Greenacres currently has various sized unitsto lease out ranging from rooms for start-upbusinesses to larger rooms for establishedcompanies. If you would like to visit the site pleasecontact Lesley Allardyce on 07778512275. If you are thinking of booking a venue fora special event please cointact the café directon 01509 633870. We already have a wed-ding booked-in plus Christmas 2016 book-ings! We look forward to seeing you all in theNew Year.

“Time”, they say, “Marches On”, and itcertainly does. As year succeeds year,

each year brings with it a crop of Changes,Challenges and Opportunities which haveto be dealt with, but which, in theend,usually result in improvements to ourrailway, and so it should be! Who could have foretold the way inwhich the GCR has developed, only a fewyears ago? Here at your local GCR station, changeshave taken place recently with regard tostaffing and environment, that will hopeful-ly, enable us to continue to attract manymore visitors from our large “catchment-area”. Bruce Smith, our Senior Stationmas-ter has the following to report.. “PaulEdeson has now been appointed to theposition of Deputy Stationmaster, hav-ing given up the position of Senior Book-ing Clerk, and that position has now beentaken by Geoff Manchester. Dave McWilliams has now been raised to theposition of Platform Inspector. John Casingena aka J.C. Has now beenmade up to Duty Stationmaster. Thanks are extended to Paul for all thehard work he has put in over the years asSenior Booking Clerk, and be assured, hewill be seen, in the Booking Office, fromtime to time.

A big ‘Thank You’ is extended to allstaff for all the time that they have put inover the past year. On a sadder note, Brian has ‘Hung his Hatup’ as a member of the platform staff,‘Thank you Brian, you will be missed.You are the last link we have of theold GCR’.

But, in saying that, he will still be doingour newsletter, and hopefully, we will seehim at Leicester North from time to time,see you soon, We will keep your mug ( ½mug) for you. Platform 1 has been repaired, and a lot ofpainting has been done and other repairsaround the station, including areas thatpassengers do not see, (see MaintenanceReport for more details). All the staff at Leicester North wish all

The font used in this publication is ‘Gill Sans’, a true ‘Railway Font’ being designed by Eric Gill in 1927 for the LNER for use on their Notices and Posters.

This Newsletter is an independent publication, and whilst every attempt is made to ensure accuracy of information, any discrepancies are not the responsibility of Great Central Railway.

If you have any material that you think may be useful for this publication, please e-mail me at:: brian.rowe2@virginmedia.com

Our friends and passengers a good NewYear for 2016, see you all soon!

MAINTENANCE REPORT!

Mike Dunk, our MaintenanceTeam Leader reports...”At this timeof the year the maintenance team istaking a rest, so not too much to report. The tarmac repairs to the path near tothe entrance gate have been carried outtogether with repairs to the dangerouskerbs along the short platform. Gratefulthanks to the Loughborough team fortheir help with this task. The flower tubs on the short platformhave been repaired and painted off-site,and we have planted out our Remem-brance Garden ready to bloom in thespring. The litter bin painting has beencompleted. We still make a weekly check on thelitter situation around the station area sothat it is always tidy. At last, the leaf fall is complete, so wehave had a good sweep-up on the plat-form, from end to end. Wishing all our visitors a Happy NewYear!”

GREENACRES NEWS!

Hoping all our customers had a lovelyChristmas and are looking forward tocelebrating the New Year. Over NewYear The Platform Café will be closed onNew Year’s Day then open as normalfrom the 2nd January 10 am-4 pm. January is normally one of the quietermonths at the café giving us a chance tohave a good clear out and clean up! That said, we do have a couple ofprivate bookings towards the end of themonth plus we will be gearing up for theWinter Steam Gala from Friday 29th -Sunday 31st January, with guest locosand freight trains over the weekend pro-viding an extensive timetable. As a resultThe Platform Café will be providing aGala Menu to suit the event for all to popin and refuel!

NOTICEIf you wish to be kept in-

formed about Leicester NorthStation this “Newsletter” is

available online. Go towww.gcrailway.co.uk click on

“Leicester North Station” andthe link to the latest issue is at

the bottom of the page.

