annual report and accounts 2015/16 -...

ANNUAL REPORT ANDACCOUNTS 2015/16

Front cover: Manchester Victoria Station:Refreshment room domeInside front cover: Wakefield Kirkgate StationInside back cover: Corrour Signal BoxBack cover: Manchester Victoria Station:Detail from Lancashire & Yorkshire Railwaywar memorial

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photography by Paul Childs, Spheroview Ltd,Tunbridge Wells, Kent

Other photographs as individually credited

The Trust is grateful to the followingindividuals and organisations for permissionto publish photographs and illustrations:Jay DevliaTony HardenNetwork RailRosamund WebbRobert WeirAlex Worth, Leander Architectural

Research and text by Andy Savage andMalcolm Wood, assisted by Claire PicktonDesign by Geoffrey WadsleyPrinted by Kingsley Print & Design Ltd,Egham, Surrey

CONTENTS

Chairman’s Statement 3The Hon Sir William McAlpine Btintroduces the Report; comments on theTrust’s on-going success in deliveringimprovements to the historic railwayestate and attracting substantial externalcontributions to many varied projects;notes the continuation of the Trust’s workfor the Department for Transport on thenon-operational estate; describes theTrust’s support of railway war memorials;confirms the Trust’s decision to put asuccession strategy in place, including theappointment of a Deputy Chairman;expresses thanks to the Trust’s sponsors,Network Rail and the Department forTransport through Highways England(Historical Railways Estate), for theirsupport; and commends the Trust’spersonnel for their dedication anddetermination.

Review of Projects 4-29Reports on the Trust’s grant-aidedprojects, including: a variety of stationrefurbishments, from replacementcanopies to minor heritage details; worksto signal boxes, a viaduct, arches, aturntable and war memorials; conversionsto provide a therapy centre, refreshmentfacilities, and cycle workshops; theproduction of a conservation managementplan; and the preservation of historicdrawings and documents.

National Railway Heritage Awards 29The Railway Heritage Trust ConservationAward for 2015 was won by theWensleydale Railway, for the restoration ofScruton Station.

Grants and External Contributions30-31

A detailed list of grants awarded andexternal partners’ contributions.

The Trust’s Accounts 32A summary of the audited accounts.

RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST · ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2015/16

1 RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST 2016

The Trust publishes an Annual Report for four specific purposes:� to publish its Accounts;� to illustrate the projects to which its grants have been awarded;� to acknowledge the financial contribution made to projects by external partners;� to acknowledge the contribution made to the development and delivery of projects

by sponsors, consultants and contractors.

We have a wider purpose too. Britain’s railway heritage deserves every opportunitythat can be taken to make its quality and diversity better known. So our illustratedproject reports also serve to attract potential new partners to work with us in thisimportant and challenging field.

ANNUAL REPORT ANDACCOUNTS 2015/16

Manchester Victoria Station: Lancashire &Yorkshire Railway route map & war memorial

RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST · OFFICERS AND ADVISORY PANEL 31st March 2016

RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST 2016 2

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Chairman: The Hon Sir William McAlpine BtExecutive Director: Andy Savage Director: Marcus Binney

ADMINISTRATION

Company Secretary: Malcolm WoodPersonal Assistant: Claire Pickton

ADVISORY PANEL

Robert Baldwin Stanley Hurn Gordon Biddle Sir Simon Jenkins John Boyle David Lawrence Richard Broyd Chris Leah Timothy Bryan Adrian Lyons Anthony Byrne Geoff Mann Professor Dugald Cameron John Martin Jamie Coath Frank Paterson Jim Cornell Oliver Pearcey Sir Neil Cossons Dr John PrideauxPhilip Davies Malcolm Reed Ian Hay Davison Simon Rigge Ptolemy Dean Martin Robertson Denis Dunstone Paul SimonsLord Faulkner of Worcester Theo SteelDr William Fawcett Jerry SwiftChristopher Fildes Robert ThorntonRobin Gisby Peter TrewinChris Green Dame Margaret WestonChris Heaps Adam Wilkinson Charles Howeson

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE ADVISORY PANEL

The Annual Meeting of the Advisory Panel was held on 12th October 2015, at 1 Eversholt Street, London. Mike Ashworth, Design & Heritage Manager for LondonUnderground, was the guest speaker and talked about how that organisationhandles its built heritage issues. His presentation was greatly appreciated and, forthe first time, nine days later, a successful repeat meeting was held in Glasgow, withPanel members and Scottish industry partners present. This was followed by a tourof the undercroft of Glasgow Central Station.

Manchester Victoria Station: Frontage canopydetail

LAST YEAR I REPORTED on the 30thanniversary celebrations of theTrust’s existence and how we had

contributed to the railway industry’s carefor its listed and historic buildings. Ayear later we can see that the Trust hascontinued to deliver that improvement,across all of Great Britain. In 2015/16we funded 47 grants from Network Rail’ssponsorship, one from Highways England(Historical Railways Estate)’s sponsor-ship, and ten from the Maber legacy,making a total of 58 grants, a slightincrease on 2014/15. The grants wereworth £2.04 million in total, and drew in £4.47 million of external funding.This latter figure is one of the highestexternal contributions we have seen, and it emphasises how heritage is goodbusiness for Network Rail and HighwaysEngland (Historical Railways Estate), aswell as being a social benefit.

report that the situation improvednoticeably at the end of the year, and hascontinued to get better, so I am optimisticthat this was only a temporary blip.Although we worked closely with

colleagues in both Network Rail WalesRoute and Arriva Trains Wales, we onlysaw one project happen in thePrincipality, and that, restoring someironwork at Cardiff Central, was worthonly just over a thousand pounds.On the non-operational estate the

position was happier: we have continuedour work to convert closed viaducts intopedestrian and cycling routes, thanks tothe Department for Transport’s on-goingfunding, for which we are most grateful.This year we have helped complete theroute across the Trent over TorkseyViaduct, work on which started in2014/15. Now that this is complete ourfriends in Railway Paths Ltd are working

been lost or removed, was in thisfinancial year, and we are particularlyproud of our work to create a copy of anold Great Western Railway Roll ofHonour from Worcester Sheet Depart-ment. The original is very frail andwater-stained, and is permanently keptin the National Railway Museum.However, through the excellent work ofour photographer, Paul Childs, andMalcolm Wood, we have been able tocreate a cleaned-up copy which has beenmounted and framed and is nowdisplayed near the Victorian WaitingRoom at Worcester Shrub Hill Station,itself an award-winning project that weare most proud to have supported. I amalso very happy that we could support a group of Virgin Trains staff atManchester Piccadilly in creating a newmemorial to replace one from LondonRoad, shamefully lost in the 1960s’redevelopment of that station.As far as the organisation of the Trust

is concerned, I have been aware for sometime that, having served as Chairman for31 years, we need a strategy to find mysuccessor. Happily, we have identified amost suitable potential future Chairmanfor when I do eventually stand down, buthis present employment precludes himjoining the Board at this time. However, I am delighted that Jim Cornell, ourExecutive Director for many years, hasagreed to rejoin the Board as DeputyChairman for the intervening period,ensuring that we have continuity shouldit be necessary. It is good to have Jim’sexperience even more available to usthan it has been in the last six years.I conclude, as ever, by thanking our

sponsors, Network Rail and theDepartment for Transport throughHighways England (Historical RailwaysEstate). I must also thank Andy, Malcolmand Claire for their dedication anddetermination in running the Trust.Without their commitment we would notbe able to achieve the results that we do.I commend the 31st Annual Report andAccounts of the Railway Heritage Trustto you.

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT


The Hon Sir William McAlpine BtChairmanLondonJuly 2016

In England we gave 33 Network Rail-funded grants, to a total value of£1,506,266. The biggest grants wereboth for £250,000, one towards therestoration of C H Driver’s stunninggothic wall on the south side of LondonBridge Station, and the other to improvethe lighting in the Dark Arches underLeeds Station. At the other extreme, wegave a grant for less than a thousandpounds for a new bench at RidgmontStation.In Scotland we only awarded 13

grants, to a total value of £309,502.This is under half of the value in2014/15. Sadly, the change of thefranchise at the start of the financialyear brought all progress on StationsCommunity Regeneration Fund-supported projects to a halt for most ofthe year, and our ability to find worksuffered accordingly. I am happy to

with adjoining land owners and localauthorities to upgrade the route to fullbridleway standards, so as to allowcycling over the viaduct as well. Lookingto the future, we have identified projectsfor the next few years. In 2016/17 wehave Castleford, and Bennerley in theErewash Valley, but also, as we moveahead, we hope to open a walkway on apermanently-abandoned section of theWaverley Route, a viaduct over the RiverEden at Carlisle.We have continued to both record and

support work on war memorials. Ourproject to recognise and honour theseven railwaymen awarded the VictoriaCross has advanced, and is now nearlyhalf complete, and the plaques have beenwell recognised as they have gone up.The final funding for the replacementplaques for London Marylebone Station,where all the original memorials had

HRH The Duke of Gloucester & Sir William at the opening of the waiting room at Worcester Shrub Hill

Jay Devlia

LEEDS STATION: DARK ARCHES:LIGHTING IMPROVEMENTS

Leeds Station has had a chequeredcareer. Originally it was two separatestations, the Midland Railway’sWellington Station, and the joint NorthEastern and London & North WesternRailways’ New Station. After the 1923Grouping the London, Midland &Scottish Railway (LM&SR) and theLondon & North Eastern Railway(L&NER) combined the stations as LeedsCity, linking them with a distinctiveLM&SR-designed, Art Deco, concourse,which the Trust helped restore in1998/99. Subsequently, the above-tracksparts of the operational station wererebuilt to increase capacity, so little ofheritage interest remains at that level,other than the 1930s’ concourse, andthe associated Queens Hotel, sold in1984.

However, the undercroft is anothermatter. The River Aire passes directlyunder the station, which is built on aseries of viaducts. Neville Street runsunder the railway from north to south,and, almost at the southern boundary ofthe viaducts, the Dark Arches form along arcade from it to the west, under thestation and parallel to the tracks. Thearcade is a wonderful piece ofengineering, with the station supportedon vaulting in both the longitudinal andtransverse directions, but the ‘Dark’name was well given: the arcade waspoorly lit, and had only seen commercial,storage, and parking use for many years.

The opening of a southern entrancefor Leeds Station in 2015 has now

transformed the area. The new entrancedescends to ground level directly over theAire, and people using it are naturallyguided into the arcade, resulting in avastly increased footfall. Consequently,Network Rail has decided to redevelopthe space as a retail area. With newfrontages to the arches, and the stunningvaulting, this promises to be a top-class

LEAMINGTON SPA STATION:UPSIDE CAFÉ

The Trust has supported various projects,undertaken by both the enthusiasticFriends of Leamington Station andChiltern Railways, which have greatlyenhanced the historic quality of thissplendid, former Great Western Railway,Art Deco station, dating from 1938.

In 2011 we supported therefurbishment of the two waiting rooms,returning them to their 1930s’ style. The works to the upside waiting roomincluded the introduction of a doorwayleading into the adjacent formerrefreshment room which, for some time,had been used as a train crew messroom. Chiltern Railways has now puttogether a project to refurbish this roomand bring it back into use as a customerfacility. The internal panelling on thewall backing onto the platform was in apoor state, but enough could be salvagedto enable a combination of repair andnew provision to return the wall to its

original form. The plasterwork has alsobeen repaired and new services installed,together with a new, appropriately tiled,floor. Lighting has been provided in asimilar style to the waiting room and the windows and doors have beenrefurbished. Finally, a security shutterhas been installed to separate the servingcounter from the main area when therefreshment facility is closed, allowingthe room to be used solely as a waitingroom.

The Trust has supported the projectwith a grant focussing on the restorationof the panelling and the repairs to thewindows and doors, and we are pleasedto note that this scheme represents theculmination of works to the waitingrooms.

Sponsor: Chiltern Railways, LondonDesigner: WSS Construction Consultants,

Folkestone, KentContractors: The Input Group, Derby & Guy

Goodwin Restoration, Warwick (interiorpanelling)

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

location. A necessary preliminary is toimprove the lighting, particularly at theeast end by Neville Street, and the Trusthas given a substantial grant towardsthis. Network Rail has also removed asmuch of the electrical services routed inthe vaulting as possible. Work started inthe financial year 2015/16, and willcarry on into 2016/17, and it is possiblethat we will give further support toimproving the road surfaces as part ofthis exciting development project.

Sponsor: Network Rail London North EasternRoute, York

Designer & Contractor: Network Rail London NorthEastern Route Works Delivery Group, York


Top: General view of arches Right: Detail of arch brickwork

Below: Interior of café & waiting room

APPLEBY EAST LEVELCROSSING: REMOVAL OFEQUIPMENT

Appleby East Station lay on the Penrithto Barnard Castle line of the NorthEastern Railway (NER), near the later,but more well-known, station on theSettle & Carlisle line. The NER lineopened in 1862, and was primarilyintended to carry iron ore from Cumbriato the furnaces of the north east. Itclosed to passengers in 1962, althoughthe Appleby to Warcop section survivedfor freight for some years more.

A preservation society is nowgradually reopening parts of the line eastof Appleby, but Appleby East Station

itself is now out of railway usage of anysort and the road level crossing overStation Lane at the Penrith end of thisformer station has also been abandoned.However, the trackbed under thiscrossing, and towards the Settle &Carlisle route remains in the ownershipof Network Rail. Fortuitously, much ofthe underground level crossingmechanism remained in situ, includingboth the locking boxes in the middle ofthe road, which had simply been tarredover. The South Tynedale Railway (STR)identified this material and, after seekingexpert advice from North YorkshireMoors Railway’s signalling department,was keen to reuse it at SlaggyfordStation, on the STR’s extension back

towards Haltwhistle. The original four-gate crossing here was removed whenthe Alston branch was closed and liftedin 1976, but now, in another laneimmediately next to an original ex-NERstation, the former Appleby Eastmechanism will once again be connectedto a (replica) NER signal box, fulfilling itsoriginal purpose of operating a four-gatemanual level crossing. The Trust waspleased to help facilitate release of theequipment from Network Rail, and gavea grant to both cover its removal to theSTR, and make good the road.

