High Speed 1 - The Original and Best

Onley Lane, south of Rugby, hides an intriguing little secret.

It is not particularly obvious from the road itself, but rise skywards courtesy of Google Earth and you might get a clue.

Here a tell-tale straight line of vegetation crosses this unassuming country road. Here the lane once crossed the Great Central Railway, now but a fond memory.

Here is the modest start of a Rugby path and cycle way.

A while back, Northampton correspondent Alan took a D1/D2 bus to Rugby ...

... alighting at Balcombe Road on the Ashlawn Estate.

Were he brave or a glutton for punishment, he could have ridden all the way from Northampton.

Turning left after his alighting stop, a short walk brought him out on Ashlawn Road and near to the lane leading to the Crematorium.

Not yet ready to book his slot there, Alan took the zig-zag path down the embankment to the trackbed of the former GCR ...

.. and thence northbound to the crossing under Hilmorton Road. Here the overbridge is much more substantial.

That is because it is the site of the long-gone Rugby Central Station; that is NOT "central" as in the centre of the town ...

... because it isn't, it is central as in Great Central (lower right on map extract above). In 1969, the last year of opening, it was host to a minimalist DMU service ...

... a far cry from the crack expresses to London Marylebone.

The station building was on the overbridge ...

... leaving just the nibble where cars parked as today's evidence of its history.

The white cottage behind the GCR train ...

... still stands but no longer washed in white.

But onwards and northwards to the and of the pathway; and ignominious end on Abbey Street Rugby ...

... in amongst light industrial buildings.

But peer perceptively pat the pointed palisade and there is the West Coast main line east of Rugby (formerly Midland) station).

But whats is this piece of street art opposite the walkway's terminating exit?

This abutment supported the southern end of the wherwithalll used by the GCR to cross the main line.

Although the GCR closed in 1969, this magnificent structure remained as a fitting monument to the Directors of the Great Central.

It was removed, demolished, cut up and excised in 2007.

Boo. It would have made a magnificent train spotting/watching vantage point had the footpath been continued northwards.

An industrial estate and a chunk of parkland now obscure the line of route ...

... but the path does continue, unnamed for one short stretch through the estate.

Staveley Way loops round from south to north but once at the top end the path continues to Newton Road by which times it is just a footpath with little embellishment.

When Streetview last viwed the street, the top bit was closed!

And why the heading "High Speed 1"?

The whole purpose of the Great Central was to provide a fast link from Sheffield, Nottingham, Leicester and Rugby to London Marylebone. But big cheese of the G C R, Edward Watkin ...

... (love the whiskers) had bigger ideas. His intention was to extend his line to the south coast and on into France by way of a "Channel Tunnel".

You have to wonder whatever happened to this idea. A high speed railway, a tunnel under the channel, trains from the north through to Paris all linked together - what a ridiculous set of ideas!

A Bit Of A Puzzle
The revised 218 includes a journey operated by Hulley's, according to Travel South Yorkshire (TSY).

The TSY timetable says it runs via the old route - via Abbeydale Road not the new T M Travel route via Sharrow.

Did Hulley's forget to register the change? Did Hulley's not want to take the diverted route?

But Derbyshire (usually utterly reliable, far more so than TSY) suggests otherwise.

fbb does not know what "Kenwood Barn" is but, as far as the route is concerned, Hulley's goes the same way as rest of the service. So which authority is right?

The 218 journey is simple not mentioned on Hulley's web site.

But. of course, it is all on-line; so that's OK?

 Next Waverley blog : Tuesday 5th March