Heritage rail centre launches funds bid

A FuND has been launched to develop a stretch of the Great Central Railway.

Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre in Ruddington wants to provide new visitor facilities, including a station in Nottingham, and to upgrade tracks and bridges on the nine-mile section of the Great Central Railway through the county.

Plans to overhaul a bridge which carries the railway over the A60 will also be announced.

The Great Central Railway in Nottinghamshire will ultimately be reconnected with the GCR in Leicestershire.

Work is under way on this separate scheme, which will create an 18-mile mainline heritage railway between Nottingham and Leicester.

To be Reunification Ready, the northern section needs major investment to keep its viaducts.

The chairman of East Midlands Railway Trust, David Rae, said: “The Great Central Railway and the Nottingham Transport Heritage Centre have great potential as a heritage and leisure amenity. There is a once-only opportunity to make this happen.”