Planning Application : Although things may appear to have slowed down on this front, there has been a great deal of work involved in preparing a planning application for the Wenhaston site. Most of this work has now been completed, and the Board of Trustees tell me that submission of the planning application is imminent. Watch this space!
On 10th March at 10.30 a working party will meet on the site of Walberswick station to undertake a tidy up of the site and repairs to the bench. All volunteers are welcome – just email
blogmaster@southwoldrailway.co.ukif you fancy joining the working party.
We have heard from someone listening to ’Heart’ Radio recently who heard two men conversing and the subject of the Southwold Railway (which ran from 1879 to 1929) cropped up because the Great Grandfather of one of them had travelled on that Railway for forty eight years. We often have visitors in the Railway Shop who either travelled themselves on the line or whose parents or grandparents were involved with the SR. Likewise visitors to the Henham Steam Rally regularly include those who knew the original Southwold Railway.
The Trust is privileged to have received a donation of much of the iconic Southwold Railway 4mm layout and stock created in the 1950s and 60s by Rev. Teddy Boston. His nephew - Rev. Jonathan Boston - has passed on these pioneering models, which we hope to display in public in due course. One of the locos – No.1 SOUTHWOLD – will be making a guest appearance at the Royston Model Railway Club Show at the Meridian School, Royston on Saturday November 19th when it will be running on Stewart Green’s own SOUTHWOLD (1922) model along with its modern counterparts.
Halesworth resident Jan Martin came up with ‘The Box of the SOUTHWOLD RAILWAY’ as part of her training at art college in 1980, following the interest generated by the centenary of the line the previous year. Jan designed this Memory Box as an educational resource to bring the railway’s history to life without making if a mere ‘information pack’ or presenting purely a cut-out model and accessories without relating them to their historical background. The Box contains a coloured map of the route with contemporary photos of the main stations and features, along with exact replicas of First- and Third- class season tickets and return tickets from Wenhaston to Liverpool Street! Additionally there are photos of each train staff (as used in operation each single line section of the route) and a couple of splendid water colour portraits of characters connected with the line, which we hope to reproduce in future issues of the Trust’s newsletters for members.
'Sirapite' with restorer Trevor Wrench at the controls
We were delighted last year to visit the Long Shop Museum, Leiston at the end of March 2010 for the official return to steam of shunting loco Sirapite after a 4-year restoration project. The good news is that the tract of land that ran from the Rishard Garrett works, across Main Street and behind house backs to join with the Aldeburgh branch at Leiston Station has recently been purchased by the Leiston Works Railway with the intention of clearing the site, restoring track and enabling Sirapite once again to run along its former route!
Further aims are to cross Main Street once again to join up with the museum site, and also to link up with the branch (which still goes to Sizewell) adjacent to Leiston Station. An exciting project indeed, and one of the very few that will enable an original loco to travel along its original route.
The Leiston Works Railway is recruiting members keen to get involved with the restoration of the tracks but doesn’t yet have a website. If you are interested then send your details to blogmaster@southwoldrailway.co.uk and we will pass them on to this fledgling heritage railway group.
Some time ago we were contacted by a Wenhaston resident, who had recently inherited his aunt’s cottage and was renovating it to use it as a holiday retreat. Some of the upper floor beams were given additional cross support, many years ago, by lengths of Southwold railway track, and he decided to make a feature of these supports by featuring a static model of No 4 Wenhaston and a carriage, The model is now proudly displayed on top of the rail between two of the beams in the kitchen – quite a talking point! Perhaps it won’t be too long before a full-size SR train runs once again at Wenhaston on SR rails?
We were proud to present the revised plans and model for our Steam Heritage Centre planning application at Wenhaston Village Hall on Sunday 3rd July, as part of our exciting proposals to reinstate this important part of Suffolk’s heritage. There were many favourable comments, including a positive reaction to the changes we had managed to incorporate since the initial meeting last year. Additionally we were able to welcome quite a few new members to the Trust. We’re almost ready for the planning application to be made…
We now have an onlive page of SR Events, which will be updated regularly giving details of meetings, activities, exhibitions and social events connected with the Southwold Railway Trust. We hope you will find it useful!
Just added to the online shop – our new 100%cotton T-shirts featuring our art deco BLYTH logo. Priced at only £10.00 these are available in Medium and Large sizes only.
Planning Application : Although things may appear to have slowed down on this front, there has been a great deal of work involved in preparing a planning application for the Wenhaston site. Most of this work has now been completed, and the Board of Trustees tell me that submission of the planning application is imminent. Watch this space!
