The latest Carriage Shed Appeal is aiming to raise the final £65,000 required to complete the total £240,000 construction costs. The brand new facility will be constructed over the sidings at the east end of Herston Halt, just on the outskirts of Swanage.

 

The Swanage Railway's coaches are currently out and exposed to the open all year around. This new covered accommodation is urgently required to help protect some of the Swanage Railway Trust’s most historic and valuable assets, the oldest of which is over 80 years old! The irreplaceable vehicles will significantly benefit from protection against the elements to improve their lifespan between overhauls while also reducing the time and expense associated with their maintenance.

 

The new carriage shed will be the largest structure ever built by the Swanage Railway that will cover two tracks in an area of over 1000 square metres. It will be fully enclosed on its south side to ensure our vehicles are protected from the most extreme weather that can blow along the Purbeck valley. Meanwhile, the north side, nearest the railway line, will have cladding halfway down from the roof, enabling the natural circulation of free-flowing air for ventilation.

 

In early 2020 we launched an appeal which raised £30,000, alongside this we started foundation work on site. Fund-raising was paused in March 2020 and our focus instead switched to the Save Our Service Appeal, launched to mitigate against the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic and ensure our railway survived through the winter.

 

Fortunately, we are currently in a position to return to the Herston carriage shed project and have already raised £177,000 towards the building costs, thanks to successful fund-raising efforts as well as generous legacies and bequests. We had hoped to secure a grant to part-fund the construction but it was no longer available as the grant administrators had changed their requirement to enable them to finance organisations affected by Covid-19.

 

Without the grant, because of the early closure of the original appeal and allowing for inflation, we need your help to raise the final £65,000 to turn our vision for undercover accommodation for our carriage fleet into a reality.

 

It is vital we raise the remaining money by the end of June, so that the steel structure of the carriage shed can be manufactured and installed on the site in November, enabling us to complete the new shed by early 2022.