The font used in this publication is ‘Gill Sans’, a true ‘Railway Font’ being designed by Eric Gill in 1927 for the LNER for use on their Notices and Posters.

This Newsletter is an independent publication, and whilst every attempt is made to ensure accuracy of information, any discrepancies are not the responsibility of Great Central Railway.

March 2014. No. 68

If you have any material that you think might be useful for this publication, please e-mail me at brian.rowe2@virginmedia.com

APPEAL TOTAL!(At time of writing (17/02/2014)

£380.000!Go towww.gcrailway.co.uk/unify for de-

tails of this Appeal.THE ‘SWITHLAND’ DVD OF-FER IS A ‘REWARDING’ WAY

TO DONATEWITH EVERY PENNY GOINGTO THE FUND! Go to...http://www.gcrailway.co.uk/news/#8905

The recent spell of adverse weather,coupled with what is normally aquiet time in the “Railway Year”

has been bothering me somewhat,withregard to finding something to reportthis month, however, as usual, at thelast minute, so to speak material arrivedin the nick of time. On the staff front I can report thatMatthew Swain is to be upgraded toPlatform Inspector, newcomer W. AWooley who at present performs plat-form duties is to be trained as a Book-ing Clerk. As a station we are attempting towork closer with Green Acres, (with apossible re-vamp of this publication'sappearance from time to time.) Bearing in mind that this was a mid-week event the recent “Villains andSuperheroes” seems to have beenvery successful. Noel Bedder has been appointedSafety Officer to our station, and willreport back to Eric Smith (Health &Safety Chairman.)The Power box situated at the end ofplatform two that has been causingsome concern is to be rewired. As we look ahead, perhaps this wouldbe an opportune moment to thank allpast and present staff members, whohave, and are, giving so much of theirtime and energy to ensure the smoothrunning of our station. There have been times when it hasseemed an uphill struggle, but we cansee now, that just over the horizongreat things are in store, things that willput Leicester North Station firmly ontothe Heritage Railway Map,so we are fullof enthusiasm and expectation! Februaries “Mixed Traffic” event,which introduced our latest fleet addi-tion, 9F No. 92214 to the public attract-ed much interest, impressing oneparticular visitor from Manchester,who had travelled specifically to see thisloco.

February 4th saw a very important visitby a group of Heritage Lottery FundTrustee’s who travelled to our stationbehind the aforementioned engine, andwho were scheduled to attend a meet-ing at Greenacres to discuss the workthat will be involved in the siting andconstruction of the proposed newLeicester Railway Museum. The results of that meeting have not, asyet, been announced, but are expectedto be so, sometime in April.

MAINTENANCE UPDATE!

As reported previously there is notmuch activity at this time of the yearregarding station maintenance. Usually acouple of maintenance staff will visit thestation on a Wednesday just to keep acheck on things but as soon as the grassneeds attention then the whole teamwill be back in force. We still like to keep the station areatidy by picking up litter,starting at theentrance to the Sidings through to therailway bridge on Station Road. Wecontinue to to cut up and prepare logsfor the waiting room fire together withcollecting the smokeless fuel that waskindly donated to the railway. The woodthat was lying on the embankment at theend of the platform has been gatheredup and sawn into fire logs. We have had a good sort out in thecontainer which is situated by the en-

trance gate and this has resulted ingiving us more space. Some weeks ago we had an electricalproblem due to water entering ourbrick built building at the beginning ofthe platform(see column one) TheLoughborough maintenance team cameand sealed the roof where necessaryand we thank them for that. So, in the near future we will need toclear out the gutter at the rear of thestation building, prune the roses, repairthe damaged seat on the platform andstart cutting back the briars on theembankment opposite the station. The spring bulbs are all shooting andwe are looking forward to our displayof daffodils and tulips around the stationarea. Three members of the public haveshown interest in joining ourmaintenance team and welook forward to welcomingthem on board.Mike Dunk, maintenance teamleader.

Tom Ingall (Right) with HLF Trustee's at LeicesterNorth alongside 9F 92214, 04/02/2014

Please remember to signour Visitor’s Book which

will be found on the desk inthe Waiting Room!

Photo B. Rowe

The Platform Café is open Tuesdays –Sundays 10am – 4pm, for bookings andenquiries please ring 01509 633870.You can follow us on Facebook withGreenacres or find us on Twitter@TheSidings( The following two columns are tak-

en from the GCR web site.)

