Seven participants met at Mountsorrel Halt (OP 24 Oct 2015) having enjoyed the novel experience of a DMU ride over the reopened 1m 10ch branch to the Great Central Railway on the first weekend that the intermediate Nunckley Hill station was open. This serves a Museum and Visitors' Centre with its own branch off the branch! Led by local member Tom Gilby, the group followed the rest of the route of the former quarry line (the section not relaid) to its junction with the earlier branch from Barrow-upon-Soar (Midland Railway) in Mountsorrel village. A track, 'Cufflins Pit Lane', was taken, then a permissive path (not shown on maps) to climb to the summit of Broad Hill, once a green hill with a buried Roman Villa and a Windmill on the summit.

1950-56 OS one-inch 7th Series map. The present Great Central Railway is left and the Midland Main Line is right. The reinstated (GCR) Mountsorrel (Quarry) branch runs from Swithland Sidings (southeast of the reservoir, bottom left) for a mile northeast to just past the second overbridge. The former MR Mountsorrel branch is now occupied by a covered conveyor that carries the aggregate instead. Barrow-upon-Soar Grove Lane is the south most of the three overbridges.

For over a century it was dug away and the party, walking on restored land, was able to visualise the quarry tracks below. At the foot of the 'new' hill is Crown Lane which was crossed by various lines from the quarry to the crushers etc. A few traces were seen before briefly guessing the Mountsorrel Railway's (once totaling 8½ miles) route in what are now rock faces and stockpiles (previously Hawcliff Hill). There were glimpses of the current Buddon Wood Quarry and the conveyor that takes granite to the Barrow-upon-Soar railhead running over both ex-Great Central and Midland parts of the railways. The private sidings on the Down side of the Midland Main Line were installed in 1977 for Redland with a 2M 'Section 8' freight facilities grant; then the largest awarded, worth £12M now. The branch was closed and converted to conveyor working to increase capacity and allow use of larger wagons.

The Mountsorrel Midland Railway branch bridge over the Soar (or Soar Navigation), taken during the RCTS (East Midlands) ride over the branch in 1972.
[Angus McDougall]

Adjacent on Bond Lane are three overbridges. Two are handsome double stone-faced arches with an 'MGC 1919' (Mountsorrel Granite Company) inscription, originally for railways but now internal roads and a plain single girder bridge - this was our Great Central branch carrying the conveyor. In the village a close look was taken at the girder bridge over Loughborough Road, the former A6. The first bridge was brick, single track, with a 40ft single span 16ft above the road and was replaced by the current one in 1898 when the Great Central line reached here and joined the Midland branch.