Lias Line - Rugby

[Gazebo]

Hi Folks

New here, and trying to find out about the Lias Line which used to run from Rugby. Have been cycling some of the route recently, but the old maps I have looked at don't help much in identifying it's background.

Anyone have any info on it, please?

• Where did it run to/ from?
• Who operated it?
• When did it shut down?
• Any archive photo links anyone can direct me to?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Rugd1022]

Hi Folks

New here, and trying to find out about the Lias Line which used to run from Rugby. Have been cycling some of the route recently, but the old maps I have looked at don't help much in identifying it's background.

Anyone have any info on it, please?

• Where did it run to/ from?
• Who operated it?
• When did it shut down?
• Any archive photo links anyone can direct me to?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Gazebo and welcome to the forum

I take it you mean the old Rugby - Leamington line...? This was the first line I worked on the footplate when I first joined BR in September 1982, a time when there were still daily trips to Southam Cement Works with Class 25s hauling 16 ton mineral wagons loaded with coal. Originally double track throughout, it was singled some time after passenger trains were withdrawn in June '59, with Marton Junction becoming the run round point for access down the branch into Southam. The last train ran in 1987 and rather ironically it was the weedkilling train! I don't know of any photos of the branch online I'm afraid....

 

[Gazebo]

Thanks for coming back so quickly.

I am not sure that this is the line that I am talking about. The line I mean runs from the main station and out over the Leicester Road on the 11 Arches Bridge, so seems to be heading in the wrong direction to go to Leamington.

I have looked at some maps from the 50's, and it seems to head towards Leicester, but as I follow it through I keep ending up at the Great Central station at Birstall. I am deeply confused!!

Does this mean anything to you?

 

[Rugd1022]

Thanks for coming back so quickly.

I am not sure that this is the line that I am talking about. The line I mean runs from the main station and out over the Leicester Road on the 11 Arches Bridge, so seems to be heading in the wrong direction to go to Leamington.

I have looked at some maps from the 50's, and it seems to head towards Leicester, but as I follow it through I keep ending up at the Great Central station at Birstall. I am deeply confused!!

Does this mean anything to you?

Ah... my mistake, but the Southam line is also known amongst some locals as the lias line because the train crews used t ostop off at the Blue Lias Pub for 'dinner' when on the trip jobs!

The line you mean is the Rugby - Leicester line which is also familiar to me as my Dad's Uncle Harry worked at all of the stations along it, he wrote a book about it called 'Country Station Life' which came out in 1980. The line didn't go through Birstall but entered Leicester near Wigston. The confusion probably comes from the fact that it crossed the Great Central line near the M1.... if you follow the A426 road out of Rugby you go over the trackbed just before you reach the Blaby area.

 

[Gazebo]

Thanks Rugd1022,

Do you know who used to operate the line before it became part of British Rail?

I am fascinated by it as a piece of history, and intend to follow up looking for some more background on it.

Funnily enough, I am researching for a song too! Is there a link to the song you mentioned on the web anywhere?

Thanks again.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sorry, just noticed it's a book, not a song.

 

[Mvann]

It was an lms line ( not sure weather it was midland or lnwr prior to that). According to the bartholomew map I have, it was closed by 1965. Don't know of any on line photos, but there was a book out about railways of Leicestershire that had photos in. I may have some in some of the old Leicester mercury transport papers I have.

 

[Rugd1022]

It was an lms line ( not sure weather it was midland or lnwr prior to that). According to the bartholomew map I have, it was closed by 1965. Don't know of any on line photos, but there was a book out about railways of Leicestershire that had photos in. I may have some in some of the old Leicester mercury transport papers I have.

The line was originally built by the Midland Counties Railway and was intended to be the Midland Railway's main route to London via Rugby very early on - if you look at the Wigston Triangle on Google Earth you can see that the line was almost straight as it headed out of Leicester and southwards towards Rugby, with the 'Midland Mainline taking a sharp curve to the right as it headed towards Market Harborough. The trackbed is still visible in places and when the Wigston Triangle was laid, it crossed the south curve on the level with large diamond crossings, similar to the old one at Retford on the ECML. The line closed in 1962 by the way