Mountsorrel Railway takes a giant leap forward!

Over the last week local digger contractor, Steve Barsby, has been hard at work scrapping mud from the surface of the trackbed. The original trackbed base was buried under an average of three inches of mud and leaf mulch that had built up on the surface since the railway fell out of use. Contractors have removed all of the mud to reveal the original trackbed for the first time in almost 50 years. We now have a length of over 1,100m, which is two thirds of the total trackbed, poised to receive ballast!



(more recent photos available at our Flickr site)

This work was only possible thanks to the very kind donations of our many supporters. The on going progress of the project depends entirely on your financial support, so please send a donation (on a cheque made out to RVP Ltd, with Mountsorrel Railway written on the back) to 112 Balmoral Road, Mountsorrel, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 7EW, or contact george@mountsorrelrailway.org.uk.

The next task is to stabilise several soft areas of the trackbed. J. McCann (Nottingham) Ltd have very kindly agreed to undertake this work for us at NO cost to the project! We hope to complete this work in March. We will then start work on laying the ballast that Lafarge Aggregates have very kindly donated to the project.

These are very exciting times for the project, so why not become involved yourself? As well as the continuing process of rebuilding the railway, we are also about to embark on a series of site visits with several local schools. This will allow the children to experience the history of the railway first hand. Our Ecology Group is also under way, developing ideas and initiatives to encourage and study the wildlife along side the railway. There are many areas and we have something to interest everyone. To enquire about volunteering with any area of the project please contact Steve Cramp at steve@mountsorrelrailway.org.uk.