Community railway project completes track extension

A Nantwich Miniature Railway Group has completed a new track extension thanks to support received from Transport for Wales (TfW).

Through their sustainable impact programme, TfW works in partnership with projects across Wales and Borders to support initiatives which benefited local communities and support their efforts in supporting their community.

Grateful

Eddie George, from Friends of the Nantwich Signal Box, who run the Nantwich Miniature Railway said: ‘We are very grateful to TfW for their support that has helped us complete the first phase of the planned track extension and also enabled us to deliver our first development of designing a track curve allowing us to join the two existing tracks.

The Miniature Railway is located at Nantwich Methodist Church and is run by members of the church in association with the Friends of the Nantwich Signal Box Ltd. The church also runs a children’s club called ‘Drop N Shop’, from which the railway originated, running a free to ride steam train and raising in excess of £20,000 for children’s charities over the last decade.

“We hope to expand our activities to include a scale model signal box of the old Nantwich Signal Box with the help of the students at the UTC Crewe who have already helped with the manufacture of the track. We are very grateful to all our sponsors and supporters for their generous assistance without which we could not continue,” added Eddie.

TfW Heritage and Sustainable Impact Manager, Dr Louise Moon said: ‘It was fantastic to see first hand the difference TfW support has made to a fantastic project at the heart of the community in Nantwich which raises vital funds for children charities and to see organisations coming together to support such projects.”

Students

The group has also been supported by students at the Crewe Engineering and Design UTC who have already helped with the manufacture of the track.

Steven Fergusson, Deputy Principal at Crewe UTC said: “Students have really enjoyed working on this project, allowing them to complete real-life engineering and design tasks is an important part of our curriculum working for our industry and community partners. This provides students with real world experience of working with employers, boosts their CV, and contextualises and legitimises the engineering learning in the classroom, making them graduate from UTC ‘industry ready’.”