Sponsor: South Tynedale Railway PreservationSociety, Alston, Cumbria

Contractor: Cubby Construction Ltd, Carlisle,Cumbria

the building transferred back into themaintenance of the operational railway,the Trust awarded a further three grants,as part of a major restoration. Thiscoincided with the creation of aConservation Area for the part of thetown between the canal, which bordersthe castle itself, and the railway. Onconclusion of this project, Railtrack, thethen infrastructure controller, let thebuilding out as a wine bar but, sadly, thiswas not a success, and, after only a fewyears’ operation, the structure was oncemore abandoned.

Nearly a decade of legal argumentsfollowed before the railway was able toreclaim it, and by then there wasconsiderable deterioration, with the newroof that the Trust had funded beingallowed to leak, with consequent damage

to the interior. Network Rail has nowtransferred the structure into the trainoperating company’s lease, and EastMidlands Trains (EMT) has led a furtherrestoration, with the help of a grant fromthe Trust. In a completion of the circle,the line has now become so busy thatEMT considers it appropriate to oncemore have a manned booking office onthe station, and it has installed this in thewest, Nottingham, end of the building.The east end of the structure has beenrefitted for use as a café/newsagent andEMT has now identified a tenant to takethis space on.

The restoration of this station hasbeen a long and, at times, heart-breakingslog for the Trust. We hope that, afterthis third set of funded works, thebuilding will now have a happier futurethan its experiences of the last thirtyyears.

Sponsor: East Midlands Trains, DerbyArchitect: William Saunders LLP, Newark,

NottinghamshireContractor: Bowmer & Kirkland Ltd, Heage, Belper,

Derbyshire


REVIEW OF PROJECTS

NEWARK CASTLE STATION:RESTORATION OF MAINBUILDING

Newark Castle was Newark’s first station,opened in 1846 by the Midland Railway(MR) as part of George Stephenson’sNottingham to Lincoln line, six yearsbefore the Great Northern Railwayopened its rival Northgate Station. Bothstations remain open, and both areGrade II listed.

Newark Castle’s building is a single-storey structure, on the Nottingham-bound side of the station, and dates fromthe opening of the line. Unusually for theMR, it is in a mainly classical style, andits rounded ends give it a uniqueappearance.

The station was unmanned in the1970s, as part of the general run-downof the rail system at that time, but thebuilding survived and was initiallytransferred to the British Rail PropertyBoard. The Trust made its first grant tothe structure in 1987/88, when itcontributed towards general restorationworks. Between 1995 and 1997, with

Left: Station frontage Above: Entrance door detailBelow right: Interior view

ULVERSTON STATION:PROVISION OF CYCLINGFACILITY

Railway historian Gordon Biddledescribes the 1878-built Furness Railwaystation at Ulverston as ‘the mostelaborate station of its size in the northwest’, and the Trust has, in the past,sponsored work on the main buildings,and hopes to do so again in the future.However, this year our attention hasbeen elsewhere. On entering the stationapproach drive there is a two-storey,rectangular, building on the trackside,reaching down to the platform below.This structure, built in red sandstonewith cream ashlar trim, is contemporaryto the main station building, which is ofthe same material, and linked to it by ascreen wall. It was once the gents toilets,but it is a massive structure for such afunction, and the Trust wonders whetherthe station water tank was originallylocated on top of it.

First Transpennine Express, the thenoperator of the station, designed andfitted out this building as a cycle storeand workshop. The work has been donewith due sympathy to the historic nature

of the building, and to fit in with the restof the station. The Trust was happy togive a grant for this work, andcongratulates First Transpennine onundertaking it at a time when franchise

changes meant that responsibility for thestation was about to transfer to anotheroperator.

Sponsor: First Transpennine Express, ManchesterDesigner & Contractor: The Input Group, Derby

PECKHAM RYE STATION:STAIRCASE REFURBISHMENT

The magnificent station building atPeckham Rye was designed by theeminent Victorian architect, CharlesHenry Driver, for the London, Brighton &South Coast Railway, and was opened in1866. Whilst the three-storey buildingdoes not exhibit the more extreme detailsof polychromatic brickwork usuallyassociated with Driver, the SecondEmpire style of the structureincorporates his trademark cast-ironwork, floral-decorated keystones andstring courses.

In our 2012/13 Report we describedthe start of remedial work to thebuilding’s south tower staircase, whichwas allied to works to the doors andwindows on the matching tower on thenorth side of the frontage. Our grantsupport in that year covered theengineering design for a new staircase to access the impressive, large, space ofthe former waiting room (later a billiardhall) at platform level. Work has nowstarted to install that contemporary glassand steel structure, which will supple-ment the original stone stair flight, withits associated cast-iron balustrade, whichstill exists at the lower level. As well asinstalling the new flight to a designwhich has minimal intrusion on thestructure of the tower, and relieves load

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


Above: Upper floor interiorBelow: External view of building

The new staircase in fabrication

BOOK ABOUT RAILWAYMEN& RAILWAYWOMEN AT WAR

In our last Report we briefly mentionedthe work that Anthony Lambert is doingin developing a book on the heroism ofthe railwaymen and railwaywomen whofought or otherwise supported thecountry in the Great War.

Anthony’s research in the last yearhas taken him to several sources. At theNational Archives at Kew he hasresearched records from the RailwayClearing House, the Government’sDirector of Railway Transport, theRailway Executive Committee, the GreatWestern Railway Board, the Ministry ofTransport, and the Royal Engineers. Atthe National Railway Museum the rangeof sources varies from a 1946 speech to

the fifth Pan-American Railway Congressto the wartime diary of the Shropshire &Montgomery Railway, and also includesrailway company magazines andretrospective reports both by locomotivemanufacturer Beyer, Peacock and by theRailway Clearing House.

Anthony has paid particular attentionto the development of railway warmemorials and the services of dedication,and still has to consult both unionarchives and the Imperial War Museum.

The current target is to completeresearch in the summer of 2016, andhave the manuscript written by spring2017, well on target for publication forthe centenary of the Armistice inNovember 2018.Sponsor: Railway Heritage Trust, LondonAuthor: Anthony Lambert, London

The side viaduct is almost as long asthe two main spans over the Trent, butconsists of 17 separate spans. If not ofthe historic significance of Sir JohnFowler’s main structure, this one isalmost equally interesting. The decks areof lightweight wrought-iron, of relativelysmall span, and are as conventional asthe river ones are ground breaking.

TORKSEY VIADUCT:PROVISION OF CYCLEWAY

In the Report for last year we describedthe history of Torksey Viaduct, and thehistoric importance of the two spansover the River Trent, across which wefunded the provision of a cycle path. Wealso explained that there was an on-going need to do the same work on the

on the intermediate stone landing, thewall finishes are being treated in amanner which will leave as much of theoriginal detail as possible.

The Trust helped fund completion ofthis major piece of work and hopes it will

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

enable local groups to use the largewaiting room to promote the station andenvirons, with an aspiration that thespace will eventually be sympatheticallyrestored, bringing an important elementof the station back into viable use.

Sponsor: Network Rail Commercial Property,London

Architect: Benedict O’Looney Architects, LondonEngineering Designer: Structure Workshop Ltd,

LondonContractor: Spence, London

side span bridge on the Lincolnshire partof the viaduct before this cycleway couldbe opened. We were very pleased to beable to use our 2015/16 sponsorshipfrom Highways England to carry out thisfurther work, so that the new link acrossthe river is now open for both pedestrianand cyclist use.

Above: View of the side viaductRight: The Sir John Fowler viaduct


However, they are supported on anamazing set of cast-iron trestles, thatappear to have been constructed usingprefabricated components of a standarddesign. Whilst most of these trestles areone unit high, and carry the line over theflood plain, those at the west end are overa side creek of the river, and needed to bemuch higher to reach down to a suitablefooting. The same castings have beenused, but bolted up into two layers toachieve the height needed, and the wholesubstructure is reminiscent of theprinciples of Meccano.Sponsor: Railway Paths Ltd, BirminghamContractors: Hankinson Group, London (steel

painting); Hutchinson Ltd, Gainsborough,Lincolnshire (walkway) & Moulds Fencing(Torksey) Ltd, Torksey, Lincolnshire (fencing)

NEEDHAM MARKET STATION:RESTORATION

The station at Needham was completedin 1849, to the design of FrederickBarnes of Ipswich. The building wascommissioned by the Ipswich & BuryRailway, but by completion thatcompany had been incorporated into theEastern Union Railway, whose initialsstill grace the structure, although thatcompany in turn lost its identity to theGreat Eastern Railway in 1862.Although of a similar Jacobean style toother stations on the line, the buildingwas undoubtedly extravagant for theneeds of the town. Although one of thelast surviving minor stations to stay openbetween Ipswich and Norwich, NeedhamMarket closed for passenger traffic on2nd January 1967, but happily survivedto reopen almost five years later, and hasremained open ever since.

The building, being too large for railwayneeds, and then having been closed andleased out, had deteriorated badly by thetime of reopening, but it was listed in1986, and the Trust has pursued itsrenovation almost since we were founded.We funded restoration of the exterior in2000/01, and of the forecourt andinterior in 2001/02, when it became anarchitects’ office. Appropriately, thetenant designed the works.

In our Report for 2001/02 we stated

that the pavilion at the south end of theplatform was in desperate need ofrestoration, with cracking and collapsingbrickwork, but nothing happened torectify this and the structure continuedto deteriorate. In 2014 the current trainoperator, Abellio Greater Anglia,approached the Trust to discuss aproposal to demolish the pavilion but theintervening decade and a half had notchanged our view and we reiterated ouropposition. After further discussion, weagreed a package of works that stabilised

the pavilion to prevent its collapse, thusretaining the classic, balanced,appearance of the station. We alsoreinstated some of the windows that hadbeen blocked up in the closure andindustrial-use period, making the rear,platform-facing side, of the station moreattractive for passengers, and adding tothe earlier renovation of its front andinterior. The original restoration workhas stood up well since it was carriedout, and we are glad to have resolved thisunfinished business.

Sponsor: Abellio Greater Anglia, LondonContractor: Hammond (ecs) Ltd, Cwmbach,

Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taff

LEEMING BAR STATION:FOOTBRIDGE

In our 2011/12 Report we described thehistory of the Wensleydale branch, andhow the fact that it is still owned byNetwork Rail, and only leased to theWensleydale Railway (WR), enables us togive occasional support to projects onthat route.

Leeming Bar is the main intermediatestation on the line, and its building,designed by G T Andrews of the NorthEastern Railway, was listed, and survivesin railway ownership. Andrews’ goodsshed also survives but is owned by theWR directly (and thus is outside ourscope). Leeming Bar was, for many years,the eastern terminus of the preservedoperation but trains now run toNorthallerton in the east, as well asRedmire to the west. Incidentally, the

Northallerton extension passes throughScruton Station, recently restored withRailway Heritage Trust support.

As a result of this extension of itsservices, the WR wished to bring thesecond, eastbound, platform in LeemingBar Station back into use, so that trainscould pass each other there. However,that platform had no direct means ofaccess, and the WR had been seeking afootbridge for some time. In late 2015Network Rail renewed the footbridge atBrigg Station, in North Lincolnshire, andthe Trust was able to fund the extra costsof carefully dismantling the old bridge,and moving it to Leeming Bar, where theWR will re-erect it in the near future.

Sponsor: Wensleydale Railway Association (Trust)Ltd, Leeming Bar, Northallerton, NorthYorkshire

Contractor: Reid Freight Services Ltd, Longton,Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire


REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Above: View of platform elevation Left: Window detail

ABERDOUR SIGNAL BOX:CONVERSION TO STUDIO

Aberdour Signal Box is a long-closedstone structure, built by the NorthBritish Railway in 1890 after theopening of the Forth Bridge. Along withall the other buildings on the station, it islisted, and its unique design, whichconforms with those buildings, makes itparticularly worthy of preservation in-situ. Furthermore, its location at the rear

of the station platform, and away fromthe track, makes it suitable for leasingout and reuse, unlike so many otherredundant signal boxes, which tend to beclose up against operational railway lines.

However, in recent years the signal boxhas been a source of much frustrationfor the Trust. In 2009/10 we gave agrant to develop a feasibility studytowards installing a café in the buildingand a proposed extension, but on-goingplanning and land ownership issues

BLAIR ATHOLL STATION:WAITING ROOM DOOR

Blair Atholl Station has always been oneof contrasts. On the southboundplatform is a magnificent rubblestonebuilding, which had to be approved bythe Duke of Atholl before the Inverness &Perth Junction Railway could build it.Even today, cut back by a third of itslength, it remains a splendid structure,which fully justifies its Category B listing.

In contrast, the shelter on the

northbound platform is, at best, mean. Itis a small timber building, and hasminimal facilities apart from a room forthe passengers to wait in. Sadly, even thiswas not weather-proof, as it had no door.After local pressure, train operatorScotRail approached the Trust to see ifwe could help by contributing towards anew one. We were content to fund thedoor itself, and ScotRail carried out theinstallation.

