Leicester - Burton Line Usage

[D854_Tiger]

Apart from the weekly (or is it bi-weekly) Tube stock delivery train I believe there are no other booked workings over this line west of Mantle Lane (Coalville).

 

Is the line used by any other traffic, Youtube only has clips of railtours or one off NR test trains which kind of tells its own story.

 

A work colleague who lives local (house backs onto the line) says that, before the Tube stock delivery trains, you could go weeks between trains, usually an occasional stone train working always after midnight.

 

He even recalls a neighbour telling him the line was closed (apparently he had been walking his dog along it) and didn't believe a word of it when told otherwise.

 

Apparently, when Bardon Hill is busy, three trains in a day, the constraint is the time taken to load the trains hence the post midnight departure which then is routed towards Burton, not Leicester, the more usual route.

 

He believes the routing is something to do with keeping one less signalbox open after midnight, as it is, the boxes are normally only manned for afternoon shift.

 

Strange to consider that without those Tube stock delivery trains the section to Burton would hardly be used whatsoever and they only operate in one direction, on what is a double track railway.

 

What is the normal maintenance routine for such a railway sufficient to keep it open and available, as oppose to mothballed, which strikes me as closure by another name. 

 

Once those Tube deliveries come to an end would keeping the line open even be viable.

[Guest B Exam]

Moira signal box is open in a "As required" basis.

 

Mainly this is for the tube stock deliveries.

 

These are starting to ramp up again after being stopped due to the landslip at Hatton tunnel. (Due to gauging, they cannot go any other way).

 

7X09 Old Dalby to Amersham/Ruislip usually runs on a Monday and Wednesday passing Mantle Lane just after 14.00.

 

On Fridays, 7X23 Derby Litchurch Lane to Old Dalby is routed via the Coalville line, Passing Mantle Lane just after midday. Of note Friday 24th Aprils train ran via the Midland Mainline due to engineering work on the Coalville line. It is preferred to run it via Coalville as pathing it along the Midland Mainline is a nightmare due to it needing to run along the fast lines due to being out of gauge passing Barrow on Soar and Sileby stations.

[Rugd1022]

Up until last Christmas I worked regular aggragates trains in and out of Bardon Hill, most were booked to go via Knighton but occasionally we'd be conducted the other way via Burton. GBRf have the contracts at the moment but there's a possibility Freightliner may be getting some of them back. Bardon Hill box is open round the clock during the week and is sometimes open at the weekend (starting on Sunday night normally), while Mantle Lane is open less often (when running round long trains at Bardon we have to go light engine to Mantle Lane to crossover and come back up the branch). I've been working the branch for nearly ten years and every now and then there'd be talk of us learning the Mantle Lane to Burton section for but some reason it never happened, although one or two of our Driver's already sign it as they're ex-Saltley men.

[D854_Tiger]

Up until last Christmas I worked regular aggragates trains in and out of Bardon Hill, most were booked to go via Knighton but occasionally we'd be conducted the other way via Burton. GBRf have the contracts at the moment but there's a possibility Freightliner may be getting some of them back. Bardon Hill box is open round the clock during the week and is sometimes open at the weekend (starting on Sunday night normally), while Mantle Lane is open less often (when running round long trains at Bardon we have to go light engine to Mantle Lane to crossover and come back up the branch). I've been working the branch for nearly ten years and every now and then there'd be talk of us learning the Mantle Lane to Burton section for but some reason it never happened, although one or two of our Driver's already sign it as they're ex-Saltley men.

 

I suspect the problem with using the Burton section is that the Birmingham - Derby line is a very busy 125 mph railway nowadays and securing freight paths must be quite difficult.

 

I know the Tube stock train has particular difficulties, being limited to 40 mph, but no sooner does it join the main line than it gets looped for about an hour, then runs via Whitacre Junction rather than the main line and also gets looped at Washwood Heath for another hour or so.

 

I remember when you could spend a whole afternoon at Whitacre Junction and not see a single thing coming off the back loop from Kingsbury Junction, nowadays it seems like two or three trains an hour are routed that way (back in the 1980s there was even talk of closing the line from Whitacre to Kingsbury).

[Rugd1022]

Yes the back loop from Kingsbury to Whitacre sees far more use these days, which means you're more likely to get stopped at the junction when coming at it from the Nuneaton direction, it happened to me twice last week and I was put in Whitacre loop twice as well. The Whitacre to Water Orton section is a real bottleneck, with four tracks at each end of Water Orton Station and only three in the middle it's a regal pain in the butt most days. The fact that all trains are limited to 30mph if crossing over at junction at the west end doesn't help.  

 

When GBRf took over the Bardon jobs in December we thought that some of them would go via Burton but it hasn't happened.

[D854_Tiger]

Yes the back loop from Kingsbury to Whitacre sees far more use these days, which means you're more likely to get stopped at the junction when coming at it from the Nuneaton direction, it happened to me twice last week and I was put in Whitacre loop twice as well. The Whitacre to Water Orton section is a real bottleneck, with four tracks at each end of Water Orton Station and only three in the middle it's a regal pain in the butt most days. The fact that all trains are limited to 30mph if crossing over at junction at the west end doesn't help.  

