THE fabric of the historic Horwich Loco Works will live on at the East Lancashire Railway.

Bricks from the recently-demolished Horwich Loco Works will journey to Bury to be used in a planned restoration of the ELR’s Buckley Wells locomotive and carriage works site.

Developers transforming the loco works into a huge housing development donated the reclaimed bricks as part of their pledge to maintain the heritage and history of the Horwich Loco Works.

The links between the loco works and the East Lancashire Railway are already strong as the railway still runs the iconic 'Crab' locomotive, built for the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway at Horwich in 1927.

The 4,160 original Horwich Loco Works bricks will be used for massive refurbishment plans for the site ­- if approval is given.

They include the restoration and repair to the Grade-II listed Buckley Wells Locomotive Works and carriage shed building.

They also plan a new locomotive running shed and heavy maintenance workshop on the site of the original Buckley Wells engine shed which was demolished by British Rail in the 1970s.

Proposals are also to amend track layout for rail access to the proposed new buildings and new vehicle access routes.

Keith Whitmore, vice-president of East Lancashire Railway, said: “We haven’t made the final decision on the use of the bricks but we do have a new plan for the use of Crumpsall signal box and there’s a possibility that the bricks could form a base for re-erecting that as part of the museum offer. There are a number of other options too.“The beauty of it is that these bricks which form part of railway heritage will have a new use.

"It will be great to use them again back in a railway environment.”