Quorn Burgher

Quorn U21 v Kettering Town U21

Sileby Town v Hathern

Anstey Nomads v Gedling Miners Welfare

Looking through the weeks figures in Non-League Traveller for early and late kick off times, and it stood out that there were a group in north Leicestershire.  I assumed this was a groundhop, but no, the sexually deficient and great unwashed were inflicting their nylon generated static on the Essex Senior League, so this was just a quirk of fixture timings.  Then for the really exciting part, as plotting on a map realised I could do them all by steam train.  What a day was in prospect.  Well, by my low standards.

It started with the 0604 off Sowerby.

Which was taken into Leeds.  I'm sure you have all spotted that the first picture shows a refurbished Merseyrail Pacer, whilst the later shows the unrefurbished West Yorkshire variant, identifiable by the formers large dot matrix destination panel, whilst the latter has a small offset roller blind.  Use this knowledge to impress your friends on your next journey around the Northern provinces.

Something tells me that the crafted minds of Virgin's creative advertising department don't put as much effort into slogans for the industrial centres of East Riding, than they do for their trans-Atlantic airline destinations.  "Right, what rhymes with Hull?  Dull?  Right, done.  Now, Vieux Fort, I think we may need a fact finding mission to truly understand the opportunities..."

Onwards was a Plymouth bound Voyager.

Heading south through a misty Amber Valley, one for my dad to reminisce about his Allestree-Belper journeys to school from seventy years ago.

I was off at Derby.

Where my Cardiff-Nottingham turbostar arrived adjacent to a stabled 'Ped'.

This was an extremely convoluted move, and out of necessity rather than me pissing about, and involved another change at Beeston on the outskirts of Nottingham.

Though for once it wasn't a visit to the excellent Victoria Inn.

Or the less than excellent ATOS Worldline, who are responsible for a lot of the customer information systems on the UKs railways, and are a bit shit.

Instead it was onto a St Pancras bound East Midlands service.

Which was taken for the shorter than I remember nine minute hop to Loughborough.

There are certain stories that all rail staff pretend has happened to them.  One of these is having had an American tourist try and buy a ticket to Lugga-Barruga, as their attempt at pronouncing Loughborough.  I must have heard it fifteen times in my first week on the railway, and the fact that one of those was from Jacko the Liar, confirmed that it was bollocks.  I mean, why would anyone visit Loughborough?  In order to get quarter rate rail staff 'privilege' rate tickets on a latter part of my journey I'd bought a ticket earlier at Leeds, and it was good to hear the sales clerk recount their version of the story, this time it being about training a new guard who pronounced it that way.

Loughborough is just full of students.  The university specialises in sports and technology, so the town is full of teenage scientists in shellsuits, like Big Bang Theory meets We are the Champions. So I avoided the centre, and instead a wander down the Grand Union canal soon revelaed the rusting junk of a preserved steam railway.

The Great Central Railway was a slightly unusual line in that it was formed in the 1890s with it's prime intention to build a tunnel under the channel to France to link with the industrial areas of Northern England.  However, none of the other railway companies would get involved so the company had to build its own line from the north to London, which as it was only a link line, didn't serve any major populations, so lost massive amounts of money, and therefore the channel tunnel section only got a few hundred feet before the project ended.  The line shut in the 1960s, with the section between Loughborough and Leicester being taken over by a preservation operater.

A wander down to the shed revealed a lot of water boiling capability.

And a lot of wheels for not a lot of horse power in the form of a class 45 'peak', though this one has stolen the 'Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry' plate from the sole named class 46.  Note the rather more modern way of coaling the kettles.

These were of more interest to me, but none were out to -play today.

Also some vintage auto action.  I can remember reading in a copy of shoot in the 1980s, Alan McInally signing for Aston Villa and proudly showing off his new company car, which was a Nissan Bluebird Turbo.  How times have changed. 

Even the carriages were water boilers.  These are ex-Irish steam heat vans, the irish locomotives never having a train heat capability, so having a separate vehicle to do so.  A lot of the preserved uk lomotives are ex-freight, so also do not have train heat supply, so the intention was to use these, but the plan doesn't seem to have come to fruition.

But the steam heat was certainly working on the train in the platform.

Travelling tea urn today was a 9F, which were the last built steam class in the UK, with a lot of very small wheels in order to give traction to move very heavy freight loads.

Another name steal, this one suddenly noticing that their is a football club at the other end of the line, and now carries the name formerly held by a member of the B17 class.

My opening move was a very short one, off at the first station at Quorn and Woodhouse.

Leaving my impostor to head off to the outskirts of its namesake.

The station has set itself in the 1940s, I am unaware if this is a faithful recreation.

