Helston Railway

A 130-year-old railway signal box at Wye in Kent, which was no longer needed by Network Rail and was due to be demolished, has been saved and will be relocated to The Helston Railway at Prospidnick, Cornwall. A grant has been given by The Railway Heritage Trust to cover the cost of relocation and reconstruction. Good news indeed!

 

No steam at Helston this year? Peckett works No 2000 has left the railway for maintenance at Loughborough and was expected to return but, from the Facebook pages;

"Sorry to have to report that the locomotive will not be returning to Helston in 2025. I received a note from the GM of the railway’s operating company saying that the railway did not want to hire P2000 again."

" To hire the Peckett cost us a minimum of 30 guaranteed uses a year at £450 for loco and £350 in coal that's near 25k a year or a kilometer of ballast. Running trains and events is all the Opco relies on for its income. From this we have to pay for electric , water, fuel coal etc. We desperately need funds to continue our plans to expand the railway, after a lot of thought and discussion the directors , which I'm not one, have made the decision that rather than struggling to keep afloat it is better to put the money towards funding ourselves to reach Helston."

The class 10 is to return from hire to the Bodmin and Wenford by Easter so presumably this will be the motive power.

 

Puts into perspective some costs of the running of steam I guess, but honesty and openness with these sort of the decisions seems like the best policy.

 

Looking at the costs it is a wise decision, perhaps money is best spent in getting their own loco back into steam.

 

Very true, but it must be very worrying for the financial viability of the railway if the cost of running a small industrial loco isn't worthwhile for the additional income it would bring in.

 

Probably more worrying for owners of small industrial locos hoping to recoup some of the overhaul costs.

 

Transport costs , which all the way to Helston, are not insignificant, appear to have been left out of the total costs. It will be an interesting experiment to find if £25,000 can still be raised in fares etc. without the use of the steam loco. If it can then it may be the way forward for other small railways.

I understand the problem with their "own" loco is one of ownership ie it's still owned by Portsmouth local authority and until this is resolved no significant spend will be made.

 

Some good news hot off the press, it seems that Helston railways’ charitable body, the Helston Railway Preservation society have just completed acquisition from a local landowner of one of the most significant pieces of historical infrastructure and the main obstacle to returning the railway to helston, the Cober valley viaduct (also known as lower town viaduct), this has been announced following a fundraising appeal that has been ongoing since January 2025, this is fantastic news, the viaduct is a big old thing and a serious addition to the railways land portfolio. Congratulations to all at the helston railway, It’s quite the thing:





Happier times to come again:

 

Press Statement:
LOWER TOWN VIADUCT ACQUIRED!

Helston Railway Preservation Society, a registered charity in England and Wales (Charity Number 1146711) are delighted to annnounce that the Lower Town Viaduct (also known as Cober Valley Viaduct) has been added to their land portfolio. This acquisition is key to the long term goal to bring the railway back as close as possible to Helston. Discussions for further acquisitions are in hand but details rernain confidential. Further announcements will follow in due course including plans for major fund raising initiatives to support the strategy. This is a major boost to.the hopes of everyone connected with Helston Railway including all the hard working volunteers past and present.

The SPONSOR A STONE funding appeal is still open, I’m sure the viaduct will need a great many repairs:
https://www.helstonrailway.co.uk/viaduct-appeal/

 

The nearest the railway can get to Helston is an industrial estate on the outskirts of the town as from this point the trackbed has been built on. However, there is potential for a station and parking here with a connection to a "B" road that will make access easier than that existing at Prospidnick. I suspect this is quite a way in the future. From reports I'm not certain that the supporting group and the operating company are pulling in the same direction but this is nothing new in railway preservation.

 

More sleepers laid towards helston and the newly acquired viaduct, I believe approx 800 metres of trackbed is in railway ownership beyond truthall halt.

clearance work on the viaduct has already begun:

 

I finally made it to Helston at the end of April. Very friendly volunteers and progress is clearly being made with Helston in sight from Truthall Halt. Good to see that progress is being made with clearance work and sleeper laying taking place.

 

From the comments on the Friends of Helston Railway Facebook page some sort of civil war seems to be in progress. There is a strange ( strained?) relationship between the operating company and the supporters.

 

Well, we've never seen that before in the heritage railway world, have we?

Noel

 

WSR, anyone?

 

From what I have thread, this sounds like an "L&BR arrangement" for a land-acquisition company buying up the trackbed, whilst another company operates the line they've already got - except that possibly the two companies have to reach an agreement on how to make their positions work together - I didn't see any intention on the part of the "property company" to establish a rival line, simply an intention to safeguard to viaduct for the extended railway when it arrives there. What is thew fuss about

 

Ah, I knew of this but I thought I’d just stick to posting extension progress, it all seems overblown really in comparison. And frankly, so long as sleepers get placed and land gets bought, the talk is second order.