Asfordby is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the Melton district of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, to the west of

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...

on the A6006 road. The village is north-east of Leicester. The village's name means 'farm/settlement of Asfrothr'. The parish consists of Asfordby proper, Asfordby Valley and Asfordby Hill, which together have a population of around 3,000 (1995 est). The population had increased to 3,286 at the 2011 census. 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 proper is just over a mile away from the neighbouring village of Frisby on the Wreake. Within Asfordby proper, there are few shops, including a convenience stores, a fish & chip shop, an Indian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant and a Co-operative shop. Asfordby Hall was demolished in 1965. Asfordby was the site of a modern deep coal pit, Asfordby Colliery, built between 1984 and 1993, but closed in 1997 due to numerous geological difficulties and the low price of coal at the time.

Railway test track

The original Old Dalby

test track Test Track is a high-speed slot car thrill ride manufactured by Dynamic Attractions located in World Discovery at Epcot, a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida. Designed by Walt Disney Imagineering in partnership ...

is owned by BRB (Residuary) Ltd. and runs from

via Asfordby to

Edwalton Edwalton is an area within Rushcliffe in Nottinghamshire, England. Originating from Edwalton village. The population of the Rushcliffe Ward was 3,908 at the 2011 Census. Results from the 2021 census now indicates that the population has risen t ...

. In the early 2000s it was leased to

Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...

Transport Limited who upgraded and electrified the line and used it for testing the UK version of

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian language, Italian "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of high-speed tilting trains (and non-tilting) used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic, ...

tilting train A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train (or other vehicle) rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about ...

s. After completion of the Pendolino testing in early 2005 the line was

mothball Mothballs are small balls of chemical pesticide and deodorant, sometimes used when storing clothing and other materials susceptible to damage from silverfish, Mold (fungus), mold or moth larvae (especially clothes moths like ''Tineola bissell ...

ed. On 12 February 2007,

Metronet Metronet may refer to: * Metronet (British infrastructure company), who maintained London Underground infrastructure between 2003 and 2008. *Metronet (Western Australia) Metronet (styled METRONET) is a multi-government agency in Western Austral ...

announced that they had leased the track and would be refitting part of it to test the next generation of

air conditioned Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...

tube Tube or tubes may refer to: * ''Tube'' (2003 film), a 2003 Korean film * "Tubes" (Peter Dale), performer on the Soccer AM television show * Tube (band), a Japanese rock band * Tube & Berger, the alias of dance/electronica producers Arndt Rör ...

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

References

External links

Asfordby Parish Council

* {{Authority control Villages in Leicestershire Civil parishes in Leicestershire Borough of Melton