to London independently of – and in competition with – rival railway companies. At the time many people questioned the wisdom of building the line, as all the significant population centres which the line traversed were already served by other companies. However, Watkin defended it by arguing that growth in traffic would justify
5376-531: The MS&LR to cross the River Trent at Gainsborough, and also to enter the eastern end of the Great Northern Railway station at Lincoln by means of a spur from Durham Ox Junction, on the line from Market Rasen. On 1 July 1859 the MS&LR brought into use the Whisker Hill curve at Retford, which enabled its passenger trains to use the Great Northern station: the MS&LR Retford station closed on
5488-615: The MSJ&;AR line formed a strategic link, later enabling the MS&LR to pass Manchester and penetrate westwards. In May 1849, George Hudson , the so-called Railway King, had fallen from power as his underhand methods were exposed. The politics of the large railway companies shifted considerably, as Hudson's successors, particularly Captain Mark Huish of the London and North Western Railway, engaged in schemes to gain advantage over neighbouring lines. The MS&LR directors saw that it
5600-532: The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway and the London and North Western Railway respectively, so that the MSJ&AR was wholly and equally owned by the MS&LR and the LNWR. The line was to be in two parts. The South Junction part was to connect the London Road station of the LNWR (used by the MS&LR) with the former Liverpool and Manchester Railway (now LNWR) at Ordsall Lane. This connected
5712-509: The Midland Railway from Beighton. A triangular junction was formed at New Holland, leading to a branch to Barton on Humber, opened on 1 March 1849. On 2 April 1849 the section between Brigg and Gainsborough was opened. There was a triangular junction at Ulceby: the eastern side of the triangle had been in use since before July 1848. The final link, from Woodhouse junction, on the Sheffield-Beighton junction section, to Gainsborough,
SECTION 50
#17327717749675824-421: The Midland line by serving a great many centres of population. Instead it was intended to link the MS&LR's system stretching across northern England directly to London at as high a speed as possible and with a minimum of stops and connections: thus much of its route ran through sparsely populated countryside. The new construction started at Annesley north of Nottingham , running for 92 miles (148 km) in
5936-546: The OA&;GBR was leased to the MS&LR and LNWR. Each subscribed £50,000. By the end of March 1860 the line had been finished between Guide Bridge and the junction with the L&YR near Ashton-under-Lyne, but unusually wet weather delayed the completion of the remainder. On 31 July 1861 the line was opened formally. Passenger trains started running on 26 August, the MS&LR providing the locomotives and carriages; goods traffic did not start until 1 February 1863. Liverpool
6048-618: The Sheffield, Ashton under Lyne and Manchester Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . The Manchester and Birmingham Railway would benefit too from the connection. It was authorised on 21 July 1845 as an independent private company, with three shareholders: the SA&;MR, the M&;BR and the Earl of Ellesmere . His share was bought out in 1847 and the two railway companies had merged into
6160-613: The Woodhead Tunnel was built as a single track to save money. As the Railway Mania took hold, it became evident that enlargement of the network dominated by a railway company was key to competitive survival, and in 1846 the SA&MR had been authorised (by the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Act 1846 ( 9 & 10 Vict. c. cclxviii) of 27 July 1846 ) to amalgamate with three as-yet unbuilt railways: they were: The amalgamation took effect on 1 January 1847, and
6272-410: The branches from Chalfont & Latimer to Chesham and from Quainton Road to Brill . The MGCJR was created under the terms of the Metropolitan & Great Central Railway Act, which received Royal Assent on 4 August 1905. Management of the joint line was to be in alternate periods of five years by the two co-owners, the first five-year term being that of the Metropolitan. After establishment of
6384-576: The clay pits dug out by Calvert Brickworks which closed in 1991. The Main Line Preservation Group was established in 1968, to preserve part of the remaining section of the Great Central main line. The group was reformed, in 1971, as Main Line Steam Trust Limited and the group's original ambitions were trimmed to exclude the section north of Loughborough. Restoration work on the line between Loughborough Central and