Sponsor: ScotRail, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow

HEADINGLEY STATION:THERAPY ROOM

In our 2014/15 Report we describedhow the 1849 station building atHeadingley was used as the headquartersof Sensory Leeds, a charity that giveshigh-quality sensory experiences todisabled people. During that year we gavea small grant towards improving disabledfacilities. This year we have worked againwith the charity, to help it develop arebound therapy room in the mostnortherly part of the building. This newfacility, in effect a giant trampoline andits surrounds, has proved most popularand an effective extra treatment in thecharity’s range.

We are in discussion with SensoryLeeds about installing a lift within thebuilding, which would make the wholeof the first floor wheelchair accessible,and so expect that the station will featurefor a third time when we come toproduce our 2016/17 Report.

Sponsor: Sensory Leeds, Headingley, LeedsDesigner & Contractor: Ben Marriott, Thirsk, North

Yorkshire

dragged the process out over the nextfour years, when the opening of anothercafé near the station made the proposalno longer viable, and we finally had tocancel a further grant we had awardedfor the conversion. Since then we havebeen trying to think of a use for thesignal box that would not involve eithercatering, or an extension, since it wasthis that caused the previous problems.

Readers of this Report in 2010/11 and2011/12 may recall that we gave twogrants to Lynette Gray to convertKinghorn Station, some five miles west ofAberdour, into an art studio and trainingroom. This project was most successful,and Lynette now runs a flourishingbusiness there, to the extent that she nolonger has space for her personal artisticendeavours. A chance conversation ledto us showing Lynette Aberdour SignalBox, and she is now busy converting itinto a further studio; a very happyoutcome, and another addition to themany projects that the Trust hassponsored along the railway routes of Fife.

Sponsor: Lynette Gray, Kinghorn, FifeArchitect: IDP Architects LLP, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow


Main picture: Interior of therapy centre Inset: The room in action

General view of signal box

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

LIVERPOOL: JAMES STREETSTATION: REFURBISHMENT

Liverpool’s James Street Station and itssister station at Hamilton Square are theoldest deep line underground stations inthe world. James Street opened in 1886as the Liverpool terminus of the MerseyRailway (MR) but became a throughstation in 1892 when a tunnel wasextended to Liverpool Central Station.Electrification followed in 1903 and by1938 expansion of the electrics enabledthrough trains to run to West Kirby andNew Brighton.

The original street level stationbuilding was destroyed by Germanbombing during the blitz on Liverpool in1941, and a new surface structure wasconstructed in the 1960s, well in time forthe further expansion of services on theLiverpool central area ‘loop’, whichoccurred in the 1970s.

Whilst the main James Street entranceprovides access via four lifts, a secondaryaccess from Water Street, dating from the1938 build, is available during weekdaypeak hours, with the booking hallaccessed by stairs and then a long,ramped, subway linking to the platforms.The booking hall contains some

particularly fine mosaic designs andfeatures in the Art Deco style.

Merseyrail embarked on a programmeof refurbishment work in 2014 whichincluded restoration of the tiling andmosaic work, new feature lighting to thesubway, and the introduction of signingand poster panels based on original MRexamples as formerly located in thestation. At street level, the Water Streetentrance has been furnished with featuresigning as originally styled.

The Trust was pleased to support theheritage aspects of the project with agrant, thereby assisting in what has beena fine transformation of an historicelement of Liverpool’s transportinfrastructure.

Sponsor: Merseyrail, LiverpoolArchitect: Mersey Design Group, LiverpoolContractors: Lorne Stewart PLC, Leigh,

Lancashire; Stone Edge, Nelson, Lancashire(stone & mosaic work); Signs 3000 Ltd,Liverpool (external signs) & LeanderArchitectural, Dove Holes, Buxton, Derbyshire(specialist heritage signs)

ABERDEEN: FERRYHILLTURNTABLE: RESTORATION

The steam locomotive (with the notableexception of the Ffestiniog Railway’sdouble Fairlies) was a very uni-directional machine, and although itcould be driven in reverse, this was notgood for it or its operators. In order tokeep the chimney leading, the railwaycompanies provided a large number ofturntables throughout the network but,almost half a century after the end ofsteam, few remain on today’s operationalrailway. Whilst most surviving turntableson Network Rail lines are associated withregular steam excursion traffic, there area few that are not, and the Trust hasbecome involved with two, at oppositeends of Great Britain.

Neither project is fully in hand yet, andwe have not made any award towardsthe St Blazey turntable in Cornwall, but,many miles to the north, the Ferryhillproject at Aberdeen is getting under way.Somehow the turntable here hasremained as an operational asset, but itis physically very remote from thestation, at the end of a long raft ofsidings, which have no other use, and, asa result, it has slipped into disrepair andthe sidings have become overgrown.Whilst steam operators have pushed forits recommissioning, the revenue thatexcursions would generate would notcover the costs of restoring the turntableto working order. Happily, the FerryhillRailway Heritage Trust, which leases anadjacent building, is prepared to take onboth its restoration and maintenanceand has now also leased the area theturntable is situated in.

The Railway Heritage Trust has offereda grant towards the restoration, to becarried out when the other funds are inplace, but this year we have given a smallgrant so that the Ferryhill Trust caninvestigate why the turntable pit hasflooded with water continuously inrecent years. The investigation is nowcomplete, and it has been establishedthat a manmade blockage in the drainwill have to be diverted past. This nowgoes into Ferryhill Trust’s planning, andwe hope to see the project come tofruition next year.

Sponsor: Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust,Aberdeen

Contractor: Diamond Drainage, Aberdeen

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


Above: Water Street booking hall Left: Access subway Below: Water Street entrance

FORMER MAIDENHEAD TRAINSHED: ENGINEERING REPORT

The Wycombe Railway (WR) opened aroute from High Wycombe toMaidenhead in 1854, with the lineterminating at Castle Hill on the BathRoad. However, the Great WesternRailway (GWR) route from Paddingtonhad already arrived at the River Thameseast of Maidenhead in 1838 with astation constructed at Taplow andknown as Dumb Bell Bridge. Intended asa temporary measure, the original planwas to move the station one mile furtherwest once the Maidenhead river bridgehad been completed and the line toBristol had come into operation, but thisdid not happen, even though the bridgeand line opened to traffic in 1839. DumbBell Bridge remained the station forMaidenhead on the main line untilNovember 1871 when the GWR openeda new station which also received trainsfrom the WR, who, by then, had closedthe Castle Hill site.

Although this station was extended in1893, when the route was widened fromtwo tracks to four, the original 1871

train shed and canopies remained on theWycombe branch platforms. The shedwas based on a design principle foroverall train sheds that Brunel adopted inthe 1850s and has remained effectivelyundisturbed since its construction.

However, the progress of Crossrailproposals and the wider Great WesternRoute modernisation and electrificationprogrammes meant that, by 2014, plansto demolish the shed were well developed.Following a bout of frenzied negotiationregarding the need to save the structurefor reuse elsewhere, a decision was takenthat the building would be offered to theCholsey & Wallingford Railway (C&WR).

The shed was dismantled and thesections delivered to the C&WR, afterwhich the Trust gave funding for a reportand drawings by specialist heritageengineers which will enable a plan to bedeveloped to reconstruct the shed atC&WR’s terminus at Wallingford.

We now await further proposalsregarding that reconstruction.

Sponsor: Cholsey & Wallingford Railway,Wallingford, Oxfordshire

Consulting Engineer: The Morton Partnership Ltd,London

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


HUDDERSFIELD: KING’S HEAD:IMPROVEMENTS

Constructed jointly by the London &North Western Railway (L&NWR) andthe Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, theGrade I listed Huddersfield Station is,quite rightly, regarded as the finestclassical station in Britain. Designed by J P Pritchett Senior and Junior, thestation was opened in 1847. J P PritchettSenior was architect to Earl Fitzwilliam,one of the Ramsden family trustees,patrons of the town.

The Trust has given grant support overtwo years to the proprietor of the King’sHead, one of the two public housessituated in the lofty, single-storey,pavilions which form the ends of thestation frontage onto St George’s Square,to undertake a significant internalrefurbishment of the bar area andadjacent room. Last year we reported onthe first year’s grant-aided work whichincluded removal of the low, suspended,ceiling to reveal a splendid original, plusrestoration of flooring and wall panelling.

This year our grant has been used forworks in the adjacent room, to form adining area and complete the restorationof its stylish fireplace. Also, the main bararea now has a very appropriate, glazed,internal lobby to the entrance doors, andthe immediate area around the side ofthe serving bar has been repanelled.Work is still required to complete theinstallation of large feature mirrors,which will complement the veryimpressive fireplaces in the bar area, andto install the new bespoke serving bar, anelement which was outside the scope ofthe Trust’s grant support. Overall, thishas been a splendid transformation,revealing a magnificent space.

Sponsor: Mykanada Ltd, Huddersfield, WestYorkshire

Contractors: Various

Bar area interior

Restored dining room fireplace

HERNE HILL STATION:ENTRANCE CANOPY

The London, Chatham & Dover Railway(LC&DR) opened the station at Herne Hillon 25th August 1862. The lineoriginally served just Victoria, but by1869 this had increased so that servicesran to the City of London, Kings Cross,Kingston and Kent.

The station was designed by architectJohn Taylor, together with Joseph Cubittand J T Turner, railway engineers. Theimposing building, sitting against anequally imposing viaduct, is given heightby a tower which rises above thestructure and originally carried a watertank for the purpose of replenishinglocomotives. The design appears to havecaught the imagination of thecontemporary press, and it was laudedfor its decorative quality. The use of stockbrickwork, with horizontal stone stringcourses, distinctive ‘Taylor’s Patent’ clayroof tiles (sadly, here, now replaced byslates), polychromatic, gothic-styled,arches, and cast-iron features, resulted inLC&DR stations of this type being dubbed‘Chatham Gothic’.

The arrival of the railway wasinstrumental in the rapid growth ofHerne Hill from a quiet area of villas to a

bustling residential district and majorchanges occurred to the station in 1924when the route was electrified and theplatform adjacent to the upper floor wasremoved. Also in the early part of the20th century, the projecting decorativecanopy, which originally ran along thewhole length of the station frontage, wastruncated to the length of just two baysimmediately over the centrally locatedentrance doors, the original LC&DRdecorative valance board having alreadybeen replaced by a much later, and plain,dagger design.

The timber support brackets on thecanopy had deteriorated to such a pointthat additional support work wasbecoming futile, and Network Rail hadlittle option other than to remove thestructure on safety grounds. The canopyhas now been replaced, sadly not to theoverall length of the frontage, but theTrust has supported the inclusion ofLC&DR-style valance boards, as a meansof reintroducing some of the decorativedetailing lost many years ago.

Sponsor: Network Rail Kent Route, LondonContractor: West Maintenance Services Ltd,

Northfleet, Gravesend, Kent

original features. The Trust is happy tosupport this project, which is now underway, although little progress was madebefore the end of the financial year.However, the Trust has allocated all itscosts for the project in 2015/16.

The Trust has also been in contactwith the tenant of the north wing, andwould like to support a further scheme to restore this part of the station as well,so that the whole building is once morein use.

Sponsor: First Transpennine Express, Manchester Consultant: ENGIE, Grimsby, North East

Lincolnshire

CLEETHORPES STATION:PROVISION OF CYCLINGFACILITY

Cleethorpes Station is the terminus ofthe lines to north Lincolnshire whichjoin at Grimsby and then carry on for thelast few miles, and its original stationbuilding has gone through a long andvaried history. The Manchester, Sheffield& Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) reachedthe resort in 1863, and constructed astation building to the south west of theplatform. In later years the railwaydeveloped new structures across thehead of the station, and all passengerfacilities have been in the present, 1961,building on that site for the last 55 years.

The original MS&LR structure consistsof a central block, with two wings to thenorth and south. Both are leased out, thesouth one as a pub, whilst the north onehas been disused for many years. Thecentral block has not been used otherthan as railway offices and storagefacilities, and is in poor internalcondition. Architecturally, the two outerwings of the building are relativelyanonymous, but the central part is ofmore interest. It has an Italianate feel,dominated by a lantern roof, with threewindow arches below, the outer two ofwhich contain smaller twin arches.Although this window detail was typicalof the MS&LR, few examples havesurvived into modern times, and theTrust has had its eye on the restorationof this central area for some time.

The train operating company, FirstTranspennine Express, has developed ascheme to convert the whole centralspace into a cycle workshop and store,and done this in a way that retains many

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Main picture: Roadside view of central section Inset: View of station buildings

RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST 2016

Below: Reinstated canopy with original-stylevalance boards

CARDIFF CENTRAL STATION:HISTORIC FANLIGHTS

Cardiff ’s principal station originated as awooden train shed to a standard designby Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and wasopened by the South Wales Railway in1850. It was extended by the GreatWestern Railway (GWR) in 1882 and in1893 the city’s Riverside branch line,which had previously served theGlamorgan Canal Company wharveswith goods traffic, was provided with twoisland platforms to form the adjacentRiverside Station.

Cardiff Station was renamed CardiffGeneral in 1924 and was heavilyredeveloped in 1935 under the guidanceof GWR company architect P GCulverhouse. The main building datingfrom this time was constructed in

Portland stone with a heavily detailedfrontage defined by pedimented pavilionsat each end and with the central façadebearing the legend ‘Great WesternRailway’ in large incised letters. Theplatform buildings followed a standarddesign adopted by Culverhouse, executedin cream-coloured faience blocks.

