Heritage Railway – August 01, 2019

Hayling SeasideRailway

up for sale for £310,000

ByRobin Jones

THE HaylingSeasid eRailway has been

placed on the marketfor£310,000by its

founderBobHaddo ck.

Theaskin gprice forthe mile-long

seafront2ft gauge line includes

locomotivesand allrollingstock,tools

and machinery, the leasefromHavant

Borough Counciland the goodwill.

Thelinestarted outast he East

HaylingLight Railway (EHLR)after

being establishedbyBob following

failedatte mptsto reopen the

legendaryLBSCR HaylingIsland

branch,whichclosed in 1963.

Bobwas amemberof th esociety

that, in the mid-1980s, atte mpted

to reinstate the‘Hayling Billy ’line,

famousfor its use of‘Terrier’0-6-0Ts.

However, Havant Borough Council

had already decidedtoturnthe

disusedrailway line into acycleway

and footpath, whichprecluded any

chanceofr ebuilding the line as

standardgauge.

Accordingly ,somesociet ymembers

decidedto crea te theirownrailway

elsewhereonthe island andfound

asiteatMill Rythe HolidayCamp.

Followingtwoyears ofnegotiations,

aline wasopened thereonAugust

8, 1988.

Sixmonths later, the councilinvited

peopletocomeupwith plansand

ideasforarailway to operate along

the seafront. Bobseized the golden

opportunity, but ittook more than 12

yearstobring his planto fruition.

Following closureoft he EHLRat Mill

Rythe,workstartedinOctober 2001

on the new line and the buildingof

Beachlands stationonlandleased

from the neighbouringFunland

AmusementPark.Theline finally

openedto passengersonJuly5,2003,

reborn as th eHayling SeasideRailway.

Following alengthy period of

campaigningtothe local authority,

work star tedinearly 2018on anew

depotat EastokeCorner,asthe lease

on the depotat Beachlands had

run out.

Thenew showpiecedepot,highly

visible from the mainroad at Eastoke

Corner and instantly recognised as a

railwaybuildingand as such,aperfect

advertisementfor th eline,was

openedin August,2017.

Therailway has twolocomotives,

Jack,anAlan Keef-built,steam outline

dieselhydraulic andAlanB,atotally

rebuiltMotorRail dieselhydraulic.

Thefleetalsoincludestwo other

priv ately-owned locomotives.

Theline hasfivebogie coaches,

enablingupto90peopleto enjoy

the tripat 7.5mphand carries around

40,000people peryear.

Theline has avolunteer society

of around 60 membersand it runs

at weekendsand Wednesdays

throughout theyear,plus everyday in

schoolholidays.

Bobsaid:“I am72 anditisabout

timeIhad aholiday, so Iamselling up.

“The railway runs along the

unspoilt seafrontofHaylingand has

marvellous viewsacrossTheSolentto

the Isle ofWight.

“Ithas becomeaverypopular

railway in this thrivingholidayand

tourist resort.

“Around 95% of thepeoplewho visit

Hayling Islandgopastthe railway.It

hasbeen arealhelptobusin esse s.”

Thesaleoft he railway is being

handledby business broker Zach

Dogar,who can becontactedon

07912 513876.Alternatively ,email

[email protected]

➜Britain’s 20 best seaside railways:

specialsummerfeature, pages 68-75.

TheHayling SeasideRailwayfleet, fromleft,Motor Rail 4wDHAlan B,Ruston

&Hornsby4wDMEdwin,AlanKeef 0-4-0DHJackandRuston&Hornsby4wDM

Alistair.HSR

Durango&Silverton Railroad operator

faces$ 25 millionlawsuit over wildfire

THEDurango &Silverton Narrow Gauge

Railroad hasbeenaccusedinalawsuit of

starting one of the largest wildfires in the

historyofC olorado.

According to the officeofUS

Attorney JasonDunn, federal

investigators found thathot cinders

fromasteam locomotiveignited

brushat aroun d10amonJune 1,

2018, starting the blaze, labelledthe

416 fire, 10 miles north ofDurango.

Tworesidents said they sawthe fire

startmoments afteratrain tr avelled

throughadrought-stricken canyonat

Shalon aHill.

Thewildfirespreadto 85 square

miles of land in the southwest of the

state,including theSanJuan National

Forest,which hadto be closedforthe

first time.Hundreds of people hadto

be evacuated.

Fire crew sdeclared the blaze

undercont rolbyJ uly thatyear,but

it wasnot completelyextinguished

until November.

As the fireraged,the 42-mile

railroad suspended servicesfor41

days.Durango’s businesseswerehit

by a$33 million downturnintrade in

June alone.

Astatementrelea sed by Dunn’s

officesaid the authorities estimated

thatthe cost of the damage and

tackling the fire, which affected 54,000

acres,could reach $25 million.

Thelawsuit asserts thatbecause

the firewas causedby the railroad

company, it should be held liable

underfederal andColorado lawfor all

the damages incurredbythe United

Statesasaresult of it.

In astatement, Dunn said:“This

firecause dsignificantdamage,cost

taxpayers millions of dollars,and put

lives at risk.Weowe it to taxp ayersto

bring this action on their behalf.”

Furthermore, loca lresidents and

businesses have begun theirown

legal actions against therailroad,

claiming thatits operating company

knew,ors hould have known, about

the droughtconditions.

Railroadowner Al Harper has

previously said thatift he railroad

wasfoundto have causedthe fire, he

would take“whateversteps necessary

to make itright”.

22 Heritagerailway.co.uk indusonwww.facebook.com/heritagerailway

NEWS

ALANCASHIRE &Yorkshire

Railway (LYR)FirstWorldWar

memorial has beenreturnedto

the Newton Heath carriageworks

siteand unveiled morethan 60

years af teritw as moved.

Therededication cere mony

on June 28,conductedbytrain

operating companyNorthern’s

railway chaplainMike Roberts,

coincided with the 100th

anniversaryoft heTreaty of

Versailles,which ended the

state of warbetween Germany

and theAllies.

When warbroke out in

1914, morethan10,000LYR

workers out ofastaff of37,000

volunteered forthe ar med

forc es,and 1422 neverreturned.

Afterhostilities ended,

the LYRcarri age andwagon

departmentinDean Lane

crea tedawar memorial in

honour of their 117 fallen

comrades,while recording

the names of all those in the

departmentwho served.

When the carriageworks

closed,the memorialwastaken

to Newton HeathTown Hall and

it sta yedthere until the building

wasdemolished.

Thecomponents of the

memorialwere re discovered

years laterint he undercr oftof

ManchesterPiccadilly station

and were subsequently held

forsafekeepingby theEast

LancashireRailway.

Therestoration wasfunded

by the Railway HeritageTrust

and carried outbyYork firmAG

Podmore&Sons.

Homecoming

forNewton

Heathworks

warmemorial

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