6496-434: The clearing of a cutting from which 600,000 cubic yards (460,000 m) of sandstone were removed. The purchase of the land cost £473,000 (equivalent to £69,010,000 in 2023), and the construction of the station brought the sum to over £1,000,000. The original estimated cost for the construction of the line was £3,132,155, however in the event it cost £11,500,000 (equivalent to £1,635,140,000 in 2023), nearly four times
6608-494: The combined company was named the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. It had headquarters at Manchester London Road station . The first board meeting of the amalgamated company took place on 6 January 1847. As well as the railway interest, the new MS&LR acquired a considerable canal network. The Sheffield, Ashton under Lyne and Manchester Railway had acquired three canals in March 1846; they were These canals cost
6720-563: The company £33,608 annually in guaranteed payments to the original proprietors. The Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway had already purchased the Sheffield Canal and it was vested in the MS&LR on 22 July 1848, and the MS&LR acquired the Chesterfield Canal on 9 July 1847. In 1847 the railway network of the MS&LR consisted of nothing more than the network of the SA&MR, with one small addition. On
6832-447: The danger and refused. The MS&LR decided to sever all agreements with the LNWR, and to form an alliance with the Great Northern Railway. The process to conclude these things took some time, but it resulted in transfer of the Manchester to London express passenger service to the route via Retford and the Great Northern Railway, in the same journey time as formerly via the LNWR. Of course much mineral traffic followed this transfer. Some of
SECTION 60
#17327717749676944-588: The efforts of neutral railway companies to mediate, and it was not until 12 November 1858 that a peaceful agreement was concluded. Throughout the process, Huish had been pursuing personal antagonistic objectives, and had steadily lost the confidence of his own board, and on 11 September 1858 his resignation was accepted. Towards the end of 1851 the Board had considered the restarting of the Barnsley branch construction, which had been promised but never proceeded with. In
7056-414: The end of September; he went to the Midland Railway. A shareholders' consultative committee had been set up and was require to be involved in strategic decisions of the company; it appears that Allport considered this to be an infringement of his role. Edward William Watkin took over in his place on 1 January 1854. He had been the assistant of Huish at the LNWR and he revealed that the latter, in spite of
7168-464: The engineer of Birkenhead docks, recommended the development of a dock at Garston , on the Mersey south of Liverpool, and a connecting railway. This was authorised in 1846; it diverged from the original line to Runcorn Gap just north of the Mersey and ran west to Garston. It opened on 1 July 1852, and the dock at Garston opened on 21 July 1853. A line eastwards to Warrington was built from a junction with
7280-439: The exclusive use of the two new lines on the northern side, except in the case of accidents, and have access across the LNWR to the MSJ&AR line. Although this seemed to be agreed smoothly enough with the LNWR, that company later used its primacy at London Road and the need for MS&LR trains to cross to the southern side there, as a means of obstructing MS&LR expansion. James Allport resigned on 20 July 1853, effective at
7392-420: The extremity of the pier". Next opening was from a junction at Ulceby (about halfway between New Holland and Grimsby) to Brigg , and a second arm of that line to Market Rasen. These sections opened on 1 November 1848. Notwithstanding the difficult financial conditions, the MS&LR network as originally planned was completed during 1849, except for the new station at Sheffield (still under construction),
7504-560: The first contract for construction was not placed until December 1922. At the start of 1923, the GCR was a constituent of the newly created London and North Eastern Railway ; and on 1 July 1933, the Metropolitan was a constituent of the London Passenger Transport Board . Through both these changes of ownership, the MGCJR retained its title, and was listed in the Transport Act 1947 , which nationalised
7616-413: The first day of 1847 a short spur connection was opened from the Sheffield terminal to the Sheffield station of the Midland Railway (former Sheffield and Rotherham Railway ). At this time the Midland approached from the Rotherham direction only, and it had a terminal station adjacent to Wicker, and named after that thoroughfare. The short connecting link was steeply graded and almost entirely in tunnel; it
