Icing would be news of double trackingfrom Rothley to Leicester North... Whatever happens, be sure that youwill be able to keep up-to-date via thispublication!

LEICESTER RAILWAY MUSEUMUPDATE!

We have appointed Focus Consult-ants to help us prepare a strong case toapply for Heritage Lottery Funding(HLF) Focus are very experienced inassembling the various supporting docu-mentation such as the interpretationstrategy, consultation with various stake-holders and the outline design and thiswork is currently underway with a dead-line of 30th Nov to submit to HLF. We also hosted a visit from the HLFfor a site visit and also to look at all ourother facilities which added context tothe proposed museum.Lili Tabiner, Funding and Develop-

ment Manager.

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.

July 2013. No. 60.

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

It was during the year 1969 that MamaCass (of the Mamas and the Papas)made the hit song with the title of our

headline this month. From our railway’s point of view it wasnot a very appropriate title, for, as weall know, it was the year that finallysounded the death knell of the ‘LondonExtension’. To all intents and purposesour line had ceased to exist (as far asthe National Network was concerned.) But the title has taken on a verydifferent significance with the recentannouncement that Network Rail isnow in partnership with us, and is in-tent upon speeding up the pace of ourreunification plans, and will concentrateon the reinstatement of the bridge overthe MML at Loughborough Midland sta-tion. This will help us to realise a longcherished dream, to become a uniqueeighteen mile Inter-City heritage main-line steam railway, and which was thedream of our founder members. Truly, a new spirit of optimism is nowsweeping the line, and the constanttopic of conversation is this momen-tous news! During the last eighteen months, howmuch has taken, and is taking placelocally, and along the GCR. First was the advent of Green Acres,which finally provided an attraction atthe southern end of the line, then, asthe icing on the cake, news broke of theplan to erect an outstation of the NRMadjacent to us, surely the cherry on the

“It’s Getting Better”

Reunification News!

WARTIME WEEK ENDUPDATE!

This recent event once again was aresounding success, here at your localstation on the GCR, resulting in recordticket sales over the two days, and avery healthy result from the efforts ofthe buffet staff.The first day, Fri. saw our station be-sieged by several hundred

“Evacuees”from local primary schools,with their gas mask boxes around theirnecks, all eager for the train to arriveand take them further along the line.On arriving back at our station an houror two later, the adults accompanyingthem told us that their little charges hadthoroughly enjoyed themselves andwere sorry that it was all over.The same can be said with regard to therailway as a whole, with many commen-dations from those who attended theevent.Truly, this annual attraction seems to gofrom strength to strength, which hasallayed many fears that the current eco-nomic climate would have had an ad-verse effect on the outcome.Continued overleaf!

Computer Generated Impression of “The Bridge” over the MML. Photo. Network Rail

German Defensive Position at Lé Birstall Photo B. Rowe

The Bridge will be built by early2015.

"OUR APPEAL TARGET IS£1m"

The previous estimate by AtkinsConsultants was £2.3m!There’s no stopping now, but we doneed to pay the bill!Go to www.gcrailway.co.uk/unifyfor details of this Appeal.EVERY POUND DONATED WILLHELP TO SHORTEN THE TIME ITWILL TAKE TO MAKE THIS VISION AREALITY!

how to make the weekend bigger andbetter for next year!

