Great Central Railway Braunston & Willoughby

Welcome to Part 6 of our 'Ghosts of the GCR mainline' series.
We're still making our way north on the abandoned Great Central Railway and we've crossed into Warwickshire.
We're in the village of Willoughby, where the Great Central passed through with a station and goods shed. Little remains of the station, but we can see remains of the bridge which crossed the main road and the former station entrance. This former station has carried a few different names. From opening in 1899 it was known as Willoughby for Daventry (Daventry being only 6 miles away). In 1904 is was renamed Braunston and Willoughby for Daventry (cramming in the place names there). In 1938 is was renamed Braunston and Willoughby and it closed with this name in 1957. Braunston is another nearby village. The station masters house still stands today.
Meanwhile, just to the north of the station you will find the old semephore signal post. Standing all alone at the side of a field where the railway cutting once passed.
**About this series**
We are visiting various locations on the GCR between Culworth Junction in Northamptonshire and Rugby in Warwickshire. Visiting former station sites, bridges, junctions, old infrastructure, viaducts, tunnels and some other interesting stuff.
Great Central Mainline was built as the London Extension of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire railway. Opening in 1899, it was designed to be as straight as possible with as little gradient as possible. Speed was the aim and express trains travelled between London Marylebone, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester. It was the last UK mainline to be built before HS1 over a century later.
It thrived initially, however with a lack of upkeep, neglect and dwindling usage, it was mothballed during the great railway rationalisation of Dr Beeching in the 1960s - known as the Beeching Axe. Lost railway artefacts and relics are left scattered along the route.
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[@boblovell5789]

Short but sweet. Liked the before and afters.Well done research there.

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Bob 👍

[@chrischapman7514]

Another good video the blue bricks will last forever annoyed about the speeding traffic for you Paul see you for your next adventure great work.

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers Chris. You're right. I was stood looking at a blue brick bridge today thinking the same.

[@seamusmcevoy2011]

Can't believe we missed the entrance, in our defence it was heavily overgrown. That signal post is something else though, great to see it still standing.

[@WobblyRunner]

Agreed. I think we were a bit uncomfortable standing still on that road for too long in our defence.

[@rogerevans425]

We visit that old signal everytime we take our narrowboat up the North Oxford canal. And yes I have climbed the ladder!

[@WobblyRunner]

😊 I bet the view from up there is good

[@david-stewart]

Great to see something of it still there

[@WobblyRunner]

👍

[@stevemyers1071]

Great video chaps 👍

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Steve 👍

[@maestromanification]

Another interesting video Paul. You definitely have a knack of finding concrete railway artifacts, if its not sleepers it's signal posts😂 That signal post may well have been made a few miles away from me at Melton constable concrete works

[@WobblyRunner]

That's a great piece of trivia Russ.

[@paulboyle6857]

I take my car to the car wash just below the stationmasters house(that was) Braunston had another station on the Bletchley/Leamington line which along by the marina,

[@mikecawood]

I think your series is great as I have been fascinated by the Great Central for many years.

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Mike. Glad you're enjoying it.

[@willswheels283]

Another great vid mate, I’ve seen vids before of the Great Central but sadly this station hasn’t had much coverage, good to see the signal and that entrance which a few have missed, it’s not that obvious though so thanks for finding it! Looking forwards to the next vid mate, particularily this line.

[@WobblyRunner]

Cheers 👍 I seemed to learn more about this station after getting home 😄

[@buffplums]

Makes me feel really sad when I see something like the old signal post 5:15

[@WobblyRunner]

Yep. Looking very lonely and unloved these days.

[@martinmarsola6477]

Thank you for video this day. Always enjoyable to watch. See you on the next, Paul! 🇬🇧🙂👍🇺🇸

[@WobblyRunner]

Thanks Martin. See you on the next one

[@DJ_K666]

I drive a bus that runs down Longdown Lane and through the station site and I have glimpsed the signal post. I didng know the track bed was flooded though.

[@WobblyRunner]

👍 With the state of some of the paths and the rain over January. I wonder if it remains flooded all year?