RAILWAYS ARE THROWN £750,000 LOTTERY LIFELINE
Railways across the British
Isles have benefited from over £750,000 worth of support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, to help them reopen after the coronavirus lockdown helping to push preservation’s combined survival funds well over £3.5 million.
Part of the NLHF’s £50 million Heritage Emergency Fund, the grants are designed to enable bills and salaries to be paid and essential repairs and maintenance of rolling stock and infrastructure to continue. The funding is also helping railways reopen for business and get volunteers, apprentices and staff back on board, rather than cover loss of income caused by Covid-19.
The biggest single beneficiary so far is the Severn Valley Railway, which was awarded £250,000, the maximum amount available from the NLHF. Together with the circa £750,000 raised by its various fundraising streams, the SVR has raised over £1 million to help it survive the effects of Covid-19.
SVR general manager Helen Smith said: “Thanks to the National Lottery and its players we can now get the SVR through the next few months. We will use this funding to pay our staff, as they come back from furlough to prepare the railway for reopening. We will also invest in new IT so that more staff can work remotely. These measures will ensure we can start to generate some much-needed passenger revenue to offset the potential losses we are facing.
“We’re grateful that the National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time – it’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”
The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway was awarded £50,000. KWVR fundraising coordinator David Pearson said: “This National Lottery funding means the difference between oblivion and survival”, while Didcot Railway Centre chief executive Emma Jhita added: “National Lottery support has meant we can keep skilled, traditional tradespeople active on restoration jobs, both enabling their continued employment and ensuring heritage vehicles are available for our audiences once we re-open.”
The NLHF money is also being used to establish online booking and access management systems, explore options for diversifying income in the future, and help develop recovery plans and new business models.
The Emergency Fund is open for applications until July 31 2020.