Market Harborough station was experiencing untypically wintry weather on Saturday 27th November when LMS Pacific No 6233 Duchess of Sutherland came through.  She was hauling The Yuletide Express from Ealing Broadway to York on what turned out to be a stormy day.  The return run through Market Harborough was slightly delayed, but it was good to see the engine in darkness, working hard to recover lost time.

Harborough Rail Users held their Annual General Meeting on Friday 26th November 2021, online because of continued Covid caution.  The officers and Committee were elected for the forthcoming year.  The priorities for the group were confirmed; these are:

• The train service and the risk of reductions, especially any resulting from the pandemic;
• Rolling stock, including shorter trains leading to some recent overcrowding;
• Electrification, work on which is due to start imminently;
• The remaining works needed to complete the station, including the new toilets and waiting room on Platform 1; and
• Keeping a watching brief on the possible consideration by England’s Economic Heartland of reopening of the Northampton line.

​The meeting also considered the reductions in CrossCountry services from Leicester resulting from staff shortages, and coordination of replacement buses with trains during engineering work.
Click on the link below for the Annual Report for HRU for the year to November 2021, as presented to the AGM.

Harborough Rail Users are holding their 2021 Annual General Meeting on Friday 26th November 2021, starting at 1:00pm.  Because of continuing Covid precautions, the meeting this year will be held online on Zoom. 
As well as electing officers for the group for the forthcoming year, the meeting will consider relevant topics including reviewing the past year and the start of the recovery from the Covid pandemic.  Campaign priorities for the forthcoming year will also be considered.  Among these are the remaining improvements we would like to see at the station, and the electrification of the line, now in its early stages.
Anyone who cares about Market Harborough's station and rail service and would like to attend the online AGM is invited to contact Harborough Rail Users via our Get in Touch facility.

During the rebuilding of the station in summer 2019, the old Harborough Rail Users noticeboard disappeared.  It was on the approach wall to the subway and was an important means of communicating the activities of HRU to the users of the station.  Repeated enquiries never identified what happened to it!  However, EMR agreed to provide a replacement, and this was installed on 21st September 2021, next to the position of the old one.  We are grateful to EMR for providing this.

Long-awaited renovation works on the Victorian main building and the ramp up to Platform 1 were in progress in late August.  With the recent emphasis on the new construction at platform level, the older part of the station was getting rather shabby and in need of some TLC.  On 24th August, there was evidence of that happening, with some replacement windows on the covered ramp up from the booking office, where timber had become quite rotten.  Work was also in hand on the sash windows on the upper floor of the main building frontage.   Market Harborough's main building is an absolute architectural gem and deserves to be kept in good repair.