Power workers spruce up heritage railway

A dozen UK Power Networks Services’ employees restored an old railway worker’s cottage and cleaned train windows at Northiam Station. For the second year running, the team chose to support the tireless work of volunteers at Kent and East Sussex Railway (KESR) to play a part in preserving a cherished part of Britain’s railway heritage.

The specialists gave their time through Donate a Day, which gives all UK Power Networks Services’ employees two paid days leave each year to work on local volunteer projects.

Stuart Hall, senior project engineer, said: “We work on electricity infrastructure for private companies and one of our customers is Network Rail. Due to our railway connections, we were looking for a challenge our team would relish and be excited about.

“KESR has lots of stations and the hut we did up is about 100 years old. It was the former station master’s cottage, which they lived in with their families.

“The weatherboarding was rotting in places and didn’t have a gutter, so it was in a bit of a state. We were delighted to help with the restoration work, painting the hut, installing guttering and replacing some wood.”

The team also cleaned railway carriage windows to give train passengers a clear view of the countryside. They were rewarded for their elbow grease with seating in a first-class carriage to tuck into their packed lunches.

Brian Richards, KESR infrastructure manager, said: “The window cleaning has made a massive difference, giving passengers a clearer view out of the carriages. I could see the station name reflected in the glass, that’s how good it was.

“They also worked on one of our historic railway worker cottages, which is an original station building from long ago. They painted it, put in guttering and replaced timber. It’s another job that we’ve wanted to do for a while.

“We always want more volunteers to help with our work. We get so much done with lots of people, but we don’t have enough volunteers, so help like this is always appreciated.”

KESR maintains and operates a heritage steam and diesel train railway system on a section of track from Tenterden to Bodiam, including five stations.

For further information and events, or if you would like to volunteer, visit www.kesr.org.uk