Three other railways are handed winter survival grants
THE Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway has been given £641,800 in round three of the Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grant awards.
The funding will support staffing to carry out essential winter maintenance and safety work ahead of the railway’s planned spring reopening.
It follows an award of £470,000 in the first round and £210,000 in the second.
The Churnet Valley Railway has been awarded £99,600 to fund salaries and running costs from October 1 to January 31.
A railway statement said: “The funding will make a huge difference to our recovery and allow us to plan positively for 2022.”
The Stainmore Railway Company has received £16,000, which will help the Kirkby Stephen Eastbased organisation cover essential everyday expenses for items such as insurance and mortgage payments, ensuring resources are available for volunteers to carry on developing the site and restoring rolling stock.
Project manager Mike Thompson said: “We are immensely grateful to have received this generous and very welcome funding after yet another year in which our ability to open fully to the public has been severely restricted; this has, in consequence, greatly reduced our income and our ability to win new friends and supporters. The grant will help us cover essential costs through the quiet winter months, and with that hurdle overcome we very much hope we will return to offering a full programme of events in 2022 when we can welcome back the public to enjoy and experience everything we have to offer once again.”
➜ The Stainmore Railway has also just received a £7500 grant from Cumbria County Council’s Contain Outbreak Management Fund’towards the Locomotive Conservation & Learning Trust’s fast-track overhaul of the seven-compartment NER Clerestory No. 3071 on a long-term loan from Beamish Museum, with the aim of returning it to traffic by Easter.
An appeal towards its restoration has raised nearly £20,000 in five months and leaves just £5000 of the £25,000 total to find.
Anyone who would like to contribute to the appeal is invited to make a cheque out to ‘Stainmore Railway Co. Ltd’ and send it to: Clerestory Appeal, c/o Manor Cottage, 1 West End, Sedgefield, Stockton-on-Tees TS21 2BW.