New railway bridge

Work on the railway bridge over the A60, close to The Brush.

The work that has recently taken place to demolish and rebuild the A60 bridge, and make it higher, is part of the Reunification of the Great Central Line, which would see the Leicester to Loughborough steam train travel all the way to Ruddington. The project is covered on the GCR's own webpages, but below are some of my photos from the recent work to replace the A60 bridge. I knew it was being demolished and replaced with a higher bridge, but what I hadn't realised was that the increase in height was only to be 3 inches!! 

Photos from 1st October 2022 on the first weekend of the works. By the time I got there, the bridge was already demolished!!!! And, it wasn't possible to get particularly close to the action, as both the road and the footpath were closed, and even the footpath by the side of Brush was out of bounds.

Here's the bridge in situ, in 2019, heading towards Nottingham

Here's the bridge in 2020, heading into Loughborough

Looking towards Loughborough

Road closed from Nottingham into Loughborough

Digger in action

Digger in action

Digger in the distance!

Road closed going out of Loughborough 

A couple of weeks later, on 15th October, I went down to see how the work was progressing, and at least this time I could actually get closer!

Looking from Loughborough towards the bridge

The former bridge adjacent to the footpath to the Meadows (going towards Nottingham)

Remains of the bridge opposite the footpath to the Meadows, heading towards Nottingham

As above

Close-up of the remains next to the footpath

Looking towards Loughborough

During the works, the road was either closed, or there were temporary traffic lights in action. The work was a little delayed, so I popped down again on 21st November to see what was happening - lots!

Looking towards Nottingham

In the direction of Nottingham

Looking towards Loughborough

Next to the Hermitage Brook

Looking along the track towards the GCR station

My final visit was on 27th November, and I was pleased to see that essentially, the work has been completed.

Looking from close to the Brush

Looking towards Nottingham

Under the bridge

Looking towards Loughborough

Under the bridge coming towards Loughborough

Looking towards Nottingham

Looking towards Nottingham

Looking towards Loughborough

Looking towards Nottingham

Interestingly, this bridge is very, very similar to the one that was replaced in late 2017, which is close to the civic amenity site.

The bridge near the civic amenity tip 

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posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). New railway bridge. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/11/new-railway-bridge.html [Accessed 27 November 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.  

 

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne  

Unusual and unreal letterboxes

First, let's have a look at some of the more unusual postbox sightings around Loughborough that we haven't already seen!

The box on Silverton Road, 2022

The box at the Thorpe Acre shopping village, off Browning Road, 2022

The box close to the Student Union on the university campus, 2017 

There's also a posting box in Tescos on Park Road, and I think in The Rushes, but I haven't asked permission to photograph those. so you'll need to shop there if you want to see them! 

The box below is not in Loughborough, but similar to the private box at Loughborough University pictured above, I also spotted a private posting box in one of the Cambridge University Colleges when I visited in 2005:

Next, we don't have any commemorative boxes in Loughborough that I know of, so here are some of the commemorative boxes I've seen on my travels:

Outside the Haymarket Centre, Leicester, 2019

Outside the Haymarket Centre, Leicester, celebrating England's cricket win 2017

A red pillar box accompanied by a white cricket celebration box, Southampton, 2019

A pair of gold pillar boxes in Stratford celebrating success in the 2012 Olympics

 

And now, in Loughborough, when is a letterbox not a letterbox, that is the question!!!

At Bishop Meadow Lock, 2019

On the Forest Green Belt, 2018

On the Forest Green Belt 2021

Finally, because shops are now full of Christmas decorations and Christmas cards, a couple of seasonal boxes, one Loughborough, one elsewhere, one real, and one not!!!

At the Oakham Christmas market, 2018

Box outside the Nottingham Road sorting office, 2018

____________________________________

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Unusual and unreal letterboxes. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/11/unusual-and-unreal-letterboxes.html [Accessed 20 November 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.  

 

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne                       

Loughborough's 801st fair!

Loughborough was granted its fair (and market) charter in 1221. The pandemic which began in the UK at the beginning of 2020, meant that 'normal life' was suspended for some time, and the fair visit of that year didn't happen. Naturally, with the ongoing health crisis, the 2021 visit was also in jeopardy, but thankfully, in its 800th year, the fair was able to fill our town streets.

This year, the 801st Loughborough event, the fair rides and stalls again filled the streets of Loughborough! Noticeably absent, however, was the big wheel, more recently sited in Granby Street car park, adjacent to Queen's Park.

Some years the fair comes after Remembrance Sunday, some years before: this year, 2022 was a before year. This means that on the Saturday night and into Sunday morning, the fair and borough council work hard to restore the streets of Loughborough to their normal state, and install whatever is needed for the Remembrance service and parade.

Turns out that Truro also have a fair at the same time as we do: interesting to compare the rides! Here's some photos of Loughborough's fair, and a couple from Truro 2022.

The fair in Lemon Quay, Truro, November 11th 2022

____________________________________

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

_______________________________________________

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough's 801st fair! Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/11/loughboroughs-801st-fair.html   [Accessed 17 November 2022]

Take down policy:

I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:

If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.  

 

Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne