diesel – RUDDINGTON.info

Key Bridge Repair Should Get ‘Big Trains’ Back Soon!

17th July 202418th July 2024 Graham Wright

It’s now over four years since full-sized trains carried passengers on our once popular heritage railway line south of Ruddington. The tough restrictions at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 brought a halt to all activities at Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre on Mere Way, including the weekend steam and diesel services operated by the volunteers at Great Central Railway (Nottingham) (GCRN). Other setbacks since have meant these trains still haven’t restarted. One of these setbacks is a small bridge on the Nottinghamshire section of the railway which…

Ruddington’s ‘Big Trains’ Could Restart Soon!

30th January 202330th January 2023 Graham Wright

For almost three years now, a previously familiar weekend sound drifting across Ruddington has been sadly missing – that of the distant whistles and gentle chugging of steam trains making their way in and out of Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre. Since RUDDINGTON.info published the news piece ‘What’s Happening at our Heritage Railway’, back in January 2022, it’s continued to be one of our most searched for items – as villagers and visitors alike seek the elusive answer! In particular, the legendary ‘Santa Specials’ in the run-up to Christmas have been…

New ASDA Store for Ruddington!

26th February 202226th February 2022 Graham Wright

It’s been revealed shoppers will soon have another retail option in our village thanks to Ruddington Service Station. Owner EG Group has confirmed to RUDDINGTON.info that its recently expanded premises along Loughborough Road will soon become home to ‘ASDA On The Move’. This will replace the current SPAR shop. It’s not yet known whether the existing Greggs and Subway operating alongside it will be retained. In fact, regular visitors will have noticed quite a lot of brand changing at the site in recent years. In summer 2020 ‘Sainsbury’s On The Go’ replaced the…

Heritage Centre Reopens – But Without Trains

10th August 202022nd August 2020 Graham Wright

Directors at Great Central Railway (Nottingham) have announced that no vintage steam or diesel trains will be running from Ruddington until Easter 2021 at the earliest. Passenger services last ran from our heritage site during the February half-term before all trains were cancelled and the centre closed to visitors due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. The charity reveals that, over the last couple of months, The Office of Road & Rail and The Heritage Railways Association have been working with heritage railway groups up and down the country to determine ways…

Ruddington’s New Sainsbury’s

30th July 202030th July 2020 Graham Wright

Eagle-eyed drivers along Loughborough Road may have already spotted the further changes underway at our filling station – with a new Sainsbury’s outlet opening imminently. For a village which already boasts a Sainsbury’s Local, some may think this is a little excessive. However, this is a rather different shop – aimed more at passing motorists than local residents – and branded “On the Go!” The new retail format was launched in February and is being rolled out to dozens of Euro Garages sites, including here in Ruddington. It focuses on an…

Canal Bridge Completed

7th July 20207th July 2020 Graham Wright

From Loughborough comes news that a major two-day operation at the start of this month has ‘all but’ finished the overhaul of the elegant Victorian railway bridge which spans the Grand Union Canal in the town. The relevance of this restoration for our village is that it marks another step forward for the eighteen mile heritage line vision between Ruddington and Leicester North by reconnecting the currently separate sections of tracks operated by volunteers from our own Great Central Railway – Nottingham (GCRN) and Loughborough’s Great Central Railway (GCR). Built in the…

Iconic ‘Railbus’ for Ruddington

20th January 20203rd September 2020 Graham Wright

Ruddington’s Great Central Railway (Nottingham) has revealed that the latest addition to its heritage fleet should mean it will able to run trains here all year ’round. Please see the September 2020 update below*. Currently services are operated by its volunteers only through the summer, in the lead-up to Christmas and over some other half-term holiday periods**. However, the imminent arrival of a Class 144 DMU Railcar (144003) from Porterbrook, to become preserved for heritage use, could see services increasing to 52 weekends a year. Once it’s released from mainline duties during the first…

Fuel Thefts Dominate August Crime Stats

4th September 20185th September 2018 Graham Wright

Rushcliffe Police report that, but for the continuing problems of drive-offs from Ruddington Service Station, last month would have been a very quiet month indeed for crime in our village. The figures are revealed in the Force’s statistics for August, just released. Out of just eleven reported offences during last month in Ruddington, five of them were motorists driving off from the Loughborough Road filling station without making payment. Interestingly, however, police have again excluded the four day return of travellers to Sellors’ Field in the middle of the month…

Half Term Trains Cancelled

30th January 20171st February 2017 Graham Wright

Ruddington’s Great Central Railway has announced that the half term services planned for February will not be able to run “due to unforeseen circumstances”. It was timetabled for trains to run over the weekends of the 11th & 12th of February and the 18th & 19th of February However GCRN Director Phil Stanway told RUDDINGTON.info that they’d reluctantly had to cancel these trips because of “unscheduled track repairs”. It’s now hoped that 2017 train services will commence on the weekend of Saturday the 1st and Sunday the 2nd of April instead. These will be “Steam Running…