The Great Central Main Line is incredibly well served with locomotives, rolling stock and buildings offering the perfect ingredients to inspire Hornby Magazine’s annual Yearbook project layout. MIKE WILD introduces this ‘OO’ gauge model and explains its design and first phase of construction. Photography, Mike Wild.
Above: Robinson ‘O4’ 2-8-0 63598 ambles through Quorn Magna with a long mixed goods while a ‘J11’ 0-6-0 simmers in the goods yard. Bachmann’s Scenecraft buildings recreate the island platform design of the GCR well.
Robinson ‘O4s’ on rakes of mineral wagons, island platforms and wide open spaces are the first things which spring to mind for me when it comes to the Great Central Railway’s ‘London Extension’ between Nottingham and Quainton Road in Buckinghamshire. It was one of the unfortunate main lines in Britain in that it came under the Beeching axe for closure which resulted in the removal of through passenger trains in 1966.
However, as one of the last great main line railways to be built in Britain, apart from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link from London to Folkestone, the GCR holds a special place in history and that is further emphasised by the superb preservation operation between Loughborough Central and Leic…
