Good news for heritage railways
Two of the region's heritage railways have announced plans for growth, which will have them on track for more success in 2025. Tony Henderson reports.
Two North East heritage railway attractions are in line to boost their visitor offer.
An extensive railway garden will be created at the Locomotion museum in County Durham.
The Banks Group has given £20,000 towards the garden, which will run across the length of the museum’s kilometre-long site.
Lucy Hinds, executive assistant at the Banks Group, said: "Locomotion is one of the region’s most important cultural and heritage venues, and demonstrates the huge impact that the railways had on the development of both our home county and the wider world.
“The Railway Garden is a key part of the Locomotion team’s ambitions to provide an even better museum experience and we can’t wait to see how it looks when it opens next year.”
As well as being a place for visitors and local people to relax, the new garden is designed to encourage a population of the rare Dingy Skipper butterfly, which is listed as a priority species under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
The site boundary will be planted with a new native hedgerow, while existing trees will be fitted with bat boxes.
Locomotion is hoping the garden will be in full bloom in time for the 2025 bicentenary of the Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The popular attraction, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, is the sister museum of the National Railway Museum in York and welcomes around 200,000 visitors every year.
It was founded to recognise the world-changing impact of the origin of the railways and Shildon’s pivotal place as the birthplace of passenger rail.
The garden, which has also been supported by the Northumbrian Water Branch Out Fund, is part of a wider plan for the transformation of the Locomotion site and will surround its collections building, New Hall, which opened earlier this year.
Sarah Price, head of Locomotion, said: “The railway revolution had a significant impact on the natural environment, with new railway routes creating a corridor in which certain plants and animals could thrive.
"The planting design for the Railway Garden draws inspiration from the self-seeded railway lines found across the UK and will be supported by interpretation to engage visitors with this distinctive habitat.
"This project will deliver substantial benefits for both wildlife and the local community, transforming an area that was previously wasteland to create new volunteering and learning opportunities for local people and museum visitors.
"We’re hugely grateful to the Banks Group for making such a substantial contribution towards its creation.”
In other railway-related news, the volunteer workforce at the South Tynedale Railway has been boosted by a line up of three new recruits.
With a station master father and her mother a station announcer, Liz Cook was always liable to catch the railway bug.
An early childhood memory is of inspecting signal boxes with her father, and she remembers that family holidays were always by train.
So after Liz’s husband arranged for her to have a steam driver experience day on the South Tynedale Railway for her birthday, Liz decided to sign up as a volunteer and begin her training as a guard.
She said: “The sounds, the smells and the power of the engine made for a magical experience and the glorious weather couldn’t help but add to the sheer joy of the day. I couldn’t wait to sign up as a volunteer.”
Liz has now qualified as a guard on the heritage railway from Alston to Slaggyford in Northumberland, and has completed her first solo shift.
After moving to the UK, airline worker Shanthi Adiyat, originally from Kerala in India, took a ride on the South Tynedale Railway and was drawn to the beautiful scenery along the route and the friendliness of the line volunteers.
She said: “With my airline operations background, the theme of transport felt familiar, and the next thing I knew I was training as a guard. “
Her next aim is to complete her locomotive driver training .
Natalie Tomlinson moved to Alston recently and signed up as a volunteer in the ticket office and then decided to join the train crew ranks. She has now completed her training to become a duty operations manager (DOM) - the first female volunteer at the railway to do so.
Natalie, who is now in training to join the steam crew and has already qualified as a driver of the railway’s two electrically powered locomotives, said: ”I really enjoy the DOM role as I meet new people every shift and although the role can be challenging, I love seeing a successful day completed.”
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South Tynedale Railway, operating on the track bed of the former Newcastle and Carlisle Haltwhistle to Alston line, is the North of England's highest narrow-gauge railway.
The society opened its first short stretch of track in 1983 and has extended it over the years, reaching Slaggyford in 2018.
David Granath, chairman of the South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society, said: “Volunteers are the lifeblood of South Tynedale Railway and the arrival of Shanti, Natalie and Liz adds to the strength of our team.
“We welcome their commitment and we hope this demonstrates there is something for everyone on our railway. The heritage railway sector can only prosper if it is inclusive and welcoming and reaches out to everyone that can be involved and this is what we aim to do.
“As a volunteer led and managed organisation we need even more volunteers to join us and it’s not just about driving trains. We have lots of volunteer teams including gardening, track maintenance and ticket office for example, and if you enjoy dressing up and chatting with people why not join our events team.”
The volunteer co-ordinator can be contacted by emailing volunteering@south-tynedale-railway.org.uk