7728-424: The former Midland Railway station. Commuter EMU trains run from Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly via Glossop . These are modern trains using 25 kV overhead wires that were installed to replace the 1500 V DC system. Daily steel trains run from Sheffield to Deepcar where they feed the nearby Stocksbridge Steelworks owned by Tata Group . Reconstruction of the 500-metre (547 yd) Loughborough Gap
7840-425: The hitherto separate networks east and west of Manchester. The other part was the seven-mile line to Altrincham . The line opened between Oxford Road, Manchester, and Altrincham on 20 July 1849, and it was extended back to London Road in July 1849, and from Altrincham to Bowdon in August 1849, or September 1849. The MSJ&AR network was now complete. As well as enabling a busy local passenger service, in time
7952-412: The larger continental European loading gauge with the aim of accommodating mainland rolling stock should the line could be connected via future channel tunnel this is untrue. It was built to the standard Great Central loading gauge of the time, which was in fact slightly more restrictive than some other British railways; and it was certainly not to Berne gauge which is some 8 in. (200 mm) taller and
8064-656: The latter serving the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre . In November 2011 HM Government allocated funding for reopening of the section between Bicester Town and Bletchley (via Claydon Junction ), and between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Claydon Junction, as part of the East West Rail scheme, which might have seen passenger services operating between Reading and Milton Keynes Central (via Oxford ) and between London Marylebone and Milton Keynes (via Aylesbury). as of January 2021, this element
8176-705: The line including the 21-arch Brackley Viaduct , and viaducts at Braunston , Staverton and Catesby in Northamptonshire , a steel lattice viaduct known as the 'bird cage' bridge carried the GCML over the West Coast Main Line at Rugby , while another viaduct was built over the River Soar , along with two over Swithland Reservoir in Leicestershire , and one over the River Trent near Nottingham. Several tunnels had to be built,
8288-550: The line's most important function became to carry goods traffic, notably coal. In the 1960s, the line was considered by Dr Beeching as an unnecessary duplication of other lines that served the same places, especially the Midland Main Line and to a lesser extent the West Coast Main Line . Most of the route was closed between 1966 and 1969 under the Beeching axe . Parts of the former main line have been preserved as
8400-429: The longest of which was the 2,997 yards (2,740 m) Catesby Tunnel . Many miles of cuttings and embankments were also built. The construction of the railway through Nottingham and the station involved heavy earthworks with 6,750 feet (2,060 m) of tunnelling and almost 1 mile (1.6 km) of viaduct. The site for Nottingham Victoria railway station required the demolition of 1,300 houses, 20 public houses and
8512-543: The meantime, other companies had connected the town: the Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Wakefield, Huddersfield and Goole Railway and the South Yorkshire Railway . It was at last completed, opening in three stages, from 15 May 1854 to 12 February 1857. The Birley coal branch, turning west from Woodhouse and 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 miles in length, was brought into use in June 1855. The MS&LR opened
8624-542: The medium of the Cheshire Lines Committee network in joint partnership with the Great Northern Railway and the Midland Railway . Its dominant traffic was minerals, chiefly coal, and the main market was in London and the south of England. It was dependent on other lines to convey traffic southward. The London and North Western Railway was an exceptionally hostile partner, and in later years
8736-526: The new line, and was opened on 1 February 1853. Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway The Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway was a joint railway company that controlled a line extending from Harrow on the Hill in what is now north-western Greater London to Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire , England. Owned by the Metropolitan Railway and the Great Central Railway ,
8848-549: The new line. Watkin was an ambitious visionary; as well as running an independent trunk route into London, where he was chairman of the Metropolitan Railway , he was also involved in a project to dig a channel tunnel under the English Channel to connect with the rail network of France , a scheme vetoed several times by the British Parliament for fear of military invasion by France; however, this project