At the same time, the adjacentRiverside Station was also redeveloped,and a new access was provided to both

WAKEFIELD KIRKGATESTATION: REFURBISHMENT

This project has featured repeatedly inour Reports of the last few years, and thebulk of the work was completed, andcelebrated in a station reopening event,by the time of our last publication.However, our final grant payment tookplace in this financial year, which givesus the opportunity to record that theproject was awarded The Crossrail Awardfor Urban Heritage in the 2015 NationalRailway Heritage Awards, which we areobviously delighted about, and that theoffice spaces in the station building arenow well on the way to all being let.There is also now a flourishing café inthe station. All in all this is a verydifferent position from the dereliction offive years ago and a satisfactoryconclusion to a major project, to which

the Trust’s contributions have beenessential.

Sponsor: Groundwork Wakefield, Normanton,West Yorkshire

Architect: SBS Architects, ManchesterContractor: G F Tomlinson Building Ltd, Derby


Main picture & inset: Café interiorAbove: Station frontage

stations at low level, with a red-brickbooking hall with two arched entrances,each furnished with a wrought-ironfanlight screen. One screen incorporatesthe 1930s’ GWR ‘roundel’ logo and thewords ‘Booking Hall’. However, thecruder-style lettering of ‘Cardiff Central’on the other screen suggests this was alater modification dating from 1973when the station name changed again(the separate Riverside Station havinglong since been integrated into the main station).

During 2014, the Cardiff AreaSignalling Renewal project began a

major redevelopment of the south side ofthe station to introduce a new platformand to remodel the entrance. The twofanlight screens were removed and somedebate ensued about what to do withthem. The Trust offered a small grant topay towards their restoration. This hasbeen carried out very skilfully by aspecialist contractor, and the screens arenow in a new position, looking splendidon the internal walls of the newentrance hall.

Sponsor: Network Rail Wales Route, CardiffContractor: Metal Fabrication Co (Cardiff) Ltd,

Cardiff

Top & bottom: Restored fanlights Centre: Fanlight before restoration in originalsetting

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

STOKE ON TRENT STATION:DOWNSIDE ENTRANCE

One of the masterpieces from thedrawing board of architect H A Hunt,Stoke on Trent Station was constructedbetween 1846 and 1848 for the NorthStaffordshire Railway. The buildings weredescribed in the press at the time ofopening as being in the Neo-JacobeanManor House style and were furnishedwith elaborate gables, patterned clay-tiled roofs and diaper brickwork. Thestation was modified in 1893 when anew, trussed, overall roof was added andthe upper levels of the station flank wallsraised. In 2003 the main station roofwas fully refurbished, but other elementswere not addressed, particularly theformer downside entrance buildingwhich had been severely altered by theremoval of the original pitched roof andassociated gable structures. However, in2010 the Trust supported Network Rail

with a grant to assist with thereinstatement of these lost roof elements,with replacement roof tiles and crestedridge tiles to the original style.

Virgin Trains recently addressed thelack of a formal access from the stationcar park on the downside by reopeningthe former entrance building. This was asubstantial scheme which required somemajor internal alterations to a structurewhose layout had already been severelychanged in previous years, althoughsome very important historical detailsremained. Amongst these the mostinteresting were the timber wainscotpanelling in the southern end of therange, an original gothic-styled fireplace,and sections of Minton-tiled floors,probably the last surviving elementsfrom the decorative flooring of H AHunt’s original designs.

The internal space has now beenopened up to include new access gating,and the fireplace has been refurbished.Unfortunately, the surviving Mintonflooring turned out to be restricted to arelatively small area but that patternedtiling was salvaged for reuse as adecorative feature and a panel has beeninstalled on the fireplace. The internalwindow surrounds had lost a significantproportion of their original, moulded,architrave details, as well as the internalcornice details at the springing point ofthe arched fanlights, but these have nowbeen restored. The Trust has contributedto all this work, and has also supportedthe reinstatement of missing externalstone quoins at the northern corner ofthe building.

This is certainly a good example ofhow a project to install facilitiescommensurate with the needs of the21st century railway can also ensurethat original detailing is not only saved,but also carefully restored, to provide aglimpse of the intended form of thebuilding. Virgin Trains is to becommended for encompassing theseheritage elements in its project, and theTrust looks forward to supporting workon other significant and protectedbuildings in its franchise.

Sponsor: Virgin Trains West Coast, BirminghamArchitect: AHR, ManchesterQuantity Surveyor: Vextrix Management Ltd,

LiverpoolContractors: MPH Construction Ltd, Mold,

Flintshire & Bullen Conservation Ltd, Oldham,Lancashire (heritage sub-contractor)


REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Left: Downside entrance Below left: Panelling & windows in retail area Below: Restored fireplace with inset tiling

EDINBURGH WAVERLEYSTATION: RESTORATION OFMOSAIC FLOOR

In our Report for 2014/15 we describedthe restoration of the former first classdining room at Edinburgh Waverley. Inthe Report we spoke of how the originalmosaic flooring had been uncovered, butthat areas of it had been infilled withcement. We concluded by saying that wehoped to support further restoration ofthe mosaic, and we are now very happyto note that Virgin Trains East Coast, thenew franchisee, has been able to co-fundthis work.

Although not a large grant, the projecthas been very complex, involving a photorecord of the floor, tracing the missingareas, consolidating the original floor byinjection of a conservation resin underit, manufacturing the missing sectionsoff site, applying them, and groutingwith a matching colour. That the floor ismade of unglazed ceramic tiles (Gresmosaic) has added an extra complexity,as very few manufacturers now survive,but Virgin Trains East Coast has takenthe project very seriously, and employedone of the few specialist contractors thatis certified to work on this material. Thecontractor has drawn heavily on Italianexperience, and employed experts whohave worked on mosaics in the RoyalPalaces at Turin, and on the Romanmosaics at Pompeii. This is a splendidrestoration of a heritage feature, whichwe hope will last for many years.

Sponsor: Virgin Trains East Coast, YorkContractor: The Input Group, Derby

KILMARNOCK STATION:RESTORATION OF ROOMS

In 2014/15 we reported on therestoration of eight of the nine platform-level rooms at Kilmarnock Station. Thisproject was completed, with a formalopening in August 2015, since when theresultant facilities have been successfullyoperating, and have brought much-needed life to the station. An incidentalheritage extra of this project is the use ofBritish Railways’ Gill Sans-style enamelsigns to give a consistency to theactivities of the local organisation,Kilmarnock Station Railway HeritageTrust; highlighting the railway heritageconnections, but in a way that fits inwith current train operator ScotRail’sown branding.

We also reported last year that we hadnot been able to conclude a project forthe ninth room. However, despiteconsiderable delays that arose from thechange of train operator franchisee inScotland, by financial year end we hadworked out a scheme for this remainingroom, and ScotRail had awarded aStations Community Regeneration Fund(SCRF) grant which, along with theTrust’s funding, has allowed work to getunder way. The room will form an initialcycle hub for the station, building on thebusiness of an existing tenant in the newoffices there, and should be in operationby the autumn of 2016.

We have also been pleased to workwith Network Rail to renew the windowsin the clock tower. This has certainlybeen to the benefit of the tenants usingthe refurbished offices below, who foundthat having water leaking from the towerdid not increase their enjoyment of thenew space.

Following on from all this work, and asforeseen in our 2014/15 Report, wehope that we will be able, together withthe SCRF, to fund a further stage, this

time for the conversion of the lower floorof the building into a full cyclingworkshop and additional officeaccommodation. Kilmarnock Station hasmoved, in a very short time, from being alarge but abandoned station to one thatis now a new hub in the town.

Room 2Sponsor: Kilmarnock Station Railway Heritage

Trust, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire Architect: IDP Architects LLP, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, GlasgowTower WindowsSponsor: Network Rail Scotland Route, GlasgowArchitect: IDP Architects LLP, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow

NEW CUMNOCK STATION:GATES TO CAFÉ

In our 2014/15 Report we explainedhow we had helped local communityorganisation Passage to Monthraw with the conversion of this station into a café, and how we hoped to see itopened shortly.

At a late stage in the project Passage toMonthraw and train operator ScotRail

agreed that ScotRail would provide anew platform shelter. This allowed theopen glazed area at the building’s southend, leading to the café entrance, to besecured out of use when the facility wasclosed, and this year we funded suitablegates to seal this space off as required.

However, despite completion of works,with the help of a second Trust grant,the café has not yet opened, and it isclear that Passage to Monthraw hasdeveloped problems. ScotRail is incontact with the local community, and istrying to find a way to get the restoredbuilding back into use, as originallyintended, but this is proving problematic.This is a disappointing state of affairs fora project that promised so much in itsearly days, and we hope that a resolutioncan be found that will permit the facilityto open soon.

Sponsor: Passage to Monthraw Ltd, NewCumnock, East Ayrshire

Architect: add+, Dunfermline, FifeContractor: John Gilmour & Co (Metal Workers)

Ltd, Prestwick, Ayrshire

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Left: General view of clock tower


Above: Platform view of building Below: Newly installed gates

MANCHESTER VICTORIASTATION: HERITAGE WORKS

Last year we reported on the continuingworks at Manchester Victoria Station,the grand terminus of the Lancashire &Yorkshire Railway (L&YR), designed byWilliam Dawes and opened in 1909.

The concourse works are now fullycompleted, with the assistance of a thirdgrant from the Trust. The light and airyarea created beneath the ‘torus’-styledmain roof structure highlights therestoration carried out to the highbrickwork to the rear of the building,while the impression of space is balancedby the historical details at lower level.The ornate, mosaic, Art Nouveau signsnow sparkle in the light and theassociated interior spaces are bright andwelcoming once again.

The former first class dining room areanow houses a coffee outlet and themodern styling of the interior presents acontrast to the white Burmantoft-tiledwalls. The refreshment room and barhave also been refurbished, the highlightbeing the restored domed, glazed,rooflight. The detailed renovation work isalso highly prominent on the station’sexterior, where the glazed, Art Nouveau,promenade canopy has been fullyrestored, and the station frontage is nowilluminated at night. Refurbishment ofthe L&YR war memorial has beencompleted, with missing vase standsreplaced, and St George once morearmed with a fearsome spear. Thepoignant Soldiers Gate has also beenfully restored, with the arch nowcontaining a memorial to the fallen,representing, in abstract form, the WorldWar I grave sites and cemeteries inNorthern France and Belgium and thenumbers buried at each location.

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


The station is now very much fit forlife in the 21st century and the extensiveworks have lifted it from its position asone of the worst large stations, to one ofthe most spectacular.

Sponsor: Network Rail London North WesternRoute, Manchester

Architect: BDP, ManchesterContractor: Morgan Sindall Construction &

Infrastructure Ltd, ManchesterAbove left: Interior of former refreshment room Above right: Concourse area at night Below: Soldiers Gate

CORROUR SIGNAL BOX:REFURBISHMENT

When the North British Railway openedits West Highland line to Fort William in1894, it provided a station at Corrour,more or less at the summit of the line,and massively remote. Although someten miles from the nearest road, thestation was built to serve the CorrourEstate, and its provision was a conditionof the estate owner, Sir John Stirling-Maxwell Bt, when he permitted the lineto be built across his land. The stationwas on a passing loop on the single line,and hence had a signal box. Because ofits remote site the box was attached to asmall building, where the signalmancould sleep, and consequently is a two-storey structure, unlike all the otheroriginal boxes on the route.

The passing loop was decommissionedin 1985, although it remains as a siding,and the box subsequently closed, but wasretained as a messing point for the local

GLOSSOP STATION: HERITAGE LIGHTING

Opened on 9th June 1845 by thethirteenth Duke of Norfolk, GlossopStation is the terminus of a one and ahalf mile long branch line, constructedwithout an Act of Parliament. Theintention was to link the developingtown with Manchester, connecting atDinting to the route of the Sheffield,Ashton-under-Lyne & ManchesterRailway (SA&MR). The branch linebecame part of the SA&MR in 1846,which itself later became part of theGreat Central Railway.

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


maintenance staff, and for a while wasalso made available for walkers as abothy to sleep in. Surprisingly, and unlikeall the other original West Highlandsignal boxes, it was not listed at the timethat the line was resignalled, althoughCorrour Station itself gained fame byfeaturing in the film ‘Trainspotting’, andhas also appeared in several other movies.

In 2012 Historic Scotland, along withCadw and English Heritage, carried out anationwide review of all signal boxes,and as a result Corrour was listedCategory C. At this stage the box was in avery poor condition, and a long series ofdiscussions took place between the Trust,Network Rail and the Corrour Estate.Network Rail and the Estate agreed thatthe signal box should be restored, andoperated in conjunction with the stationhouse as a walkers’ bunk house. TheTrust agreed two grants to Network Railtowards this work, an initial larger one torestore the exterior of the signal box,which had suffered badly in the exposedconditions at the top of Rannoch Moor,and a second smaller one towardsinterior repairs. The refurbishment wascarried out through the winter of2015/16, despite atrocious weathercutting the site off regularly, and the boxis now in fine condition for its new use.

Sponsor: Network Rail Commercial Property,Manchester

Architect: IDP Architects LLP, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow

Above: Newly installed lighting

The Trust has supported severalelements of work at the station, startingwith the reduction to a single platformand commercial development of thegoods shed, followed by platform andbooking hall improvements, and windowrefurbishments. The hugely enthusiasticFriends of Glossop Station have also beenvery keen to improve lighting so that it ismore in keeping with the station’sheritage, and this year the Trust hasjoined that initiative with some modestgrant funding to Northern Rail, tosupport the manufacture of a set ofperiod-style lanterns, which have beeninstalled by Network Rail.

