Charnwood Forest Railway
| Charnwood Forest Railway | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | Bluebell Line | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | abandoned | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Leicestershire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Commenced | 1881 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Completed | 1883 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1963 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Charnwood Forest Railway was a branch line in Leicestershire constructed by the Charnwood Forest Company between 1881 and 1883. The branch line ran from Coalville (joined from the Ashby and Nuneaton Joint Railway (ANJR)) to the town of Loughborough.
It should not be confused with the much earlier railway that was part of the Charnwood Forest Canal.
Stations on the Charnwood Forest Railway were located at Coalville East, Whitwick, Shepshed and Loughborough Derby Road. By 1885, the company had been placed in receivership; under this supervision, in 1907 three halts were opened, these being Thringstone Halt, Grace Dieu Halt and Snells Nook Halt. These were an attempt to improve the profitability of the line by increasing the customer base. The line was worked by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and was taken over by the London Midland & Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923.
Passenger services ceased to operate on 13 April 1931, with freight services ceasing to operate on 12 December 1963. The line was known as the 'Bluebell Line' due to the flower growing along much of the length of the line during the spring.
According to Hadfield, in 1828 the owners of the disused Charnwood Forest Canal turned down an approach by Leicestershire coal owners for permission to lay rails along the now dry canal bed. The idea was to bring coal by this rail route from Whitwick and Swannington to Loughborough where it could then be transferred on to boats which would bring the coal into Leicester at West Bridge Wharf. Not to be deterred, the thwarted coal owners then promoted a Bill in 1829 which resulted in the construction of the Leicester and Swannington Railway, opened in 1832 — Leicestershire's first railway.
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Wikipedia