EMRT - Taking the long view...

EMRT - Taking the long view...

The rail line from Loughborough to Ruddington has been entered into the bid for support from the Department for Transport's Restore Your Railway funding of rail development ideas. By this means East Midlands Railway Trust is reaching out to all rail users once the current issues - pandemic and rail interruptions - are cured, with a very positive long-term development plan, in total accord with GCR PLC.

Each year it becomes harder to fathom where the northern section of the future GGCR will be driven. The PLC reasonably has made its short-term position quite clear – it must protect its commercial interests and is looking for fundamental management change in

Ruddington. EMRT fully appreciates this and has the same goal. Rest assured EMRT has in its sights much more than an ordinary future. It is wider than rail, and it may well startle onlookers as to how it will be delivered. Fundamental change is needed and that will upset some. All will be heartily welcomed once the dust has settled. This is no time for infighting.

The significance of recent events - the ORR visit, the suspension of rail traffic and the devastating news of the rotten state of crucial bridge decks (in contrast to the now pristine Canal Bridge) - may not be immediately apparent. They have undoubtedly been a catalyst for a new reality which was already creeping into the volunteer’s thinking – and a great change is building up into a compelling force.

Change is critical….

The choice emerging before the volunteer teams is simple - embrace the change or rapid decline will set in – and we know just how horrific any heritage venture is if it fails. It is all too easy to get close to the edge – many readers will remember the PLC's narrow escape in the early 2000s.

East Midlands Railway Trust - a not-for-profit charity with a low capital base – as owner, centred at Ruddington, of the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre and the railway south to Loughborough, with its connection to the Midland Main Line – is nevertheless asset rich and is engaged in widening and increasing its management strength to develop a

comprehensive plan. Willy Nilly, it has GCR PLC as its major partner. Key priority is

completing the reconnection by Bridging the Gap, as all else relies on that, to convince any doubters who remain that it is going to be commercially viable and a sustainable business.

To this end EMRT is assessing what use can be made of all parts of its property – and playing

trains, though nice, does not figure.  So, we continue to hone plans to meet the ultimate

goal of a world beating 32-mile return journey.   We are very aware that total commitment

to maintaining the infrastructure is a crucial element – but we must build on that to keep

prospective southern visitors happy and returning regularly for more. 

Our northern GCR shopping list

While we need to fundraise in earnest for our essential future projects, our current concern is not to intrude on the present drive for volunteers' funding to Bridge the Gap. At some stage though we will have to fund-raise like crazy – but first things first. Ahead of us is a heavy demand for expenditure which must happen to cater for new passenger traffic before traffic from Leicester North and Loughborough commences. First and foremost, we must understand how the freight traffic is to be resumed and sustainable in the long term, using the national network via the MML spur. It is that spur and the A60 bridge which allows bulk materials to be imported to the British Gypsum plasterboard factory at East Leake.

Uncovering the dire condition of two of the steel decked bridges has come as a devastating revelation; repairs will drain cash to the bottom of the barrel. However, they are critically important, and these repairs cannot be delayed. The BG plasterboard plant remains the largest such producer in Europe and the potential for traffic to continue and possibly increase is there for all to see. This is vital to parallel the Heritage services we all love to see.

Through route to Loughborough, Tornado bursts from East Leake tunnel Photo – Phil Sharpe

We have already assessed the minimum requirements of development of the rail element in our planning. As already stated, our long-term shopping list for passenger services is short but fulfils fundamental needs with the aim to complete in 5 years……

•

Develop the track and signalling between Loughborough Junction and Fifty Steps

junction – with parallel tracks to allow for holding a full-length freight train

•

Install passing loop at the East Leake station platform – first stage to re-opening

•

Designing and installing South Chord cut-off connection and track realignment at Asher Lane

•

Complete review of Heritage Centre development and install a passenger handling facility

Our modest shopping list starts here with a new loop and junction to separate the MML- bound freight and passenger charter traffic from the heritage services running over the old GCR route. We accept the PLC's reasonable expectation to access to the MML but we will all need to understand and conform to the EMRT basic plan for the junction between the three railways (GCRN, GCR PLC and NR). The connection can be made only by trains crossing over EMRT infrastructure, so getting it right is fundamental to success.

EMRT is moving minds now as to what should be in the eye of the future visitor to the line. 