JAN. 2016 No. 89

Bruce SmithSenior Stationmaster

Paul EdesonDeputy Stationmaster

Mike DunkMaintenance Team

INTO 2016!

The original station that used to standon this site was known as BELGRAVEAND BIRSTALL, but, by the time thatthe present Heritage Railway hadreached this far south the buildings werein such a sorry state, owing to vandalism,that the decision was taken to rebuild.To have rebuilt it to its originalappearance would have beenprohibitively expensive, so the presentstation is something of a compromise.(Plans are, however, in the pipelineto make many improvements.) Any donations that you feel able to make,to speed up these proposals would bemost welcome (please use the donationbox in the Waiting Room.) It was a typical GCR station with theusual “Island” platform, accessed via aflight of stairs from the bridge. If you lookto the left you will see where the originalstaircase descended from the bridge (nowbricked up). The present station is siteda little further south than the original. Thetwo intermediate stations, ROTHLEY,and QUORN & WOODHOUSE, stillbeing intact will give you a better idea,although there is a larger copy of thephoto (below) on the wall of our waitingroom.

www.gcrailway.co.uk

LEICESTER NORTH NEWSLETTER

LEICESTER NORTH STATION ARRIVALS & DEPARTURES WEEKENDS. ( JANUARY 2016)Arrivals

10.45 11.45 12.45 1.57 2.45 3.45

Departures 11.00 12.00 1.00 2.10 3.00 4.00

Leaflets advertising ‘Drive a TrainExperiences’, Dining Trains etc

available from the Waiting Room!

‘Special’ Timetables apply on ‘GalaDays’, “Thomas” & other events

etc!(see web site for details)

FORTHCOMINGATTRACTIONS

NEW YEARS TRAINSJan. 2nd-3rd

PULLMAN BURNSNIGHT DINING TRAIN

Sat. Jan. 23rdWINTER GALA

Jan 29th-31stVALENTINE DINING

TRAINSSat. Sun. Feb 14th,15th

VILLAINS & SUPERHE-ROES

Mon. 15th-Fri. 19th

With its continental loading gauge, slowcurves and lack of grades steeper than1 in 176, the Great Central was yearsahead of its rivals’ routes into the capital. Add to the aforementioned the planto continue under London, and then,after travelling south, to traverse theEnglish Channel via a channel tunnel,one can see that it would have been awonderful asset to the nation. (Who knows how much further itwould have developed by the presentday?) The Great Central Railway (LondonExtension), was the brainchild of theVictorian Industrialist Edward Watkin,who envisioned a rapid rail link to thecontinent that would have been farsuperior those of his rivals’. Unfortunately, by the 1950's the NationalNetwork was under acute threat fromroad transport, which was reaping thebenefits of the new motorways thatwere being constructed, and which wasalso suffering from a serious lack ofinvestment by the government of theday. This, coupled with the fact that thearea served by the GCR was also coveredby other lines, which had always lookedupon the GCR as an interloper, madeit inevitable that it would be the firstto go, under the now infamous “BeechingPlan”.

Pre-Beeching the railway continuedsouth, the next main station beingLeicester Central, from there continuingon to Whetstone, Lutterworth, Rugbyand finally terminating at LondonMarylebone.

THE GREAT CENTRALRAILWAY (1899-1969)

Loco. No. 44847 on the 14:38 Marylebone-Notting-ham, passing Belgrave & Birstall station master’shouse (now the “Green Acres” site) 8/8/1966.Taken by P. Skinns, (former Parcel Acc's. Clerk,Leicester Central Station).

TELEPHONE NUMBERSLEICESTER NORTH

0116 261 0946

LOUGHBOROUGH CENTRAL01509 632 323

THE PLATFORM CAFÉ077785 12275

This photo shows how the originalstation looked, before demolition.(Photographer unknown).

LEICESTER NORTHSTATION

If you have any memories or photos ofBelgrave and Birstall station, please con-tact me via the e-mail address on pageone, or ring me on 0116 2250254