THE STORY OF THE GREAT CENTRAL'S NEW TURNTABLE

摘要

HERITAGE railways need turntables for a variety of reasons. Ideally, there should be one at each end of the line to eliminate tender-first running, but they're also needed for reducing flange wear, getting a loco facing the other way for a photo charter or for turning an engine off an incoming charter from the national system. Unfortunately, the Great Central Railway doesn't have sufficient space at each end, but it does plan one day to be linked to the main line at Loughborough and it does have at Quorn & Woodhouse a large station yard offering plenty of space. So, in 2009, we began looking for a 60ft 'table capable of turning main line engines. Compared with the situation in pre-1968 steam days, very few turntables survive, but we heard that a disused one had been offered for sale a few months earlier on the Ribble Valley Railway, at Preston, Lancashire. Our enquiry was rather tentative as we thought it might have already gone. "No, it's still here, but we'll be looking to cut it up in the New Year," came the reply.