Light at the end of the tunnel for heritage line as supporters donate
SUPPORTERS OF Keighley & Worth Valley Railway are on track to help keep the line running.
The railway issued an appeal for £200,000 to cover expenditure over the next 10 months so it does not have to use cash reserves to survive. It has so far raised £87,000.
The line, which featured in the 1970 film The Railway Children, faces long-term challenges in the era of social distancing if stricter regulations are imposed when services resume.
Operations manager Noel
Hartley said: “This situation is unprecedented. We have run appeals before but this is about actually saving the railway.
“Every heritage railway is asking for money. We are really pleased with the response and are on track if we keep the momentum going.
“It’s not just the enforced closure, it’s the long-term effects if we are stuck with social distancing for a long time.
“We are like a cinema – people sit close together on trains and there would be challenges for capacity and visitor flows.”
Around 30 of the 600 volunteers are still at work in the sheds, performing essential maintenance and conducting security checks, with others working from home on administrative tasks.
“We are on skeleton staff at the moment but there are a lot of people doing things behind the scenes,” said Mr Hartley.
“We have some really loyal people who are doing their best to help out.
“Our volunteers tend to be towards the upper end of the age demographic, so they are being encouraged to stay at home.
“We don’t want to run down our reserves. If we did it would be game over. It would be a real struggle to come back from that. Hopefully we will have some cash in the bank to get going again.”
If we ran down our reserves, it would be game over.
Noel Hartley, operations manager.