Quorn was a quarrying and textile village, and also became well known for the local fox hunt, based at Quorn Hall.  These days it is a fairly affluent commuter village.

This bat sculpture was included...

...just because of the designers name.  Are there any other examples of nocturnal mammal representations that were created by a person named after after a railway station on the outskirts of Bracknell?

I was heading here.

Typical step 11 players with their fancy Ferraris.  I can only imagine how happy Alan McInally would have been to receive one of these.

Quorn U21 1 v Kettering Town U21 3, Total Motion Midland League - U21 East

Quorn Methodists were formed in 1924, losing their religious postfix when they moved up to the Leicestershire Senior League in the 1950s.  There they stayed until the 1990s, when a number of title successes saw a rise to the Midland Alliance, and then in 2007, up to the Northern Premier League.  However, they struggled at that level, and ructions at the club in 2012 either saw all the players and coaching staff leave, or the budget was being cut anyway, but either way, they dropped into the United counties, before a move across to the Midland Alliance which became the Midland league in 2014.

Kettering Town have traditionally been one of the leading non-league teams, but are currently struggling.  They were formed in 1872, and had a long and successful stint in the Southern League, before becoming founder members of the Conference in 1979, where they enjoyed many high place finishes and cup runs.  However, the coming of the new millennium saw problems with stadium lease was mirrored with a downturn on the field.  Shockingly, a new property developer owner with no previous involvement in football, and the appointment of Paul Gascoigne as manager, didn't lead to Champions league football in successive seasons, instead it saw a plummet down four steps and the loss of their famous Rockingham Road stadium. They now seem to be on their way back up, largely due to an enthusiastic band of supporters and some more responsible governance of the club by those currently in charge, though they are still homeless, currently playing at Burton Latimer.

Quorn have played at various grounds across the village, I saw them play next to the the cricket club in the 1990s.  They moved to the current site in 1994, but a sell on clause for ex-player Luke Varney saw a windfall that was spent on developing the ground. 

This extremely low and long cantilever stand runs down one touchline, and is roughly the same size as the model of Adams Park at Bekonscot model village.

The original clubhouse sits on the opposite touchline.

A parcel of adjacent land was recently sold off, and this funded instalation of a 3g pitch, and also a standing terrace behind the goal.

The remaining end is just hard standing. 

I watched from the press box.

Work commitments meant unusually, I hadn't seen any games since Monday's Dutch reserve team matches.  In those games, it was utterly apparent that all the players were under instruction that it was two touch football only, so there was continuous passing, which was tediously dull as it never got anywhere.  I noted that despite how crude British football can be, it was about a thousand times more entertaining to see the players here running with the ball.

Which was almost immediately demonstrated as the Kettering full back carried the ball from the halfway line, then cut inside and lashed the ball into the far corner.  In Holland, the two centre halves would still be passing to each other on the outskirts of the six yard box.

There were actual chances.  Which Kettering scored from.

Quorn did pull one back.

This bloke looked purposeful as he went to take a free kick.

There was a fair sprinkle of parents and girlfriends in attendance.

More player sponsorship that I approve of.  No 'solutions' here.

One of the Kettering players had a face mask.  Except that instead of it being the normal carbon fibre moulded bespokely for the face, instead it seemed to be a welders mask.

Kettering added another.

The game finishing 1-3 to the visitors.  The Quorn chairman is well known in local football circles and it is fair to say he doesn't enjoy much love from supporters of other rival clubs.  Sure enough, as a I was leaving the ground and taking a photo of the honours board, he was arriving, and duly drove after me to rather aggressively accuse me of being on a reconnaissance mission to come back with bolt croppers and start stealing the stadium piece by piece, demanding my full name and 'who I was'.  We had a chat and when I pointed out that I'd just watched the U23s game, he did calm down and apologise and seemed genuinely remorseful, but you can see how he gets his abrasive reputation.

For me, it was back to the station.

My next move was meant to be onto the next shack at Rothley, but a check of FA Full Time site, revealed that their game had been changed.  At least that is what it appeared to show, the site having been relaunched with an utterly woefull design that makes it unusable and the users are in revolt.  Who knew When Saturday Comes did web design consulatncy?  
I would like to add that the latter has now been fixed and is very easy to use.  It now just needs more than six people on it who actually go to football.

So a revised plan was in order.  The loco roster revealed it was either kettles or units on offer.

I went for the latter.

Being a first generation unit, this of course means a glass partition behind the driver, so an unhindered view of the line ahead.  This is ably demonstrated below, unless some clown stands up at the exact moment we pass the steam loco.

