Heritage route
Great Central Railway
Loughborough → Leicester North · England
Britain’s only double-track heritage main line, where two steam expresses can pass at speed just as they did on the last main line built towards the Continent.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 165267 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 4 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: Great Central Railway — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Great Central Railway?
The Great Central Railway runs 13 km from Loughborough to Leicester North.
How long does the Great Central Railway take?
The fastest scheduled journey is 50 min for the 13 km. That is an average of 16 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 40 km/h.
Who runs the Great Central Railway?
Great Central Railway, with preserved express steam & Mk1 coaches.
How old is the Great Central Railway?
The line has been in service since 1899. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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