 

When GBRf took over the Bardon jobs in December we thought that some of them would go via Burton but it hasn't happened.

 

According to Real Times Trains in addition to the as required Tube stock delivery trains, there is now a not quite daily GBRF working from Tinsley Yard to Bardon Hill routed Moira.

 

Also a daily Mantle Lane - Hope Earles Siding working, though last week it was shown as cancelled every day, the GBRF train did run last week.

 

Nice job for some signaller as I have since discovered that Moira box has to be opened for these moves westwards and can't be left switched out???? (Correct ???)

[Guest B Exam]

This Sunday night/Monday morning coming (8/9th) the following are diverted via the Leicester-Burton line due to a complete line block at Loughborough in conection with a new bridge for the GCR.

 

6L86 FLHH Earles - West Thurrock cement 22.44

 

0O54 DB Toton - Humberstone road 2306

 

6V91 FLHH Earles - Theale cement 23.33

 

6E87 GBRF Wellingborough - Rylestone empty stone 0110

 

6C37 FLHH? Tunstead - Elstow loaded stone 0314

 

6E48 GBRF Bardon Hill - Tinsley loaded stone 0318

[D854_Tiger]

Frieghtliner has been running crewe training light engines over the full route recently.

 

Does anyone know what this is in connection with.

 

Not many drivers must sign the full route given that many days there are no trains whatsoever west of Coalville.

[ess1uk]

I remember doing some work up in the area and regularly coming across dog walkers using the line believing it to be shut and perfectly ok for them to be there.

It's a shame there isn't some passenger traffic on the line though.

[D854_Tiger]

Thought I would post this clip from three weeks ago.

 

It's taken at Moira on the section west of Mantle Lane that normally sees only one or no trains per day.

 

Notice the single box must be open, light on and some movement. With so few trains cannot this box be left switched out.

 

Oh and there's a Eurostar in the clip as well.

 

[Rugd1022]

Moira box keeps a very good mate of mine in mortgage paying work Mr.Tiger sir!! It's most likely him in the box...

[D854_Tiger]

Moira box keeps a very good mate of mine in mortgage paying work Mr.Tiger sir!! It's most likely him in the box...

 

Presumably it can't be left switched out.

 

I'm not really sure what switching a box out entails or what needs to be provided but would assume, whatever it is, it's not provided at Moira West and given the current level of traffic is never likely to be.

 

Must be a lonely place for a shift, especially in the early hours, which I believe is when these Eurostar moves are mostly timetabled.

 

I have a colleague whose house backs onto this line he tells me the local estate agents have been getting into trouble claiming the line is closed but not as much as some of the solicitors that failed to highlight it was still open as well.

 

When he moved into his house no one mentioned the railway full stop he only found out about the railway when taking a walk one day and, being at work most days, only found out about the rather scarce number of trains when he noticed one in the middle of the night.

 

We wound him up a little with this clip, suggesting TGVs were coming to the line. He didn't bite though the flaw was convincing him that Swadlingcote was on anyone's road to anywhere and he already knew that HS2 will be going through Ashby a fate he considers the place deserves.

[w124bob]

That picture saddens me, I started my railway career at Mantle Lane in '78 as a secondman and remember this as a busy location with the exchange sidings for Overseal and the Rawden rapid loading bunker. Of the signalmen the thing that sticks with me was their size! One little fella who was then past 65 and still working fulltime including lamping on his day off and one of the others who was well over 6ft with big flat feet. Another regular relief signalman on the line also looked after the mueseum room at Shakerstone. I also seem to remember it as a bit of a roller coaster down past the box toward Gresley Tunnel.

Edited October 20, 2017 by w124bob

[Rugd1022]

That picture saddens me, I started my railway career at Mantle Lane in '78 as a secondman and remember this as a busy location with the exchange sidings for Overseal and the Rawden rapid loading bunker. Of the signalmen the thing that sticks with me was their size! One little fella who was then past 65 and still working fulltime including lamping on his day off and one of the others who was well over 6ft with big flat feet. Another regular relief signalman on the line also looked after the mueseum room at Shakerstone. I also seem to remember it as a bit of a roller coaster down past the box toward Gresley Tunnel.

 

You'll probably remember Nigel Wilkins and Anthony Gregory then Bob, they both started around the same time as you. Both finished now too! Anthony's book 'Life On The Leicester Line' is a good read with some funny stories, I'm sure you'll know most of the names in them, he's just published a re-run of it.

[w124bob]

You'll probably remember Nigel Wilkins and Anthony Gregory then Bob, they both started around the same time as you. Both finished now too! Anthony's book 'Life On The Leicester Line' is a good read with some funny stories, I'm sure you'll know most of the names in them, he's just published a re-run of it.

Yes remember them well,have a copy of Anthony's book. I moved down south in April '83 for promotion, so my memories are of the line before stretches of it were singled and Draklelow A&B still took loose coupled trains.