It was back into Loughborough, with the unit carrying on its journey to Holyhead.  Suposedly. 

Preserved railways are a haven for faded mark 3 sleeper vehicles.  These were ordered by British Rail in the 1980s for overnight long distance service, just as the motorway network and cheap air flights came to the fore, meaning that demand significantly decreased, and the sleeper network was slashed, meaning a huge amount of redundant vehicles which were sold for alternative use or scrap.  Steam railways often rely on volunteers coming along distance and spending the weekend at the railway, so a lot of them bought these as accommodation for the workers, where they are parked in far flung sidings, and never having had any exterior work since they were bought.  I'm sure the residents of this close appreciate their view of railway history.

Heading back tot he station and this worksite to the south of the station.  As well as the part of the Great Central that I'd been on, the stretch from Loughborough up to Nottingham is still in situ.  However, the bridge across the Midland Main Line was demolished in the 1980s, but is now being replaced in order to create a 18 mile running line for the steam railway.

It was back to the station.

With consecutive Met-Cam unit moves with a class 156 on a  Lincoln to Leicester all shacks. In the background are the Falcon works of Brush traction, who built the BR class 31s and 47s, as well as the Class 9000s that haul the Eurotunnel car and lorry trains through the tunnel. 

It was a short leap to the winning shack.  Sileby grew up around the River Soar, and after agricultural beginings, it developed clothing and shoe shoe manufacturing industry, as well as being a major wallpaper producer.  Well, I suppose somewhere has to be.  Of course, they are all now shut and these days it is an expanding commuter village, convenient for Nottingham, Derby and Leicester.

A stroll out through the village and new housing took me to a windswept hilltop, but it did contain this pleasant parkland.

Amongst which was this.

Sileby Town 0 v Hathern 1, Everards Brewery Leicestershire Senior League - Premier Division

Sileby Town were founded in 1952 and after a season in the Loughborough Alliancea, they joined the new Leicestershire Senior League, where they have played ever since.  Promotion to the premier division was gained in 2009, and the last three seasons has seen a title win and a runners up position.

Hathern is located just north of Loughborough, and is at the forefront of British independent sock manufacturing.  The football club were formed in 1966 and played in the North Leicestershire League before stepping up to the Leicestershire Senior in 2006, winning the first division last season and now competing in the premier.

Sileby played at the village centre memorial ground for half a century, before moving here in 2015.

It is still rather undeveloped, with the dugouts the only structure in the ground itself.

However, the playing surface was absolutely immaculate, one of the best I've ever seen.

This was perhaps explained by it appearing that no one could actually get to it.  With ten minutes to kick off, spectators were dutifully lined up at a locked gate.

With the players also either waiting, or warming up outside the dressing rooms.

But with the five minutes to go, it was permitted to occupy the hallowed turf.  

Two minutes silence.  No mascots present.

The game got underway.

It was the away side who took the lead.

There was a decent sized crowd in attendance, either as a result of it being international week, or celebrating the home sides recent exciting news.

No @keepers_towels, but the net bag, peg bucket and steps had been assembled in ascending height order.  Very thoughtful.

Good news was that despite the wind, both sides attempted to play some good, enormous punts forward.  Bravo.

The game ended 0-1 to Hathern.

Though I snuck off shortly before the end as the diversion away from the plan meant a longer journey to the next game.  A nice if fairly spartan facility, but obviously with an active committee and I would expect the ground to develop and the club to continue to rise in the coming seasons.

It was onto a Leicester bound bus.  This was operated by Kinchbus, who were a 1980s independent start-up operator.  By the time they were sold in the late 1990s, the owner was on the board at Leicester City, and some of the monies he received were used to fund the Martin O'Neil years at the club.

I was off on the outskirts of Leicester, with the christmas decorations starting to appear.

With the next bus rather taking me by surprise, hence this not particularly well framed, focused or indeed interesting shot of the side of it.

I then travelled out to the north west of the city, through what I thought was a large industrial estate, but I subsequantly foud out was actually the Walkers Crisps factory.  Great missed photo opportunities of my lifetime.  I was off in Beaumont Leys, right on the outskirts of the city. 

I headed out of the city, into the lovely Castle Hill Country Park.

Who's central feature is the A46 Leicester Western Bypass, though it does act as some sort of greybelt between Leicester and my next destination, Anstey.

Anstey started as a hamlet at the entrance to Charnwood forest, and overtime developed as a textile and shoe making settlement.  As it seems to be that every Leicestershire village must have an obscure manufacturing speciality, Anstey is the East Midlands centre for cardboard box manufacturing.  The village is reached over the ancient King William's Bridge, so called because it was specially built in 1696 so his carriage could reach a nearby manor.

