LCLR Gala 16th July 2016

LINCOLNSHIRE COAST LIGHT RAILWAY

HISTORIC VEHICLES TRUST

(Charity registered in England, number 514443)



“PEOPLES' MILLIONS” WORLD WAR ONE CARRIAGE, ADAPTED FOR DISABLED ACCESS, WILL STAR IN RAIL GALA IN SKEGNESS

Saturday 16th July 2016

· Loco renamed after former Trust President in use for first time

· Newly-renovated ex-Ashover Light Railway carriage in use

· See World War One military trains operating with unique collection of historic narrow-gauge rail vehicles

· Free travel for pilots of aircraft landing on Skegness Aerodrome


A World War One wagon built in Lincoln in 1917 to take soldiers and munitions to the front line trenches in France, will be unveiled for public use as a disabled-access carriage at the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s Gala on Saturday 16th July 2016, in the Skegness Water Leisure Park.


Thanks to a grant of £43,000 for the wagon and improving disabled access at Walls Lane station, from The Peoples' Millions (a part of the National Lottery, in partnership with ITV, where the public choose community groups for funding), the old “Class D” wagon built by Clayton and Shuttleworth at their Abbey Works in Lincoln in 1917 for the War Department Light Railways, has been transformed from a rusty hulk. This has been made possible thanks to skilled work by the Trust's volunteers, together with the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire and local contractors. It's still possible to see shrapnel damage from its days at the front but now, after adaptations to make it accessible to people in wheelchairs, it can offer the experience of what it was like to ride to the front line trenches in an open top rail wagon, perched on ammunition boxes.


Also in use for the first time in its new “invisible green” livery (that's what it says on the paint tin!) with its new name, will be the “Simplex” diesel locomotive “Major J A Robins RE”, named after the first president of the LCLR Historic Vehicles Trust, Major “Tubby” Robins, of Bridlington (formerly of the Museum of Army Transport, when it was located at Beverley) who died in July 2015. It is hoped that members of his family will be present to see the new brass nameplates, now fixed to the locomotive in his honour.


Throughout the day, from 11.00 – 16.00, a service of passenger trains and demonstration military freight trains will operate over the line's two-feet gauge tracks from its Walls Lane station, close to the Reception area in the Skegness Water Leisure Park. Pilots of incoming aircraft at the adjacent Skegness Aerodrome will be offered free travel – otherwise tickets are available at £3 for the day.


It's expected that the military trains will be made up of the unique World War One ambulance van (which once took wounded soldiers from the front line to dressing stations – the Great War equivalent of today's battlefield rescue helicopters); its restored Class D bogie wagons which conveyed soldiers, ammunition and medical supplies to the front line (and also brought back the wounded) and the smaller four-wheeled ration wagons.


Locomotives either in use or on display will include the LCLR's fleet of “Simplex” diesel locomotives (built in Bedford by Motor Rail Ltd) which date from 1920 onwards and were used on the once-extensive Nocton Estates Railway by Smiths Crisps, at the former Humberston Brickworks near Grimsby, by the War Department and by peat works in Cumbria.



Volunteers will be on hand to show progress on the restoration of the historic 1903-vintage steam locomotive Jurassic, built in Bristol for Kaye and Company's Lime Works in Southam in Warwickshire, which has been awarded a £43,600 grant by the Heritage Lottery Fund to return her to steam in 2017. The Trust's volunteers have to match the funding with their own fund-raising and voluntary labour.


It will also be possible to see the only passenger carriage built for a Lincolnshire agricultural railway (from the Nocton Estates Railway) and the only carriage built for the Sand Hutton Light Railway near York (both of which await restoration), together with a second carriage due for renovation from the Ashover Light Railway.


The Railway’s spokesman, John Chappell, said: ”It's been a year of unprecedented progress, and we're keen to share that with the wider public. For the first time, we now have a carriage which people with disabilities can access and which offers what is really a form of Time Travel to visitors. That is especially significant – and we're delighted one of our locomotives now permanently honours the greatly-respected first President of our Trust, Major 'Tubby' Robins.


“Our collection shows how narrow-gauge railways reached otherwise inaccessible places – battlefields, the Lincolnshire Fens and its potato fields, the early holiday camps of the Lincolnshire Coast and essential industry such as lime works, cement factories and brick-yards. They carried the troops, the ammunition, the food and the building materials – as well as the holiday makers – of our parents', grandparents' and great-grandparents' day.


“Against all the odds, they have survived to be restored here in Skegness, so we hope as many people as possible will come and explore this unique part of England's history in Skegness on the occasion of our Gala Day on Saturday 16th July ”. More background and photographs on www.lclr.co.uk; more about the Skegness Water Leisure Park on http://www.skegnesswaterleisurepark.co.uk