8960-568: The newly completed Derbyshire Lines. The new London-bound line started at the northern entrance to the Annesley marshalling yard (this point becoming the new Annesley North Junction) from where it passed to the east of the sidings and the GNR Leen Valley line before bridging over both the GNR and Midland lines at Linby and heading to Nottingham. The southern end of the London Extension was at Quainton Road in Buckinghamshire . From here,
9072-497: The northern outskirts of Leicester commenced and, by 1973, Steam train services were operated under the supervision of a British Railways Inspector. In 1976 operations were transferred to Great Central Railway (1976) Limited a company that, as Great Central Railway plc, remains active to this day. The section of line between Loughborough South Junction, where the branch is connected to the Midland Mainline, and Ruddington
9184-482: The only branch lines from the London extension. The line crossed several other railways but had few junctions with them. North of Sheffield, express trains on the London extension made use of the pre-existing MS&LR trans- Pennine main line, the Woodhead Line (now also closed) to give access to Manchester London Road (now named Manchester Piccadilly). In 1864 Sir Edward Watkin took over directorship of
9296-411: The original SA&MR line had both been strengthened with extra tie rods in the middle 1850s. They were insured respectively for £4,000 and £6,000, but now drastic repairs were required: all of the timber arches in both structures were to be replaced by wrought iron girders at a cost of £28,700 from November 1859. Not long afterwards the contractor system of permanent way maintenance came to an end when it
9408-422: The original estimate. Features of the line were: The line was formally opened by Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee , President of the Board of Trade on 9 March 1899. Three special corridor trains, forming part of the new rolling stock constructed for the new line, were run from Manchester, Sheffield and Nottingham to the terminus at Marylebone for the inaugural ceremony. A lunch for nearly 300 guests
9520-447: The railway was nationalised in 1948. On 2 April 1906, the same day that the Great Western and Great Central Joint Railway (GWGCJR) was opened, the Metropolitan and Great Central Joint Railway (MGCJR) was created. This took over the lines of the Metropolitan Railway north and west of Harrow South Junction, with the exception of the branch to Uxbridge . These comprised the main line between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Verney Junction and
9632-448: The route followed the existing Metropolitan Railway (MetR) extension which became joint MetR/GCR owned as far as Harrow and thence along the (GCR owned) final section to Marylebone station . Construction of the route involved some major engineering works, including three new major city-centre stations ( Nottingham Victoria , Leicester Central and Marylebone) along with many smaller ones. A number of new viaducts were constructed for
9744-580: The route were cancelled and many rural local stations were closed. However, at this time it was still hoped that better use of the route could be made for parcels and goods traffic. In the 1960s Beeching cuts , Dr Beeching decided that the London to Northern England route was already well served by other lines, to which most of the traffic on the GCR could be diverted. Closure was seen as inevitable. The sections between Rugby and Aylesbury and between Nottingham and Sheffield were closed in 1966, leaving only an unconnected stub between Rugby and Nottingham, on which
9856-541: The same date. Mark Huish had taken over at the LNWR; he was a master of commercial chicanery. He achieved domination of the Midland Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway by means of traffic pooling agreements, and the alliance became known as the Euston Square Confederacy. There were good relations between the Great Northern Railway and the MS&LR, and Huish saw that completion of
9968-442: The track between Wadsley Bridge and Oughty Bridge still had the original stone-block sleepered track, and this had to be hastily modernised. (At the beginning of 1858 an inspection indicated that the last of the stone block sleepers in the main line had gone). The LNWR continued to use underhand tactics of all kinds to frustrate the smooth operation of MS&LR and GNR trains, especially at Manchester. The warfare continued despite
10080-403: The whole British Railways system, as shown by their own operating statistics. These figures were presented to monthly management meetings until the 1950s, when they were suppressed as "unnecessary", but one suspects really "inconvenient" for those proposing Beeching type policies of unnecessarily severe contraction of services [...] This railway is of course the Great Central [...]. The trackbed of
