Swithland Sidings
The operational heart of our exciting double track main line.
Swithland Sidings is just north of Rothley Station.
The sidings complex was built by the original Great Central Railway and opened in 1898. It was needed to handle granite trains which arrived from the nearby Mountsorrel Quarries via a branch line. The wagons would be reorganised and despatched along the main line wherever they were needed. Empty wagons would arrive and be returned along the branch to the quarry.
As your train passes, look out for the gap between the Up and Down main lines widening. A station was planned here, and a start was made on building it, but it wasn’t finished. At road level, you can see the bricked-up entrance.
Swithland Sidings now has the Up and Down main lines, Up and Down passing loops, a complex of sidings for the storage of railway vehicles, carriage sheds and even the branch line has been reinstated. On special events our trains now take passengers along it to the Mountsorrel Heritage Centre, which tells the story of the area.
Swithland Sidings signal box is a modern recreation of the box which used to stand on the other side of the line. A signal box was moved here from Aylesbury and is now fully operational once again. At railway galas, goods trains are shunted here before being sent on their way.
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Quadruple Track
Conceived by the late David Clarke, a major benefactor of the railway whose name lives on through the railway’s supporting charity, The David Clarke Railway Trust, the sidings represent a quadruple track section of the former Great Western/Great Central Joint Line from Northolt Junction in the south to Ashenden Junction in the north.
In the 1960s with the general decline of the railways in favour of road traffic, the Great Central was earmarked for closure and passenger and goods traffic declined. With the final closure of the route in 1969 British Railways started a programme of removing railway track. When preservation began there were just two tracks left (which became one, when British Railways scrapped one of them). Everything you see today has been rebuilt by the revived Great Central Railway team.
Signal Box
The box was originally located at Aylesbury South and is a GWR box of 1905 vintage. The structure has a wooden top section which has been erected on a new brickwork lower section. The signal box works absolute block on the double line to the north and south and can be switched out after the main running line signals have been cleared. It has a 55 lever GWR twist frame converted to direct tappet locking. The signal box has a BR(WR) illuminated diagram.
Visiting the Station
- Swithland Sidings, Great Central Railway, Swithland, Leicester LE7 7SE
- Not open to the public
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