Nexus have been supporting plans to reopen Ashington\u2019s Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway following a donation of surplus building materials as well as staff spending one of their annual volunteer days to help the volunteers at the railway lay track.<\/p>\n
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Materials from the Tyne and Wear Metro restoration project at Whitley Bay station \u2013 including 50 tonnes of concrete blast blocks, 200 scaffolding boards, 40 timber posts, and 54 pieces of plywood sheeting \u2013 have been donated towards the project. It is hoped that it may reopen later this year.<\/p>\n
Many of the items would have been destined for landfill sites but they have now been donated to the railway to underscore Nexus\u2019 own commitment to sustainability and social value. The concrete blocks will be used to build a retaining wall and create a ballast store.<\/p>\n
In addition members of Nexus\u2019 track maintenance team gave up their spare time for an annual Nexus volunteer day. The time was spent helping volunteers at the railway install track.<\/p>\n
Sarah McManus, Head of Renewals at Nexus, said: \u201cWe\u2019re delighted to be able to help this exciting restoration project.<\/p>\n
\u201cA raft of surplus materials from the Whitley Bay station renewal scheme will be playing a hugely important role for the Woodhorn railway, which has the potential to be a fantastic local tourist attraction for the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy re-using these items in this way, it supports our own commitment to work sustainably in everything that we do, helping the voluntary sector where we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe concrete blocks and wood panels will go to very good use, instead of the prospect of it all just going to a landfill site.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis builds on our recent volunteer scheme where colleagues gave up their own time and expertise to help Woodhorn with their track installation works. We wish them every success with the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway originally opened in the 1990s after track, three carriages, and an underground engine turned training engine from the Vane Tempest Colliery in County Durham were donated in 1991.<\/p>\n
It ran successfully for over 20 years and even acquired two more engines \u2013 one from the Channel Tunnel construction and the other being an underground mining shunter train. However, it closed in 2018 because of a lack of volunteers and its condition deteriorated. But now work is well underway to return it to action, with the three locos already restored to working order.<\/p>\n
Colin Heath, Volunteer Co-ordinator at the Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway, said: \u201cThis donation is important as we are a voluntary group who are restoring a railway without any official funding.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful to Nexus for their support. We rely on donations like this to make progress. The concrete blocks will be particularly useful. This will save us time and money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started the project in 2023 as a wellbeing group, looking to restore the engines, but it snowballed from there and we decided to take on the challenge of bringing the entire railway back into use.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve restored three quarters of the line and the infrastructure that goes with it. There\u2019s about 400 metres of line left to go, and we are aiming to be open by the end of October this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cNexus has also given us great support through their employee volunteer days, where some of the Metro workers gave up their time to lay some of the track and ballast. That\u2019s how the link up came about.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had a lot of spare building materials from their project at Whitley Bay, and we were more than happy to take it and put it to good use.\u201d<\/p>\n