Volunteers push ahead towards Helston while planning June restart
HELSTON Railway volunteers battling to have their line ready to restart services in late June have stood defiant in the face of vandals who smashed the windows in its Class 103 Park Royal DMU.
A group of teenage trespassers also broke into buildings to let off fire extinguishers, sprayed graffiti over bridges and smashed a slate memorial to a past driver of the branch back in its BR days. They were caught on the railway’s CCTV during the incident in March.
Rectification
General manager Colin Savage said the footage was handed to police, and the damage was rectified at little cost within days.
“Local police are very active and supportive, and are mounting spot patrols at various times,” he said.
“They have visited schools to explain to pupils about danger on the railways and that trespass is a criminal act.
“Meanwhile we are trying to cover as much of the line as possible with CCTV and wildlife cameras. With money critical, it is an added cost we could do without, of course.”
As reported in issue 273, the Helston Railway Preservation Society received a £76,100 lifeline from the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage in October, enabling the line to survive throughout the winter.
Colin said: “We had a complete shutdown last season. With just one suburban coach and a very narrow platform, the economics of trying to socially distance and run trains just didn’t stack up.
“Hopefully this year, with the pandemic threat receding, things will work out a lot easier though, and we’ll be able to run something like normal.”
The Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway’s Trust’s Peckett 0-4-0ST No. 1788 of 1929 Kilmersdon left the line in March after a three-year loan period to move to the Mid-Hants Railway for its 10-year overhaul.
The society was hoping to have former British Sugar Corporation Peckett 0-6-0ST No. 2000 of 1942 on loan following its stay at Beamish: The North of England Open Air Museum. No. 2000 will give the railway the scope to expand its passenger services by two coaches by using one of the Class 127 DMU cars, which arrived on site last year from the Great Central Railway. A local access problem has prevented the arrival of the second car.
Progress
The grant has provided the finance for the line to undertake rolling stock, plant, equipment and infrastructure maintenance, obtain much-needed ballast, and carry out staff training.
Boiler tubes for Peckett 0-4-0ST No. 2100 of 1949 William Murdoch, on loan from Portsmouth City Museum since 2015, have also been bought.
Volunteers are currently excavating the filled-in cutting at Prospidnick so track can be relaid, allowing the Class 103 DMU set moved from the running platform and into the main car parking area, where it will again serve as the line’s buffet.
The planned new station will ultimately be constructed in this area. When legal agreements for bridge use have been reached, the railway will run trains from it rather than the old temporary platform currently in use. Also being installed will be a set of crossing gates acquired from Network Rail and formerly sited at Brandon station.
Colin added: “With limited numbers of volunteers due to the pandemic, it is quite amazing how much we’ve been able to do while still observing Government rules.
“As numbers return and income hopefully starts to return, we intend to push on towards Helston, and continue to grow and improve.”