A new railway museum is on the cards for Leicester. The Great Central Railway (GCR) has bid for £10m of lottery cash to develop the attraction at Leicester North station.

If it goes ahead, the new museum will display 11 locomotives, and is expected to draw up to 230,000 railway enthusiasts a year, contributing £43m to the local economy over five years.

The GCR is working with Leicester City Council and the National Railway Museum in York on the £15m scheme, and will be seeking funding from other sources.

“The Great Central Railway museum will see some significant parts of the national collection put on display in the heart of the country and show how the railways changed lives,” says director of the National Railway Museum, Paul Kirkman.

The structure would be largely made of glass, which would allow visitors a full view of approaching trains and of workshops where locomotive restoration will take place. Steam passenger trains would be able to pull up right alongside the museum.

If the bid succeeds it should be up and running by 2018.