Sponsor: Northern Rail, ManchesterContractor: DW Windsor, Hoddesdon,

Hertfordshire

General view of signal box Inset: Interior view of accommodation

LONDON BRIDGE STATION: ST THOMAS STREET WALLRESTORATION

Throughout almost all of its long historyLondon Bridge has been a dividedstation. The tracks here run from east towest, just to the south of the RiverThames. The north side of the stationwas originally opened in 1836 by theLondon & Greenwich Railway and, afterpassing to the ownership of the SouthEastern Railway, eventually provided athrough route to both Cannon Street andCharing Cross Stations. However, onlyshortly after the north side opened, theLondon & Croydon Railway opened asecond station adjacent and to the southof the first. This station, which passed tothe London, Brighton & South CoastRailway (LB&SCR), was, and has alwaysremained, a terminus.Both stations developed over the years,

and in 1866 the LB&SCR side wascompletely rebuilt to the designs ofCharles Henry Driver (see our 2012/13Report). The rebuild included a lightoverall roof, mounted on cast-ironcolumns, with an arched central aislepropped by two side, ridge and furrow,

roofs. The southern wall of the station,facing St Thomas Street, is a fine exampleof Driver’s design, with decorative stone-work and polychromatic brick windowsurrounds to sets of triple arches, withtwo smaller ones surrounding eachmajor arch. The west end of the wall roseto a height of two storeys, to support theridge and furrow roof, but the east endfunctioned solely as a retaining wall tosupport the elevated station above thehighway. The east end of the wall is some27 feet (eight metres) high, and mainlyconsists of triple arch sets, along StThomas Street and Crucifix Lane.Bermondsey Street passes through thewall as a single span at the junction ofthese two streets, and, in addition, onetriple arch on St Thomas Street wassubsequently removed and replaced by asingle span as part of the construction ofThe Shard. Time was not kind to the station. Both

the Southern Railway and British Rail,once they had both sides under theirownership, tried to improve permeabilitybetween them, but with limited success.Driver’s roof proved to be of an extremelylightweight construction, and thewestern end of the roof arch could notbe accessed for safety reasons, whilst theeast end had been bombed out in the1940s, and replaced with a muchstronger structure, of a consequentlymore intrusive visual design. The roofwas listed, but the south wall was notrecognised for the unique survivor that itwas, and it eventually took on anuncared-for appearance.However, the development of the

Thameslink route has meant thatNetwork Rail has now finally addressedthe design of the station. The number ofterminating trains using it hasdecreased, whilst the Thameslink projecthas already increased the number ofthrough ones, albeit with great difficultyas the line from the north does notreadily fit in with all the other routes. Inits new role Thameslink will take 24trains an hour: Network Rail realisedthat it had to expand the number ofthrough lines to give these trains adedicated route, and to do this it had toreduce the number of terminatingplatforms on the LB&SCR side. At thesame time Network Rail also decided toconstruct a new passenger concourse,crossing the entire site from north to

south, and with a width of some 70metres (230 feet) east to west, so thataccess between the differing parts of thestation could become much moreintuitive.Unfortunately the consequence of

these two items of work was that some75% of the roof columns would havebeen either positioned in thin air over thenew concourse, or in the way of the newThameslink tracks. After considerabledebate it was agreed that the roof couldbe dismantled, although the Driver archroof and its columns have been preserved:the Trust plans to contribute to theireventual re-erection in Aberystwyth. The south wall remained, and the Trustwas keen to see it recognised. Indiscussion with the then English Heritage,we encouraged listing of the east, single-storey, part of the wall, and this wasagreed and implemented some five years ago.The loss of the roof, and also of the

associated supporting west end of thesouth wall, which had to be demolishedto allow the building of the newconcourse, means that the eastern endof the south wall is now the mainremaining feature of Driver’s work, andthe Trust encouraged Network Rail tocome up with a plan to restore itproperly. This has involved the 394 feet(120 metres) length of St Thomas Street,which contains 12 triple arch sets. Thework consisted of cleaning the brickwork,making good the polychromaticsurrounds, and renewing the variousdesigns of glazed screens, which infilledmost of the arches, with new ones to areplica of Driver’s original design, so that


Left: General view of viaduct wall Below: Detail of arches

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

GLASGOW CENTRAL STATION:240 ARGYLE STREET:RESTORATION

Glasgow Central is one of the two greatstations that form the centre of theScottish railway network. Like EdinburghWaverley, which provides the focus in theeast, the station grew piecemeal, andwas then totally redeveloped at the turnof the 20th century. Glasgow’s southernterminus station started life south of theClyde, at Bridge Street, and was extendednorth to the present site in 1879.However, the station was cramped, andnever had sufficient capacity. In 1896 asubterranean east-west line opened,crossing under this site on the line ofArgyle Street. This line had its ownseparate station, but almost immediatelyafter it opened the Caledonian Railwayset about a total rebuild and developmentof the upper station, which includedaccess to the lower level facility. This was completed in 1906 and the stationremains, today, largely as designed.The new station was built to a wider

footprint, and occupied all the spacebetween Union Street to the east andHope Street to the west. However, like itspredecessor, it was raised up on a seriesof arches to give the railway sufficientheight to cross the Clyde, and itsshipping, to the south, and to dischargepassengers at street level, at GordonStreet, in the north. This height meantthat considerable retail developmentcould take place in the undercroft, andthis was particularly the case at ArgyleStreet, where the low-level platforms

retained an access, and a major tramroute passed under the station. Despitethe closure of the low-level lines in 1964(they were reopened 15 years later, andnow form a key part of the Glasgowsuburban network, linking lines to thenorth west of the city with those to thesouth and south east), Argyle Street hasremained a key retail area, and No 240,on the corner of Argyle Street and HopeStreet, fronting both and also the southentry to the station, is perhaps the mostprominent shop in the area.Sadly, as in so many cases, the unit

had been most inappropriatelydeveloped, with the classic Edwardianfrontage replaced by an aluminiummonstrosity, which would not have beenout of place in a late 20th centurystation, but was totally unsuitable forsuch a key location in a listed structure.The garish decoration used by the

occupant made matters worse.Fortunately, the unit fell vacant, andNetwork Rail Commercial Property tookthe opportunity, with support from theTrust, to replace the frontage with atimber and stone one, very much inkeeping with the original design, which,luckily, was well recorded. The newfrontage, the prime location, and theunusual interior features of large,riveted, girders supporting the stationabove, make this unit attractive andattention-grabbing: we expect that, oncea tenant is installed, this will be a mostsuccessful business.


Architect: Capita Property and Infrastructure,Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire

Contractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow


there is once more a common style alongthe front of the arches. This project has been a heavy draw on

the Trust’s budget this year, and otherfeatures of it will continue to do thesame for the next couple of years.However, the Trust is determined that theremaining heritage features of thestation should be suitably recognised,and restored where possible, so that thenew station design at track level can becompared with the more historic natureof the station below. We also hope,eventually, to see the Crucifix Lanesection of the wall renewed, but this isnot part of the station complex.

Sponsor: Network Rail London Bridge Project,London

Architect: Donald Insall Associates, LondonContractor: Stonewest Ltd, London

Above: View of restored frontage Below: Interior view of impressive structure Insets: Contrasting views over time

Robert W

eir

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


PENKRIDGE STATION:EXTERNAL REFURBISHMENT

Celebrated engineer, Thomas Brassey,developed the Grand Junction Railwayline between Wolverhampton andStafford in 1836 and one of his bestachievements was the construction ofPenkridge Viaduct, spanning the RiverPenk. The route was opened to traffic in1837, by which time three stations hadbeen completed, but, of these, onlyPenkridge has survived. The stationcomprises platforms on top of anembankment with a two-storey structurerising from the lower forecourt to asingle-storey elevation at platform level.This building retains much of its

original form with paired windows to thefrontage and a slightly offset entrancedoor leading to an internal staircase.There is evidence that the frontage mayhave been extended to the south, possiblywhen additional accommodation wasconstructed, although the now truncatedchimneys appear to be symmetrical onthe roof. The structure has been neglectedfor many years, resulting in the original

window openings being bricked up butwith the windows left in situ. Shuttershave been placed over the window areasand this, the projecting hood moulds, therendered exterior, and the deep, extended,eaves, give the whole building aMediterranean appearance.Network Rail undertook repairs as

Left: Building frontage Below: View at platform level

COMMEMORATION OF THE CENTENARY OF THEGREAT WAR

The Trust continues to work on therestoration and reintroduction ofrecently found, or missing, railway warmemorials throughout the network. Thiswork is carried out using funding fromthe bequest of Henry Basil Maber.This year the work related to three

plaques at London Marylebone, asdescribed in our last Annual Report, wasfinally completed. The replica memorials

for the staff of the Goods Office and theEngineers’ Office were supplied throughthis year’s funding and when they wereinstalled on the station it was in theposition of a blue plaque to the memoryof Sir John Betjeman which had to berelocated. The blue plaque was fixed insuch a manner that, despite carefulremoval, some minor damage resulted,which was rectified with a small grantfrom the Trust.At Manchester Piccadilly work has

been progressing, with support from theTrust, on a memorial to replace the one

from the London & North WesternRailway London Road Goods Departmentwhich was lost in the 1960s. Thereplacement takes the form of a four-sided granite obelisk and a great deal ofresearch was carried out by local railwaystaff to ensure that the names on thememorial were correct, and also to try totrace surviving relatives. The Trust hasgiven a grant towards the manufactureof the memorial and will supportinstallation with a further grant next year.Following the memorial at London

Euston to Lance Corporal ‘Jock’ Christie

part of its on-going maintenanceresponsibility, but the Trust felt that thebuilding, which lies in a ConservationArea, should be given more opportunityto attract a viable future use, to ensure itssurvival. The repairs have done enoughto maintain the structure in a steadystate, but have been supplemented by ourgrant funding, which has ensured thatthe exterior is now in a condition whichwould enable a smooth transition to afurther stage of works if a tenantappeared. The project has includedrendering, renewal of damaged shutters,work to door panels, replacement ofrainwater goods, and the interior beingmade safe with areas of rotten flooringreplaced. All this will greatly assist in the future restoration of this interestinglittle building.

Sponsor: Network Rail London North WesternRoute, Birmingham

Contractor: Arm4 Rail Ltd, Prescot, Merseyside

REVIEW OF PROJECTS


VC (see our Annual Report for 2013/14),the Trust has, this year, supported theproduction of a second plaque inmemory of a railwayman who wasawarded the Victoria Cross in the GreatWar. This was Lance Corporal CharlesGraham Robertson VC MM, who, at thetime of his enlisting in 1915, wasemployed by the Great Eastern Railwayat Blackwall Station, and who wasawarded the Victoria Cross for hisbravery in action west of PolderhoekChateau on the Menin Road in March1918. The Trust worked in conjunctionwith Transport for London to install theplaque at East India Station on theDocklands Light Railway, now thenearest location to the former BlackwallStation. The plaque was unveiled at asimple ceremony in September 2015.Finally, a surprising discovery was

made at the National Railway Museum,where a rare example of a Great WesternRailway (GWR) local Roll of Honour was discovered. This was produced tocommemorate staff from the GWR SheetDepartment at Worcester Shrub Hill whohad enlisted in the Great War. Thememorial, which was in poor condition,was unusual in that it includedphotographs of the six members of staff

Right: GWR Worcester Sheet Department Roll ofHonour Below: Victoria Cross memorial plaque

who had made the ultimate sacrifice.With Trust funding, the document wasphotographed by Paul Childs and, withskilled work, a new master copy wasproduced from which two copies weremade, and framed locally in Worcester.One of these is now displayed atWorcester Shrub Hill Station and theother was presented to the Mayor ofWorcester for display at the Guildhall.

London Marylebone Station: MemorialsSponsors: Railway Heritage Trust, London (warmemorials) & Chiltern Railways, London (Sir John Betjeman plaque)

Contractor: Leander Architectural, Dove Holes,Buxton, Derbyshire

Manchester Piccadilly Station: MemorialSponsor: Virgin Trains West Coast, ManchesterContractor:Mossfords, CardiffEast India Station: Victoria Cross Memorial

PlaqueSponsor: Railway Heritage Trust, LondonContractor: Leander Architectural, Dove Holes,Buxton, Derbyshire

Worcester Shrub Hill Station: Roll of HonourSponsor: Railway Heritage Trust, LondonContractors: Spheroview, Tunbridge Wells, Kent(photography); Tapestry MM, London (printing)& Braemar Frames, Worcester (framing)

Alex Worth, Leander Architectural

SNODLAND STATION:REFURBISHMENT

Constructed in 1856 by the SouthEastern Railway, this elegant, Grade IIlisted, station building has been relativelylittle altered, with the exception of theoriginal platform canopy, which wassupported on columns sitting perilouslyclose to the platform edge. This wasreplaced at the end of the 19th centuryby a cantilevered structure which did notretain the elegance of the earlierconstruction. The glazing to the arched-headed windows has also been altered insome instances, which breaks up theconsistency of the façade, and thetrackside elevation at first floor level has,at some point, been inappropriatelyfinished in white masonry paint, as anattempt to mask vandalism.The building had been unused for

some time, and during the lastoccupancy, as a restaurant, the interiorhad suffered, with some panelling details,doors and windows badly treated. In association with local councils,

Southeastern has embarked on a majorredevelopment of the station area to

LEATHERHEAD STATION:REFURBISHMENT

The Epsom & Leatherhead Railwayopened the first station in Leatherhead in1859 but only a year later the companywas taken over jointly by the London &South Western Railway (L&SWR) andthe London, Brighton & South CoastRailway (LB&SCR). By 1867 these twocompanies were operating separatestations, but in 1927 the L&SWR facilityclosed, leaving just the LB&SCR building.This surviving station reflects the style

of the architect Charles Henry Driver,whose designs had become part of theLB&SCR architectural palette. It is aconfection of details, executed indecorative brickwork, stone friezes andcast-iron. In 2013 the Trust gave a grantto Network Rail Property to undertakesome restoration work to the stationhouse roof, as well as renovation work to damaged doors and windows. Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has

now embarked on a programme ofrefurbishment of various details in thestation, notably the replacement of two

windows with doors, the spaces’ originalfunction, leading into the booking hall.Other works to the windows and interiorhave followed, including the opening upof a doorway from the platform to theground floor room of the station houseto create a waiting room, with originaldetailing preserved and enhanced. TheTrust has given a grant to GTR tosupport these works and also furtherrefurbishment of the station house, toallow a new tenant to take up occupancy.

