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Rugby Locomotive Testing Station

1948 establishments in England1970 disestablishments in EnglandBritish Rail research and developmentBuildings and structures in Rugby, WarwickshireRailway depots in England

The Rugby Locomotive Testing Station was a British railway testing plant in Rugby, Warwickshire. Originally envisioned by Sir Nigel Gresley as a joint LMS-LNER operation, construction was started in the late 1930s but then deferred by the war. It was eventually opened in 1948 after both its owners had become constituents of British Railways. The location was one with access to both LMS and LNER main lines (West Coast Main Line and Great Central Main Line respectively. The GWR meanwhile had their own testing plant at Swindon Works. There was a rolling road to test engines. The testing station was relatively short lived; the final test was made in 1965, and the plant was officially closed in 1970, however the building continued to be used until the early-1980s as an outpost of the British Rail Research Division, until it was demolished in 1984. The site is now an industrial estate. The records of the Rugby LTS are part of the National Railway Collection held by the National Railway Museum.News reel footage of the site is available on YouTube.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rugby Locomotive Testing Station (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Rugby Locomotive Testing Station

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N 52.379236 ° E -1.243421 °
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CV21 1BG , Brownsover
England, United Kingdom
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Rugby railway station
Rugby railway station

Rugby railway station serves the town of Rugby in Warwickshire, England. The current station dates from 1885; two previous stations dating from 1838 and 1840 respectively, existed at locations to the west of the current one. It has been Rugby's only station, since the closure of the former Rugby Central station in 1969, on the now-abandoned Great Central Main Line route through the town. Between 1950 and 1970, the station was known as Rugby Midland before reverting to its original title. The station underwent an extensive remodelling between 2006 and 2008; new platforms were added and a new ticket office and entrance building were constructed. The original Victorian part of the station was retained in the upgrade. Rugby Station is at the centre of two important junctions of the West Coast Main Line (WCML) connecting London to Birmingham, North West England, and Scotland. The junction between the Trent Valley Line to the North West and the Rugby-Birmingham-Stafford Line to Birmingham is a short distance west of the station. East of the station, the Northampton Loop Line diverges at a junction from the direct line to London. Until the 1960s, it also had routes to Leicester, Peterborough East and Leamington Spa (Avenue) but these have all since been closed. The present station, managed by Avanti West Coast, is located roughly half a mile north of Rugby town centre. On the WCML as a whole, it is located 82 miles (132 km) north of London Euston and 319 miles (513 km) south of Glasgow Central. It is now the busiest station in Warwickshire.