A RAILWAY attraction which provides train rides for visitors to a Northumberland museum has been upgraded – with free help from Network Rail bosses.
The narrow gauge railway at Woodhorn near Ashington takes passengers on weekend loco journeys from the museum and archives centre through the adjoining Queen Elizabeth II Country Park.
So-called Santa Specials first ran on the track in December 1995, and now a dedicated band of volunteers who run it are planning to introduce a special train carriage for disabled passengers.
Recently, six graduate engineers were provided free of charge by Network Rail to help the Woodhorn Railway Society upgrade the line.
Work has been carried out to install the points which are needed to create a new siding for the accessible carriage when it arrives.
Network Rail route infrastructure manager David Painter agreed to a request for help from the society, and made the six graduate engineers available for three days of work experience.
Society volunteer Stan Lawler said: “We thought that Network Rail might be interested, not just in helping us out, but also in providing some of their trainee engineers with a safe training experience.
“Obviously, working on the main railway network is a risky business. But here at Woodhorn the trainees can work on the line safe in the knowledge that there isn’t a high-speed passenger or goods train due at any moment.
“Hopefully, it won’t be long before the carriage base arrives and then we can get to work preparing it. We’re putting the finishing touches to a funding application at the moment, which should be the last piece of the jigsaw.”
A Woodhorn spokeswoman said: “The lads were fantastic and worked really hard. The railway volunteers were very impressed by their skills.”
The Woodhorn train operates every Saturday and Sunday from 10am until mid afternoon.
The society has been raising funds for the accessible carriage for some time, through generous donations from the public and the proceeds from a children’s book written by one of the volunteers.
The fund was used to buy the new points now installed on the line.