Sponsor: Govia Thameslink Railway, LondonArchitect: The Trevor Patrick Partnership, LondonContractor: Leslie J Thorpe Ltd, Sayers Common,West Sussex


provide much-needed bus access and abetter approach from the restricted localroad system. At the same time,refurbishment of the station building hasbrought the lower floor back into use asa waiting and ticketing facility, togetherwith a small retail kiosk to servecommuter traffic. The Trust awarded a grant towards

heritage detail work, to reinstate missinginternal panelling, improve windows anddoors to bring them back to their originalquality, and support some minor internalalterations to make reuse of the buildingviable. The work has greatly improved the

environment for the travelling public,and is a good example of how a focussedapproach, allied to good attention to

detail, can bring even the most tired andapparently unloved buildings back to life.

Sponsor: Southeastern, LondonDesigner:WSS Construction Consultants,Folkestone, Kent

Contractor: Hollywell Building Services, St Albans,Hertfordshire

Top: Original 1856 SER design drawingLeft: Detail of windows Right: Station frontage

Network Rail

View of frontage

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

WICKHAM MARKET STATION:NEW CANOPY

Wickham Market Station lies on the EastSuffolk line, which runs from Ipswich toLowestoft and on to Norwich. The stationlies some three miles from the town ofWickham Market, and is actuallysituated in Campsea Ashe. It opened totraffic on 1st June 1859, and served both its local community, and also, formany years, as the junction for a branchto Framlingham, although the branchclosed to passengers in 1952, and tofreight a decade later. The whole EastSuffolk line was proposed for closure inthe Beeching era, but was one route that survived. It is now seeing growingtraffic and an increase in the level oftrain services.Wickham Market had a typical station

building, with living quarters upstairsand commercial facilities on the groundfloor. The structure has a hipped, slated,roof and its basic rectangular shape isbroken up by a series of string courses atfirst floor level. The symmetricalbuildings at each end, along with thewindow spacing and drain pipes, show a

FILM ARCHIVE: RAILWAYSIGNALLING & PEOPLE

In our Report last year we explained howNetwork Rail is closing its remainingmechanical signal boxes, and how theFriends of the National Railway Museum(NRM), with the Trust’s support, areinterviewing and recording signallers atwork. In the two years since the projectstarted the Friends’ volunteers havevisited and recorded at some 130 signalboxes, about 25% of the total on thenetwork when the task got under way. Itis a tribute to both the volunteers and thesignallers themselves that this has beenachieved with virtually no friction,despite it being the approaching end ofthe signallers’ jobs that has led to theexercise taking place.The raw material of the interviews is a

very useful resource and is passed to theNRM for storage in the National Archive.However, the Friends are also making thefilms available on the web, but to do thisrequires a massive amount of editing.The Trust’s grant this year has been puttowards this editing, and, at the time ofwriting, material on 23 boxes is availableon the Signalling Record Society’s

Top: Existing elevation awaiting canopy Upper left: Pattern for columnsLower left: Raw column castings Bottom: Historic picture showing canopy

fine attention to detail, and give theapproaching passenger a pleasant viewof the station.However, as a part of the price of

keeping the line open, all theintermediate stations lost their staff: theEast Suffolk was an early example of thepaytrain concept. Not surprisingly,British Rail sold off the then unwantedstation building at Wickham Market, butit remains in situ and has beenreasonably maintained. In recent years aCommunity Benefit Society has taken itover, and raised money to restore it, bothto serve passengers and to provide afacility for the local community. As partof its project the society has planned theprovision of a canopy for the platform,which was desperately lacking inpassenger shelter. The new canopy willbe railway-owned, and hence the Trustwas able to contribute to it. The GreatEastern Railway (GER), which operatedthe line, had a fine range of cast-ironcolumns for its platform canopies, andwe were pleased to be able to award agrant towards providing new columns tothe standard GER ‘Japanese’ design.These columns will be installed as thenew canopy is built during 2016.

Sponsor: Station House Community ConnectionsLtd, Campsea Ashe, Suffolk

Designer: Cross Surveys Ltd, Framlingham, SuffolkConsulting Engineer: The Morton Partnership Ltd,Halesworth, Suffolk

Contractor: Elliston Steady & Hawes (Building) Ltd,Great Blakenham, Ipswich, Suffolk

Foundry: Hargreaves Foundry, Halifax, WestYorkshire

website, which can be found athttp://www.s-r-s.org.uk/archivevideo.php.Very positive feedback has been receivedfor these films and they are also beingused as introductions to Network Railinduction and signalling classes. Muchof the present material on the websitecovers locations in the north east but theintention is to eventually represent allregions of Britain, so far as possible.Doubtless by the time this Report ispublished, many more films will beavailable on line, making an excellentrecord of a rapidly vanishing skill.

Sponsor: Friends of the National Railway Museum,York

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Rosamund Webb

Rosamund Webb

Tony Harden

Shrewsbury Severn Bridge Junction Signal Box

Railway Heritage Trust


MAXWELL PARK STATION:IMPROVED POWER SUPPLY

In our 2014/15 Report we explainedhow we had funded the upgrading of thepower supply to the ground floor of thisbuilding, to allow the Glasgow SouthModel Tram & Rail Group to occupy thespace on a permanent basis. No soonerhad we done this than the tenant for theupper floor pointed out that they hadpower supply problems as well. A quicksurvey showed that the issue was, in fact,the internal wiring, and we happilyfunded the necessary alterations, so thatboth the kettle and the heater can nowoperate at the same time!

Sponsor: ScotRail, GlasgowContractor: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow

BROXBOURNE STATION:CABLE ROUTERATIONALISATION

It is rare for 1960s’ stations to feature inthese Reports, but, amidst the generalmove to functional buildings, BritishRailways (BR) did produce somemodernist gems in the late 1950s andinto the following decade. These stationswere generally designed by regionalarchitects, and hence varied between thedifferent areas. The three outstandingstations of this period on the EasternRegion were Barking, Harlow Town,which featured in the Trust’s Report for1997/98, and Broxbourne, to which wehave now turned our attention.Broxbourne Station lies on the West

Anglia route out of Liverpool Street, andis located at a nodal point where the linesthrough Seven Sisters and TottenhamHale have joined from the south, whilstto the north the branch line to HertfordEast splits from the main line toCambridge and Kings Lynn. The stationwas relocated to its present site in 1961,

with the new building to the design ofPeter Rainiers, working under thesupervision of Regional ArchitectsHarold Hamilton Powell and John Ward.The structure has an exposed concreteframe, which defines the station, withhorizontal bands at first floor and ceilinglevel and buff brickwork to the mainbuilding, but three purple brick towersfor lift shafts. It was listed in 2009, whenEnglish Heritage (as was) described it as‘one of the most powerfully composedstations of the period …. one of a smallnumber of post-war railway stations ofclear architectural distinction’.Perhaps inevitably, the fifty years since

its construction have seen the buildingsuffer from some neglect, and it is nowsubject to considerable improvements,which the Trust is pleased to be able tosupport. With funding from the localauthority, train operator Abellio GreaterAnglia is rationalising and consolidatingthe rash of minor buildings that haveappeared in front of and around thestation, and in conjunction with this theTrust has supported a two-fold approach.As is so often the case, BR and itssuccessor companies have run electricalservice routes across the surfaces of thestation willy-nilly, with no considerationfor anything except ease of installation.The Trust has given a grant to trace allthe cable routes, and to conceive arationalisation scheme to minimise thevisual intrusion from them. Althoughthere is no change as a result, this designwork will hopefully be followed by theactual rationalisation in 2016/17. Ourgrant also covers the reinstallation of theBR-era lettering on the station frontage,a very distinctive feature of the originaldesign.

Sponsor: Abellio Greater Anglia, LondonContractors: Hollywell Building Services, St Albans, Hertfordshire (tag & trace wiring) & Merson Signs Ltd, East Kilbride, SouthLanarkshire (signage)

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Above: Accommodation interiorBelow: View of station

RAILWAY HERITAGE TRUST 2016

Below: Station entrance with original-stylelettering on brickwork

CAMBRIDGE STATION: CABLEROUTE RATIONALISATION

Cambridge Station was built in 1845 forthe Eastern Counties Railway. Its designhas been variously credited to FrancisThompson, and to Sancton Wood, who isnow accepted as having had the majorinput. Amazingly for such a majorstation, it has lasted substantially asoriginally designed. The most dominantfeature is the colonnade of 15 arches atthe front of the building, with crests ofall the Cambridge colleges on it.Originally the colonnade functioned as aporte cochère, allowing vehicles to drivethrough it, but it has long since beenadopted to pedestrian and retail use:between 1986 and 1989 the Trustcontributed to its restoration.The rear of the station building is far

less impressive, but remains a goodexample of a large, early, Victorianstation. Sadly, it has been spoilt by theusual careless attitude of the industry toinstalling service runs, which dominate

it and give it a cluttered look. Trainoperator Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA)has a particularly enlightened attitude totidying up such neglect, and has, inconjunction with the Trust, initiated atwo-year survey and clear up of this faceof the station, to remove as manyredundant service runs as it can, and toconsolidate the remaining runs intoconduits that are placed to minimisevisual intrusion.The Trust is delighted with AGA’s

approach to this issue, and commends itto other operators and maintainers oflisted buildings on the network. The poorquality of cable installation on suchstructures is, perhaps, the worst issue inthe industry’s handling of its builtheritage today.

Sponsor: Abellio Greater Anglia, LondonContractors: Taylor Technology Systems Ltd, Erith,Kent (communications cables) & SEE Rail Ltd,Hainault, Essex (electrical cables)


GREAT EASTERN RAILWAYBRIDGE REGISTERS:CONSERVATION

A key part of the techniques for themanagement of the railway’s assets hasalways been bridge registers, whichrecord the details of structures down theyears. Until very recently these documentswere the prime record, and althoughnow largely superseded by moderninformation technology, it is a brave assetmanager who disposes of them.

see if we would be able to sponsor newcovers, and obtained a very reasonableprice for the work, which we were glad tounderwrite. In total, 16 registers fromthe early British Rail era, and three1880s’ documents of GER provenance,were rebound in replicas of the originalbindings, thus ensuring the survival ofthese essential records for many years tocome.

Sponsor: Network Rail Anglia Route, LondonContractor: Cats Solutions Ltd, Swindon, Wiltshire

Network Rail’s Anglia Route bridgeregisters had ended up being stored in itsPlan Arch at Waterloo, but the Routeonly realised that they were there when apreservation group asked if they couldtake over the old Great Eastern Railway(GER) records. The registers were rapidlyrestored to the Route HQ at Stratford, butit was obvious that they were in a verypoor state, and in particular the bindingof the covers had almost totallydisintegrated.Network Rail approached the Trust to

RIDGMONT STATION:PLATFORM BENCH

Ridgmont Station is located on the routeopened by the London & BirminghamRailway (L&BR) between Bletchley andBedford in 1846. The L&BR constructedthe stations on the route in a CottageOrné style, as part of an agreement withthe Duke of Bedford to complement thebuildings on his estate, through whichthe line passed. The L&BR later becamepart of the London & North WesternRailway (L&NWR), and the platformswere then furnished with standardL&NWR fittings.The attractive station house at

Ridgmont was restored by BedfordshireRural Communities Charity between2010 and 2012, with grant supportfrom the Trust. However, one of the lostfeatures of the station, visible in periodphotographs, were the L&NWR platformbenches. To complete its restorationproject the charity decided to obtain anL&NWR-style bench, built up aroundsome original parts, and dedicate it to thememory of Harry Maughan, one of theFriends of Ridgmont Station. The Trust gave a very modest grant

towards this work, which is anappropriate completing touch to thisvery well restored station.

Sponsor: Bedfordshire Rural Communities Charity,Cardington, Bedfordshire

Contractor: Steelway Fensecure, Wolverhampton,West Midlands

Below: Platform elevation detail

The bench in situ

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

KILPATRICK STATION:RESTORATION AS OFFICE

Kilpatrick Station lies just over 11 mileswest of Glasgow, on the North BritishRailway’s North Clydeside line to Helens-burgh Central. Originally opened by theGlasgow, Dumbarton & HelensburghRailway on 28th May 1858, the two-platform station survived down the yearswith few changes, apart from beingelectrified as part of the North Clydesystem in 1960. However, in 1989 therewas an armed robbery at the station,when the booking office clerk was held atgunpoint, and British Rail closed thestation building immediately thereafter.The windows and most of the doors werebricked up, and the building satuntouched for the next quarter of acentury, so that when the Trust firstentered it there was pre-closurestationery on the booking office desk.

