What the Society has contributed to the Railway
£5,000 of the purchase price of £12,000 in 1960
In 1960, the railway was sold for £12,000 and the current preservation era began.
Prior to this, the Keswick Granite Company owned the railway, and hoped to sell it for as much as £22,500, but there were no potential buyers at that price, so it was decided to put it up for sale by auction. Once historical and legal complications had been ironed out the auction was fixed for Gosforth Public Hall for the afternoon of 7th September 1960 to sell the railway whole or in separate lots. It was feared that it might be simply sold for scrap, or bought for an amusement park elsewhere.
This threat galvanised public opinion both locally and nationwide. A group in Barrow in Furness formed a ‘preservation society’ and the Muncaster Parish Council under its clerk, Douglas Robinson, and the local vicar, Rev. Murray Hodges, spearheaded matters locally. Notices were placed in newspapers – there was no social media in those days! – to raise money in an effort to save the railway, and the general public sent donations, raising over £5,000 in just a few weeks. Extra financial muscle was provided by Mr Colin Gilbert, a West Midlands stockbroker with a passion for La’al Ratty.
Photograph courtesy of Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Museum.
The auction at Gosforth was a tense affair. The final bid, made by Douglas Robinson, the Society Treasurer, was for £12,000 (about £260K at 2021 values) and to a burst of cheering the successful bidder was announced as ‘The Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society’. Colin Gilbert contributed the balance of the finance to secure the winning bid, and the scheme was supported by Sir Wavell (later Lord) Wakefield, a prominent Lake District businessman and MP.
Photograph courtesy of Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Museum.
By July 1961, the Preservation Society had become formally incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee. A few months earlier, in March 1961, a new operating company for the Railway had been formed with two directors – Colin Gilbert and Wavell Wakefield – plus Douglas Robinson who represented the Preservation Society. Unfortunately Douglas Robinson died suddenly early that same year, so Arthur Ward was elected in September 1961 as Director representing the Society.
In November 1968, Colin Gilbert died. Previously, he had indicated that he would leave his shares to the Preservation Society but, much to the surprise of and disappointment of the Society, he had changed his will in a codicil. Lord Wakefield bought the shares and, together with his own shares, took full possession of the railway. This situation still exists today; the railway is part of Lake District Estates, which is owned by the Wakefield family, and there is still a Society representative on the Board of Directors of the Railway Company.
Loan for the Workshop
On 28 March 2013, a major fire broke out in the Engineering Workshops, causing extensive damage, destroying the building and tools plus many historical patterns, drawings and diagrams, and severely damaging – many beyond repair –various locomotive parts (unusually, all the three ‘river’ locos – Esk, Irt and Mite – were in the workshops at the time, undergoing overhaul / maintenance).
To support with rebuilding the workshop, the Preservation Society loaned the Company £100,000 to be repaid over 10 years. This enabled the workshop to be expanded – the building’s footprint is bigger, and is much taller – and also to be equipped with relevant machinery.
Several volunteers offer their time and skills in the workshop, and work with paid staff, to maintain the locos, carriages, and structures along the line, etc.
Grant for the Museum
The original museum was opened in 1978, and provided an informative history of the line. A new and expanded museum was planned to include a covered area for storage of locos and carriages, interactive displays, an area for temporary (generally about six months) exhibitions of local interest, plus an archive for collecting and recording historic documents, photographs and artefacts of relevance to the railway.
The Preservation Society Trust donated £100,000 towards rebuilding the museum. This money, together with contributions from other bodies, served as matched-funding for the National Heritage Lottery Fund’s grant of about £488,700 towards a total project cost of about £700,000.
The Ravenglass Railway Museum, rebuilt during the winter of 2016/2017, was officially reopened in June 2017 by Paul Atterbury (from the BBC TV programme ‘Antiques Roadshow’). Volunteers helped to set-up the museum initially, and are now involved with maintaining the exhibits, in archiving, and explaining the history of the railway and ‘how a steam engine works’, which uses River Esk’s old boiler, with cut-away sections to show the internal parts that are normally hidden from view.
Ex BR signal box
The disused British Rail signal box was acquired in 1972, restored in 2000 (to include a working lever frame), and won the Ian Allan Heritage award.
Volunteers from The Heritage Group of the Society contributed to the renovation, and created a garden area. The Society continues to support this building financially (re-painting and maintenance, etc.), and volunteers ‘man’ the box, explain both how it works, and the system of communication between signal boxes along the main line (in the days before mobile phones!).
The garden may be new but the restored interior of the signal box gives an excellent idea of things just the way they were back in the days of steam.
An open fire makes the place very cosy in cold weather!
The Green station
In 1964, the West Yorkshire Group of the Preservation Society took-on the task of providing a station at Eskdale Green; the platform was laid in 1964, the foundations of the station building (ticket office and shelter) were started in 1966, and the project completed in April 1968. In 1995, a toilet was added for the convenience of visitors and station staff (usually volunteers), celebrated by the ‘First Flush Flyer’! The opening of Eskdale Green station.
In 2014, the station was given a major face-lift, funded by a legacy given to the Society, with a new picnic area behind the station platform, a raised flowerbed, a wild area, and a drystone wall which was built by a local group of dry-stone wallers.
Miteside boat
Traditionally, a wooden boat (originally lain on its side and later replaced by an upright one, stern to the ground), served as a shelter at Miteside Halt.
In 1997, volunteers changed the old rotten wooden boat for a fiberglass one, and positioned it on the other side of the tracks (convenient for passengers to board and alight). It continues to be a talking point for passengers along the line!
Heywood House - Society Accommodation
In 1963 the Preservation Society purchased a former main-line carriage as budget accommodation at Ravenglass for use by younger members. The carriage acquired the nickname ‘Skid Row’ – which gave some idea of the state it often got into! By 1986 Skid Row was well past its sell by date and, on 29th August 1986, the Society purchased a property previously known as 'Bank House' along the Main Street in Ravenglass for £30,000. This building was adapted for hostel style accommodation and renamed Heywood House.
Gutted and refurbished in the winter of 2008/09, Heywood House continues to provide cheap accommodation for volunteers.
Without this facility, over the years, many people would not have been able to afford to stay in the area and volunteer on the railway. The house has also been used occasionally by recently recruited members of staff as temporary accommodation, until they can find a place of their own.
Track Weeks
The Society have historically also funded an evening meal and track equipment for the Track Weeks. Find out more about Track Weeks.