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Full steam ahead for heritage rail centre
By Peter Lazenby AN HISTORIC railway that hauled coal to power the industry of Leeds has won a lottery grant of more than £730,000.
Middleton Railway - the oldest commercial rail operation in the world - is today a visitor attraction running steam engines built in the city when it was a world centre of locomotive production.
The grant will fund an educational resource centre at the railway's Moor Road headquarters.
Middleton Railway was built in 1758 to transport coal from Middleton colliery. It initially used horse-drawn carriages.
In 1811 it commissioned the construction of the first working steam locomotive, laying the foundations for an industry that was to thrive in the city for more than 150 years.
The line fell into disuse in the late 1950s but it was restored in the 1960s by a group of enthusiasts and re-opened. Volunteers began operating passenger and freight services - the first regular service to be run entirely by volunteers.
There are a number of historic locomotives, many of them built in Leeds and now used to haul passenger trains.
The 737,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) will be spent on a resource centre to display the historic machines.
It will include a classroom and other facilities.
Middleton Railway Society chairman David Monckton said the grant would be used to significantly enhance public access to the growing collection of Leeds-built locomotives.
Opportunity
He added: "We will also be able to tell the story of the Middleton Railway and its connections with the Leeds locomotive building industry, together with the story of the preservation of this historic railway by volunteers since 1960.
"Our new building will also provide a valuable resource for the people of south Leeds, for whom it represents a massive vote of confidence and opportunity for the future."
WHITBY is to receive 1m to restore Abbey House, next to the ruins of Whitby Abbey.
The grant will also be used to create a 100-bed Youth Hostel within the building.
A spokesman for the Youth Hostels Association (YHA) said it would conserve the historic fabric of the Grade 1 listed building and remove "unsympathetic" alterations carried out in the 1980s.
The surrounding Grade 2 listed gardens would also be restored.
THE grants are among 4.7m handed out by the Heritage Lottery Fund in Yorkshire and the Humber region in March.
peter.lazenby@ypn.co.uk
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Friday 25 May 2012
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