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£30M Irlam to Timperley reopened railway proposal


pharrc20

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So that's £5M to build the line and and £25M to rebuild the Cadishead viaduct!  :onthequiet:

 

I can't see how the economics would work as a heritage line though as Cadishead isn't exactly a charming little village that would attract lots of visitors. Perhaps it might work if they terminated the line at Partington and then they rebuilt the viaduct as just a foot/cycle path?

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Aye true it is April 1st but it was announced a few days ago on 28th March. Given that there is access to the main network at both ends you would think this would make a great project. Biggest hurdle is restoring the bridge.

Paul

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From a quick Google maps look, it doesn't seem like a particularly scenic train ride, and the east lancs is at the other end of the tram line.

Not that I want to be a naysayer, but as an out of town type, I probably wouldn't bother to visit unless it had some particular USP. I can experience an industrial tank engine pulling a mk2 carriage through unremarkable surroundings a lot closer to home. And the kind of thing that would attract me would probably not be hugely successful with the rest of the enthusiast community, though maybe the normals wouldn't be so put off by Norwegian rolling stock ;)

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I always wondered why, given that the Ship Canal company had to build the deviation, that BR was left with the liability for bridge repairs? I would have thought that these bridges would have been the responsibility of the canal as they were only built to allow the canal to pass through.

 

More recently the new bypass was built with a new bridge to allow the disused railway to pass over it, so there must be a longterm idea that this route has merit of some kind to be reopened. The route through Lymm and over Latchford viaduct never got a bridge under the widened M6 after it was closed.

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Are there enough volunteers in the area? Any one who would be interested would probably already be a volunteer on the east lancs.

 

I thought it was more of a rich man vanity project than a volunteer run thing. The bloke involved is a multi millionaire entrepreneur/property developer who has donated millions to local projects. He can afford it without outside help.

 

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/health/salford-millionaires-5m-investment-health-11598806

 

http://confidentials.com/manchester/reinventing-irlam-neil-mcarthur-and-the-problem-station

 

 

Jason

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If he's got so much money burning a hole in his pocket why not bank roll the Great Centrals bridge at Loughborough. I'm sure if he wants the fame they will name it after him and stick a plaque on it and it will only cost him about £5 million so he'll be better off and still have made a significant contribution to preservation consolidating an already existing railway. Then at least most of us will get to finally see it in our life times.  

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If he's got so much money burning a hole in his pocket why not bank roll the Great Centrals bridge at Loughborough. I'm sure if he wants the fame they will name it after him and stick a plaque on it and it will only cost him about £5 million so he'll be better off and still have made a significant contribution to preservation consolidating an already existing railway. Then at least most of us will get to finally see it in our life times.  

All from memory this...so perhaps not 100%, probably because he's  a local bloke interested in doing something 'on his doorstep'. I think he set up Opal teleom which was based in Cadishead, my thoughts are if that's the case can't fault him wanting to do 'something'. His brass, his choice.

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If he's got so much money burning a hole in his pocket why not bank roll the Great Centrals bridge at Loughborough. I'm sure if he wants the fame they will name it after him and stick a plaque on it and it will only cost him about £5 million so he'll be better off and still have made a significant contribution to preservation consolidating an already existing railway. Then at least most of us will get to finally see it in our life times.  

 

Because he's not an enthusiast and the GCR isn't in Salford where all his property is.

 

 

 

Jason

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I'm normally a bit cynical about the latest crop of reopening schemes, but this one does seem to have been costed. It's not just a Facebook group and some people falling out with each other. 

 

If they want more street cred maybe they should bring that nice chap who used to run the Friends of Rickerton Junction to project manage the scheme...... :jester: 

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If he's got so much money burning a hole in his pocket why not bank roll the Great Centrals bridge at Loughborough. I'm sure if he wants the fame they will name it after him and stick a plaque on it and it will only cost him about £5 million so he'll be better off and still have made a significant contribution to preservation consolidating an already existing railway. Then at least most of us will get to finally see it in our life times.

We've probably all got our own ideas on how to spend his money. But if he wants to build a full size train set near his house with it then that's his choice...
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From a quick Google maps look, it doesn't seem like a particularly scenic train ride, and the east lancs is at the other end of the tram line.

Not that I want to be a naysayer, but as an out of town type, I probably wouldn't bother to visit unless it had some particular USP. I can experience an industrial tank engine pulling a mk2 carriage through unremarkable surroundings a lot closer to home. And the kind of thing that would attract me would probably not be hugely successful with the rest of the enthusiast community, though maybe the normals wouldn't be so put off by Norwegian rolling stock ;)

The East Lancashire railway was up and running well before the Heavy rail (BR line) was converted to LRV. 

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