Helston Railway Road Railer
Donation protected
Helston Railway is run by a group of volunteers who are working hard to reopen this former branch line in beautiful west Cornwall to provide a real community asset and encourage more tourism in this often bypassed area.
Our main go to piece of equipment is an ageing Ornstein & Kopple road railer which is the jack of all trades. Not only used for clearing and levelling on the permanent way it is used to lift equipment etc around the yard,lift rail and sleepers,dig drainage ditches,move ballast and even tows our line sprayer.
Unfortunately with its age and past hard work it now frequently breaks down and requires often expensive repairs. Lately it was marooned on the line for over three weeks due to a large systems failure and this blocked any other running on the line.
With the railway having to remain unopened due to the covid pandemic we have no income other than some donations from well wishers and our own members digging deep. We haven't been able to access any grants or insurance payments at this point so funding expensive repairs,even if we can locate spares is now a big problem.
We urgently need to raise money to acquire a more up to date and reliable machine so that our volunteers, most of whom are the wrong side of 60 can carry on their hard won efforts and continue to not only maintain the line at present but to push on and expand this blossoming community asset.
To this end and to help this very loyal group we are launching this appeal
Our main go to piece of equipment is an ageing Ornstein & Kopple road railer which is the jack of all trades. Not only used for clearing and levelling on the permanent way it is used to lift equipment etc around the yard,lift rail and sleepers,dig drainage ditches,move ballast and even tows our line sprayer.
Unfortunately with its age and past hard work it now frequently breaks down and requires often expensive repairs. Lately it was marooned on the line for over three weeks due to a large systems failure and this blocked any other running on the line.
With the railway having to remain unopened due to the covid pandemic we have no income other than some donations from well wishers and our own members digging deep. We haven't been able to access any grants or insurance payments at this point so funding expensive repairs,even if we can locate spares is now a big problem.
We urgently need to raise money to acquire a more up to date and reliable machine so that our volunteers, most of whom are the wrong side of 60 can carry on their hard won efforts and continue to not only maintain the line at present but to push on and expand this blossoming community asset.
To this end and to help this very loyal group we are launching this appeal
Organizer
Colin Savage
Organizer