Great Central Railway (heritage railway)

Great Central Railway
BR Standard Class 7 70013 Oliver Cromwell leaving Loughborough
Locale	Loughborough, Leicestershire, England
Terminus	Leicester North
Commercial operations
Built by	Edward Watkin Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway
Original gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Preserved operations
Operated by	Great Central Railway Plc
Stations	4
Length	8.25 miles (13.28 km) (Leicester) 10 miles (16 km) (Nottingham)
Preserved gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Commercial history
Opened	1897
Closed	17 March 1969
Preservation history
23 March 1974	GCR Reopened
1976	GCR Plc formed
2000	Double track opened
2012	Swithland Sidings opened to the public
Headquarters	Loughborough Central & Ruddington

The Great Central Railway (GCR) is a heritage railway in Leicestershire, England, named after the company that originally built this stretch of railway. It runs for 8.25 miles (13.28 km)^{[citation needed]} between the town of Loughborough and a new terminus in the north of Leicester. It has period signalling, locomotives and rolling stock.

The GCR is currently the only double track standard gauge mainline heritage railway in the world with 5.25 miles (8.45 km) of working double track.^[1]

Four stations are in operation, each restored to a period in the railway's commercial history: Loughborough Central (the 1950s); Quorn & Woodhouse (Second World War and the remainder of the 1940s); Rothley (Edwardian Era); Leicester North (the 1960s).