A vintage carriage took pride of place yesterday (Sunday 17th September) at Ruddington’s Great Central Railway – in an event dedicated to over a thousand troops who died during the First World War.
On display in the open for the first time was the recently restored MS&LR 6-wheel carriage – which took 16 years for five volunteers at our local Heritage Centre to return to its former glory.
It was dedicated in a special ceremony by Ruddington’s Vicar, the Reverend Andrew Buchanan, to the many employees who left the Great Central Railway to join the conflict in the Great War (1914-1918) but failed to return home. This follows an earlier dedication in 2015 (above) which was made for 225 troops of The Royal Scots Regiment who perished in a similar type of carriage in the worst-ever rail disaster in 1915 at Quintinshill.
The RH Cadet Corps of Drums and Bugles led yesterday’s parade salute which was attended by The Deputy Lord Lieutenant Col. Roger Merryweather DL and Lt Col.Darren Woods RE, Commanding Officer of the East Midlands Army Reserve Centre.
Roger Penson, Executive Trustee of owners The GCR Rolling Stock Trust, said: “The carriage is again becoming a moving memorial to the fallen in that devastating war of attrition that affected so deeply almost every family is the land.”
The restored rolling stock will eventually be moved from Ruddington to be put on display at GCR’s new £18m Railway Museum at Birstall when it opens in 2021.