10192-590: Was a prime seaport with a huge volume of international and coastwise trade, and was consequently of strategic importance for railways in the region. The MS&LR reached as far west as Manchester, and was joint owner of the Manchester South Junction and Altrincham Railway. The MS&LR began to consider how it might reach Liverpool without dependency of the LNWR, which was generally hostile and obstructive. The St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway had been built to convey minerals south from St Helens to
10304-442: Was adjacent to Newstead colliery and also had a connection with the Midland Railway . Thus MS&LR trains could run through onto the GNR's Leen Valley line and so southwards onto the rest of the GNR network via Nottingham and Grantham to the terminus of the GNR at King's Cross . This gave the MS&LR a more convenient route to send both freight and passenger traffic (the latter by through-coaches and ticketing agreements with
10416-447: Was agreed that the two railways should be worked as one interest with a scheme for sharing income and expenses. The treaty was regarded as continuous and subject only to seven years' notice of termination by either side. The agreement was finalised on 29 July 1854. Later in the year the LNWR offered to perform the whole of the MS&LR's passenger and parcels business at London Road station, including collection and delivery by van, for £600
10528-404: Was also a daily train from Bath and Bristol (known as the "Avon Binliner") until April 2011. The containers, each of which contains 14 tonnes of waste, are unloaded at the transfer station onto lorries awaiting alongside which then transport the waste to the landfill site. The site, dating from 1977 and now one of the largest in the country, stretches to 106 hectares (260 acres) and partly reuses
10640-474: Was also the shortest-lived intercity railway line. The London Extension's main competitor was the Midland Railway which had served the route between London, the East Midlands and Sheffield since the 1860s on its Midland Main Line . Traffic was slow to establish itself on the new line, passenger traffic especially so. Enticing customers away from the established lines into London was more difficult than
10752-425: Was authorised on 10 August 1857, with capital of £140,000. The MS&LR was anxious to secure the commitment of the LNWR to the project, partly to disarm LNWR plans to build their own line there. The L&YR had at first expressed preparedness to support the line, but in negotiations which dragged into 1858 the L&YR as clearly determined to keep the LNWR out, and the L&YR withdrew. Accordingly, on 30 June 1862
10864-489: Was building its main line in stages, and on 4 September 1849 it opened its Doncaster-Retford line. At Retford the GNR trains used the MS&LR station until its own station there was opened. This took place on 1 August 1852 after completion of the Retford-Peterborough section of the GNR main line, which crossed that of the MS&LR on the flat. An act of Parliament of 24 July 1851 permitted the GNR to run over
10976-490: Was changed from direct to contractors. In the 1856 session of Parliament, the North Western Railway (a small company unconnected with the London and North Western Railway) was applying for running powers over part of the LNWR. In the course of the examination of witnesses, the illegal "common-purse" agreement which existed between the London and North Western and the Midland Railway was exposed. Euston Square
11088-482: Was conceived as a nominally independent company, the Marple, New Mills and Hayfield Junction Railway. Sponsored by the MS&LR it was authorised on 15 May 1860. It was to extend to New Mills with a branch from there to Hayfield . From Marple to New Mills the line opened for goods on 1 July 1865 and for passengers on 1 February 1867. Meanwhile, the Midland Railway was building a line up from near Miller's Dale, joining
11200-415: Was determined that the MS&LR should get its own route to London, and this became the scheme for the London Extension, a fearfully expensive project that risked alienating friendly companies. The London extension scheme changed the character of the MS&LR completely and dominated its final years. In 1897 the company changed its name to "The Great Central Railway ", and it was under that company name that
11312-407: Was discovered that a contractor had got into serious financial difficulty; the work was brought in-house. The first quadruple-track section of the MS&L, between Gorton and Ashburys, were drawn up in 1860. Negotiations were required with the LNWR over the use of the proposed widened lines between Ardwick junction and London Road. The MS&L were to vacate the original pair of tracks and be given
