AGNIFICENT SEVEN!
Locomotive & General Trust, for its transformation of the redundant Crewe Diesel Depot, which covers ten acres. Guests saw an image of the dilapidated building deep in weeds and undergrowth, and then the impact of two million pounds of investment through the London & North Western Railway Heritage Company. The first £15,000 was spent on removing pigeon droppings. With a new roof, and completely refurbished interior, the depot has a machine shop, visitor facilities and room for a growing number of locomotives and rolling stock. Paul Lewin said: “To give some idea of the scale of the building, and the scale of the project, the depot has enough room to house 40 BR Standard ‘4MT’ 2-6-4Ts. “It’s now a top-notch overhaul and maintenance base for the magnificent fleet of locomotives operated by Jeremy Hosking and the trust - and it’s already home to Royal Scot, Bittern, Blue Peter and Britannia.“The award was collected by director Mike Hart. The Severn Valley Railway’s 50 glorious years were ample justification for the Large Groups Award, in a dead heat with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, whose imaginative new ‘Train Story’ Discovery Centre has attracted 25,000 visitors in less than 18 months. The Ecclesbourne Railway won the Small Groups Award, edging the Lincolnshire Wolds Railway into second place. The John Coiley Award has gone to the 35006 Locomotive Company for completing the restoration of its ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2 P&O S. N. Co, and there are two runners-up, the M&GN Joint Railway Society with the recreation of a Great Eastern ‘Y14’ 0-6-0 from an LNER ‘J15’, and the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, for the return to traffic of the once-plinthed ‘Q’ 4-4-0 No. 131. The most meritorious project is the Great Central Railway’s recently completed Mountsorrel branch line project, with the Bala Lake Railway the runner-up. The judges were impressed the repatriation by Julian Birley of the quarry engine Winifred, which had languished in the United States for more than 50 years. The bi-annual carriage and wagon competition honour went to the Severn Valley’s GWR Nondescript Saloon No. 9103, whose restoration has taken ten years to complete. It was presented by guest of honour Mark Garnier MP, who is chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Heritage Railways. This was the first year when some of the winners had no idea that they were up for an award. Completing the list, National Railway Museum and York Theatre Royal won the Heritage Railway Interpretation Award (received by Lord Faulkner), and The Railway Magazine award for services to preservation (65 years) has been presented to David Woodhouse.