Chuffing great!

With chinks of light starting to appear at the seemingly very long tunnel, one of our favourite tourist attractions is celebrating securing vital funding that should see it through to the end of the Covid-19 crisis.

The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway (W&LLR) has not been able to open yet this season, and will be making another review of the situation on June 5, but its financial woes have been eased by the generosity of supporters, and now a National Lottery grant.

With over £40,000 already banked by well-wishers following the launch of an appeal, the line announced that £25,200 has now been secured from the lottery.

“THANK-YOU to #NationalLottery players who made it possible for the National Lottery Heritage Fund to award us £25,200 in funding towards unavoidable expenses borne by us at this difficult time,” they announced on Twitter. “From the bottom of our big railway heart, we say thank you.”

While most of the W&LLR’s few paid staff are on furlough, the safety of the many volunteers the line relies on remains equally important.

Only essential maintenance and safety work, together with security surveillance, is taking place on site at present, and always with appropriate distancing provisions, the line said.

This means that the operation of works trains is necessary, so it remains important that the public do not trespass on the railway line during the closure; all the station facilities remain closed.