Vital step in ambitious project on course for October 2022 build.
The Friends of the Great Central Main Line is offering supporters of the award-winning heritage line a glimpse into the future!
A brand-new bridge over the A60 road in Loughborough is set to be built in October as part of the GCRs ambitious Reunification project.
Thanks to sponsorship from the Friends group, high quality computer visualisations of the new bridge have now been produced, by HBPW of Retford, the consulting engineers for the scheme. VolkerLaser are the lead contractor for the construction.
Andy Fillingham, Chairman of the Friends of the Great Central Main Line said, “Friends has driven forward the fundraising for the Reunification project. As a thank you to everyone who has donated money for the work to replace the A60 bridge, we’re delighted to have these images produced. They show the brand-new bridge, which is sure to become a local landmark.”
The existing 120-year-old structure has been struck many times by over height lorries. Replacing it with a twin track structure, will allow freight trains from the national rail network to use the line again as well as paving the way for heritage trains to run between Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire as part of the Reunification project.
This will reconnect two halves of the GCR to create an eighteen-mile heritage line for steam and diesel tourist trains with far reaching benefits for the East Midlands economy. Two parts have already been completed, the new A60 bridge is the third.
The new bridge will cost more than a million pounds and has been part funded by public donations and the David Clarke Railway Trust, the charity supporting the Great Central Railway.
An appeal, launched by Friends at the start of the year raised £220,000 towards the A60 bridge replacement, with more donations still being received from well-wishers all over the world.
“With costs of raw materials rising, we were delighted to receive such strong and timely support from so many people,” continued Andy. “Their generous donations helped close a funding gap between what we had available and the total cost of the new structure. The Reunification project has captured imaginations. We said 2022 would see another piece of the jigsaw in place. The superb images show what it will look like!
We hope that will inspire others to support this part of the project or find out more the rest of the Reunification scheme and contribute. The more of us getting behind the plan, the sooner it will be completed, and we’ll unlock the economic benefits.”
Donations for the A60 bridge replacement can be made online at www.gcrailway.co.uk/unify or via cheque through the post made payable to the ‘David Clarke Railway Trust’, to DCRT, Lovatt House, 3 Wharncliffe Road, Loughborough, LE11 1SL.
Please write on the back of the cheque A60 / Reunification.
