Brighton’s peers
It was a bumper night in Brighton for narrow gauge railways and Severn Valley Railway diesels as the HRA announced its 2024 award winners, reports Paul Bickerdyke.
SIX out of 15 prizes went to narrow gauge lines in this year’s Heritage Railway Association Awards, while the Severn Valley Railway picked up three others – including two of those sponsored by the railway press. This year’s ceremony was held at the Metropole Hotel in Brighton on February 10, making it a home win for the Volk’s Electric Railway as it picked up the prestigious Railway of the Year award. HRA chief executive Steve Oates said: “To see unique railways like the Volks Electric triumph over far bigger and more famous lines is proof that the heritage rail world is flourishing in all manner of different ways, despite the adversity we so often face.” (See also the following pages for more on the VER.)
The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway came out top in the Award for Marketing and Communications for the depth and thoughtfulness of its activities, while the
Seaton Tramway won the Environmental Innovation Award for a festival designed to celebrate the natural and cultural heritage that surrounds the Devon line.
The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways collected the Coiley Award for Steam Locomotive Engineering for its new-build reinterpretation of long-lost ‘Double Fairlie’ 0-4-4-0T No. 8 James Spooner. The judges felt the technical challenges faced in constructing such a complicated locomotive from scratch, and almost exclusively in-house, merited winning this engineering-focused honour.
Other prizes with a narrow-gauge connection went to Osian Hughes of the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways, in the Rising Star category, for his work in marketing and the development of the experiences at the line; while the Talyllyn Railway’s Tracksiders group, formed in 1997, scooped the Team of the Year for the opportunities it gives to young people to do hands-on tasks at the railway.
The first of three prizes with a Severn Valley Railway connection was The Railway Magazine-sponsored Preservationist of the Year, a de facto lifetime achievement award, which went to Jonathan ‘Gus’ Dunster.
Mr Dunster was a co-founder of the Fifty Fund in the late 1980s with the aim of saving one Class 50, but now as the fundraising arm of the Class 50 Alliance, it looks after no less than six ‘Hoovers’ and has notched up an incredible 100 main line tours using its own locos. The award also recognised Mr Dunster’s role as managing director of the Severn Valley Railway and the positive changes he has made there in just his first year in charge.
The achievements of the SVR-based Fifty Fund/Class
50 Alliance also saw it pick up the Rail Express-sponsored Modern Traction Award, while the Severn Valley Railway itself won the HRA’s Award for Diesel and Electric Locomotion, for a special programme of events celebrating 50 years of mainline diesel locomotive preservation.
Wagons and whisky
The Infrastructure Award was won by the Llangollen Railway for its Corwen station project, which saw passenger trains return to the town on a permanent basis for the first time since 1964. The National Wagon Preservation Group, based at the Chasewater Railway, took home the Morgan Award for Rolling Stock Preservation for its work preserving a rake of former ‘Merry Go Round’ coal hoppers, the once 12,000-strong fleet having now been almost all scrapped.
An Award for Innovation in Business and Customer Experience went to the Keith and Dufftown Railway for the conversion of a redundant DMU trailer car into a whisky bar known as the ‘Dram Tram’, which has opened up a range of business opportunities. And the Lord Faulkner Young Volunteer of the Year was given to Jonathan King of the Downpatrick and County Down Railway, a director of the line at just 23 and said to be the youngest steam loco fireman in Ireland.
Heritage Railway magazine’s Interpretation Award went to the Great Central Railway for its ‘Railways at Work’ gala, in particular the re-creation of the 1960s protests against the Beeching cuts. And lastly the 563 Locomotive Group won both the Chair’s Special Award and Steam Railway magazine’s readers’ prize for its work returning LSWR ‘T3’ No. 563 to steam after 75 years. ■