THE Keighley &WorthValley 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 theWestYorkshire 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.
Pictured standing on bridge 27, which is located at the throat of Haworth yard and locomotive depot, are left to right: Nick Bennett, chairman of the railway’s operating company, and Robbie Moore, MP for Keighley and Ilkley. In the cab of BR‘2MT’2-6-2T No. 41241 is KWVR volunteer Tom Kay giving the news the thumbs-up.
KWVR