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Gloucestershire Business News

Railway supporters steaming towards £1.25million target

The £1.25million share offer launched by the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway is close to achieving its goal.

Called 'Broadway: The Last Mile' the offer is to fund completion of the popular heritage railway's extension to Broadway and open a brand new station in 2018 on the site of the original which lost its local train service in 1960.

Completion of the extension will increase the line's length to 15 miles from its southern terminus at Cheltenham Racecourse.

The £1.25million share offer must end at the end of April, just over a year after it was launched by the railway's president, pop and TV impresario Pete Waterman (pictured).

Just one week into the railway's 2017 operating season, there is now less than £100,000 to go with more than £1,160,000 raised.

Chris Bristow, the railway's volunteer finance director, said: "I can with confidence say that we will open our railway's brand new Broadway station in March 2018, linking the town by rail with Cheltenham for the first time since 1960.

"With the money raised so far we have repaired the original trackbed, put in new drainage systems, bought brand new rail from British Steel at Scunthorpe for the track, dropped thousands of tons of ballast and now the line has extended from Laverton, which has been our northern extreme for five years, to within sight of Broadway station.

"But between there and the station itself is one of the highest embankments on our line - and it is unstable.

"It needs around £400,000 alone to repair it - much more than expected - and that must be done before we can lay the last few hundred yards of line into the station itself. Over history, British Railways 'patched up' the embankment using ash and other unsuitable materials to the point that the whole structure needs considerable remedial work and re-grading, using 'soil nails' to stabilise it for future generations.

"So we need every penny we can get to enable that work to be completed on time."

Meanwhile the station building itself is progressing using heritage bricks similar to those used by the Great Western Railway for the original building, completed in 1903. The appearance of the building will be very similar to the original, albeit longer to accommodate visitor facilities and modern toilets.

Mr Bristow said: "Frankly, I'm humbled by the success of this share issue. It underlines the strong desire that local people - not just railway enthusiasts - have for the former Honeybourne Line, which many thought had closed for good in 1979 when all the track was ripped up.

"Well we have proved them wrong.

"The people have voted with their share purchases and are cementing the long-term future of the railway. People have invested anything upwards from £100 and every share purchase is a special co-owner of the railway. And they're paving the way for future expansion.

"Because we don't have a huge salary bill to pay, every spare penny goes into maintaining and extending our growing railway and this share offer underlines our commitment to creating one of the biggest and best visitor attractions in the Cotswolds."

Last year the railway carried over 100,000 passengers for the first time. When trains reach Broadway, passenger numbers can be expected to rise significantly.

"We're extremely proud of our volunteer status - every other major heritage railway has a significant number of paid staff and we're keen to ensure that continues. We offer a fulfilling and exciting way for hundreds of people to spend their spare time doing something really worthwhile."

Over the weekend of 1st and 2nd April the railway is running its second recruitment fair for anyone who would like to get involved with the railway in a practical way. Currently, the railway has 870 active volunteers but most departments could do with more to enable the line to be fully staffed on every operating day.

Full information of the recruitment day; how to participate in the Share Offer before it closes on 30 April and for information about trains and events go to www.gwsr.com

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