Love your Railway campaign 19th to 26th July 2021
The 20-mile West Somerset Railway (WSR) is joining fellow heritage railways next week all over the country from as far afield as Cornwall, Suffolk, North Wales, North East Scotland and Northern Ireland (NB: see full list under Notes) in a new nationwide campaign to raise greater awareness of Britain’s heritage rail sector.
Spearheaded by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (NYMR), the ‘Love Your Railway’ campaign will run for six weeks this summer from July 26th to September 5th.
The six themed weeks will follow the following topics in this order, viz: Heritage, Education, Volunteers, Family, Sustainability and Future.
The WSR’s two main support charities, the West Somerset Railway Association (WSRA) and West Somerset Railway Heritage Trust (WSRHT) are both supporting the ‘Love Your Railway’ campaign via the WSR plc, and some of their activities will be featured in the coming weeks.
For further information on the WSR, please contact: WSR Assistant General Manager Kerry Noble on 01643 700408 kerry.noble@wsrail.net or PR & Business Development Manager Dick Wood on 07711 552947 dick.wood@southdevonrailway.co.uk or dick.wood@wsrail.net
© Pictures to the right are copyrighted under the name, Don Bishop.
We’re optimistic and excited about the summer ahead, but the last 12 months have been like no other year, with lockdowns, reduced capacities due to social distancing, and staff and volunteers falling victim to the virus. There are more than 150 operational heritage railways in Britain, running trains over nearly 600 miles of track, which protect, conserve and bring to life part of the nation’s rich cultural heritage - giving enjoyment and learning to thousands of people every year. We want to do all we can to raise awareness of every heritage railway across the country and the challenges we face; all the participating railways will be posting their own social media content across the six themed weeks, but we also want to encourage the public to get involved by sharing their favourite memories and inspiring imagery from their visits, using the hashtag #LoveYourRailway.
‘Love Your Railway’ aims to shine a spotlight on not only the important work heritage railways do with regards to historic conservation, education and research, but also highlight how the nation’s heritage railways have all been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of reduced capacities and income which have threatened their very existence.
The WSR is pleased to support the ‘Love Your Railway’ campaign to highlight the work that heritage lines, such as ourselves, all over the country do to conserve, protect, promote, entertain and educate people about Britain’s rich 200-year railway history and culture Heritage railways in the South West, and across the country, have all had a very difficult time during the Covid-19 pandemic with severely restricted operations and mounting financial losses, so we need more people to come and visit us this Summer just to survive and keep the wheels turning for the future.
