South Devon hopes for March restart

THE SOUTH Devon Railway hopes to commence running again on March 20, subject to Government COVID restrictions in place at the time. Having not run public trains since March 17, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, GWR 0-6-0PT 1369 became the first steam locomotive to run all the way from Buckfastleigh to Totnes and return when it performed a crew refresher training run on December 17.

The line’s emergency ‘SOS’ funding appeal has raised £309,223. With a £332,300 grant from the Department of Media, Culture & Sport’s ‘Culture Recovery for Heritage Fund’, National Heritage Lottery Fund’s ‘Emergency Recovery’ grant of £124,800, its site open days’ income over three months of £95,000, plus a rates grant from Teignbridge District Council of £10,000, the total for the ‘good of the railway’ reached £875,657 by late December 2020. Its next fundraising target is to reach £1m, to offset a £2m loss of revenue.