LNER Route: Leicester to Marylebone

Rugby Central Station: gcrcs23

Looking towards Leicester showing the down platform and the booking hall and offices spanning the tracks. The set of tracks nearest to the photographer is in fact a passing loop, which means that a train could enter the siding (from behind the photographer) and exit the siding from just beneath the bridge where points allow trains to rejoin the main line. The passing loop had been installed as part of accessing the goods yard which was to the left of the photographer. This is in contrast to the refuge siding seen opposite the up platform in image 'gcrcs65' where trains could only enter and exit at one end of the siding, the London end. Use of a refuge siding therefore required the train to pass the siding and then reverse back into the siding. This was always the preferred method, as points would be trailing not facing the direction of travel and there would be less likelihood of an accident through a derailment. Peter Elliot's otherwise excellent book Rugby's Railway Heritage states 'they were added during World War II, the up side to London being a passing loop but the downside being only a siding'. Clearly this information is erroneous on both accounts.

back