Great Central Railway 50th Anniversary Gala

About

The Great Central Railway celebrates half a century of running heritage trains with a special gala event on 17 and 18 June 2023.

The Great Central Railway will clock up a special milestone in June 2023. It’s 50 years since volunteers were able to return steam trains to the award winning heritage line and to mark the occasion a spectacular 50 wagon freight train will travel the line.

Over this special gala weekend the railway will welcome visitors to celebrate the anniversary and look to the future. On the Saturday, the largest locomotive on the line, (a member of the powerful 9F class which dates from the 1950s) will have the honour of pulling a train made up of fifty freight wagons, something the GCR has never attempted before.

Steam and diesel locomotives will be in action hauling passenger trains. On Sunday trains will also run on the Mountsorrel Branch Line. There will be other attractions at the lines stations, including a photo display and heritage vehicles will be open to view. Tours of the locomotive shed at Loughborough will take visitors behind the scenes.