Lost railway fly-through: Rugby to Leicester, ex Midland Counties Railway

This is the old Midland Counties Line, which originally formed part of the main line from London to Derby. This section closed in 1961, having been superceded by the Midland main line via Market Harborough.
This video is created from modern day Google Earth imagery, and follows the MCR from Rugby Midland to Leicester London Road, both of which stations are in full use today. However, most of the intervening trackbed is abandoned, but is still clearly delineated by surviving hedges and tree lines, and occasional bridges. There is little or no trace of the intermediate stations: Ullesthorpe, Broughton Astley, Countesthorpe and Wigston South (not to be confused with South Wigston, which is still in use on the Leicester to Nuneaton line).
A clever feature of Google Earth is the 3D rendering of buildings and trees using only satellite imagery. Currently this feature is only available in certain areas of the UK, surrounding centres of population such as Leicester, In this sequence we cross into the Leicester 3D zone after Broughton Astley, just before our path crosses the GCR and M1. Prior to this, there is limited 3D effect obtained from the ground height data, but buildings, trees, bridges and cuttings appear flattend. But beyond this point the 3D effect is much more realistic.

[@masonringbinder684]

Rugby to Leicester in under 20 minutes; try doing that today. I can remember tank engines chuffing along that line at the Rugby end.

[@robertstaines9419]

Remember before midland main line was built south of Wigston this was the way all London trains went via West Coast main line or the oldLNWR to Euston Station it is quite a historical line Leicester station was rebuilt 12:23 for London extension and moved from Campbell Street to London Road the only remaining bit of cell street station now is one gate post the platforms were still there until 1970s when the station car park was built they had been used by postal trains for years before but fell into disused when mail rail ended

[@andrewtaylor5984]

The Midland line from Rugby to Leicester was closed at the beginning of 1962 on the understanding that the Great Central would remain open. The first attempt to close the GC came around this time, but it was reprieved. Then came Beeching a year later. The big mistake was to transfer the line from the Eastern to the London Midland Region. The latter region had no use for the line.

[@bobtudbury8505]

why what did beeching do?

[@minimaxi802]

A useful link for trains from Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham and Leicester to get to London Euston if the line to St Pancras is closed.

[@keithbutler2222]

thank you for this...great to finally see this route

[@brianwillson9567]

These videos are absolutely brilliant.

[@richardsmith1215]

Amazing view of a railway in an area I thought I knew , well done

[@nicholasjones7645]

So they could build HS2 60 years ish down the line (No pun intended) absolute sacrilege if you ask me !

[@bazmurphy7792]

It did as far as I know go into a tunnel under the Lutterworth Rd. One end has totally gone now and I believe only the cutting is left on the other. Gills coner tunnel. Great video.

[@flymuzza9205]

Thanks for that Baz, I'll make the change if and when I update the vid

[@davidoliver2218]

Great Video, it’s a shame not more of the old line is accessible. Would have made a great cycle path..

[@englishjona6458]

Complete crime, that line could serve all them factories

[@bussesandtrains1218]

sir the great central railway existed and the midland railway still exists

[@flymuzza9205]

You're right, "Buses and trains 121", but what point are you trying to make here?

[@rickorider]

Great footage! It was criminal to destroy this line of brilliant engineering.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

The entire route duplicated 2 other mainlines that were faster and more convenient for passengers.

[@rickorider]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Yes it did seem to be a long way from some villages etc....still seems wrong to destroy it!

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@rickorider lots of stations were along way from the villages of the same name. But the GCR served Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Rugby all served by either the LNWR or the MR, both of which had faster connections with London due to have shorter routes.

[@rickorider]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Thankyou...very interesting!

[@andrewtaylor5984]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Like me, you have confused the Midland route from Rugby to Leicester with the GC. The Midland route was one of the earliest lines built, and was, for a time, a key route from London to the Midlands and the North. Many people think that the GC duplicated other lines, and whilst it did, up to a point, there are some journeys over that route no longer possible; the Woodford Halse to Banbury link should have been a key north-south route avoiding London, but the regional management of the railways prevented this. Nobody seemed to be able to run inter-regional services. Then came the fateful decision to put the GC under London Midland Region control. One can fairly say, almost without exception, that when a line was transferred from one region to another, the receiving region had no use for it. The LNER made good use of it. At one time there were endless freights at night as well as overnight passenger trains on the East Coast Main Line, including relief trains in summer. The GC offered some relief. In prewar days, there was an overnight train from Marylebone to Newcastle. Several places on the GC now have vastly increased populations since 1966, and could easily support a station today.

[@thisisbob1001]

Great video. Thanks for making

[@flymuzza9205]

Thanks for watching!

[@CasinoWoyale]

10'47": It's Asquith Way, not Askwith Way.

[@flymuzza9205]

Whoops! A shameful error!

[@rickorider]

Could never understand why these lines were not given away to people who would preserve them. Lots of legal stuff I guess or bylaws and rights of way. But why let it just get over grown and destroyed?

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Depends on the purchase or lease terms. Land owned by the railways could be sold off to support services that were not cut. Land only rented had to go back to the original owners or their heirs and descendents. As for letting things get overgrown, it us not often possible to return cuttings and embankments back to how things were before the railway was built due to cost and the amount if material needed, so leaving things to go back to nature in that way is the easier and cheaper option.

[@rickorider]

@@neiloflongbeck5705 Thankyou...very interesting....I guessed that there was a lot of legal stuff regarding who owned the land...still seems sad to see these railways vanish.

[@andrewtaylor5984]

They did manage to preserve most of the Loughborough to Leicester section. One of Beeching's dirty tricks was to sell off railway land for far less than its market value. He also sold off locos and rolling stock for less than their written down value. But then, Beeching was an industrial chemist with no accountancy qualifications. If you were to put an accountant in charge of a chemistry lab, he would probably blow the place up.