TRANSPORT

RAILWAYS (PART 2)
THE CHARNWOOD FOREST RAILWAY - CHARNWOOD'S "LOST RAILWAY":
This single line track was built to continue the Shackerstone to Coalville branch of the Ashby and Nuneaton Railway. In 1874 an Act incorporating the CHARNWOOD FOREST COMPANY was formed to build the railway from LOUGHBOROUGH to COALVILLE, and then link up with the LNWR main line via the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway. The track was to veer north at WHITWICK to avoid a 600 foot climb and needed sharp curves and many cuttings.

On September 1st, 1881, work began on the eastern terminus at DERBY ROAD, LOUGHBOROUGH. The first sod was ceremonially cut by LADY ALICE PACKE and a speech was made by ARCHDEACON FEARON. There was a lavish lunch for the company directors and 200 local dignitaries.

The line opened on April 16th, 1883 and was operated by the LNWR. The beautiful scenery through which the line passed led to the line becoming known as "THE BLUEBELL LINE". Between 1883 and 1931, there was an average of 5 trains per day along the whole line, with others going part of the way.

THE ROUTE (EAST TO WEST):
LOUGHBOROUGH (DERBY ROAD)---(past Garendon Hill)---SNELL'S NOOK HALT---SHEPSHED STATION---(Tickow Lane Bridge)---GRACEDIEU HALT---THRINGSTONE HALT---WHITWICK STATION---COALVILLE STATION---(Link to LNWR Main Line).

The whole 9 1/2 mile journey took 30 minutes. Hoping to cash in on the nearby station, THE PLOUGH INN on THE RUSHES in Loughborough changes it's name to THE CHARNWOOD FOREST RAILWAY INN. Later it changed again to THE CHARNWOOD INN and today it is called THE SWAN IN THE RUSHES. In 1885 "Financial irregularities" led to the company being made bankrupt but by 1909, financial prudence finally took it out of the hands of the receiver. Gas lighting came to the stations on the line in 1902 but during the next twenty years, increases in cheaper and more flexible road traffic made it a powerful rival to the railway.

The FOREST LINE line became part of LMS (The LONDON, MIDLAND AND SCOTTISH RAILWAY) in 1923 but traffic continued to be disappointing. On April 12th, 1931, the steady decline in passengers and very low dividends for shareholders led to the withdrawal of all passenger services. The three passenger halts were closed and dismantled while the larger stations carried on, but with only three goods services per day. The last commercial passenger train to run on the Charnwood Forest line was a special trip to Southsea organised for the staff of Whitwick Colliery on August 15th 1939.

WORLD WAR II led to a temporary revival in the line's fortunes with the goods line very busy bringing ballast from Shepshed quarry to be used on aerodrome runways. It was also used for many all too frequent ambulance trains.

But peace brought back all the old problems. By the 1950s, most traffic was being re-routed onto the Midland Line, as the Charnwood Line was far too small for most new locomotives. The last goods train to leave LOUGHBOROUGH's DERBY ROAD station set out on October 31st, 1955. From then on, SHEPSHED became the eastern terminus of the line. The tracks between LOUGHBOROUGH and SHEPSHED were left intact, however, and used to store (some might say dump!) old carriages and wagons. Many people in Loughborough felt this to be an eyesore and complaints were frequent. The line was temporarily re-opened to passengers on September 9th, 1962 when a 'special' train was run for members of the George Stephenson Society and the Locomotive Society of Manchester.

The final act came in April 1963 when DR BEECHING, the Minister of Transport, travelled the line to make a personal inspection. His recommendations led to the final closure of the line in the early summer of that year. There was almost no local objection - in fact, it is doubtful if many people even noticed. BEECHING'S trip on the line made him the line's very last passenger of all.

From then on, decline was rapid. The Goods stations at WHITWICK and SHEPSHED closed on October 7th and the very last train of all ran December 11th between SHEPSHED to COALVILLE. Despite hauling just seven wagons of stone from Charnwood Granite Company, the train was decorated with garlands and left dead on time!

In 1964, SHEPSHED STATION was demolished and COALVILLE EAST station closed. The site of the demolished DERBY ROAD STATION in LOUGHBOROUGH was ironically used to build a petrol station! Within a few days of closure, the track was torn up and the CHARNWOOD FOREST RAILWAY was no more. What remains of the line is now used as a footpath and nature trail.

