Press release from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Wirksworth, England.
(About 2 dollars to the pound at the moment, so we are getting almost
$100,000)



"Here at the Ecclesbourne Railway at Wirksworth we have had some
good news.

We have been awarded a grant of 48,800 pounds from the Heritage
Lottery Fund for the repair of one of the two 0-4-0 steam engines, 'Wee
Yorkie', that has been at Wirksworth for some time awaiting a decision
on its future.

The problem is that the locomotive contains asbestos and so we
have been banned from doing any work on it. The grant will pay for the
professional removal of asbestos from the engine and then the full
overhaul, painting etc. before submission for certification.

We first applied in spring 2006 for the refurbishment but were
advised to amend the application in several ways. After much further
work and securing the involvement of Derby University, Queen Elizabeth
Grammar School at Ashbourne and Anthony Gell School at Wirksworth we
submitted a further application in January for grant aid.

In April we had to prepare several additional pieces of
information and with the Olympics being allocated Lottery funds, we were
not too hopeful, so the letter came as a very big and welcome surprise!

We have had further contributions to the steam engine fund but
will still need more to help match the Heritage Lottery Fund grant and
to restore the other 0-4-0. We believe that we will need around 20,000
pounds to complete the project and restore both engines.

'Wee Yorkie' spent most of its working life at Ferrybridge Power
Station in Yorkshire before being retired and spending many years stored
in a yard in Sheffield. The other 0-4-0 loco on site was used at
Kilnhurst Tar Works before joining Wee Yorkie in storage in Sheffield."


Side note to readers: EVR was a railway line which was totally overgrown and abandoned in the English Midlands. The railfans which run it have totally reclaimed the line, rebuilt it, acquired donated and discarded locomotives, rolling stock, MOW equipment, used ties, drainage materials, and the like. Then using brute strength labor (these guys are mostly in their 50's and older), they show up every weekend and get dirty. The result is, in 7 years, they have a fully functional railroad of about 12+ miles length, regularly leased by movie, television, and railroad equipment companies.

the things that they do in English preservation is downright amazing.

The Didcot railway Centre of the Great Western Railway has a project to restore the last GWR Rail Motor.

This is a steam powered carrage that was used on small branch lines. If you will, an RDC powered with a steam engine.

They are building the entire power truck, frame, boiler and of course the steam engine itself.

Then comes the restoration of the mostly wooden car body! And that is only one of several projects going on at the Centre.

I may be wrong, but this is one time that they are not depending on the Heritage Lottery to pay the bills.

Ted Miles