There was a cache here when I first started caching and I recall how much my boys enjoyed waving at trains.
So I thought I'd replace it with a new cache.
It always amazes me how busy and noisy and dirty the whole area would have been at its peak activity...
Market Harborough was the largest station within the county boundary south of Leicester. Such was the volume of traffic, a junction for five different directions at its height, by 1870 plans for an engine shed were released in addition to the already provided loco pit, turntable and water tank. A shed was never built but this did not stop it becoming a sub-shed of Leicester in later years.
The original station was built by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) in 1850 on its line between Stamford to Rugby and thence to Euston. The Midland Railway shared it from 1857 when it built its extension from Leicester to Bedford and Hitchin.
As traffic built up, the Midland built a new line at a higher elevation, crossing the LNWR and then running parallel to a new joint station in the present position. The Midland line was quadrupled in 1879 and the new station opened in 1885.[1]
The station was the scene of a serious accident in 1862. An excursion train bound for Burton-upon-Trent stopped to pick up water, and a second train bound for Leicester collided with the rear of it.
The service on the original LNWR line was drastically reduced in 1960 and finally closed in 1966. The Midland line continues, with the platform buildings and canopies replaced with modern designs in the sixties. The main building survived, however, and was carefully restored in 1981.
Enjoy waving at the trains!