Mountsorrel Railway project steps up a gear!

Project fundraising continues in earnest and we have been very fortunate to receive a substantial offer of assistance from J. McCann (Nottingham) Ltd.

They have offered to remove most, if not all, of the remaining stumps along the trackbed for us. In addition to this they have also offered to provide dumpers and operators for laying ballast in the next stage of the project reconstruction. Some of you will have noticed the missing capping stone on the Wood Lane bridge (see map here); McCann will also be resetting the stone back onto the bridge for us. The missing half tonne hand carved granite stone, which lies on the trackbed below, has become quite a focal point with the local community, particularly since we cleared the ivy from the bridge, so replacing the stone should bring much needed local publicity to the project.

We are extremely grateful to J. McCann (Nottingham) Ltd for providing this help, which represents a saving to the project of many thousands of pounds.

Stump removal work has already been scheduled and will be starting this coming Saturday, November 8th.

This offer of support is in addition to the very substantial donation of ballast that we were able to secure from Lafarge Mountsorrel quarry earlier this year.

We have also been receiving many personal donations to the project. These have been arriving at our fundraising HQ on an almost daily basis in recent weeks. We would like to pass on a very big thank you to all those, both personal and organisations, who have donated and supported the project so far.

In recent months, the monetary value of the offers of material, plant and labour, together with the financial donations we have received, now amounts to almost £40,000! This has been raised independently of the GCR and general RVP funds to ensure that the project doesn’t have any negative financial impact on other work currently being undertaken.

The project is now at a critical stage where every pound we can raise really makes a difference. Over the coming months the trackbed will be transformed, early next year the first sections of the trackbed should see ballast laid leaving the trackbed ready for track laying to start.

Although we have been fortunate to attract the offers of help and donations we have received to date, much more is needed to keep up the high rate of progress that the project is experiencing.

Please can I ask you to consider making a donation to the project? Large or small, all donations are very much valued. The project is run entirely by volunteers and has no overheads so every pound donated will go directly to furthering the reconstruction of the railway. Please send your donation cheques made payable to “RVP Ltd” with “Mountsorrel Railway” written on the back, to 112 Balmoral Road, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 7EW.

Thank you.