Four stations are in operation, each restored to a period in the railway's commercial history: Loughborough Central (the 1950s); Quorn & Woodhouse (Second World War and the remainder of the 1940s); Rothley (Edwardian Era); Leicester North (the 1960s).

Two years later in 1899, "The London Extension" was officially opened[1] to passenger and freight traffic, allowing more direct journeys from the capital to Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and Manchester.

This construction scheme was devised by chairman Sir Edward Watkin, who had envisioned his railway one day running through a channel tunnel to France, linking Britain with the continent.

However, this never came to fruition; indeed, the Beeching report which led to cutback and closure was published in 1963, some 31 years before the tunnel was fully constructed.

There had been talk of restoring the entire closed line from Nottingham Arkwright Street to Rugby Central, but this was rationalised to a section from Ruddington to Leicester and later, because British Rail retained the single track between Loughborough and Ruddington for British Gypsum freight and access to the now-closed Ministry of Defence base, the group's plans focussed on the Loughborough to Leicester section.

The published aim of MLPG was "to acquire a suitable length of main line, for the operation of steam hauled passenger trains, at realistic speeds".

By the following year, negotiations into purchasing the rest of the remaining railway had proven successful and the group was able to buy it for a mere £75,000 (£1,339,000 in 2023).

[citation needed] To purchase what was left of the track, the MLPG was re-merged into a supporting charity, the Main Line Steam Trust (MLST).

[citation needed] A deal was struck on 1 April 1976 that would see the remainder of the down line lifted if BR's cash demand was not raised.

[citation needed] To purchase the land and track, Great Central Railway (1976) PLC issued shares, and the MLPG was transformed into the MLST, a charitable body, to support the company.

This shift in location placed the new station inside Leicester's city boundary, allowing the 'Leicester' tag to be included in the name, along with unlocking extra funds to assist in the construction.

This enables the running of non-passenger-carrying trains (freights, TPO set) during galas to a greater extent than any other heritage railway.

[7] In 2016 the BBC reported that GCR and GCRN claimed that it was 'the only place in the world where full size steam engines can be seen passing each other'.

It is proposed that work on the embankments will use current construction techniques to provide a higher but narrower structure than the original; while the Railway Terrace bridge is proposed to re-use one of two 17-metre road bridges removed as part of reconstruction work at Reading station in 2011 and made available by Network Rail to the project.

In March 2024, it was announced that Loughborough Central locomotive shed- which lies over the original rail track north of Loughborough- is to be relocated as part of the railways unification project.

In 2006, RVP applied for planning permission for the shed, but this was rejected due to badger setts discovered on site.

The reinstatement of the line went ahead, instead being carried out by a separate group, the Mountsorrel Railway Project, directed by Steve Cramp.

Work commenced in 2008 with the aim of relaying 1.25 miles (2 km) of line up to the bridge at Bond Lane, where a platform was planned to be built.

[21] This was in response to a planning submission[22] to build 300+ Houses near to the proposed Bond Lane Station, and was clearly aimed at Lafarge protecting the mineral extraction rights.

The steam fleet comprises several mainline classes, many of them either heavy freight, express passenger or shunting tank engines.

Passenger stock is made up of uniform rakes of British Rail Mark 1 coaches originally built in the 1950s and 60s.

MLST has been incorporated into The Friends of the Great Central Main Line (FoGCML), this with the David Clarke Railway Trust (DCRT) provide the volunteers and the funding.

A small group based at Loughborough who are devoted to LNER Chief Mechanical Engineer, Sir Nigel Gresley.

Responsible for over 75 privately owned vehicles which make up the majority of the boxvan, mixed freight and permanent way trains, as well as four of the brake vans in operation on the railway.