Metro donation boosts Woodhorn Railway restoration in Ashington
A donation from the Tyne and Wear Metro has delivered a major boost to an Ashington attraction which is being restored to its former glory.
The Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway is being revived by a group of volunteers who hope to have it back up and running later this year.
Metro operator Nexus has donated surplus materials from its multi-million-pound renewal project at Whitley Bay Metro station.
Items include 50 tonnes of concrete ballast blocks, 200 scaffolding boards, 40 timber posts, and 54 pieces of plywood sheeting. The concrete blocks will allow the volunteers to build a retaining wall and create a ballast store .
It follows on from an annual Nexus volunteer day, which saw members of the track maintenance team give up their spare time to help the volunteers at Woodhorn install track.
Sarah McManus, Head of Renewals at Nexus said: “We’re delighted to be able to help this exciting restoration project.
“A 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.
“By 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."
Colin Heath, Volunteer Co-ordinator at the Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway, said: “This donation is important as we are a voluntary group who are restoring a railway without any official funding.
“We 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.
“We 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.
“We’ve restored three quarters of the line and the infrastructure that goes with it. There’s about 400 metres of line left to go, and we are aiming to be open by the end of October this year.”
Woodhorn Narrow Gauge Railway originally opened in the 90s and ran successfully for more than 20 years however, the railway closed in 2018 due to a lack of volunteers and its condition deteriorated.