Great Central Railway

The Great Central Railway runs steam and diesel heritage services between Loughborough Central and Leicester North along 8.25 miles of preserved double-track main line — the only heritage railway in the UK with two tracks, which allows realistic train operations including passing trains at speed. The restored Loughborough Central station is itself a handsome example of Edwardian railway architecture, with platform canopies, period signage, and a small museum of railway memorabilia.

Services run most weekends and on various weekdays throughout the year. Themed event weekends are the highlights of the calendar: the wartime re-enactments attract thousands of visitors and are taken very seriously by the participants, and the real ale trains pair a gentle steam journey with Midlands microbrewery output. The double track means you can buy an unlimited-journey ticket and ride back and forth, watching trains pass in both directions. Worth planning around.

things to do sight
A story
The Great Central is the last main line railway built in Britain before the First World War — constructed between 1895 and 1899 by Sir Edward Watkin, who had the ambition of connecting Manchester to Paris via a Channel Tunnel. The tunnel was never built (Watkin had actually started digging under the Channel but was stopped by Parliament), and the line eventually closed in 1969. The heritage railway has painstakingly restored 8.25 miles of it to double-track operation.