Leicester City

With our friends we went for a ride on the Great Central Railway from terminus to terminus, starting in the middle, at Rothley.

This line runs a couple of fields behind my old home, so trains were a very familiar sight in my youth, until the Beeching act closed it down. Now it is a thriving preservation line. Our run was hauled by BR Standard class 9F 2-10-0 92214, built in Swindon in 1959 and decommissioned after only 6 years, in 1965, but began a programme of preservation in 1980. Variously (and unusually) named Cock of the North and Central Star it currently bears the name Leicester City.

The extra shows another engine approaching the station, BR Standard class 5 4-6-0 73156, built in Doncaster in 1956 and worked in several regions before decommission 11 years later. Of note here is the key held ready to hand over, which guarantees that the engine has vacated that section of single track.

We are now ensconced in our very comfortable residence for the next week.