Not long now until the children break-up for their summer holidays, we havelots planned at Greenacres including:Summer Holiday Specials at thePlatform Café, GreenacresThe platform Café at Greenacres will beopening on Mondays from 10.00 am-4.00pm throughout the Summer Holi-days from 15th July with colouring,craft and outdoor activities to keep thelittle ones entertained.Kids Eat for £1-Kids eat for £1 everyMonday during the Summer Holidays(excluding August Bank Holiday).Choose a kids meal from the kids menufor £1 with every full priced adult mealpurchased. 15th July through to 19thAugust.Fish Fridays- Fish, Chips & Mushy Peas£8.49 for 2, every Friday in July, toreserve a table please ring 01509 633870.Teddy Bears Picnic at GreenacresSchool Holiday Fun at Greenacres withTeddy bears picnic every Tues. Wed. &Thurs. From 23rd July to 8th August.Why not bring your favourite cuddlybear to join in the fun at GreenacresAnd meet Greenacres Ted. There willalso be bouncy castle fun, face painting,colouring and craft table, teddy bearhunt, plus The Platform Café will beopen all day providing lovely homemadefood.Greenacres Summer Fair-Satur-day 3rd AugustGreenacres will be hosting its first Sum-mer Fair with lots going on for all thefamily and the trains will be runningthroughout the day.The Singing Princess will be joining us,singing some favourite tunes from Cin-derella, Mary Poppins, Little mermaidplus many more.Livi Lollipop will be providing the facepainting, there will be a bouncy castle,stalls and The Platform Café will beopen all day.All we need is the sun to shine!

Leicester North Station Arrivals & Departures every Sat. and Sun. 6th April to 27th October 2013.‘Special’ Timetables apply on ‘Gala

Days’, “Thomas” & other eventsetc!

(see web site for details)

Leaflets advertising ‘Drive a TrainExperiences’, Dining Trains etc

available from the Waiting Room!

www.gcrailway.co.uk

NOTICEIf you wish to be kept informedabout Leicester North Station

this “Newsletter” is available on-line. Go to www.gcrailway.co.uk

click on “Leicester North Station”and the link to the latest issue is

at the bottom of the page.

Arrivals10.08. 10.30. 11.30. 12.30. 1.30. 2.07. 2.45. 3.45 4.43.

Departures10.10. 10.45. 11.45. 12.45. 1.45. 2.20. 3.00. 4.00 4.55.

LEICESTER NORTH NEWSLETTERContinued from front pageIt just goes to prove that the public willmake the effort, when they know thatsuch a professional team have put theirall, into making it an attractive familyday-out! Once again we were privileged to havethe German reenactment group

“Panzer Lehr” at our station, and as hasbeen the case for the past few yearsthey proved to be as popular as everwith our visitors, so I think we can beassured that they will be with us onceagain in 2014.

MAINTENANCE REPORT!The maintenance team have killed twobirds with one stone when we gave thetunnel room a much needed tidy upwhilst putting away the remains' of thevery busy war weekend.As usual mowing and strimming haveoccupied most of our time. Work onthe flower beds continues with the re-moval of plants that have finished flow-ering and the bedding plants that havereplaced them are almost all in positionnow.The weather has prevented someplanned weed killing but the hedge cutback has been started. As always we arebehind with the painting and I realisethat it would help us so much if we hada dedicated painter willing to join us ona Wednesday. So if there isanyone out there who wouldlike to volunteer , you wouldbe most welcome.Mike DunkMaintenance Team Leader

GREEN ACRES NEWS! For the first time during War Week-end Greenacres was turned into an‘American Base’, with a team of re-enactors(picture) , lots of equipmentand the brilliant Ricky Hunter and FionaHarrison entertaining us all weekend. We also had a visit from the lovelyRuth Goodman, being shown aroundthe event by our own Owen Jones.My thanks to all for making it such amagical event, we are already thinking

Inspire Creationz - New CraftGroup at Greenacres.Inspire Creationz are a new craft groupthat meet up at Greenacres. They offercard making & scrapbook classes suita-ble for all levels. Why not join them foran afternoon of crafting to try the latestcraft products, an ideal opportunity tomeet like minded crafter's. All classdetails can be found on their website -http://www.inspirecreationz.com. Class-es must be booked in advance.For all the latest information follow uson Facebook with Greenacres or onTwitter@The SidingsLE3

TELEPHONE NUMBERS!

LEICESTER NORTH0116 261 0946

LOUGH. CENT.01509 632 323

THE PLATFORM CAFE077785 12275