Stainmore Railway celebrates £213,000 Heritage Grant for bicentenary project
The steam heritage railway at Kirkby Stephen East in Cumbria has been awarded a major grant towards its celebration of the 200 years since the World’s first steam passenger railway was opened.
The grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) of £213,000 to the Stainmore Railway Company (SRC) in Cumbria will support a range of activities to mark the bicentenary of the 1825 opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) with its “Westside Story” project that will explain the significance of the line to Cumbria.
Describing the successful application, SRC Project Manager Mike Thompson said: “This is fantastic news, not only for our fast-developing heritage railway, but also for Cumbria. The opening of the S&DR changed the World and so the bicentenary will quite rightly receive global recognition. However, the same company also changed Cumbria with its line from East to West, linking the Durham coalfields with the Furness iron ore and steelmaking plants in West Cumbria.”
“Our project will build on our longstanding relationship with the Heritage Fund, it being the fourth of our projects they’ve supported. It will also be our third enterprise delivered in partnership with the Locomotive Conservation and Learning Trust whose J21 will steam at Kirkby Stephen East during the bicentenary.”
As the latest of four Heritage Fund grants, this new NLHF award builds on the successful 2011 ‘Stainmore 150’ event, the ‘World of Water’ provision of an NER water tower and crane, and the ongoing restoration of J21 No.65033.
The ‘Westside Story’ project will bring an extensive schedule of events including a 2025 August Bank Holiday steam gala featuring visiting historic locomotives and rolling stock. As well as a busy outreach programme which will see our community work expanded to include individuals living with dementia / autism, the grant will also fund the restoration of the 1861 built signal box that, once in use, will become the oldest operational signal box in the World.
Work on the signal box is expected to begin this summer and further details of this landmark work will be published shortly. The SRC / LCLT partnership need to raise at least £50,000 in match-funding for which donations will be invited.