The HRA Goes Virtual for 2021 Awards

Lockdown restrictions meant the Heritage Railway Association’s annual awards event went on-line for 2021, with a simultaneous broadcast on Facebook and You Tube on the afternoon of 28th April. The show featured two new award categories – Most Innovative Fundraisng Idea - reflecting the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, and its impact on heritage rail, and Diesel Locomotion, acknowledging the importance of diesel power in railway history. The event also featured awards presented by the heritage rail magazine editors. The HRA Awards recognise a wide range of achievements and distinctions across the entire heritage railway industry, and the awards acknowledge individuals and institutions as well as railways, tramways and cliff railways. In spite of the overwhelming impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, several categories saw a record number of submissions and shortlisted entrants

The Lord Faulkner Award for the Young Volunteer of the Year recognises the crucial importance of succession generations in securing the future of heritage rail, and acknowledges a distinguished contribution made by one or more young volunteers, under the age of 26. The winner was Oliver Edwards, of the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway. Runners-up were the Severn Valley Railway’s Tom Mills and Michael Abbott, from the Somerset & Dorset Railway Heritage Trust.

The Morgan Award for Preservation was won by the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, for their Shredded Wheat locomotive. Runners-up were the Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway Society, for their restoration of GNR/M&GN Third 129, Great Central Railway (Quorn Wagon & Wagon), for their restoration of three containers, and the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland for their Guinness Grain Van 504.

The Mid-Hants Railway’s Watercress Line film unit won the Award for External Communications. The runners-up were the Didcot Railway Centre, for their marketing communications; Swanage Railway’s ‘Save Our

Winners of the First Dieel Locomotion Award were The Class 50 Alliance

Service’ film-makers; the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway’s media and communications department, and the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society’s 60year celebration book ‘It’s Still a Lot of Fun!’.

The Internal Communications category, was taken by the Talyllyn Railway, for their Control Centre public on-line subscription service. Close behind as runners-up were the Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway Society, for their Summer/Autumn issue of ‘Joint Line’; the Great Western Society for the Great Western Echo magazine; Bluebell Railway for The Bluebell Times, and the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway for ‘The Earl’ communication to working members.

In spite of pandemic restrictions, the UK heritage rail sector has taken every opportunity, however limited, to engage and enthuse the paying public, and competition in the Outstanding Visitor Attraction category was strong. The Dartmouth Steam Railway took the trophy, placing the Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway, Didcot Railway Centre, the Seaton Tramway and the Statfold Barn Railway as runners-up.

The new award for Most Innovative Fundraising Idea saw five contenders, with the Seaton Tramway’s Tramathon Live 2020 as the winner, and the Talyllyn Railway’s Virtual Visit Appeal, the Mid-Hants Railway and Bahamas Locomotive Society’s Autumn Gala, and Bluebell Railway’s ‘Steam Returns to Bluebell Railway’ film as runners-up.

The Coiley Award is presented to an HRA member who has completed an outstanding engineering project in the field of locomotive overhaul, restoration or preservation. Top honour for 2021 went to the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway for their restoration of the Large England locomotive Welsh Pony, with the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s Skeggy Simplex, and the Tanfield Railway’s 1904 Andrew Barclay Horden as runners-up.

The HRA Award for Small

Groups drew a record six nominations, with the trophy going to the Downs Light Railway Trust for their achievements with youth engagement. Runners-up were Southern Electric Traction Group CIC, for 4VEP No 3417, Hull and Barnsley Railway Stock Fund, for their move to Hull College; Tarka Valley Railway CIO for Steaming Ahead, the Bahamas Locomotive Society for Steve Allsop’s 50 years’ service, East Somerset Railway for their platform, museum and outreach project, and Great Central Railway for the Quorn Wagon and Wagon Group.

The HRA Annual Award

(Large Groups) was won by the Lynton & Lynmouth Cliff Railway, for their Top Wheel installation. The Isle of Wight Steam Railway platform teams, the Swanage Railway’s social media team, and the Dartmouth Stream Railway & Riverboat Company were the runners-up.

The last HRA award of the show was the new Diesel Locomotion Award, where top-of-the-podium place went to the Class 50 Alliance, for 30 years of Class 50 preservation excellence, closely followed by the Mid Suffolk Light Railway, for their Shredded Wheat locomotive, and the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway for their Skeggy Simplex as runners-up.