The Platform is our brand newfamily restaurant, just a moment

from the gates of Leicester North sta-tion. For a full meal or just light snacks,we have the perfect venue. The brightand airy building has an incredible pic-ture window giving views over the city,while outside there is a sun terrace andgrassed area – perfect for younger trav-ellers to let off some steam of their own.We even do children’s parties, pleaseask the staff for details.We’re currently open 10am to 4pm onTuesday through to Sunday. You mightlike to hire the venue for your owncelebration of corporate entertaining.Contact us vialesleyalla@yahoo.co.uk or 0n 01509633870.To find us, head out of the station gate,turn right and walk down the sidings –we’re then through the gate on the lefton the Greenacres site. We’re just aminute from the platform, so we’reclose by when you want to catch thetrain back.From The Platform Cafe, its just a tenminute walk to the National Space Cen-tre in Leicester and the Museum ofTechnology at the Abbey Pumping Sta-tion, so take a break and explore thecity!

www.gcrailway.co.uk

TELEPHONE NUMBERSLEICESTER NORTH

0116 261 0946

LOUGHBOROUGH CENTRAL

01509 632 323

THE PLATFORM CAFÉ

077785 12275

Leicester North Station Arrivals & Departures Weekends. Feb. Mar. & Nov. 2014Arrivals

10.08 10.30 11.31 12.30 1.30 2.05 2.45 4.13

Departures 10.10 10.45 11.45 12.45 1.45 2.20 3.00 4.25

Leaflets advertising ‘Drive a TrainExperiences’, Dining Trains etc

available from the Waiting Room!

‘Special’ Timetables apply on ‘GalaDays’, “Thomas” & other events

etc!(see web site for details)

GREENACRES/ THE PLATFORM CAFÉ

Greenacres is an exciting new de-velopment at the Great Central

Railway. The railway has taken a leaseon a former community centre, situatedjust seconds from the end of the line atLeicester North station. There are twohigh quality buildings on site, one hasbecome a new family restaurant‘The Platform’ (see column one), The second is being developed as askills training centre which is alreadybeing used by apprentices.It’s all set within tranquil green sur-roundings – though right next toLeicester’s inner ring road and is easilyreached by turning onto The Sidings(and of course – by a direct train servicefrom Loughborough!) The buildingshave commanding views over the cityskyline. The site is close to other great touristattractions in Leicester including theNational Space Centre and The Muse-um of Technology at Abbey PumpingStation. To find Greenacres, leaveLeicester North station via the pedestri-an gate, turn right, walk down the hillslightly and turn through the gate on theleft.

Platform café, Interior. Photo T. Ingall

NOTICEIf you wish to be kept informedabout Leicester North Station

this “Newsletter” is available on-line. Go to www.gcrailway.co.uk

click on “Leicester North Station”and the link to the latest issue is

at the bottom of the page.

WHAT’S ON, MARCH/APRIL?There is currently lots going on atGreenacres facility with the follow-ing events coming up at The Plat-form Café;Pancake Day at The Platform CafeThe Platform Café will be serving pan-cakes on Shrove Tuesday next week,4thMarch, with a variety of tasty fillingswhy not pop along with the kids for atreat!Peppa Pig at The Platform CaféWe are now gearing up for the PeppaPig weekend on 8th& 9th. With puzzles,toys and colouring to help keep thelittle ones busy plus Livi Lollipop will bethere both days providing the face paint-ing. There will also be a “Where’sPeppa Pig”? trail, (ask at the bar for thetrail entry form) all the correct trailentries will be put into a prize draw towin a Peppa Pig toy.The Platform Café will be open 10am –4pm over Peppa Pig weekend.Easter Vintage Fayre at Greena-cres – Saturday 19th, Sunday 20th& Monday 21st AprilPlans for the Easter Vintage Fayre atGreenacres is now well under way, withLaura Jane Vintage singing on the Satur-day and Monday and Jayne Darling pro-viding the entertainment on the Sunday.There will be lots of Vintage and Craftstalls along with activities for the chil-dren including bouncy castle and facepainting, plus the café will be open allweekend providing some good old fash-ioned home-made food.For stall availability and further informa-tion please contact Lesley on 07778512275.New Menus at the café our nowout plus we are now taking book-ings for Sunday Dinners, ring01509 633860 for further informa-tion.If you would like to enquire about pri-vate hire for a function please ring Les-ley on 077785 12275.