Great video and I'm glad you enjoyed visiting us at the Heritage Centre. Very pleased to finally see some video evidence of me driving in the Ruston!

@sarahnetherton4501

7 күн бұрын

Pleased to have been of service!! I'm coming back to the Heritage Centre for a longer visit, because I didn't have enough time when I made the video to see everything.

excellent video captured the heritage center lovely too i work as a guard and driver on the narrow gauge railway there its a great place to bring children and other railway enthusiasts

@isambardtrump468

15 күн бұрын

Hi - thanks for your kind words. I'll look about for you if you're on duty when I next visit and say hello.

Good to see the branch in use. I had a very small hand in helping with the clearance and track laying. A remarkable contrast to one summer weekday evening around the turn of the century when a few of us GCR volunteers, having finished some work on the GCR quicker than expected, went for a nosey down the abandoned trackbed. Despite having iron bars with us we only made it a hundred yards or so due to density of vegetation.

@sarahnetherton4501

13 күн бұрын

Agreed - Great to see the line back in use again. If only the access to the branch was a bit easier so it could be operated more often, but I realise when funds are tight there's a limit to what any railway can do. Reunification is of course the priority project at GCR.

Question answered.Really interesting video for me as l grew up in Leicester in the 50’s/60’s and remember the G C R when it was fully functional.Sadly l saw its demise as well.

Many years ago i walked about a mile from the junction and it was just about passable. I certainly never thought trains would ever return.

@sarahnetherton4501

13 күн бұрын

I'm sure you weren't alone in that view!

That was really enjoyable. I have the feeling that some preserved lines are for money; which is of course important; but that others are run by pure enthusiasts. You are definitely in the latter.

@sarahnetherton4501

21 күн бұрын

Thanks for your lovely comments. The GCR has been through tough financial times, as have almost all of the heritage lines, so it's great to be able to support their efforts to preserve our transport history. I think the GCR offers great value for money, and I think their volunteers are, as you say, very enthusiastic about what they are doing, which makes for a fantastic atmosphere every time I have visited.

I can remember as a child playing in some old wooden wagons that were abandoned in the cutting near Nunckley Hill. Never thought that the line would be used as a passenger branch line! In my younger days I can recall walking along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal by Frog Island and going under the Swannington Railway lift Bridge when it was still in its rightful place doing the job it was built for. Sad it's not still there but at least it survives in a much renovated condition. It always fascinated me and I spent a long time looking at it and trying to work out just how it operated. It doesn't look quite the same without the canal beneath it and the woodwork was never that pristine! It was a very mucky and murky spot where it stood. I always thought it was a bit spooky!

@sarahnetherton4501

14 сағат бұрын

Brilliant to have this very local history - Thanks for your comments. Yes the original timbers of the lifting bridge haven't survived, but all of the ironwork is original

I couldn’t quite make it out but was that a remake of Stephenson’s lift bridge in the Nunockley Hill yard ?I remember the one over the Soar when l was a kid.

@sarahnetherton4501

21 күн бұрын

Hi - Glad you enjoyed the "tour". Yes the bridge you saw at the Heritage Centre sounds like the one you remember. I believe it was near Bath Lane in Leicester.