Donations for Horsted Keynes appeal pass the halfway mark
DONATIONS to the Bluebell Railway's ‘Jewel in the Crown' appeal to restore Horsted Keynes station are more than halfway to the target.
As reported in issue 286 of Heritage Railway, the Sussex line is aiming to raise an initial £500,000 to carry out the first phase of urgent repairs to the five-platform station and its buildings, with the estimated total cost of the work being £1.8 million.
The target is to raise £170,000 from individual donations, and in early November the total donated by members, shareholders and the public stood at £96,000, with an estimated further £17,000 of Gift Aid to be claimed.
Donations include £4000 from the station's Carriage Shop, which in turn includes £700 raised since July from second-hand book sales.
A total of £33.18 has come from Ben Thompson, a member of the railway's Stepney Club youth group, who raised the money by selling homemade lemonade to his neighbours.
Match funding from the Bluebell Railway Trust will double all money donated before January 31, 2022, up to a limit of £150,000, and more funds are needed to ensure that the restoration work can begin as planned after the winter period.
Donations can be made at www. bluebell-railway.com/donate/ or be sent to the Bluebell Railway Trust, Sheffield Park Station, East Sussex TN22 3QL.
Elsewhere at Horsted Keynes, the carriage workshop's new heritage skills centre has been signed off by building control surveyors as fit for use, with the railway's trimming team being the first to move in.
Carriages chosen by the Bluebell Railway Preservation Society for storage in the new OP4 carriage shed will take up their places in the coming months, as part of the line's Operation Undercover to get its vintage carriages out of the weather.
An official opening of the centre and OP4 shed is planned in the spring.