Asfordby

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Asfordby is a village and civil parish in the Melton district of Leicestershire, to the west of Melton Mowbray on the A6006 road.

The parish consists of Asfordby proper, Asfordby Valley and Asfordby Hill, which together have a population of around 3,000 (1995 est). The villages are to the north of the River Wreake, with Asfordby Hill situated east of Asfordby proper, closer to Melton, and Asfordby Valley to the north.

Asfordby was the site of a modern deep coal pit in the 1980s but this closed due to numerous difficulties.

[edit] Railway Test Track

The original Old Dalby test track is owned by BRB (Residuary) Ltd. and runs from Melton Mowbray via Asfordby to Edwalton. In the early 2000s it was leased to Alstom Transport Limited who upgraded and electrified the line and used it for testing the UK version of Pendolino tilting trains. After completion of the Pendolino testing in early 2005 the line was mothballed.

On 12 February 2007, Metronet announced that they had leased the track and would be refitting part of it to test the next generation of air conditioned tube trains. ^{[1] [2]}

The Alstom Midlands Test Centre (AMTC) HQ now occupies various buildings at the former mine complex at Asfordby.

[edit] External links

• Asfordby Parish Council
• The Old Dalby Test Track

[edit] References

1. ^ Metronet Rail (2007-02-12). Metronet saves Old Dalby test track. Press release. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
2. ^ BBC (2007-03-19). Tube firm to use rail test site. Retrieved on March 20, 2007.

Coordinates: 52.764° N 0.958° W