‘GLOSWARKS’ needS AnOtheR £320K tO fix embAnKment

Share issue exceeds target - but now railway must go an extra mile to stabilise 150-yard stretch.

With over £1.25 million raised by early April, the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway’s ‘Broadway: The Last Mile’ share issue has exceeded its target. Just under a year since its launch by Pete Waterman on April 6 last year, the figure reached £1,251,253 on April 4, thanks to a share purchase by Neil and Vicky Davidson, from Stratton, near Swindon. But more funds are still needed, with the discovery that the unstable embankment between the current railhead and Broadway station will cost significantly more to repair than expected. Contractors George Law Ltd have begun work to re-profile the 150-yard stretch of embankment to its natural shape, and stabilise it with soil nails - a permanent repair for an earthwork that received only a ‘sticking plaster’ remedy to landslips in BR days - ash, believed to have come from Gloucester shed. Spoil and ash removed from the embankment will find a new use at Broadway, as the sub-surface for the station car park. But with all of the results now obtained from a geological survey, it has been confirmed that the repairs will cost £400,000, instead of the £80,000 originally anticipated. It means that the railway cannot be complacent, says Press Officer Ian Crowder: “The job will get done - but the money must keep coming in. Taking it from elsewhere could delay other things.” Steam reached the railhead at Peasebrook Farm Bridge, about half a mile from Broadway, on March 31, when ‘Manor’ No. 7820 Dinmore Manor - on ‘driver experience’ duties for members of its owning group Dinmore Manor Locomotive Ltd - was used for an engineering train. Since then, ‘Modified Hall’ No. 7903 Foremarke Hall has followed in its footsteps. At Broadway, the walls of the station building have reached eaves level, and ballast has been laid north of the station to the boundary with the section of trackbed owned by Sustrans. The first sections of rail have been delivered, and track will be laid in Broadway station once road access to the site is no longer required. ●● As this edition of SR goes on sale, there will be just nine days left before the share issue closes on April 30. For details, contact the Finance Director, Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, The Railway Station, Toddington, Gloucestershire GL54 5DT, email finance.director@gwsr.com or call 01242 621405. After the ‘Last Mile’ issue closes, shares in the GWSR can still be purchased, and donations with Gift Aid can be made to the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway Trust at www.gwrt.org.uk/ Make_a_Donation