Conveniently, the football club is the first thing encountered, rather than up a massive hill which seems to be the normal rule for non-league grounds.

Anstey Nomads 4 v Gedling Miners Welfare 0, East Midlands Counties Football League

Anstey Nomads were formed post WW2 with the merger of local sides St Mary's and Prims.  They joined the Leicestershire Senior League with some success, before moving through the Central Alliance and East Midlands Regional Alliance, into the East Mids Counties where they are today.

Gedling is found four miles northeast of Nottingham and although originally a separate mining village, it has now been enveloped by the city and the collieries all shut.  Gedling Colliery Welfare FC were formed in 1919, playing in the Notts Alliance.  The closure of the colliery in 1991 saw a not-that-different-so-why-bother name change to Gedling Miners Welfare, which perversely saw fortunes rise as they gained promotion first to the Central Midlands League in 2002, and then to the East Midland Counties when it was formed in 2008, the region panicking and thinking it hadn't changed its league structure for almost two seasons.

Anstey Nomads have played at Cropston Road since their formation.  I'd visited a few times in the 1990s as a girlfriend lived here, I always found it an cheery little ground with a small band of enthusiastic followers.

The compact social club and changing rooms remain, with an extension over a small seating area at the front.

with a low standing cover appearing on the half of the opposite touchline that is open to spectators.  This was just grass and has been fenced off from the open area behind, and behind that, the omni-present pylon.  The local planning office obviously deciding that a dual carriage way wasn't enough to destroy the ambience of country park, it also needing a high voltage dominating presence.

  
The hard standing behind the goal has had similar treatment, with it now being seperated from the access road behind.

The Gedling ultras a menacing presence behind the goal.  Who knew CP Company goggle hooded coats went so well with beige Farrah stay-pressed slacks.



The far end retains what the far touchline used to be, with open hard standing infront of a large grassed area.  And another pylon.

A view that doesn't include a pylon.

So what about the football, you probably aren't asking.  Well, Anstey took an early lead.

This bloke ran down the wing.

Then got all arsey just because the opposition left back tried to kick him into two pieces.

The home goalie had a lovely pink @keepers_towel and dry hands.

This bloke tried to kick the ball very high, but it rattled off his shin so didn't go very high.

So his fellow centre half showed him how to do it. 

Anstey scored three more goals without reply, and the game finished 4-0.  It confirming my earlier view of it being a characterful ground and a friendly club, and pleasant place to watch a game.

I was back to the bus.

Which dropped me off on the northern outskirts of Leicester.

Where I got to tick off another Leicester dual carriage way I've taken a pedestrian footbridge across.  The A563 Red Hill Way no longer being required.

It bringing me out on what might look like an East Midlands dogging spot viewed through a Springwatch night vision camera.

But was actually here, the southern operating limit of the Great Central Railway.

It's previous passage southwards now blocked by ring roads and light industrial estates, the fore thinking 1960s planners not counting on there ever being a future requirement for a ready made high speed rail link to the north of England from London.

I'd planned to get the evening dining service back to Loughborough, but it was fully booked, so instead it was the last DMU service of the day.  Although this is called Leicester North, it was originally Belgrave and Birstal and located as an island platform off the bridge seen by the arriving train in the background.  When it was reopened in 1991, it was reconfigured southwards as a side platform, and the encroachment of the city gave a higher status name.

It was a faithful representation of the real railway experience in that at departure time, there was no sign of a train.  The staff were putting all their effort into talking amongst themselves and cashing up early, and could not be found to ask what was going on.  Eventually, the unit did appear, apparently the kettle was running late so it was awaiting the single line.  The station staff then appeared just when they weren't needed.  Sealed Knott Society standard recreation.

We were back to Loughborough, missing class 1 PPM.

It was a cross station switch, from Loughborough Central.

Back to Loughborough Midland, for the third time of the day.

For an East Midlands Train Meridian unit. 

Through to Sheffield

Where a convenient cross platform change to the bay and a Northern semi-fast Leeds class 158.

However, this was one with a cut off move through Kirklees, and it was off at Wakefield Kirkgate.

Onto a Bradford bound Grand Central service, that, with the East Coast Main Line being closed, had worked up from London via the parallel joint line, which takes about a day longer.

Ticking off all the tourist destinations, as the next change was at Halifax.

For a Manchester Victoria bound class 155.

And back to a very floral Sowerby.

So, a detour on the original plan for a solo grounhop by steam train, but still more successful and less messy than my last attempt.  At least I didn't end up at a pensioners hockey game being talked through a minute-by-minute recount of the 1979 FA Trophy Final.