ROYDON STATION: BUILDING RESTORATION

The Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER)was initially proposed in 1833 as a linefrom Islington to York. It obtained its Actthree years later, in 1836, but for adrastically reduced scheme from Londonto Broxbourne, and it was only after May1838, when Robert Stephenson becameengineer, that construction got going,with an extended target of Bishop’sStortford. The line from Stratford to Broxbourne

opened in 1840, but it was not until1842 that it finally reached Bishop’sStortford. Several intermediate stationswere opened as the line extended,including Roydon. The station was of anunusual design. Some sources credit thisto Francis Thompson, and he certainlyhad close links with Stephenson,designing the buildings for both theNorth Midland Railway and the Chester& Holyhead line. It is quite possible thatRoydon, with its atypical semi-circularportico, could have been his work.However, there is nothing else like itsurviving on the route.The single-storey station was built of

low-cost material, but to a complex

The structure is a single-storey, roughstone, construction, and originally had arectangular, timber-framed, screenwindow in front of the waiting area,although all other windows were arched,with a dressed stone surround. NearbyCardross is of a similar design, and showswhat Kilpatrick was like when open.The station is not listed, although

there are Conservation Areasimmediately to the north and south.Serendipitously, we made theacquaintance of Keni Allan, owner ofA&A Associates building firm, throughhis involvement in his brother Stuart’sconversion of Helensburgh Central’sstation master’s flat to a martial arts gym(see the Trust’s 2014/15 Report). Keniwas looking for premises for his firm touse as an office and, with the help ofScotRail’s Stations CommunityRegeneration Fund, we have been able toput together a package for this work,which was under way at the end of the2015/16 financial year.

Sponsor &Contractor: A&A Associates,Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute

finish. It is mainly timber framed andplastered, with some brick and stoneparts at low level, and a slated roof. Theroad side of the building, with the portico,and round-headed windows behind, isopposite the entrance to Briggens Parkand it may be that the somewhat ornatestructure is the price the N&ER had topay to get permission for a station by the estate.The building was listed in 1971. The

booking office was relocated in 1978 andtwo years later the main building wasconverted to a restaurant, as which itserved until a couple of years ago.Unfortunately, the operators appliedmodern colours and fencing to thestation, and, after the restaurant closed,it deteriorated and became quite shabby.However, train operator Abellio GreaterAnglia has let the building to a newtenant, who is in the process of restoringit back to a more conservativeappearance, with help from a Trustgrant. The building will still be arestaurant, and we expect it to do well.

Sponsor: Just … at the Station Ltd, LondonArchitect: Spacely Ltd, New Malden, SurreyContractor: No 1 Sterling ConstructionEngineering Services Ltd, Loughton, Essex

The station awaiting start of work

The offices, untouched for 25 years


The restored platform elevation & canopy

NETWORK RAIL ARCHIVES

Once again we have given grant-fundingsupport to the Network Rail NationalRecords Centre, for the conservation ofimportant historic documents held in the archive. The first drawings reported this year

relate to the Conwy and Britanniatubular bridges, documents which hadbeen kept safely under lock and key bythe civil engineers in Manchester. Thesedrawings arrived at the centre togetherwith a volume of 46 individualillustrative plates dating from 1850.Received in poor condition, all thesedocuments are now cleaned and rescued,with bindings repaired. Three Great Western Railway

drawings dating from 1901 for DawlishNew Sea Wall have also been recoveredand photographed and used to supportthe recent repair works at that location. The original reason for the Trust’s

support of the archive was theconservation of drawings from the

Brunel era, and this year four drawingsof Harbury Tunnel and adjacentcuttings, signed by I K Brunel for theBirmingham & OxfordJunction Railway, have beenconserved andphotographed, and againhave found current use,supporting the teamsdealing with the recentHarbury landslip.What may be the largest

drawing encountered inNetwork Rail’s collection isthe 12 feet long by threefeet wide (four by onemetres) coloured plan ofRuncorn Bridge (London & NorthWestern Railway, William Baker, 1868).This is just one of a set of drawings ofthe bridge currently being addressed. Finally, a set of ten previously restored

drawings was loaned to the NationalRailway Museum to support anexhibition exploring the history ofstation development called ‘Destination

The approach road to the station isaccessed through a gateway comprisingtwo square-section brick piers with stonecaps, which had been badly mutilated byattempts to rationalise the entrance,including the erection of a heightrestriction barrier, to prevent illegalaccess. The Abbey Line Community RailPartnership (CRP) engaged withNetwork Rail and train operator LondonMidland to resolve the appearance of theentrance by promoting a competition forlocal schools to design a new set of gatesintegrating the height restriction barrier.The winning design incorporated themesfrom St Albans’ Roman history and therailway, and the Trust agreed to supportthe Abbey Line CRP with a modest grant,to restore the gateway piers and replacethe stone caps. The result is a finetransformation of the street frontage,and a huge uplift to the overallappearance of the station.

Sponsor: Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership,St Albans, Hertfordshire

Designers: Pupils of The Marlborough ScienceAcademy, St Albans, Hertfordshire

Contractors:Murrill Construction Ltd, Greenford,Middlesex; H S Jackson & Son (Fencing) Ltd,Ashford, Kent (gate structure); CampbellDesign & Engineering Ltd, Mattersey,Doncaster, South Yorkshire (gate panels) &Arundel Stone Sussex Ltd, Bognor Regis, WestSussex (pier caps)

city centre. By 1924 the London,Midland & Scottish Railway owned bothSt Albans stations, with the formerL&NWR one renamed St Albans Abbey.This station was served by a brick-built

structure designed in the style of asingle-storey rural villa, with a low,gabled, roof and imposing chimneys. Agabled canopy spanned both the platformand adjacent running line, with its outerface carried on six circular-sectioncolumns. The station building wasdemolished in the 1960s and the singleplatform is now served only by twomodern shelters.

ST ALBANS ABBEY STATION:GATEWAY RESTORATION

The first railway station to serve thisHertfordshire town was called simply StAlbans. It was opened by the London &North Western Railway (L&NWR) on 5thMay 1858 and was the terminus for thesix and a half mile route from WatfordJunction. The L&NWR had aspirations toextend to Luton and Dunstable, althoughthese were never realised, and from 1868the company’s route was challengedwhen the Midland Railway constructedits own station further to the east of the


undertaken, Network Rail Archivist,Vicky Stretch, recognised the importanceof the archive, the support of theRailway Heritage Trust, and the on-goingvalue of collecting and conserving thesehistoric engineering drawings and alsomaking them available.

Sponsor: Network Rail National Records Group, York

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Above: Historic drawing of Conwy Bridge

Network Rail

Left: Newly installed gates

Stations’, which is also being turned intoan online resource pack for schools. Reporting to the Trust on the work


LOUGHBOROUGH STATION:DOOR TO CAFÉ

Loughborough opened as part of theMidland Counties Railway in 1840, butthe present station was not built until1872 with the design tentativelyallocated to J H Sanders. The structure isunlike most other Midland Railwaystations of its time, although thecanopies were absolutely typical: sadly,they were butchered by British Rail in the1970s, and, although partially restoredby Network Rail, are cut back and do notprovide adequate protection for passengersjoining trains in the wet, a situation thatthe Trust still hopes to rectify.Despite the canopy issues, the industry

CAMDEN: WINDING ENGINEVAULTS: CONSERVATIONMANAGEMENT PLAN

In 1833 Robert Stephenson laid out theLondon & Birmingham Railway fromCamden to Curzon Street in Birminghamwith an amazingly level route, featuringno gradient steeper than 1 in 300.Unfortunately, the 1835 decision toextend the line from the canal basin atCamden to the ‘New Road’ (now EustonRoad), a mile further south, presented aproblem that was to curse everyterminus of a line coming into Londonfrom the north: how did the railwaycross the Grand Union Canal, which washigh up the lower slopes of theHampstead Ridge, but be low enough toallow passengers to join and leave trainsat the New Road, south of which norailway was to be authorised? Each ofthe four northern lines chose a differentsolution, but Stephenson’s line to Euston,crossing over the canal, and dropping tostreet level at the New Road (or moreaccurately at Drummond Street, some

October 1837, rope haulage started.Whilst the system worked, it built inmassive capacity and time constraints,and, with the development oflocomotives, it must have been with ahuge sigh of relief that conventionalhaulage started in 1844, although it wasnot until the electrification of the routein the 1960s that the provision ofbanking engines could be abandoned.The chimneys and above-ground

elements of the rope haulage systemquickly vanished, and the vaults werestripped of all their equipment, butclearly it was felt an unnecessaryexpense to fill them in, and, as a result,170 years after they were abandoned,the vaults are still there, and all trains onthe West Coast Main Line travel overthem to this day. Unfortunately, thevaults gather water, so they are normallyflooded, although they are pumped outevery six years for a full examination.If one of the Trust’s roles is to find a

new use for structures that have reachedthe end of their operational life, thevaults have to be our longest-outstandingpiece of business! In recent years wehave discussed options with the CamdenRailway Heritage Trust, which hasdeveloped an exciting vision of how thevaults might be used commercially,possibly as a restaurant and event venue,and linked to the nearby Camden markets.Network Rail has shown an interest inthis, as it would offer some revenue fromthe structure, and allow regularinspection and maintenance if the vaultswere kept permanently dry. It is evenpossible that the passage of HS2 tunnels

has done a lot to improve the station inrecent years, particularly for the 2012Olympics. On a wider scale, East MidlandsTrains, the train operating company that manages the station, has workedhard to improve the catering on offer atmany of its locations, and this includedtransferring responsibility for theLoughborough facility, in Sanders’building on the northbound platform, to the Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen Ltd.This company approached us to see if we could help in its refit of the café andalthough our scope for action gave uslittle opportunity to assist them, we were delighted to sponsor a new doorinto the premises.

Sponsor: Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen Ltd,Wrexham, Clwyd

Contractor: Dr DIY, Ellesmere, Shropshire

two hundred-odd yards (183 metres) tothe north), inevitably meant there was tobe a relatively steep gradient of 1 in 85.When this decision was taken in 1835,locomotive design was still in its infancy(it was only six years after the Rainhilltrials) and there was much suspicion ofthe noise and atmospheric pollutioncaused by steam engines, so the railwaywas required to use rope haulage up theincline. Thus, just to the north of the canal at

Camden, Stephenson built massive vaultsunder the four tracks into Euston (twofor the London & Birmingham, and twofor the planned Great Western Railway,before Brunel’s diversion into the broadgauge led to that line having its ownterminus at Paddington). The vaultswere 170 feet long and 135 feet wide (52by 41 metres), and contained boilers,coal stores, winding engines, and theequipment to tension the ropes on theincline. Tellingly, the system was notready when the railway opened, and thefirst trains out of Euston were locomotivehauled, but three months later, in

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

Right: Detail of door

Construction of vaults, illustrated by J C Bourne

Railway Heritage Trust

NATIONAL RAILWAY HERITAGE AWARDS

The Railway Heritage Trust Conservation Award for 2015 was won by theWensleydale Railway for its excellent restoration of Scruton Station. The following projects, to which grants were awarded by the Trust, were also

recipients of 2015 National Railway Heritage Awards: Gleneagles Station(Network Rail, ScotRail and IDP Architects), Worcester Shrub Hill Station’sVictorian waiting room (Network Rail), Wakefield Kirkgate Station (GroundworkWakefield), Newcastle Station (East Coast Main Line Company Ltd), LadybankStation’s Laird’s Waiting Room (Ladybank Development Trust and Fife HistoricBuildings Trust), Falsgrave Gantry and Grosmont North End Signalling (NorthYorkshire Moors Railway and Network Rail).

REVIEW OF PROJECTS

The station and York Chambers bothsit in the Wigan Town CentreConservation Area, and in itsConservation Area Appraisal of 2010Wigan Council noted that there was aneed for commercial buildings withvacant space to be brought back intoviable use, as a means of improving andpreserving the character of theseprotected areas. York Chambers, a mixeduse property, with vacant commercialspace in the upper storey, was exactly thesort of building the report referred to,and in 2014 Network Rail CommercialProperty embarked on a programme ofrefurbishment to replace the badlydeteriorating sash windows and toaddress urgently required stone andbrickwork repairs. The works reflect the aim of the Trust

to bring viability back to historicstructures on the railway, so that theymay earn their keep, and we were happyto give funding support towards thestone and brickwork repairs, thereplacement of the sash windows to theroad frontage and minor works to therear elevation. The building now has aconsistent appearance, and is ready tostart a new lease of life.


Designers: Network Rail Commercial Property,Manchester & Capita Property andInfrastructure, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire

Contractors: CPMS Ltd, Glasgow & James StoneMasonry Ltd, Manchester (stonework)

extension of the ancient main route intothe heart of Wigan. In 1924 this stationwas renamed Wigan Wallgate.Opposite the main station building the

L&YR erected a two-storey structure inred brick, with a pitched, slated, roof andan upper floor with paired sash windows.This building was named YorkChambers. The lower floor consisted ofshop units with typically classical details,while the upper floor, built ascommercial offices, was accessed via acentral doorway surmounted by aFlemish-styled pediment.

WIGAN WALLGATE STATION:YORK CHAMBERS

The Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway(L&YR) began running services throughWigan in 1848, to Liverpool, Bolton,Bury and Manchester. As new routesdeveloped the original station movedlocation by just a short distance, but inFebruary 1896 it was replaced by atotally new station, opened on a bridgebuilt into the historic Wallgate Street, an

under the vaults might offer a way ofdraining the vaults without any pumping.The Trust has funded a number of

conservation management plans over theyears, and recommended that such aplan be developed for the Camden vaults.Network Rail agreed this, and hascommissioned the work, with Trustsupport. The heritage and documentaryreview has now been carried out, andthe vaults are being pumped out again to

allow for the excavation of the floors –much silt having accumulated in the lastcentury and three-quarters. Completionof the plan is a necessary pre-step tohopefully getting the vaults, a uniquefeature of early railways, back into useonce more.

