Worth Valley gets ‘game-changer’ funding for bridge rebuilding
£1m Central Government grant paves way for vital bridge renewal project.
THE Keighley & Worth Valley Railway (KWVR) has been awarded £1 million towards the costs of the bridge 27 renewal, from the Government’s Community Ownership Fund.
Sourced from the central government’s levelling up funding, the grant will be used to help ensure a vital piece of the West Yorkshire heritage line’s infrastructure is fit for the future. The rebuild will be the KWVR’s largest ever – and most expensive – civil engineering project in the preservation era.
The original bridge was built in 1867, before the current structure 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. However, after several flooding incidents, which were contributed to by the restrictions in the river around Bridge 27, the railway began to look at an option to build a longer span to remove the need for the central pier and improve the beck flow.
While sub-contractors will be used for a reasonable amount of the work on the project, it is worth noting that the KWVR will be delivering this project as the main contractor with its very own qualified team of volunteers.
Detailed planning and design work for the project is well underway, with September 2024 being the current target date for the main bridge renewal, which will require a three-week closure planned. However, changes will soon be visible in the area as preliminary works get underway.
KWVR chairman Matt Stroh said: “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.”
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.
Meanwhile, the KWVR held its annual Civil Maintenance Department ‘Civil Week’ in midSeptember. Damems Junction cutting, which is immediately south of Damems Junction has suffered from flooding for many years. Drainage has been gradually improved in the area over the past six years.
During Civil Week, volunteers completed the final piece of the jigsaw – installing a cess drain. This drain is required to get the water out of the cutting and off the track as quickly as possible as it was ponding and causing issues with the track. In addition, where water had flowed onto the track, it had spoiled the ballast, washing silt into the stones, and this needed to be replaced alongside the improved drainage.
The main work began on Sunday, September 17, after the last service train had passed. On that day, both diesels, No. D0226 Vulcan and No. D2511 failed, leaving the team with no choice but to trap Class 37 No. 37075 at Ingrow. After it had completed its day’s passenger train duties, BR ‘2MT’ No. 78022 was used to drag the rails out – a rare sight of a steam-hauled works train.
Work completed during
Civils Week included installing track drainage in the Up (west) side cess; renewing a section of ballast; clearing the drainage ditches at the top of the cutting; continuing site investigations at Bridge 27; and undertaking some electrical work on the signalbox itself at Damems Junction.