Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 1 Chairman’s statement Review of projects 2 36 Executive Director’s commentary The accounts 2018/19 37 38 Grants and external contributions 2018/19 Patron, Officers, Advisory Panel and Annual Meeting 48 Cover: Battle Station Chairman’s statement 2018/19 has been the busiest year in were for £100,000 or over we have not Railways Estate), and I am delighted the Railway Heritage Trust’s existence, seen any over £200,000, and the general to see a resolution of the long-standing but it is good to start this Report with trend is towards a larger number of Bennerley Viaduct issues finally appearing. some excellent news for its future. smaller grants, as the recent run of major I am also pleased to see how the Maber After discussions with Network Rail, station restorations draws to an end. bequest has been so well used, as the drawn out by its move from the private final grants from it are working their to the public sector, we were delighted We are also seeing a trend in the delivery way through our systems. to receive confirmation of a further of projects becoming more protracted, five years of funding, especially as it is and the RHT is now having to manage In closing, may I congratulate and thank at an increased rate. The RHT is now budgets and grants over several years, Andy, Paul and Claire for their hard work guaranteed to be in business until at with a large number of projects finishing in the last year, with its huge workload. least 2024, a fine foundation to build on. in the year after the grant was awarded, In particular, Claire’s retirement, after We are particularly grateful to Network and some taking two further years to close well over 25 years with the RHT, is rapidly Rail Chairman, Sir Peter Hendy, for his out: indeed, at the end of the financial approaching: she has been a tower support in agreeing this funding, and year 2018/19 we still had two outstanding of strength to Andy, to me when I was Director, Planning & Land Services, Tom projects from 2016/17. Inevitably, such Executive Director, and to Leslie Soane Higginson, for his hard work to get the delays increase the workload on the before me. She will be greatly missed, new sponsorship agreed and authorised. small RHT team. and I know that Andy is thinking about how the RHT will operate without her In 2018/19 there has been a very heavy call A further development that intensifies support. We all owe Claire a great debt. on the RHT’s funding, and we actually had the pressure on the team, but which I think committed all of our available resources is excellent, is Network Rail’s increasing I also thank our sponsors, Network Rail in the first six months of the year. Happily, focus on the design of buildings and and Highways England (Historical Railways Network Rail had some surplus funding, structures, and its willingness to consult Estate) for their on-going financial and and was able to increase our sponsorship the RHT, even if it does not ask for grants. logistical contributions. I commend the by a further million pounds, enabling us to This approach is having real benefits for 34th Annual Report and Accounts of award some 65 grants, to a total value of the travelling public, and I welcome it. wthe Railway Heritage Trust to you. £2.77 million. Just under a million pounds of this total was awarded to projects in Although nothing like the number of the Jim Cornell Scotland, a great change from a couple Network Rail projects, we have continued Chairman of years ago. Although ten of our grants to work with Highways England (Historical London July 2019 Railway Heritage Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 1 Bat & Ball Restoration for community use Bat & Ball Station in Sevenoaks was built in for sustainable community use 1862 by Thomas Crampton for the London, and how the RHT gave a small grant Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR). towards heritage elements of the project. It is Grade II listed and was the original This year, together with Southeastern, terminus for the town until the mainline we have given additional support for station was built in 1868. The building is further restoration and repairs that a mirror image of Penge East Station and were not included in the original scheme. was one of the first of LCDR’s characteristic red, dark blue and cream polychromatic This is an outstanding example of how a brick Chatham Gothic style stations. derelict station building of architectural merit can be repurposed as a valuable In 2017/18 we reported how Sevenoaks resource for the local community. At the Town Council had successfully secured time of writing, the project had been a £755,600 grant from the Heritage shortlisted for the RIBA South East Lottery Fund to restore the building Regional Awards 2019. Aberdeen, Inverness and Stirling Upgrades to stations As part of its franchise commitment, as many car parking spaces as possible Abellio, the current operator of ScotRail, from Station Square, and we look forward has undertaken to upgrade five major to its completion. stations. Three of the proposals fall within the scope of the RHT, and in 2018/19 we The third of these three schemes is a have awarded substantial grants for these project that has long been on our wish projects, although the actual work will not list. James Miller’s architecture runs take place until 2019/20. Pleasingly, two throughout Scotland’s railways, of the projects achieve objectives that but Stirling is, along with its sister at we ourselves have long advocated. Wemyss Bay, one of his most outstanding Downham Market medium-sized stations. Recent works Cycle shelters At Aberdeen we are very happy to be to reglaze the canopies, and to improve supporting alterations to the retail accessibility to the Alloa platforms, have Between 2014/15 and 2017/18 the facilities on the main station concourse. been thoughtfully carried out, but the RHT funded a series of changes at The work will include the removal of porte-cochère in front of the building Downham Market, which both improved the very intrusive 1980s-designed café has long let the station down, having facilities at the station and also repainted extension, and its replacement by a much been roughly halved in size to allow for a and branded it as an example of the plainer, glazed, structure, resulting in a 1960s road scheme. Later developments former Network South East’s (NSE) great reduction in the visual impact on the have freed up the space that was taken treatment of stations. historic buildings. We are also sponsoring for this, and we are delighted to be able improvements to the former information to sponsor the restoration of Miller’s During the last year, train operator Govia building on the front of the footbridge, structure back to its original design. Thameslink Railway consulted us about which will bring the ticket office and first installing new, modern, shelters for the class lounge to a much more visible and northern end of the platforms, as the natural location. With Network Rail’s own Thameslink project meant that there work to finally reinstate long-unglazed would be longer trains running to Kings canopies, the passenger facilities at this Lynn. In discussing this proposal, we station are being vastly improved by realised that there was an opportunity restoring heritage features. to review the layout of the cycle stands by the main building, which had been The frontage of Inverness Station, installed over several years, with no looking into Station Square, was rebuilt uniformity. Consequently, we have funded by British Railways in a very pedestrian new cycle shelters, which are consistent design. ScotRail’s plans replace this with in design with the new platform shelters, a more definite scheme, which will be and coloured to match the NSE branding. replicated at the two side entrances. Whilst we would not claim that they are In the case of the south side entrance a purely heritage installation, they do in particular, this will give a much make the station more uniform, and better appearance for the passenger. allow a better view of the historic station The scheme also includes removing building on its most-used approach. Birkdale Community Hub & Library, with the specific aim of converting this now disused Station master’s house house into a key social space in the heart refurbishment of the village. The project is called The Station Master’s House and the initial Birkdale Station is located in a idea is to provide an adult and children’s Conservation Area and on the Southport library downstairs, with a computer room branch of Merseyrail's Northern line. and two meeting rooms upstairs. Adjoining the station is the former station master’s house, which is owned In 2019, Network Rail completely by Network Rail. renovated the exterior fabric of the building and the RHT was pleased to Prompted by the closure of Birkdale award a grant to the Birkdale Community Library, a local group established Hub & Library towards the interior a charity in 2016 called the Birkdale refurbishment and alterations. 4 Railway Heritage Trust Annual Report and Accounts 2018/19 Attleborough Restoration of listed station building for commercial use The Norfolk Railway, the original which were used as the station master’s agreed to a request from train operator main line from London to Norwich, via house, the ticket office, and a waiting Greater Anglia to support a restoration Cambridge and Ely, reached Attleborough room and toilets.