Swithland Sidings

Swithland Sidings is a set of railway sidings on the preserved Great Central Railway, situated just south of Swithland Reservoir and Swithland Viaduct which crosses it.

The original plans for the MS&LR's London Extension had a station situated at Swithland instead of Rothley, although Rothley was much the larger village of the two, and only slightly further from the line. Local pressure, much of it spearheaded by Frederick Merttens, Lord of Rothley Manor, forced a change in the plans and the proposed site changed to Rothley; however, this did not mean that Swithland station was abandoned. The railway company had visions of turning the area into a tourist spot and the construction of Swithland station was commenced anyway. It would have consisted of an island platform of the standard design that became typical of the line, here the less common "embankment" type reached from a roadway (the Swithland-Rothley road) that passed beneath the line, similar to East Leake. In the event, these plans were thwarted, reportedly at a fairly advanced stage, and work stopped. Since it was barely a mile away to the south, Rothley station was deemed adequate to serve the area.

It has been difficult to determine just how much of Swithland station was actually built. The bricked up station entrance below and between the twin bridges over the Swithland-Rothley road can still be seen to this day; one of the many excellent photographs taken by the Leicester photographer S.W.A. Newton of the line's construction clearly shows the view looking up the stairway towards the platform. The mystery surrounds the platform itself - several sources appear to confirm that the platform was completed, together with at least some of the buildings, but it has so far not been possible to substantiate this for certain. What is known is that anything that was built lasted only a short time, though the main running lines continued to veer round the platform's site throughout the operating history of the line.

Sidings were however sited here to serve the Mountsorrel Railway, a mineral branch leading to granite quarries in the village of Mountsorrel about two miles to the north east; this line was originally closed on 6 April 1964 but has since been reconstructed, and was due to be previewed to the public in 2008/9.

The main line through here was closed on 5 May 1969. The trackbed was subsequently taken over for preservation, but in 1990 the sidings were wasteland. Led by the vision of GCR benefactor David Clarke, the nephew of a former signalman on the GW&GC Joint Line, double track was relaid from Swithland to Rothley, and then from Swithland to Quorn, eventually reaching Loughborough. Swithland thus forms the centrepiece of the double track, with GWR signalling as used on the GW&GC Joint Line, still being installed. The signal box is the former Aylesbury South box which was located at Aylesbury railway station. The station was once again considered, but it was then decided that it would be close enough to Rothley not to be needed.

The general site was also developed and is used for storing various pieces of stock. There are plans for a carriage shed on the old Mountsorrel branch but there are planning permission problems.

References

Preceding station	Heritage railways			Following station
Rothley		Great Central Railway		Quorn and Woodhouse
				Swithland Viaduct