Leicester
Leicester
Located in the center of the city, it is easy to get to and there is a car park right next to the station. However it seems it is the usual standard day charge for parking like all railway station car parks, so even if you park for 2 hours, you pay £12. However there is several car parks located a short walk away with much better rates.
The station has barriers in force and I bought a ticket to the nearest station, I used Syston, which was £4. with the staff more concerned about Covid procedures, they would not let me on for free. I don't mind buying a ticket, if I am going to loiter around a station for a few hours, it's only fair I pay a small amount. The staff were all very pleasant, on my visit there were a lot of National Rail staff working on the line and parked in the car park, one guy even got me a few numbers from the Depot at the North end of the station. Although getting access to the side appears to be behind a Mercedes dealership, the bushes and trees along the side were heavily overgrown and made viewing the depot very difficult, although there might be another area to view from. Quite a few of the locos worked into the station during my time there, it was if the staff in the depot were bored and wanted to play trains.
It is also a good location for taking photos, not much clutter around to block views of the trains as they pass. The notice board in the middle of the lines was a bit of a pain, but you can move up and down the platform to negate it.
The date of my visit 21/05/2020 and I was there for around 2 hours, below is a list of what I saw during my time there.
20 - 20311 20314
37 - 37510 37800 37844
43 - 43050 43059 43081 43083 43238 43318
47 - 47739 47812 47815
56 - 56098
66 - 66147 66422 66429 66758
67 - 67013
90 - 90035
158 - 158813 158862
170 - 170109 170115 170117 170520 170522
222 - 222002 222003 222007 222008 222009 222011 222012 222013 222015 222016 222018 222019 222021 222023
HST Stock - 41077 41064 40749 42151 42164 42165 42153 44047 41061 41067 40741 42337 42119 42120 42121 44054
In fairness, not bad for the short time I was there. I would recommend Leicester as a place to visit, mixed units working through, shenanigans with the loco's on the depot and quite a bit of freight working through the station too.
A few photos of the depot on my visit there.
