Rushcliffe Halt
Encyclopedia
East Leake
East Leake is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe district of Nottinghamshire, England, although its closest town and postal address is Loughborough across the border in Leicestershire. It has a population of around 7,000. The original village was located on the Sheepwash Brook. ...
, and is the only surviving
Great Central Railway
Great Central Railway
The Great Central Railway was a railway company in England which came into being when the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway changed its name in 1897 in anticipation of the opening in 1899 of its London Extension . On 1 January 1923, it was grouped into the London and North Eastern...
London Extension station with twin platforms (as opposed to the standard 'island' platform). The stations was built as a later addition to the railway, opening in 1911 to serve the adjacent Rushcliffe Golf Club. Later, sidings would be added to serve the nearby gypsum
Gypsum
Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...
works. The station closed to passengers in 1963 as part of the famous Beeching Axe
Beeching Axe
The Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
, although freight continued to serve British Gypsum
BPB plc
BPB plc is a British building materials business: it is the world's largest manufacturer of plasterboard. It once was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index...
until the early 1980s.
During the 1990s, the line and station entered preservation. In 2000 freight trains to the gypsum works resumed and in 2003 a regular passenger service was restored to the station.