We are evolving more to become partners in this exciting adventure.  Only by increasing visitor numbers significantly can there be a sustainable future.  Our next steps therefore are critical – and hoping it will pay off, we are to put the EMRT‘s longer term shopping list in front of our LEP and then Department for Transport grant providers – To re-invigorate and restore our railway and re-open the line for increased commercial traffic.  We have the right features and now need to publicise these for what they can do for the Greater GCR, to attract the funds.  From this point of view, we are fortunate to have secured the support of Notts County Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council and our very interested local MP Ruth Edwards. 

British Gypsum bulk raw materials train at Rushcliffe Halt Photo – Courtesy of GCRN

The maintenance of the line and its structures - of the Loughborough viaduct over the River

Soar and the short East Leake tunnel - must be at the heart of all our development plans. 

The South Chord alignment has been surveyed and the potential earthworks requirements set out, the re-alignment across Asher Lane is being evaluated and there is an investigation into the best rail and pedestrian accesses into the two-platform terminus station proposed new terminal building in the Heritage Centre. 

Where are tomorrow’s drivers coming from?

As you are probably aware, the Nottingham-end has been populated by volunteers from the start – some have migrated and many have retired, thus numbers have steadily dwindled over time.  Now a great need exists to encourage recruitment – especially youngsters and managers - to pick up the duties and responsibilities, develop skills and capabilities and expand our business base. 

We are not just talking of drivers of trains but of the whole project, including the Centre, the railway, the wider business interests, and the populations alongside the route. 

The Greater GCR, when the Gap is bridged and the track opened for traffic, will make a massive step up the tourism and heritage railway league.  Success will build on success – and what a leap that will prove. 

We must press hard on the imaginations of today’s and the next generations – but first we need to persuade many to forsake the comfort of their sofa, the tv and digital diversions and embrace the joys of the great outside and what this business – and hobby - is all about.

We currently have too little in the way of educational and training facilities. The whole GGCR enterprise must grow to share in people development.

Where are we going with the GCR and heritage rail?

It is an obvious fact that so much about the Ruddington Heritage Centre has to change. It has amazing facilities and yet is a shambles. Even now, thirty years since the GCR NDA volunteers first opened the gates, the facilities for the public are appalling – or rather have yet to arrive. We look forward to the first train to arrive from Leicester and Loughborough - but to what? It is a big, big question which won't be answered without raising and

spending significant amounts of money.

There is quite a discussion going on right now about how heritage should or should not be complementary to the operation of the spectacular steam locomotives. Heritage

semaphore and electric colour light signals are also a debate, yet decisions are taken without much consultation. Is heritage being sacrificed too much on the altar of business efficiency because it is so original? And would not Swithland without David Clarke's semaphores be very bleak indeed.

While BR Mk 1 carriages are now period heritage vehicles in their own right, what of the

LNER Gresley teak bodied carriages and even more the much earlier GCR Robinson

classics? It can be argued that in monetary terms it is far easier and more efficient to

specialise only in modern steel bodied types. But then the railway’s character starts to

diminish, the sizzle of the sausage (the double track reality) doused, and our train will look

no different to those on most other heritage lines. One needs only to look to the Bluebell or

the Isle of Wight Railways to see how quality heritage rolling stock can attract significant

revenue as a unique selling point. The original Great Central Railway took very great care of

its public image and its appeals to the traveller. It was on a competitive knife edge – but knew how to promote its best features. It worked then and it worked well.

Bringing in new impetus…

EMRT is now drawing in new and valuable advisors to spread the load that has been carried remarkably robustly by so few over the last couple of years. We are into quite an excitement phase. Planning and assessing what we can do, might do, must do, but also having a keen eye to what the public wants most, is a vital part of deciding for the future. Comfort, car parking, tea and coffee, more substantial catering, clean toilets and again comfort away from the weather are essential to attracting new and holding onto repeat custom.

The forgoing synopsis brings us right up to date. We are going through those fundamental questions right now to find much more practical answers. Can we deliver our four-point shopping list? Can we provide for those coming north, over the bridged gap, to land at a place of imagination and fascination? We can't have a delightful train ride that ends in anything but a massively interesting location if we want to achieve success. Can we build into the Ruddington Heritage Centre the one element any sales body would give its hind teeth for – the continuous and increasing numbers of excited visitors coming back for more, over and over again? Well, that happens down Loughborough-way, so why not up in the line in the next County too?

ENDS