at one time the descent occupying eight or nine minutes. Swannington Incline problems and later closure The Swannington incline was 48 chains in length on a gradient of 1 in 17. It was operated by a stationary steam engine. The engine developed problems at the end of November 1833, and arrangements were had to be made to get horses to haul wagons up the incline. The working of the incline was entirely suspended on 7 March 1834, when the Breedon Hill lime and Peggs Green coal traffics stopped using the railways in protest against a rate increase. However the traffic resumed on 11 May. Traffic at Swannington was never heavy, and the collieries there were soon worked out. The Coleorton Railway had been made to bring coal and other minerals from Worthington to Swannington, being transshipped to the L&SR, but this traffic ceased in 1860. Calcutta Colliery was the last to be closed, in 1892, but it had to continue being pumped out to prevent inundation of other pits in the vicinity. Coal was brought down the incline for the pumping engine, until electric pumps were installed in 1947, and the incline was closed on 14 November 1947. Bagworth incline accident In 1843 a serious accident took place on the Bagworth incline. A train of goods wagons and an empty passenger carriage was being lowered down the incline when it slipped from the incline rope, and ran at high speed down the incline and was wrecked. The company decided to discontinue the use of the incline for passenger traffic. Passengers had to disembark from their trains and walk up or down the incline to rejoin the train. Connecting lines The L&SR did not make any branch lines itself, although from the beginning, mine and quarry owners were encouraged to make their own connecting mineral lines from their workings. Groby Granite Railway This branch opened on the same day as the Leicester and Swannington Railway, joining the line about halfway between Glenfield and Ratby. The junction was made by a turntable into a loop siding off the L&SR main line. The branch closed around 1843. After the L&SR had been upgraded by the Midland Railway, the Groby branch was re-opened around 1866–1870. A proper running junction with sidings was put in place. The branch ran northward for over three miles, to the Old Groby Quarry, close to the centre of Groby