West Somerset Railway awarded £865,000 Culture Recovery Fund grant

The West Somerset Railway has announced that they have received a grant of £865,000 as part of the UK Government’s Culture Recovery Fund.

The grant will help the 23-mile long railway recover from the Coronavirus pandemic closures.

This latest grant will fund several projects, covering infrastructure renewals, COVID precautions and protection as well as other locomotive and rolling stock projects.

Several other railways have announced similar grants, with the South Devon Railway, North Yorkshire Moors Railway and Mid Hants Railway all announcing funding.

Commenting on the grant award, WSR Plc Chairman Jonathan Jones-Pratt said: “Naturally, we are all thrilled to have received this fantastic grant support thanks to the Department of Culture Media and Sport, the National Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic England.

“It will provide us with the vital financial lifeline needed for the railway’s survival, and we are confident that all of the projects to gain support will help get the much-loved West Somerset Railway running normally again soon.

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“From all sources, we have now raised or received a wonderful total of financial help all told of an amazing £1,177,271.08 so far, and we are still raising money to try and get to our next target of £1.5 million!

“This has been achieved via our own emergency appeal via donations and smaller grants to the WSR plc, WSSRT and WSRA, plus limited site openings income of £283,571.08; an earlier NLHF Heritage Emergency Fund grant of £28,700 to the WSSRT, and now this latest DCMS Culture Recovery Fund for Heritage grant to the WSR plc of £865,000.

“The WSR is so very grateful to everyone who has helped us raise this money in whatever way they could – now we can move forward!”

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