THE Talyllyn Railway (TR) officially launched its £500,000 ‘The 75 Appeal’on March 22. It aims to raise the amount over the next five to six years towards financing its‘Preserving Our Past, Building Our Future’ redevelopment programme.
In late 2022, the TR secured a £110,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) development grant award towards this project (RM, Headline News, November 2022). This enabled the employment of a project manager who has been developing various aspects of the TR’s proposals.
The appeal has been launched now to prove to the NLHF, other grant-giving bodies and sponsors that the TR is capable of raising appropriate match-funding. The intention is to submit the full bid for more than £1million to NHLF later this year, with the outcome hopefully known in early 2025.
Approach
Acknowledging that £500,000 is an ambitious target, the TR observes that spreading the appeal over several years equates to the less daunting aim of raising £100,000 a year for five years. Moreover, where previous TR appeals have been aimed primarily at TRPS members, this appeal embraces visitors, passengers and donors from further afield.
The ‘Preserving Our Past, Building Our Future’ programme encompasses developments much as outlined previously, including constructing a new engineering facility on the site of the life-expired North Carriage Shed at Pendre, building a new carriage shed on a new site, developing new carriage maintenance facilities and a paint shop, restoration of the original workshop building at Pendre to allow public access, provision of additional volunteer accommodation, the remodelling of Wharf station, and a new all-weather heritage facility to tell the TR’s story. There will also be
