We are delighted that the restoration of Southern Railway Hastings-gauge Maunsell Brake Third No. 3687 was, last night, awarded the Heritage Railway Association’s Award for Rolling Stock Preservation. We appear to be on a winning streak, following last year, when Pullman Car 54 won the same award.
This award is very much a tribute to the decades of work undertaken by the late David Wigley along with Frank Ferris who transformed the coach from a stripped-out shell. The restoration was brought to fruition thanks to Tony Clements’ coordination, working alongside David, with a great team of volunteers who are now going on to restore Maunsell Restaurant Car 7864. Our thanks are also due to The Bluebell Railway Trust who covered the costs of materials to complete the restoration.
We must also acknowledge the three other short-listed projects, any of which would also have been worthy winners:
- Talyllyn Railway – replica gunpowder van built by the line’s young members group.
- Severn Valley Railway – conversion of Great Western Railway carriage into accessible buffet car No. 9581.
- Bala Lake Railway – replica Penrhyn saloon carriage.
We were also very pleased to receive a ‘Highly Commended’ in the Events category.
This was for our preparations for, and the series of Railway200 events we ran, last year. This included a major refurbishment of platform 1 at Horsted Keynes to enable it to host the Railway200 Inspiration Train, along with education work and a variety of linked exhibitions and events though the year.
Congratulations to our friends at The Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, who won the “Event” award with their ‘Railway Children Theatre Show’.