Sponsor: Network Rail London North WesternRoute, Manchester

Architect: PPIY Ltd, York


Above right: York Chambers street view Above: External details of windows Below: Internal view of windows

NETWORK RAIL HE (HRE) EXTERNAL EXTERNALGRANT & MABER CONTR’B’N CONTR’B’N

BEQUEST NETWORK HE (HRE)GRANT RAIL & MABER

BEQUESTPage £ £ £ £ENGLAND5 Appleby East Level Crossing: Removal of heritage equipment to Slaggyford 9,453 375 (1)

7 Book about railwaymen & railwaywomen at war 7,848 (MABER) 024 Broxbourne Station: Cable survey & heritage lettering restoration 27,500 650,000 (2)

25 Cambridge Station: Cable removal & tidying up 207,000 1,533,403 (3)

28 Camden: Winding Engine Vaults: Conservation management plan 4,000 012 Cleethorpes Station: Refurbishment of central block of MS&LR building 50,000 73,805 (4)

into cycle workshop & store20 East India Station, DLR: VC plaque for Lance Corporal Robertson 754 (MABER) 023 Film Archive: Railway signalling & people 6,500 (MABER) 7,699 (5)

25 GER Bridge Registers: Conservation 2,000 017 Glossop Station:

– Heritage lights installation (£8,000)* CANCELLED– Heritage lights installation 8,000 7,998 (6)

9 Headingley Station: Room conversion for therapy facility 6,772 10,000 (7)

12 Herne Hill Station: Entrance canopy reinstatement 2,200 011 Huddersfield Station: King’s Head: Restoration works 22,000 40,708 (8)

Lancaster Station: Café upgrade & restoration (£20,000) DEFERRED4 Leamington Spa Station: Restoration of former mess room as 9,609 16,646 (9)

café & waiting room22 Leatherhead Station: Heritage works 70,000 105,155 (10)

4 Leeds Station: Dark Arches: Lighting improvements for conversion 250,000 250,000 (11)

to retail use8 Leeming Bar Station: Dismantling & relocation of footbridge from Brigg 6,200 010 Liverpool: James Street Station: Heritage works 15,000 32,730 (12)

18 London Bridge Station: Restoration of Driver arches on St Thomas Street 250,000 020 London Marylebone Station:

– Replica of Engineers’ Office memorial plaque 492 (MABER) 0– Replica of Goods Office memorial plaque 2,412 (MABER) 0– Repairs to Sir John Betjeman blue plaque 163 (MABER) 0

28 Loughborough Station: New door as part of café refurbishment 1,680 20,670 (13)

11 (Former) Maidenhead Train Shed: Structural assessments to inform re-erection 15,160 020 Manchester Piccadilly Station: New L&NWR war memorial 3,717 (MABER) 3,720 (14)

16 Manchester Victoria Station: Heritage works 75,000 60,481 (15)

8 Needham Market Station: Structural repairs & heritage features improvements 16,106 17,920 (16)

27 Network Rail Archives: Conservation of historic drawings 10,000 05 Newark Castle Station:

– Main building restoration (£77,000)* CANCELLED– Main building restoration 79,250 0

6 Peckham Rye Station: South staircase restoration 46,500 6,500 (17)

20 Penkridge Station: Fabric works to station building 16,500 025 Ridgmont Station: Replica L&NWR platform bench 940 945 (18)

26 Roydon Station: Refurbishment as restaurant 36,600 54,767 (19)

27 St Albans Abbey Station: Gateway restoration 3,790 16,470 (20)

Sheffield Station: Conversion of former station master’s flat CANCELLEDinto offices (£38,000)

GRANTS AND EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTIONS: 2015/16


* Grant reissued to a different client

NETWORK RAIL

The Trust has supported 46 projects (2014/15: 40) with 47 grants, which totalled £1,816,888 (2014/15: £1,787,280). The grants funded repairand restoration work carried out on the heritage aspects of buildings and structures in Network Rail's ownership. A total of five grants wereeither cancelled or deferred.

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND (HISTORICAL RAILWAYS ESTATE)

The Trust has supported one project (2014/15: two) with a grant of £200,000 (2014/15: £400,000). The grant assisted Highways England(Historical Railways Estate) in its management of non-operational buildings and structures, which include redundant viaducts on closed lines.

MABER BEQUEST

The Trust has supported six projects (2014/15: six) with ten grants, which totalled £23,418 (2014/15: £23,140), from the bequest of Henry BasilMaber. These projects met the Trust’s objectives and also reflected Mr Maber’s sphere of railway heritage interest.

The projects were:

NETWORK RAIL HE (HRE) EXTERNAL EXTERNALGRANT & MABER CONTR’B’N CONTR’B’N

BEQUEST NETWORK HE (HRE)GRANT RAIL & MABER

BEQUESTPage £ £ £ £22 Snodland Station: Refurbishment 32,000 48,000 (21)

14 Stoke on Trent Station: Works to downside entrance building 75,000 118,543 (22)

7 Torksey Viaduct: Provision of cycleway 200,000 (HE (HRE)) 180,000 (23)

6 Ulverston Station: Conversion of building into cycle workshop 49,000 72,526 (24)

13 Wakefield Kirkgate Station: Refurbishment 40,000 804,000 (25)

23 Wickham Market Station: Replica GER canopy installation 36,573 54,861 (26)

29 Wigan Wallgate Station: York Chambers: Refurbishment & repair of 32,433 0windows & stonework

21 Worcester Shrub Hill Station: Roll of Honour– Photography 1,200 (MABER) 0– Printing 167 (MABER) 0– Framing 165 (MABER) 0

SCOTLAND10 Aberdeen: Ferryhill Turntable: Restoration 4,000 6,002 (27)

9 Aberdour Signal Box: Conversion to studio 66,929 104,391 (28)

9 Blair Atholl Station: New door to waiting room 680 017 Corrour Signal Box:

– Refurbishment 80,000 0– Interior fit out 20,000 0

14 Edinburgh Waverley Station: Restoration of historic floor 12,500 12,500 (29)

19 Glasgow Central Station: 240 Argyle Street: Heritage features restoration 18,000 015 Kilmarnock Station:

– Room restoration 44,000 90,587 (30)

– New windows in clock tower 16,000 026 Kilpatrick Station: Restoration of station building as office 30,000 41,900 (31)

24 Maxwell Park Station: Electrical wiring upgrade to first floor meeting room 733 015 New Cumnock Station:

– Conversion to youth hub & community café 12,100 25,021 (32)

– Gates & works to improve security 4,560 0WALES

Aberystwyth Station: Re-erection of Driver roof from DEFERREDLondon Bridge Station (£100,000)

13 Cardiff Central Station: GWR fanlights refurbishment 1,120 0

1,816,888 200,000 (HE (HRE)) 4,276,904 180,000 (HE (HRE))

23,418 (MABER) 11,419 (MABER)

COMBINED NETWORK RAIL, HE (HRE) AND MABER BEQUEST GRANTS TOTAL 2,040,306

COMBINED NETWORK RAIL, HE (HRE) AND MABER BEQUEST EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTIONS TOTAL 4,468,323

External contributions were from:(1) Appleby East Level Crossing: South Tynedale Railway Preservation Society(2) Broxbourne Station: Abellio Greater Anglia, Hertfordshire County Council(3) Cambridge Station: Abellio Greater Anglia(4) Cleethorpes Station: North East Lincolnshire Council, NSIP (Department

for Transport)(5) Film Archive: Friends of the National Railway Museum(6) Glossop Station: Northern Rail(7) Headingley Station: Heritage Lottery Awards for All(8) Huddersfield Station: King’s Head: Mykanada Ltd(9) Leamington Spa Station: Chiltern Railways(10) Leatherhead Station: Govia Thameslink Railway(11) Leeds Station: Dark Arches: Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined

Authority(12) Liverpool: James Street Station: Merseytravel, NSIP (Department for

Transport)(13) Loughborough Station: Gourmet Coffee Bar & Kitchen Ltd(14) Manchester Piccadilly Station: Virgin Trains West Coast(15) Manchester Victoria Station: Department for Transport (SCPF), MSSP,

Transport for Greater Manchester(16) Needham Market Station: Abellio Greater Anglia

(17) Peckham Rye Station: London Borough of Southwark(18) Ridgmont Station: Ridgmont Station Heritage Centre visitor donations,

The Railway Correspondence and Travel Society(19) Roydon Station: Just … at the Station Ltd(20) St Albans Abbey Station: Hertfordshire County Council(21) Snodland Station: Kent County Council, NSIP (Department for Transport)(22) Stoke on Trent Station: Virgin Trains West Coast(23) Torksey Viaduct: Developer, Lincolnshire County Council, Railway Paths Ltd(24) Ulverston Station: Department for Transport Cycle Rail Fund(25) Wakefield Kirkgate Station: ENTRUST, Grand Central, Groundwork

Wakefield, The Headley Trust, Metro, Northern Rail, Wakefield MDC(26) Wickham Market Station: Abellio Greater Anglia, ACoRP, Community

Right to Bid (DCLG), individual donations, Suffolk Coastal District Council(27) Aberdeen: Ferryhill Turntable: The Architectural Heritage Fund, Ferryhill

Railway Heritage Trust, Historic Scotland(28) Aberdour Signal Box: Lynette Gray, SCRF(29) Edinburgh Waverley Station: Virgin Trains East Coast(30) Kilmarnock Station: East Ayrshire Council, SCRF(31) Kilpatrick Station: SCRF(32) New Cumnock Station: Passage to Monthraw Ltd

GRANTS AND EXTERNAL CONTRIBUTIONS: 2015/16


The Annual Report and Accounts covers the operations of the Railway Heritage Trustduring the period 1st April 2015 to 31stMarch 2016.Established in 1985, the Trust is an

independent registered company limited byguarantee, supported by Network Rail andHighways England (Historical RailwaysEstate), with the remit of:� the conservation and enhancement ofbuildings and structures owned by theseorganisations that are listed or scheduled,or of special architectural or historicalinterest; and

� to act as a catalyst between outsideparties and these owners on theconservation and alternative use of non-operational property, including thepossible transfer of responsibility to localtrusts or other interested organisations.

In 2015/16, the Trust awarded 58 grantstowards the costs of 53 restoration and otherprojects. Five grants were either cancelled or deferred.

AUDITED ACCOUNTS

Begbies, London, audited and approved theTrust’s Accounts for 2015/16. At the Trust’sAnnual General Meeting in July 2016 theExecutive Board considered, approved,adopted and signed the audited Accountsand, as required by law, then deposited thesigned Accounts with Companies House,accompanying the Trust’s Annual Return.Copies of the Accounts will also be presentedto the Boards of both our sponsors.In their Report and Financial Statements

the Auditors stated: ‘In our opinion thefinancial statements give a true and fair viewof the state of the company’s affairs as at31st March 2016 and of its surplus for theyear then ended; have been properlyprepared in accordance with UnitedKingdom Generally Accepted AccountingPractice; and have been prepared inaccordance with the requirements of theCompanies Act 2006’. They further stated:‘In our opinion, based on the workundertaken in the course of our audit, theinformation given in the Directors’ Report forthe financial year for which the financialstatements are prepared is consistent withthe financial statements, and the Directors’Report has been prepared in accordance withapplicable legal requirements’.

BegbiesChartered Accountants andRegistered AuditorsLondonJuly 2016

FINANCIAL REPORT

The Trust’s financial activities in 2015/16 are summarised as follows:

FUNDING ALLOCATED TO PROJECTS £From Network Rail 1,812,128From Highways England (Historical Railways Estate) 200,000From Maber bequest 23,418

2,035,546

EXPENDED ON PROJECTS

47 grants to Network Rail projects 1,816,888One grant to a Highways England (Historical Railways Estate) project 200,000Ten grants to Maber bequest projects 23,418

2,040,306

FUNDING FOR TRUST'S OPERATIONS

From Network Rail 209,872From Highways England (Historical Railways Estate) 10,000Net movement in Maber bequest 32,374

Total Income 252,246

Total Expenditure – Administration 211,686

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COMMENTARY

I stated in the last Report that our challenge for 2015/16 would be to keep up thatrate of delivery without the major schemes of previous years, and so it has proved.We ended the year with all the grant money allocated, but an unusually highnumber of projects incomplete, although all are now well on the way to delivery. Asalways, we would not have been able to deliver our programme without the supportI receive from Malcolm and Claire, for which, as ever, I am most grateful.Sir William, in his introduction, has summarised the projects that we have helped

fund in the year, and the Report itself shows the detail of what we have done.Rather than repeating that material, I would note that the differences between thevarious train operating companies (TOCs) that we have seen in the past havereduced, and we are now working with all of them to good effect. The change ofoperator in Scotland undoubtedly led to a hiatus until the new ScotRail franchisebedded down, but by the end of the year projects were once more marching ahead,and the franchise, supported as ever by the Stations Community Regeneration Fund,is looking to resume its place of receiving the most grants of any TOC.After some years of office moves, weaker financial support than we would have

liked, and very clunky IT, it is a pleasure to report that everything on our supportside has gone really efficiently this year. Our thanks to those Network Rail colleagueswho provide these back-up services for us at no charge to the Trust.However, we have seen a very sad loss in our financial support. Last year we

reported on the merger of our auditor Price Firman into Begbies. Begbies hasdelivered an excellent service to us, but we were soon aware that Michael Cox, whohad led our audits for many years, was not well, and sadly he passed away early in2016. I would like to place on record my personal gratitude for all the support hegave us over many years, and for the efforts I know he put in, even though he wasso ill, to ensure the transfer to the new arrangements went smoothly. That this year’saudit, the first for a very long time without him present, has gone so well, is a creditto his work and dedication.

Andy Savage

Executive Director

London

July 2016

THE TRUST’S ACCOUNTS: 2015/16


The Trust is registered in England and Wales as company number 1876790.

Railway Heritage Trust1 Eversholt Street London NW1 2DN

020 7904 [email protected]

annual report and accounts 2015/16 -...

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