Repairs to Stanway Viaduct on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) have been recognised by being shortlisted in the ‘Historic Bridge Project of the Year’ category for the New Civil Engineer (NCE) Bridges Awards 2024.

Work started on repairs to the railway’s most iconic and significant structure on 6th November 2023 and was completed by 7th March 2024, in time for services to resume between Toddington and Broadway on Good Friday, 29th March.

The railway will know whether they have won the award when the New Civil Engineer Bridges awards ceremony is held in London on Thursday, 18th July.

The repairs to the viaduct were carried out by staff and volunteers from the railway, David Symonds Associates, Walsh Construction, and Lampitt Rail Services.

About Stanway Viaduct

Stanway Viaduct is situated just north of Toddington station on the former Great Western Railway between Stratford-upon-Avon and Cheltenham via Honeybourne.

It was built in 1903-4, and with 15 elegant brick arches is one of the largest viaducts on any heritage railway. Built on a gentle curve and a slight gradient rising towards Toddington, the viaduct is 200 metres long and over 12 metres high.

To build the viaduct, timber false arches were erected to support the new brickwork, some of these were removed too soon, causing their arches to collapse.

Rebuilding quickly took place, enabling the line to open throughout in 1906, providing an alternative route to the Midland main line between the industrialised West Midlands and Bristol.

The main line from Stratford-upon-Avon to Cheltenham closed in 1976, and all the tracks had been removed by 1980. Just two years later, in 1982, the formative Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway occupied Toddington station yard.

Reconstruction of the line took place towards Cheltenham, but there was no track across Stanway Viaduct until 2005 when started extending the line towards Broadway, culminating in the opening of the line all the way between Cheltenham Racecourse and Broadway on Good Friday, 30 March 2018.

I am delighted that we have been shortlisted for this award for a project that had to cope with a major unexpected change during its implementation and was successfully completed by a collaborative effort.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all Railway staff and volunteers, and our suppliers, who were engaged in this endeavour especially having to cope with the unexpected substantial additional work to stabilise the parapets.

The restored viaduct and track look superb, and the works allowed us to reduce the weight on the viaduct structure by around 90 tonnes which was an added bonus.”

Dr Graham Plant, GWSR Civil Engineering Director