■ Surge of public support boosts pandemic- hit heritage lines
WELL- WISHER Shave continued to support their favourite heritage railways with donations to emergency appeals set up to cover day- to- day costs during the Covid- 19 lockdown period when they are unable to earn revenue.
Topping the list of public responses is again the Severn Valley Railway's Fight Back Fund, which as we closed for press had nearly reached £ 7SO, OOO.
To further boost its finances following the cancellation of special events, including its 5Oth anniversary of opening gala and hugely- popular Forties weekends, the railway has launched Adopt- an- Engine packages as it opens an on line shop.
The packages each come with a selection of exclusive merchandise alongside a certificate and glossy photograph of the chosen locomotive. With four levels of package, starting from £ 30 - Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum - there's an option for all pockets and an engine for every interest.
Steam locomotives which can be adopted include LMS ' Black Five'
No. 45110, GWR 4- 6- 0 No. 4930 Hagley Hall, Long moor Military Railway 2- 10- 0 No. 600 Gordon and lvatt 2- 6- 0 ' Flying Pig' No. 43106.
Exclusively, the SVR has included the popular Bulleid West country light Pacific No. 34027 Taw Valley amongst the selection of locomotives, thanks to the agreement of its owners. Everyone who buys the top level package for the engine will be entered into a prize draw for an once- in- alifetime VIP experience at the Severn Valley Railway.
There is also a selection of diesel locomotives available across the Severn Valley Railway fleet including, Class 50 No. 50033 Glorious and Class 14 D9551, plus Class 09s Nos. 09107 and D4100.
All proceeds from Adopt- an- Engine packages - available at www. svrshop.co.uk will support the Fight Back Fund.
Elsewhere, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, which held an on line auction on May 29 and raised £ 17,689 through it, has added it to the total of nearly £ 300,000 raised by its survival appeal ( www. nymr. co. uk/ pages/ category/ support- us).
The Bluebell Railway ( https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/support- bluebell) has topped the £ 250,000 figure with its £ 300,000 appeal.
The East Lancashire Railway's £ 200,000 appeal stood at more than £ 92,000 ( www.eastlancsrailway.org.uk), rising to £ 102,000 with Gift Aid, while its on line silent auction which closes on June 20 had topped £ 4000.
The South Devon Railway's £ 500,000 SOS appeal ( www.southdevonrailway.co.uk/fundraising) totalled £ 166,429.73 on June 1. The railway broke through the £ 150,000 barrier after the debut of its Thomas the Tank Engine video on Facebook, with a follow- up planned for late June.
Meanwhile, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway's Worth Saving £ 200,000 appeal ( kwvr.co.uk/donate/) has been endorsed by Jenny Ag utter, one of the stars of the big- screen version of Edith A Nesbit's novel The Railway Children, which was filmed on the line, and which was released in 1970. She also appeared in the 1968 BBC TV dramatisation and ITV's 1999 version, which was filmed on the Bluebell Railway.
She said: "Because of the present situation, people have been unable to visit the Worth Valley Railway. Now without support, this treasure of a place may not survive.
"Fifty years on, I am waving my red flannel petticoat, metaphorically, hoping it will make people aware of the need to give support now, so we can look forward to returning to the Worth Valley Railway in the years to come:' So far, the railway has raised around £ 150,000.
The North Norfolk Railway's appeal ( www.nnrailway.co.uk) launched in April has raised around £ 68,000, with £ 44,000 comprising share purchases and £ 24,000 in donations. General manager Hugh Harkett said:" That is really a great response. We will need to perhaps double this amount. I suspect however, that it is dependent on when we get going again.
"The big achievement in May was that we got eight people back into Weybourne Engineering so that we could resume contract work on boilers etc. That move has proven entirely successful and we have generated a really good amount of revenue, which helps us survive in these lean times. We have ensured that everyone follows proper guidelines to keep safe and healthy and we have also brought back from furlough Roy Muirhead, one of our cleaning staff to ensure the right conditions in the works:'
The Llangollen Railway's appeal ( www. llangollen- railway. co. uk) has received more than £ 75,000 in share purchases and donations including Gift Aid.
The Epping Ongar Railway raised £ 25,000 in May, the first month of its appeal ( www.eorailway.co.uk/therailway/appeal/). A statement from the line echoed the words of most others:" Without any income the very future of the railway becomes at risk; our volunteers will be unable to work and there is a real chance that we might not reopen:'