Bridge that Gap: Great Central Railway News

Thanks Phil, once again I get my east and west mixed up. Yes, it the coachworks land I thought was going to have a shed built on it. James (who once drove from Birmingham to Cambridge via a magical mystery tour of Warwickshire).

 

I thought the railway purchased Workington shed a few years ago, to be erected north of Loughborough on land between the canal and the MML. I am sure I read it in Main Line or Steam Railway. Can any one remember this, or did I imagine it?

 

They did, but I believe the site it was to go on was unsuitable. I'm not sure what then happened.

 

Rover, and 35B are quite correct - I believe that it was only one or two lorry loads of stonework/steelwork that were actually "saved" from the Workington shed and they are still in a store somewhere. The ground was alongside the council refuse site and is low lying, on the flood plain? and said to be contaminated......

 

It was a lot more than one or two lorry loads. I certainly didn’t count them but I would guess nearer 10-20 lorry loads of rubble and mixed scrap. The writing was on the wall for this project before the stuff even arrived, as the building was pulled down rather than being dismantled properly. I believe there is now nothing left of it.


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As expected, the A 60 bridge is to be the next part of the Gap project so that the Gypsum traffic can restart. According to the latest news from the GCR...
"
......... we’ve got some fantastic Reunification news to share. 2022 is the Year of the A60 bridge. There’s a substantial sum of money now in place to carry out the essential work needed.

We’re looking to raise one hundred and ten thousand pounds to contribute to the pot." There is £10,000 available to match fund the next £10,000 donated.

 

A question I have is if (and if yes, how) they silo the money raised for the different elements of the unification project?

For example, there has been a lot of very positive PR and engagement around raising money for the factory flyover, has some or all of that money been redirected to the A60 bridge or is the substantial sum of money referred to a new pot?

Finally, how does this allocation tie in with other maintainence and repair work (eg the bridge near the swithland reservoir with the speed restriction)?

 

Hi Andrew
The release, from the Friends of the GCR, was very clear that the money raised so far for the "Factory Flyover" section (£1.1M) is a completely separate "Pot" to the A60 bridge fundraising. Certainly within the DCRT money donated can be dedicated to various different elements, as shown in their charity accounts and on their donations appeal literature.
Effectively, what is happening, is that the 7 aspects of the gap project are being re-sequenced with section 7 (A 60 bridge) now coming before sections 3 and 4 (Factory Flyover). If fundraising continues at the present rate, the work for the A 60 bridge could well be done by the end of this year 2022 and then they could start on the factory flyover. This would then leave only the two embankment sections (5 being the long 300m section North from the canal bridge, 6 being the short 40m section North of the MML bridge).
The other bridge to the North of Swithland is again, a distinct entity, and will be funded as a discrete item within the GCR budget - as was the recent bridge replacement North of Quorn.

 

Lovely - thanks for the response Phil, I find the ability and organisation around raising funds extraordinarily impressive.

 

About blasted time! Finally something in way of definitive action rather than words! Initial donation to this duly made.

 

This news is now on the GCR website in the Reunification section.

 

Donation made!

 

And the video makes all the points I asked (and you answered) about re segregation of funds. Good stuff!

They must be confident that 2023 is the year of the factory flyover and I’d wager the two sections of embankment are much less expensive than that section - unless something else emerges they must be confident 2025 is realistic to complete the project…

 

2025 to get the alignment in, possibly. There's still a lot of work to get from completion of civil engineering to running the first train.

 

The Worth Valley already has operational vintage coaches from the 1870's onwards (courtesy of the VCT Ingrow) and a 1980's Class 144 soon to enter passenger service. I would think, for publicity purposes if nothing else, it is only a matter of time before the 100+ year age gap is celebrated by running them on the same day.

Straying off topic but the question of whether a heritage line has yet to run two vehicles, from its own collection, built 100 years apart seemed an interesting one!

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On standard gauge, I suspect the Isle of Wight might have got closest, with Oldbury carriage No. 10 (1864) and D2059 (1959) - 95 years.

Narrow gauge - the Talyllyn has some carriages built in the 1970s, so more than 100 years younger than their two oldest locos.

Tom

 

The Welsh Narrow Gauge lines perhaps?

Ffestiniog maybe? Oldest carriages in regular use from 1864, newest carriage in use from 2020.

Tal-y-llyn? Carriages from 1866 to 1975 in regular use.

Welshpool and Llanfair? Earl and Countess (1902) haul the Pickering Replicas from 2004-2010

Standard gauge - Beamish maybe? Locos and rolling stock from 1870s onwards and rolling stock from 1870s to modern replicas.

 

The TR has been running trains for the last 50 years on an almost daily basis with coaches built more than 100 years apart. (coaches 1-4 and 19-22). There's the prospect of it becoming 150 years when they get their new coaches, but I doubt it will be on a daily basis.

 

Point of order: They'd already been doing so for 20 years when I first visited, a half century ago (Ye gods ... I'm getting old!)

 

The other thing to remember is that 2023 will be the 50th Anniversary of the start of running on the preserved Great Central - I'm sure they would like to have some significant infrastructure "happenings" to celebrate!
Also all involved with the gap project must be congratulated on making such good progress, on such a complex task, despite the past two years of abnormal times.