A prize won in a raffle by a father and son duo of American railway enthusiasts took them 4,500 miles from Denver in Colorado to West Yorkshire to view progress on the route of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).

The chance for Daniel Shurz and his son Noah to see the upgrade came after they won a charity raffle organised by the Railway Benefit Fund (RBF), which offers financial assistance, mental health support, and support to rail workers and their families in times of need.

Funding for these vital services comes in part from charity raffles such as the one that secured Dan and Noah their trip.

Daniel and Noah’s prize was an exclusive look at the biggest rail upgrade in the North of England. Their whistle-stop tour started at Huddersfield station, where they were met by the station manager and learned about how the upgrade would transform services across the North of England, before being introduced to the station’s much-loved mascot, Bolt the Cat.

Their next stop was HD1, one of the key operational hubs for the work taking place across Huddersfield where they donned high-vis vests and hard hats and headed to Ravensthorpe, which is one of the UK’s largest civil engineering sites and where excavation work uncovered a possible historic small settlement that could date back to Roman times

At Ravensthorpe, Daniel and Noah saw progress being made on a new viaduct and box junction. before, returning to HD1 for a well-earned lunch break with the TRU team.

After lunch, they visited Hillhouse Sidings in Huddersfield, where a new depot being constructed will be used to maintain and clean some of Northern’s passenger and engineering trains. One of the highlights of their visit was seeing the recently installed overhead electrical wires.

At the conclusion of their visit, Dan and Noah were presented with TRU-branded souvenirs as a memory of their visit to Huddersfield.

Daniel Shurz commented they had always loved trains and everything about them, so it was fantastic to be able to come and see the great progress being made. They wished Team TRU the best of luck with the upgrades and can’t wait to see how the project has progressed on their next visit to the UK.

“We were delighted to welcome Daniel and Noah on this special tour and we are proud to share our progress with them. They have definitely set the record for visitors who have travelled the furthest. It was fantastic to share our vision for faster, greener and more reliable journeys with them. We’re sure it’s been a trip to remember!”

Paul Sumner, Senior Sponsor for TRU