Huge grant for 'Railway Children' line

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway has been awarded £1,000,000 toward the costs of the Bridge 27 renewal from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund.

As part of the levelling up funding from the central government, the railway has been awarded a £1m grant for rebuilding Bridge 27. This bridge is vital to the ongoing operation of the railway, and its rebuild will be our largest ever – and most expensive – civil engineering project since we became a heritage railway.

The original bridge was built in 1867 before the current bridge was built as part of a reconstruction in 1889, The existing bridge is two separate structures carrying the railway over Bridgehouse Beck, but the two structures share the same abutments and pier.

Development work has been ongoing for around a decade, with the initial plans to renew the bridge like for like. After several flooding incidents, which were contributed to by the restrictions in the river around Bridge 27. The development began to look at an option to build a longer span to remove the need for the central pier and improve the beck flow.

Sub-contractors will be used for a reasonable amount of the work on the Bridge 27 Renewal; it is worth noting that The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway will be delivering this project as the main contractor with our very own qualified team of volunteers.

‘This funding is a financial game-changer for the railway. It means that we can press on with the largest and most expensive civil maintenance project we have undertaken since the Preservation Society reopened the line back in 1968, safe in the knowledge that we can continue to invest in the programme of locomotive overhauls and other capital projects necessary to keep the 150+ year old railway running’ commented KWVR Chairman Matt Stroh.

The successful grant application process has been led by volunteers in the Fundraising Team who worked closely with the Civil Maintenance volunteers that are leading the bridge replacement project.

To find out more about the planned renewal of Bridge 27, there is more information about the funding, renewal and timeline on the KWVR website:  https://kwvr.co.uk/bridge27/