Stretches of the old Great Central Main Line in Nottinghamshire were recently tamped during a training exercise conducted by VolkerRail.

After the completion of repair work on Bridge 302A, located about halfway between Ruddington and Rushcliffe Halt, the tamper machine could traverse the entire route.

A few days later a preliminary test train also ran as far as Rushcliffe Halt.

There are plans for a diesel multiple-unit service to operate between Nottingham Transport Heritage Station and Rushcliffe Halt for Christmas events this December 2024.

Subsequently, plans are also underway to introduce steam services.

“VolkerRail needed a location to train some tamper operators and we had a line which needed some fettling. It was a win win situation and we’d like to thank the team who spent three days in September, working over several long stretches of the main line towards Loughborough. It’s a real boost as we prepare to run our first passenger trains over the main line in a number of years. It’s another step in the revival of the northern section of the GCR, as we prepare to reconnect to the Leicestershire section of the line.”

Andy Fillingham of Great Central Railway (Nottingham)

GCR(N) runs heritage trains on the old Great Central Railway line in Nottinghamshire. Its base is the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre, which also hosts a dynamic group of volunteers dedicated to the preservation of vintage buses, model railways, and a miniature railway that carries passengers.

The Great Central Railway Nottinghamshire (GCR(N)) is collaborating with the Great Central Railway, which runs from Loughborough Central to Leicester North, there are plans afoot to join both heritage lines together as part of the Reunification project. This will establish a continuous 18-mile heritage route across the East Midlands.

Using tamping and other track relaying machines is not new to the world of heritage railways.

While the majority of preserved railways still replace rails by hand, to preserve the skills of track and plate layers from decades gone by, modern machines are also used to realign and smoothen out the profile of the rails, giving them extended life.

It also gives the chance for upcoming apprentices and trainees who are destined to head into a career in national railway infrastructure, first hand experience within a railway environment.