We take a look at the disused Great Central Railway mainline running through Leicester City Centre, including Leicester Central station.

The lost great central railway dissected Leicester raised above the city streets via a 1.5 mile long viaduct containing 97 arches and 16 girder spans. We’re going to see some of the abandoned remains of these today.

We start at what is now Bede Island and the site of the former Braunstone Gate Yard. The Tesco Express shop used to be the old hydraulic engine house. The area contained a goods yard, carriage & engine sheds amongst other things and a scrapyard as recently as the 1990s. Our sole surving building from this location can be seeing on this map from the early twentieth century.

We move up the line slightly and see remains of the viaduct on the approach to the Braunstone Gate Bridge. Or known better as Bowstring Bridge. The bridge was only demolished in 2009, but not before a lengthy fight to save it by campaigners. Considered unique by design and weighed over 400 tonnes.

We continue up the line to Leicester Central Station. Like we have seen with other GCR stations, it opened with the line in 1899 but saw a managed decline until ultimate closure in the late 1960s finished off by Dr Beeching. The station frontage has been derelict and unloved for many years, but now is the home of Lane7 bowling. The station platforms themselves were elevated on top of large archway area. Little remains of the station on top apart from the retaining walls along the viaduct and some shot sections of platform above a road bridge.

If you follow the line through the city, you will come across various stretches of the viaduct that havent been demolished. We finish at 'the last arch' that is still standing.

Don't forget to look for my other GCR related videos in my back catalogue.

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