Volunteers save SVR £40k (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Volunteers save SVR £40k

7:30am Monday 18th March 2013 in News

HARD-working volunteers have saved a popular tourist attraction £40,000 by taking on specialist repair work on an Arley bridge.

The team, who worked through sub-zero temperatures and in snow, carried out repairs on Severn Valley Railway’s (SVR) Victoria Bridge, which meant the work did not have to be tendered out to contractors.

They decided to do the work themselves after finding out it would cost £40,000 to buy in labour and materials to replace the rotted framework, which keeps the ballast in place on the 1861-built cast-iron bridge.

After a month of hard labour, the volunteers, who are members of the Railway’s Permanent Way department, have replaced the rotted oak framework with welded steel mesh panels.

Chris Bond, SVR infrastructure manager, said: “It’s been a fantastic effort by the volunteers which has saved us a considerable amount of money.

“just as on other parts of the line, the track across Victoria Bridge at Arley has to sit on a ballast base – but the timber framework which prevents the ballast from being disturbed and spilling off the bridge and into the River Severn, was almost life expired, and for some time we have been operating trains over the bridge to a 5mph speed restriction, instead of the usual 15mph, as a precaution.”

The small team of volunteers have worked on the bridge every day since early February, with project leader Keith Brown of Abberley and the project was completed several days ahead of schedule.