Railway

A Memory of Broughton Astley.

I used to catch the train every week to visit my grandmother in Countesthoe. From where I lived in Six Acres it was about a mile walk to the station. The station was often staffed by Paddy a cheerful Irish man. If not him a lady would be on duty. A lady also normally worked the signal box. Most services were steam but in the final couple of years diesel railcars appeared. The service to Countesthorpe just after 2pm was diesel and very exciting for me. This would reach 70mph on the way to Countesthorpe and much faster than the steam trains. After closure there was no longer a direct public transport service to Countesthorpe and my mother and I had to catch the bus to Cosby and then walk. It took over two years before the track and fittings were removed. I remember pulling a signal lever and exploring the derelict Countesthorpe building. There were plans to reopen the line to accommodate electric trains from London via Rugby to Leicester and beyond. However a lack of joined up thinking allowed building on bits of the track bed and prevented this. So did the speedy removal of the huge iron bridge at Wigston over the canal.