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davieG

City of Leicester & Leicestershire - The Good and Historical Stuff

By davieG, in General Chat

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davieG

davieG

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May be an image of railway and text

🚂 Hard to believe this was once one of Leicester's busiest railway landscapes...
This view looks across the Great Central Railway's Braunstone Gate Goods Yard, a vast complex that played a vital role in moving freight into and out of Leicester during the railway age.
At a time when much of the country's goods travelled by rail, yards like this handled everything from coal and timber to food, parcels and industrial supplies. The network of sidings, wagons and railway infrastructure seen here was an essential part of keeping the city running.
📍 Braunstone Gate Goods Yard, Leicester
Today, most traces of this once-busy railway operation have disappeared, making photographs like this an invaluable record of Leicester's industrial past.
Do you remember the goods yard, or have any family connections to Leicester's railway industry?
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davieG

davieG

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May be an image of tram and text

Seen on another page (Leicester Born and Bred), Caption copied from there.
Leyland bodied Leyland Titan PD 2/1 115 (FJF 154) was returning from a football special duty on Saturday, February 22, 1958, when the driver decided to take a short cut underneath the 12ft 6in-high Lancaster Road railway bridge. “The bridge won the contest, as the bus was decapitated, the whole of the top deck being peeled back and left in the roadway behind the bus
Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

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Posted
On 20/06/2026 at 19:02, davieG said:

May be an image of railway and text

🚂 Hard to believe this was once one of Leicester's busiest railway landscapes...
This view looks across the Great Central Railway's Braunstone Gate Goods Yard, a vast complex that played a vital role in moving freight into and out of Leicester during the railway age.
At a time when much of the country's goods travelled by rail, yards like this handled everything from coal and timber to food, parcels and industrial supplies. The network of sidings, wagons and railway infrastructure seen here was an essential part of keeping the city running.
📍 Braunstone Gate Goods Yard, Leicester
Today, most traces of this once-busy railway operation have disappeared, making photographs like this an invaluable record of Leicester's industrial past.
Do you remember the goods yard, or have any family connections to Leicester's railway industry?

I think the country would benefit from a return to moving the majority of goods by rail.

 

Instead of lots of artics trundling along motorways, holding up traffic, each city could have a huge warehouse complex and smaller lorries and vans delivering from there, leaving motorways to cars and light vehicles.

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davieG

davieG

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7 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I think the country would benefit from a return to moving the majority of goods by rail.

 

Instead of lots of artics trundling along motorways, holding up traffic, each city could have a huge warehouse complex and smaller lorries and vans delivering from there, leaving motorways to cars and light vehicles.

I believe there's plans to have a rail link to a massive warehouse complex near Hinckley

 

AI

 

The proposed £750m Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange (HNRFI) was officially refused planning permission by the UK Secretary of State for Transport on March 10, 2025. The controversial development aimed to build a massive, multi-purpose rail freight hub and distribution centre spanning 662 acres of farmland near Burbage Common, southwest of Elmesthorpe. [1, 2, 3]
Despite a recognized national need for rail freight infrastructure, the Department for Transport ultimately ruled that the proposal's negative highway safety impacts and local traffic strains outweighed its expected benefits. Major concerns included the inability of M69 junctions to cope with increased lorry traffic, safety risks in nearby Sapcote village, and severe rail delays at the Narborough level crossing caused by the proposed 775-metre-long trains. [1, 2]
What the Proposed Project Entailed
Had it been approved, developer Tritax Symmetry's plan for the Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange included: [1, 2, 3, 4]
  • Warehousing: Up to 850,000 square metres of high-bay logistics and distribution space. []
  • Rail Infrastructure: A dedicated "railport" intermodal terminal with parallel sidings connecting to the Leicester-to-Nuneaton line, capable of handling 16 freight trains per day. [, 2]
  • Road Infrastructure: Direct dedicated access from Junction 2 of the M69, adding a new northbound off-slip and southbound on-slip, alongside a new A47 link road. [, 2]
  • Job Creation: The project was projected to generate roughly 8,000 jobs across various skill levels. [1]
Existing Distribution Centres in Hinckley
While the major rail-linked terminal was rejected, Hinckley remains a prominent hub for road-based logistics due to its strategic position near the M69, M1, and A5. Major distribution centres operating in the immediate area include: [1, 2, 3]
 
There's a massive distribution park, Magna next to Lutterworth and the town hasn't got a station or rail line anymore
 
AI 
Lutterworth railway station and its corresponding line were permanently closed on May 5, 1969. Originally opened in 1899 as part of the Great Central Railway’s London Extension, it became a victim of the rationalization of duplicate railway routes, famously known as the Beeching cuts. [1, 2, 3]
The closure and fate of the station unfolded in a few key stages:
  • Closure: Freight and goods services ceased first, shutting down in May 1965. Passenger services continued temporarily until the entire line between Rugby Central and Nottingham closed completely in May 1969. [1, 2, 3]
  • Site Redevelopment: The original station and goods yard were completely dismantled. Today, the site is built over by a residential housing estate (Marylebone Drive and Faringdon Avenue), although a few remnants like the stationmaster's house on Station Road and overgrown pieces of the old bridge structure remain. [1, 2, 3]
  • Potential Reopening: Decades after its demise, there have been active community and political campaigns, such as proposals from Sustainable Transport Northamptonshire, to reopen the Lutterworth line and restore the railway station as part of a revived direct route between Leicester, Rugby, and Northampton. [1, 2]

 

But as we know we can't even get the go ahead for the Ivanhoe line and the track is mostly  there being used for freight from the quarries.

 

Leicester and Leicestershire bottom of the government pile. I can't see it improving under Burnham as it'll continue to go north and bypass the East Midlands

Free Falling Foxes

Free Falling Foxes

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, davieG said:

That warning on the Canals has been given for years now. I'd like to think it's improved but apparently not judging from outsiders continued warnings.

Indeed.

I nearly placed the link in the 'Is Leicester a dump' thread.

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Foxdiamond

Foxdiamond

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10 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Indeed.

I nearly placed the link in the 'Is Leicester a dump' thread.

I saw the episode of Canal Boat Diaries with Robbie Cumming. He mentioned that people had warned him not to stop in Leicester but he did anyway and found it interesting and all ok

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