LINCOLNSHIRE COAST LIGHT RAILWAY HISTORIC VEHICLES TRUST
(Registered Charity No. 514443
HERITAGE EMERGENCY FUND AWARDS £10,000 TO LINCOLNSHIRE COAST LIGHT RAILWAY TO AID REOPENING
The Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway Historic Vehicles Trust has announced that it has received confirmation of a significant National Lottery grant of £10,000.
The grant was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund, which aims to help heritage organisations survive and recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Trust has previously had National Lottery support for the restoration of its historic steam locomotive, Jurassic, built in 1903, which enabled it to steam again on the line in the Skegness Water Leisure Park.
The railway has not been able to reopen this summer in what is its 60th anniversary of becoming the world’s first heritage railway to be built by enthusiasts on a greenfield site.
The grant, which includes the cost of VAT, will cover installation of electricity, water and sewage to new hygiene facilities at the railway’s depot and its station, known as Walls Lane, within the Skegness Water Leisure Park. It will enable volunteers to keep themselves safe with adequate hand washing and hygiene facilities and to safely sanitise rolling stock for passengers. It is hoped this will enable the railway to be reopened by its volunteers in 2021 and to demonstrate Jurassic and the collection of other historic narrow gauge railway carriages and wagons housed on the LCLR.
The absence of fares and donations from operating the railway had stopped income and prevented these improvements from being carried out.
The LCLR had planned a series of events for its 2020 season, marking the 30th Anniversary of the opening of the Skegness Water Leisure Park, where it is based in Walls Lane, Ingoldmells; the 25th anniversary of Skegness Airfield, which is next to the railway in the Park; the 60th anniversary of the opening of the line on its original site at Humberston near Cleethorpes and the Skegness Classic Wheels Show, before problems caused by the pandemic caused them to be postponed until 2021.
Railway spokesman John Chappell said: “We’re extremely grateful to the National Lottery’s Heritage Emergency Fund for this grant, which will protect the safety of our passengers and our volunteers.”
Trust chairman Richard Shepherd added: “Although we’re only a small organisation, our success in preserving the heritage of narrow gauge railways and demonstrating their contribution to agriculture, tourism, the military and to industry – especially here in Lincolnshire – is of global significance. The second such railway, the Ocean Beach Railway in New Zealand, was opened in 1963 three years after our line began running – since when, many similar railways have been built and now form the basis of the local tourism economy.
“This grant will help our volunteers continue with this work and to return our trains to service for 2021. We’re grateful to the Fund and to the people who play the National Lottery and make this possible”.
September 2020
Work in progress at LCLR depot mid October 2020
Photos - Brian Coldwell
Nothing to do with steam locos but our new septic tank.
Connected!
Job done!