11424-405: Was effectively moribund by the time work on the GCML commenced, and historians who have examined the available primary sources have found no contemporaneous statement by Watkin that he envisaged through workings over the lines he controlled from Manchester to France. Although it is frequently claimed (by authors not referencing primary sources) that Watkin's Great Central Main Line was designed to
11536-453: Was felt immediately, and the removal of the pilot engine alone saved £800 a year. On 18 March 1852 a banquet was held at Grimsby to celebrate the completion of the MS&LR's dock; it entered public use in May and a branch from Grimsby Town station to the Docks and Pier stations, with two miles of internal dock lines, were ready on 1 August 1853. The Etherow and Dinting Vale viaducts on
11648-540: Was formally opened on 16 July 1849. A special train conveying the Directors ran from Liverpool to Grimsby in five hours. The line was opened to the public the following day, 17 July 1849. There were two stations at Stalybridge : the former SA&MR station and one belonging to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway . The companies agreed to rationalise, with the MS&LR station handling all passenger business, and
11760-753: Was largely neglected as other railway lines were thought to be more important. Although a very straight and direct line, it was designated a duplicate of the curvier Midland Main Line . In 1958 the line was transferred from the management of the Eastern Region to the London Midland Region , whose management still had loyalties to former companies (Midland/LMS) and against their rivals GCR/LNER. In January 1960, express passenger services from London to Sheffield and Manchester were discontinued, leaving only three "semi-fast" London-Nottingham trains per day. In March 1963 local trains on many parts of
11872-435: Was no longer practicable to control their company's day-to-day activities from the Board, and the decided to appoint a General Manager. The Board selected James Joseph Allport , appointed at a salary of £1,200 a year. Due to existing commitments he was not able to take up the post until 1 January 1850. Allport's appointment at what seemed to some to be a high salary caused some shareholder disquiet. The Great Northern Railway
11984-465: Was not agreed and adopted until 1912/13. Prior to the construction of the London Extension proper, the MS&LR had extended its reach southwards from its main trans-Pennine axis. In 1889 the company obtained an Act of Parliament to construct a line from Woodhouse Junction on its original Sheffield to Lincoln main line to Annesley in Nottinghamshire . The 'Derbyshire Lines' also included
12096-501: Was now vulnerable to a Chancery suit, and, in the spring of 1857 a director of the Great Northern Railway filed a petition in Chancery. The LNWR position was indefensible and Euston Square had no option but to terminate the arrangement; this was done on 12 May 1857. The Euston Square Confederacy was neutralised. Huish attempted further duplicity in trying to agree a sharing of traffic with the Great Northern Railway, but that company saw
12208-479: Was only used for wagon exchange purposes. Having now taken over three large railway schemes that were authorised but not yet started, the MS&LR had to let large contracts for construction. In February 1847 nearly half a million pounds worth of work was commissioned; the Sheffield and Lincolnshire Junction Railway main line from Woodhouse (near Sheffield) to Gainsborough, the Grimsby line to Market Rasen , and
12320-514: Was provided, and then the trains made the return trip. Public passenger services began on 15 March 1899, and for goods traffic on 11 April 1899. Shortly before the opening of the new line, the MS&LR changed its name to the grander-sounding " Great Central Railway " (GCR) to reflect its new-found national ambitions. The London extension was the last mainline railway line to be built in Britain until section one of High Speed 1 opened in 2003. It
12432-485: Was provided, at Dinting, at the Glossop branch junction. The original Dinting station was closed after an interval. In its first year of operation, the MS&LR had paid a 5% dividend on ordinary stock. This fell to 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 % for the first half of 1848, since when there were no further payments for six years. Progress continued on building the line between Grimsby and New Holland . The Grimsby-Louth line of
12544-588: Was the last main line railway to be built in Britain during the Victorian period . It was built by the railway entrepreneur Edward Watkin with the aim to run as a fast trunk route from the North and the East Midlands to London and the south of England. Initially not a financial success, it recovered under the leadership of Sam Fay . Although initially planned for long-distance passenger services, in practice
#966033