A bid for £10 million of lottery cash has been submitted to help fund the construction of a new railway museum in Leicester.
The Great Central Railway (GCR) wants to develop the new attraction at its Leicester North station at Birstall.
The ambitious scheme was unveiled in December and has taken a significant step forward with the completion of the bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
If the cash is secured the GCR says the new museum and the existing track and stations, in Loughborough, Quorn, and Rothley, could draw in up to 230,000 visiting vintage railway enthusiasts a year.
Overall it has now been revealed the project would cost £15 million to create the museum, a figure revised from an initial £10 million estimate.
The remaining £5 million would be sought through other grant applications.
The museum could open by the summer of 2018 should the bid succeed.
The GCR is working with Leicester City Council and the York-based National Railway Museum on the scheme.
GCR managing director Bill Ford said: "This is a visionary project. "In the last 12 months the partners have worked hard to prepare today's funding bid.
"The museum will help people reconnect with Leicester's railway story and our shared heritage. "Together with our thriving steam line, we're confident tens of thousands of people will visit every year."
The GCR is proposing a structure, largely made of glass, which will allow visitors a full view of trains approaching from the north as well as of workshops where locomotive restoration will take place and engineering apprentices will be trained.
Steam passenger trains will pull up right alongside the museum.
It anticipates having up to 11 locomotives on display there at any time including those it already holds and ones borrowed from other collections.
National Railway Museum director Paul Kirkman said: "Leicester had one of the world's earliest railways.
"It was also a hub of the Midland line.
"When the GCR opened in 1899 it was a key calling point on the high speed railway of the time.
"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."
The GCR estimates 300 construction jobs will be created while the museum is being built.
There will be nine full time staff.
Bosses have told the Heritage Lottery Fund the museum could offer the local economy a £43 million boost over five years creating 900 associated jobs.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "This is a really exciting opportunity to create a heritage railway centre of national standing in Leicester.
"The museum will house items which are of both national importance and local interest, complementing the nearby National Space Centre and Abbey Pumping Station and helping to enhance the city's reputation as an important visitor destination.
"It will also create hundreds of new jobs, both during construction and on opening, while providing training opportunities in the rail industry for dozens of young people.
"We're fully committed to this project and will be working with the Great Central Railway to help them deliver this ambitious scheme."
No details of the entrance fees for the museum have yet been decided but a GCR spokeswoman said the admission charges would need to be affordable.
The GCR expects to hear whether the bid has succeeded in April or May.
