Funding ‘lifeline’ has come on time as firm seeks to resume services
A PRIVATE railway in the Yorkshire Dales has been kept afloat with an emergency grant of £50,000 from the National Lottery, in a package agreed within the space of three weeks.
“It’s a lifeline for us – literally a lifeline,” said Helen Ashworth, volunteer coordinator and lead fundraiser on the Wensleydale line, which runs through Bedale and Leyburn, to Redmire.
“It was all done incredibly quickly. It wasn’t the usual process at all,” Ms Ashworth added.
The railway has been closed since March and its staff furloughed, although a £380,000 restoration of the Leeming Bar station house has continued, with contractors doing the work.
It says the cash injection will mean it can resume services as soon as it gets the green light from the Government.
Among the first trains to will be run will be two Pacers recently pensioned off from the national network. The so-called buses on wheels were despised by commuters but Ms Ashworth said their layout made them ideal for socially distancing passengers in the future.
“They’re perfect for a heritage railway,” she said. “We bought one for a few hundred pounds and a donor gave us another.”
The railway’s chairman, Guy Loveridge, said: “We’re grateful
It’s a lifeline for us. It was all done incredibly quickly.
Helen Ashworth, volunteer coordinator and lead fundraiser on the Wensleydale line.
that the National Lottery Heritage Fund is supporting us at this crucial time when we have no income with no running train services. It’s a lifeline to us and others who are passionate about sustaining heritage for the benefit of all.”
Meanwhile, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway has raised more than £250,000 in donations during a nine-week online auction, which ended last night. Items for sale included Pullman carriage lunches and journeys on the footplate of a steam locomotive.