Trustingin Trusts TheRailwayHeritageTrust: conservationandchange Richard Tinker describes the massive job facing the organisation. The Railway Heritage Trust was established in 1985 by the British Railways Board. Its objectives were first the conservation and restoration of the built railway heritage in its ownership, and secondly the transfer to new owners of those historic buildings and structures no longer in operational railway use. The Trust's initial budget was £,1 million, a large sum for British Rail to commit solely to its heritage in those straitened times. It is now sponsored by Railtrack pie and Rail Property Ltd, with a budget of £2.3 million. Since 1985, the Trust has supported over 600 projects with grants of over £17 million, specifically focused on historic railway buildings and· structures. As satisfactory to the Trusts has been the total of over £16.5 million contributed to those projects by other partners. These include local authorities, enterprise companies, national heritage bodies and many tenants, such as train operating companies, • national and local retailers and individual traders. The Trust's grants are normally in the range of from 10% to 40% of total project costs. Since 1985, the number of listed railway buildings and structures in mainland Britain has increased from 681 to 1,310. The number is still growing, as buildings built as recently as 1964 have been listed. Buildings in Conservation Areas have increased from 633 to 1,147. This article deals with buildings and structures in Railtrack and Rail Property Ltd ownership. The Trust is very pleased to respond to requests for information in this field. Some councils now consult it directly over planning and Listed Building Consent applications, giving the Trust first-hand opportunities to assist in their assessment of projects. Many railway heritage projects would have failed, had not individual officers and staff in planning and conse1vation departments strongly supported them. The Trust wishes to improve these contacts, for the benefit of councils and the Trust. Context58 June1998 Bridgwater Station, Somerset. 1841 for the Bristol & Exeter Railway. Design attributed to lsambard Brunel. Grade II. Many railway heritage projects are only realised through partnerships. One such project was at Bridgwater Station in Somerset, on the Bristol & Exeter Railway. Diagrams of a station building for Bridgwater survive from Isambard Brunel's sketchbook, suggesting that the core of the station dates from 1841. It was extended by the Great Western Railway in 1882 into its present form: single-storey stuccoed buildings, with metal and glass platform canopies and a covered footbridge. The group, unusual in having survived largely complete, is listed Grade II. At one stage, the buildings were threatened with demolition, but this proposal was abandoned. A partnership was formed by the then Regional Railways, Sedgemoor District Council and the Trust for restoration, funded equally by the parties. The whole station was repaired and restored, and a new ticket office formed in the main building. The Gill Sans letters on the facade date from GWR days and were found abandoned on the roof during the works! It was also discovered that the cast iron balusters of the footbridge staircases were cast by the same firm in Bridgwater that made the cast iron tubes laid between the tracks for Brunel's ill-fated atmospheric propulsion system for the South Devon Railway. Since completion in 1994, time has not dealt kindly with the restored station. Reductions in staffing levels and the station's remoteness from the town centre have left it vulnerable to vandalism, providing an object lesson in how long-desired investment in a cultural asset can quickly be negated. The Trust has learned from this situation, and it now gives the same priority to projects to bring unoccupied historic premises back into use as to restoration projects. Grange-over-Sands Station in Cumbria, on the Furness Railway main line between Carnforth and Barrow, is listed Grade II and stands in a Conservation Area. It dates from 1865-72, and forms the focal point of the Victorian resort developed by the Furness Railway. The station was in the first stage of Railtrack's Station Regeneration Programme. A wide partnership has supported the repair and restoration of the stone buildings and the fine metal and glass platform canopies, with all their finials and details. The partners, led by Railtrack, included Cumbria County, South Lakeland District and Grange Town Councils, English Heritage (through a Conservation Area Partnership scheme in the town centre), North Western Trains and the Trust. North Western Trains has provided a new ticket office. The Trust has funded a 13
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