Broadway share offer hits £1m

THE Gloucestershire Warwick shire Railway’s share is sueto finance its northern extension to Broadway may have passed the£1 million mark by the time this issue hits the newsstands.

- Robin Jones

 Chris Bristow,the railway’s volunteer finance director,is to say it mildly,thrilled with the result.“We had budgeted to have sold £900,000 worth of shares by Christmas and we had exceeded that by more than £50k. 

“But it is important that we raise all of the£1.25m we need – not just to finish the track to Broadway,but to complete works on the station building so that we will have a functioning station by the time we open on March 30,2018.” 

However,he warned that the project now faced the same problems that be set the heritage line in past years, with landslips at Gotherington and Winch combe.

He said:“There remains significant work to do – not least of which is some important stabilising works on the high embankment just south of Broadway station.There have been signs of movement in the earthworks – but given our past experience of problematic embankments on the line, we are confident that we can carry out this work to a high standard that will serve the railway well over the next century.