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EIGHT years ago, it seemed an ultimate win-win situation: fill in one of the glaring gaps in the heritage era steam fleet by drawing on support from the most famous football club on the planet: build a replica of long-scrapped LNER ‘Footballer’ B17 4-6-0 No. 61662 Manchester United. Surely millions of Red Devils fans worldwide would donate sufficient sums of hard cash to make it happen? Sadly it didn’t grab their imagination en masse as hoped – and despite the sterling efforts of the enthusiasts who acquired an original LNER tender and began ordering a string of components as funds permitted for the project at the Mizens Railway in Woking, as revealed in News, page 32, the project has now run out of steam and folded. Those behind it have…
THE North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR), Britain’s most popular heritage line in terms of passenger numbers, has been awarded £1.94-million in the second round of the Government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage (CRFH) grants to help it survive the financial challenges caused by the Covid-19 crisis. The second round ‘handout’ of grants between £1-£3 million, totalling £18,760,865 million, to eight organisations, followed the previous round of grants under £1 million, as highlighted last issue. NYMR general manager Chris Price said: “Let’s face it, 2020 has been a whirlwind of a year, and there has been so much uncertainty. Here at the NYMR we’ve launched a number of crisis appeals and had to call on the generosity of members of the public to help us pull through and it’s…
THE Cholsey & Wallingford Railway and the Lavender Line have each been awarded grant aid from the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. Commenting on his line’s £15,700 award, Cholsey chairman Tony Stead said: “ As a small volunteer run charity, these funds are vital to ensure we can reopen in 2021 and be Covid secure. No public trains have run in 2020, but we can’t wait to operate again next year and show off our improved Wallingford station with the new Victorian canopy from Maidenhead taking centre stage. Overheads “This grant is an endorsement of the railway and all our dedicated volunteers. It will not only cover our fixed costs for six months, but it will allow us to ensure that we can be Covid-safe when we are able to…
TWO museums with railway interest have also been awarded major grants by the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage. The Black Country Living Museum Trust at Dudley, which includes a heritage tramway among its many exhibits, has received £2,559,805. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, which has a 3ft gauge replica of Richard Trevithick’s first steam locomotive built in Coalkbrookdale in 1802, and which is based at Blists Hill Victorian Town, has been awarded £1,860,000.…
THE Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage has awarded £35,000 to the Friends of the Stockton & Darlington Railway to help the volunteer group celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2025. It plans to use the funding to help it preserve the trackbed of the world’s first public steam-operated railway as it gears up towards the bicentennial celebrations. It will be used for fundraising strategy development, website development, business and asset transfer planning and volunteer training. Friends chairman Trish Pemberton said: “I am absolutely over the moon with the vote of confidence shown in us. Development “We will use this money to help look after the line. It will allow us to commission specialists to support our development and to deliver a much brighter future for the Stockton & Darlington Railway, which…
THE East Lancashire Railway has been awarded £641,600 in the second round of Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage (CRFH) grants. The railway’s chairman Mike Kelly said that the funding was a great boost to its fortunes. “We’re immensely proud of the timeless experience the ELR provides for hundreds of thousands of visitors a year – thanks to the dedication of our volunteers and staff. However, the Covid-19 outbreak has plunged our entire, long-term future into jeopardy. “This year alone we have been forced to make redundancies and we’re now facing a cliff-edge scenario with a 50% drop in revenues, resulting in an historical six-figure loss, alongside a projected 50% decline in revenues for 2021. “As a charitable organisation, we are left in a perilous position as we wrestle with these…
