The Great Central Railway is a heritage railway in Loughborough, which is in the county of Leicestershire in the UK. It's a great place to go and see some excellent working steam and diesel locomotives from time gone by...
It's a railway enthusiasts dream, you can travel down the line pulled by a vintage steam train as far as Leicester (well almost), travelling through some lovely English countryside along the way. When you get to the end of the line there's not too much to do, so you hop on board again after watching the engine change ends, then come back up to Loughborough.
If you want to get up close and personal, a short walk from the station at Loughborough is the engine sheds, where you can walk around some of the engines, and see some maintenance in action.
The UK has quite a number of these heritage railways, I think a lot of it stems from the 'Beeching' railway cuts in the 1960's, which also coincided with the end of travel by steam trains. There was a desire to retain some of the UK's engineering heritage, which as resulted in a lot of these fabulous tributes to our railway history.
As well as the Great Central Railway, I'm particularly fond of the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire, which I used to go to a lot as child, and the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway in Yorkshire, which I used to live close to. I'm hoping to visit some more soon, I'll keep you posted...