The 2021 HRA awards show also saw coverage of the heritage rail sector’s magazine awards. The Heritage Railway Magazine Interpretation Award went to the Narrow Gauge Railway Museum at Tywyn Wharf on the Talyllyn Railway. The Rail Express Modern Traction Award was taken by the Engineering Team at the Island Line, Isle of Wight, and Ian Smith of the Middleton Railway won the The Railway Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award. Steam Railway Magazine’s annual readers’ poll saw ten nominees, with the Cockerill steam tram ‘Lucie’ at the North Yorkshire Moors Railway voted winner.

RAILWAY NEWS FROM AROUND THE PRESERVATION SCENE The Heritage Railways Steam (and Diesel) into Summer with a Huge Sigh of Relief!

After the most horrendous 18 months in the history of the Heritage Railway industry, the various railways and groups are emerging from their COVID-19 caves and looking forward now to many weeks of good weather and the full lifting of COVID restrictions. Almost without exception, they have been very heavily dependent upon two sources of income – Government handouts and the generosity of their supporters who have donated many hundreds of thousands of pounds in order to keep their favourite attraction going. Here we have a look at how some of these have got back into action.

The Severn Valley Railway got going with two contrasting events – first the visit of Lady of Legend and then their Spring Diesel Bash. Sadly, because of COVID-19, the SVR was unable to celebrate in 2020, the running on Saturday 23rd May, of the first public trains between Bridgnorth and Hampton Loade and five years after the plans were first made for the restoration of the railway (see article on pp35-42).

The Spring Steam Bash was the first event in 2021 on any of the Heritage Railways and was built, unashamedly around No 2999 Lady of Legend, which was making its debut appearance away from Didcot. Having taken 45 years to become a reality, it was with great pleasure Great Western Star paid the SVR a visit and enjoyed a highly pleasurable run from Bridgnorth to Kidderminster. The SVR had organised a schedule of seven locomotives – five GWR, one Southern and one LMS – over two weekends. The timetabling was arranged such that in a full day, you could ride behind all seven locomotives, completing three complete round trips. We visited on the Saturday, going from Bridgnorth behind the Star of the Show and returning behind 28XX Class No 2857. A memorable day although, sadly, on the Sunday, a pin sheared, meaning that 2999 was out of service while a new one was made but, other than that she performed beautifully.

The second event – the Spring Diesel Bash – began on the 13th May and ran until the evening of the 16th. It was an ambitious programme with eleven locomotives in action on each day! The locomotives achieved some 1,700 miles of haulage. A late addition is 20227 ‘Sherlock Holmes’ which carries a striking Metropolitan Railway ‘midcared’ red livery. The loco was until recently was on hire to the North Norfolk Railway and comes courtesy of the Class 20 Locomotive Society (C20LS) and Class 20189 Ltd. They were joined by Vintage Trains’ 47779, which like the Diesel Traction Group’s class 17 D8568 has been repaired and repainted in our own Kidderminster TMD. Both look absolutely superb.”

They were joined by GBRfliveried duo 50007 and 50049 and stalwarts D821 Greyhound, 33108, 40106 Atlantic Conveyor and D9551.

On top of two very successful events, the Class 50 Alliance heard that they had won the inaugural Diesel Locomotion Award in the HRA 2021 Awards. All in all a great start to 2021

GWR Star Class No 2999 Lady of Legend at Didcot before leaving for the SVR The Award Winning Class 50 Alliance team Dick Wood before his shave and haircut!

Media Day on the SDR

The South Devon Railway kicked off its year with a media event on the 11th May at Buckfastleigh Station – the first time that the seven-mile historic line had operated at all for 14 months or 417 days – the longest closure period in the line’s 52 year history, although the site had been open to visitors since the 12th April. A train was moved in and out of the station, staff were in period uniform and the signalbox was working. The next event was the “Great Devon Shave-off!” when Dick Wood, PR & Business Development Manager, South Devon Railway Trust and Chairman of the Devon Association of Tourist Attractions had his now fulsome, flowing white, 14-month old beard growth removed at last. In March 2020, at the start of the first lockdown, he rather rashly promised that he would not shave his face again until the SDR’s steam passenger trains returned to the scenic, seven mile line thinking it might only be a few months before normality returned. And, in the light of what has happened since then with three lockdowns, that now obviously hasty promise from SDR PR Manager and former General Manager of the line, Dick Wood, put him in an awkward spot to keep his promise! So, mid-morning on Tuesday 18 May in front of invited local media and onlooking train passengers, Dick Wood’s beard, and maybe his hair, will all be shaved off at a special ceremony on the platform of the SDR’s Buckfastleigh station, alongside a waiting steam train, but also to the musical accompaniment of a traditional ‘sea