Construction project will ‘mark 50th year’

A £1m development project at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland’s Whitehead headquarters officially got under way last week.
By The Newsroom
Published 12th Mar 2014, 11:01 BST
Marking the start of a £1m development project at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's base at Whitehead are (from left) Colin Robinson, Ostick & Williams, architects; Denis Grimshaw, RPSI chairman; Councillor Mark Cosgrove, Joint Council Committee chair of Generating Rural Opportunities Within (GROW) South Antrim; Pat Cleary, managing director of Cleary Contracting; Vera McWilliam, GROW South Antrim Local Action Group chair, and David Logan from consultants RPS. INCT 11-750-CONMarking the start of a £1m development project at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's base at Whitehead are (from left) Colin Robinson, Ostick & Williams, architects; Denis Grimshaw, RPSI chairman; Councillor Mark Cosgrove, Joint Council Committee chair of Generating Rural Opportunities Within (GROW) South Antrim; Pat Cleary, managing director of Cleary Contracting; Vera McWilliam, GROW South Antrim Local Action Group chair, and David Logan from consultants RPS. INCT 11-750-CON
Marking the start of a £1m development project at the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland's base at Whitehead are (from left) Colin Robinson, Ostick & Williams, architects; Denis Grimshaw, RPSI chairman; Councillor Mark Cosgrove, Joint Council Committee chair of Generating Rural Opportunities Within (GROW) South Antrim; Pat Cleary, managing director of Cleary Contracting; Vera McWilliam, GROW South Antrim Local Action Group chair, and David Logan from consultants RPS. INCT 11-750-CON

On Thursday, the first sod was cut to signal the start of work on the construction element of the programme - a £486,500 contract which involves extensions to the locomotive and carriage sheds, the start of a new carriage workshop, the construction of a new coal bunker, and the building of a 30-bay car park.

The rest of the funding is going towards the previously announced restoration of 1901-built Great Northern Railway (Ireland) steam engine No. 131 and a sleeping car which will be used by members.

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The scheme is being sponsored by Generating Rural Opportunities Within (GROW) South Antrim, delivering funding through the Northern Ireland Rural Development Programme.

The Society’s aim is so transform the engine sheds and workshops into a ‘living museum’ and major tourist attraction, where visitors can view heritage vehicles and observe restoration work in progress.

Visiting the Whitehead site were Councillor Mark Cosgrove, chair of the GROW South Antrim joint council committee, and GROW local action group chair Vera McWilliam.

They were joined by RPSI chairman Denis Grimshaw, who said: “The RPSI is deeply grateful to GROW South Antrim and the Rural Development Programme for their support for this project. It is particularly significant that we are starting work in 2014, which is the Society’s 50th anniversary year.

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“We intend to have a series of special events during the year to mark our golden anniversary and we are already looking forward to the return to traffic of steam locomotive, No 85 Merlin.”

Mark Cosgrove added: “We see the development of the railway centre as a key element in the economic regeneration of Whitehead and the surrounding area.

“The RPSI is harnessing engineering skills which would otherwise have been lost and there is significant potential in terms of job creation and tourism.

“The extensions are particularly valuable as at present we are very tight for space to carry out all our overhaul work on steam engines and coaches.

“Our ultimate plan is to develop our heritage engineering skills and build a visitor attraction around what is the last surviving traditional railway workshop in Northern Ireland.”