Swanage needs £65k to resume work on new carriage shed
SWANAGE Railway volunteers have launched a fresh appeal to raise £65,000 so that work can resume on building a much-needed £225,000 carriage storage shed east of Herston Halt.
The volunteers hope to hit the appeal target by the end of June so that the steel structure of the building can be ordered before being delivered to the site and erected in November.
Work on the structure began in January, 2020, but stopped three months later, when the Government introduced the first national Covid-19 lockdown. However, by then, contractors had managed to complete the foundations for the steel structure that will span two tracks and be capable of storing 10 carriages.
The railway's fundraising chairman Randy Coldham said: “This appeal is for a critical project to protect some of our historically-important heritage carriages, the youngest of which dates from the 1930s.
Protection
“The Swanage Railway doesn't have any undercover storage facilities for its carriages which have to be stored outside in all weathers. Keeping 10 carriages under cover in a dedicated storage shed will protect the vehicles from the weather and also reduce the costs of maintaining the carriages.
“We are hopeful that the public will help us to close the funding gap and allow the carriage shed to be completed by the start of 2022 so it can protect some of our historic carriages from the ravages of winter weather.”
The relaunch of the new carriage shed appeal comes after the line's Save Our Service Appeal reached its total of £360,000 in less than a year.
Randy, a volunteer signalman, added: “I would like to thank everyone who has worked so hard to reach – and surpass by £5,000 – the Save Our Service Appeal target. It has allowed the Swanage Railway to survive the winter.
“Now, we can return to the Herston carriage shed project which has seen us raise £160,000 towards the building costs thanks to successful fundraising efforts as well as generous legacies and bequests.”
The new shed at Herston will be 131 metres long, 6.5 metres high, 9.2 metres wide and cover nearly 1000 square metres.
Delivery
A challenge for the contractors building the shed is that the site has no road access so all materials have to be delivered by train.
The project manager for the Herston carriage shed is railway trustee and operations department volunteer Nick Coram and the consulting engineer is Jim Peters of Such Salenger in Bournemouth.
➜ To donate to the Herston Carriage Shed Appeal, visit www.swanagerailwaytrust.org/carriageshed-appeal