FOREST LINE STATIONS AND HALTS:
SHEPSHED STATION:
The name on SHEPSHED station read "SHEEPSHED" until May 1888. It was located on the "down" line at the southern end of the town and access was from Spring Lane or Charnwood Road. The design was very similar to COALVILLE EAST except that SHEPSHED had a passing loop with a second platform. There was an open waiting area with an inclined roof on the "up" line and a small signal box on the station. In it's early years, SHEPSHED station was famous for it's prize-winning floral displays. Those opposite the main building also used to have the word "SHEPSHED" picked out in white stones. After the line closed, the station master's house was still lived in and the offices used for goods business. Once completely closed in 1963, the buildings were bought by the council and the house briefly used as accommodation. But the station quickly became derelict and was demolished in 1974. A new road - Old Station Close - was built on the old trackway and the rest of the site is now covered by an industrial estate.

SNELL'S NOOK HALT:
This tiny platform was almost exclusively used by the DE LISLE family of GARENDON HALL and their guests. It was located at the point where the line crossed over the drive leading from a lodge Snell's Nook Lane to GARENDON HALL itself. The platform was reached by a short flight of steps up the embankment and the "waiting hut" was of standard LNWR design. The halt was very busy when the Leicestershire Yeomanry and the Territorial Army held training camps at GARENDON before the First World War. Over 17,000 passengers passed through the halt in 1911 on their way to such camps. Golfers on their way to Longcliffe Golf Course provided another major source of passengers. Although the platform is long gone and the bridge removed, the embankment can still be seen.

LOUGHBOROUGH DERBY ROAD STATION (TERMINUS):
Although the most important station on the line, this was a decidedly unimpressive building. It stood on the A6 Derby Road about half a mile out of the town centre but this was not the site originally intended. That would have been next to the present Midland Railway station on Nottingham Road but the cost of this proved prohibitive. The final station was a very plain, single storey building which did NOT have a station master's house - the LOUGHBOROUGH incumbent had to rely on renting!

The main offices faced onto Derby Road itself while the passenger facilities ran alongside the only one of the four platforms to be used for passenger traffic. One of the peculiarities of the station was a boiler for filling foot warming cans before the development of carriage heating. After the line closed to passengers in 1931 the station continued for goods traffic and storage for a further twenty four years. Complete closure came in 1955, after which the building was used for various purposes, including a builders merchant's premises and a polling station! The station was finally demolished in 1965 and the site used, ironically, as a petrol station!

THE STORY OF BILL BLUDSOE:
The lateness of trains on the CHARNWOOD FOREST LINE was notorious and even gave rise to poetry on one occasion. An anonymous correspondent to a Loughborough newspaper had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he told, in verse, the story of BILL BLUDSOE who supposedly had his life saved by the inefficiency of the trains. Determined to commit suicide, BILL BLUDSOE lay down on the FOREST LINE to wait for death in the shape of the train to SHEPSHED. However, he was working from the published timetable.... When the train failed to appear after half an hour, BLUDSOE got bored with waiting and went to the pub instead! The poem begins:

"What say! You have never heard, sir,
Of the Shepshed Down Express,
How it saved Bill Bludsoe's life, sir?
My word, sir! - and you on the Press!

One night 'e left all 'is pals, sir,
Determined to make a mess,
We none of us knew till after -
And, Lord, sir, would you ever guess? -
'E went and laid down on the line, sir,
To wait for the Down Express.

But Bill, sir, had gone by time-table -
I've done it myself, I confess -
For it's always on page two of "ECHO",
But that don't bind Shepshed Express."

The poem continues in like style, ending with the fortunate BLUDSOE ordering another drink in the pub:

"Jes' as that train rattled by, sir,
At eight mile and hour, more or less."

THE IVANHOE LINE:
This was opened in 1994 to run on the slow line of the existing MIDLAND COUNTIES RAILWAYS. It is a local service running between LEICESTER and LOUGHBOROUGH, with several direct services going on to NOTTINGHAM. A third, short platform was built at LOUGHBOROUGH STATION in 1994 to accommodate the new service.

THE IVANHOE LINE has led to the "resurrection" of stations in SYSTON, SILEBY, and BARROW ON SOAR, although with nothing like their original grandeur. They are more like small village "halts" with shelters and only basic facilities. As with many local transport services, the future of the IVANHOE LINE is constantly a topic of debate but as things stand it is an invaluable renewed rail link between villages and the larger towns and cities of the region.

Overview 1
Overview 2

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