The Great Central Railway

After our visit to Calke Abbey, Polar navigated Grizzly on to the town of Loughborough, where we were staying overnight before a special day out.  

 

Polar and Grizzly had booked a room in an old manor house in the town that had an Italian Restaurant downstairs, so while they had dinner, we did some bed bouncing before settling down to have our sleeps.

   

After breakfast the next morning, it was time to go to the Great Central Railway station in the town.  The Great Central is one of Grizzly's favourite steam railways, as it has a long stretch of double track main line, so it's just like being on a proper main line in the days when he was young.  Grizzly's sister Hazel had sent him a voucher for a whole day's travel for him, Polar and an unlimited number of small bears.

We arrived just as the locomotive that was going to pull the first train arrived at the platform.  Grizzly told us that it was a Stanier 8F, which meant it was a very powerful locomotive.

  

We had time for a walk down to the yard and sheds where most of the rest of the locomotives are kept before our train was due out, so Polar carried us there in the Bear Bag.  There were locomotives that used to work all over the country there, steam locos and diesels.  Polar told us that films and TV shows set in the 20th century are often filmed there, so they should be able to make sure they use one that's right for the time and place.

  

Some of them were being cleaned and repaired and there were pieces of engines everywhere!  Polar made sure we stayed in our bag, as there was oil on the ground which would be very difficult to get out of our fur if we stepped or fell in it.

When we got back to the station, Polar said we could have a little run around before we caught our train, so we did some exploring and Hanley and Huddlesford chose their favourite posters to have their photos taken beside.  Then it was time to get aboard our train to Leicester.

On the way, we stopped at some lovely little stations, all restored as if they were set in different eras, and we went across a long causeway across a huge reservoir.

On the way back, we moved into the Griddle Car, where they serve a really tasty all day breakfast.  Grizzly decided we had been such good bears that we could share some beer bubbles while we waited for our dinner.

Polar and Grizzly had the veggie breakfasts, so there were plenty of tasty treats for us bears to enjoy, like hash browns, veggie sausages and mushrooms, plus lots of buttered toast.

Then Grizzly showed us a little book her had found for sale in the bookstall at Loughborough Station, all about the railway lines that used to run around the area where we live.  Hanley Bear was thrilled, as there were photographs of the old railway stations that used to exist around the Stoke-on-Trent Loop Line.

 

When we got back to Loughborough, after another look around the station, we decided to catch the little diesel unit back down the line.  We realised that, if we sat right at the front, we could get a driver's-eye view of the journey.

It was absolutely super fun!  We took it in turn to sit at the front of our bag and pretend to drive the train, watching the real driver and second man as they applied the brake or accelerator coming into and out of stations.

On the way back, we didn't rush to the other end of the train to do the same again, as some human cubs got on and we thought it would be nice for them to play at driving the train instead.  We found good places to sit where we could see out, and spotted the steam loco on another journey down to Leicester.

Back at Loughborough, we had a final play on the station before Polar and Grizzly said it was time we ought to set off home.  We had been enjoying ourselves so much that it was sad to leave, but Grizzly said we would definitely come again - in fact, we might even come back by narrow boat.

There was just time to see the steam loco one last time, when it brought the dining train back in and went to refill its water tank.  Grizzly looked after us while Polar took some more photographs, then they took us to let us have a look through the window at the dining carriages.

       

Grizzly said that one day we might be able to have a posh dinner on the train, but we would have to put our smartest clothes on and be very good bears indeed.

  

As we were leaving the road the station was in, Grizzly spotted a huge mural at the end of a row of houses with a spitfire and a pilot on it.  Grizzly told us that he was Jonnie Johnson, a famous Second World War pilot who was born nearby and educated in the town.  Isn't it fantastic!

We do hope we will visit again one day, and we will be very, very good bears if we get the chance to have a special dinner in the dining car!