LCLR Gala 2016 – Restored First World War Carriage

A World War One wagon built in Lincoln in 1917 to take soldiers and munitions to the front line trenches in France, will be unveiled for public use as a disabled-access carriage at the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway’s Gala on Saturday 16^th July 2016, in the Skegness Water Leisure Park.
Thanks to a grant of £43,000 for the wagon and improving disabled access at Walls Lane station, from The Peoples’ Millions (a part of the National Lottery, in partnership with ITV, where the public choose community groups for funding), the old “Class D” wagon built by Clayton and Shuttleworth at their Abbey Works in Lincoln in 1917 for the War Department Light Railways, has been transformed from a rusty hulk. This has been made possible thanks to skilled work by the Trust’s volunteers, together with the Midland Railway Centre in Derbyshire and local contractors. It’s still possible to see shrapnel damage from its days at the front but now, after adaptations to make it accessible to people in wheelchairs, it can offer the experience of what it was like to ride to the front line trenches in an open top rail wagon, perched on ammunition boxes.
The Railway’s spokesman, John Chappell, said: ”It’s been a year of unprecedented progress, and we’re keen to share that with the wider public. For the first time, we now have a carriage which people with disabilities can access and which offers what is really a form of Time Travel to visitors. That is especially significant – and we’re delighted one of our locomotives now permanently honours the greatly-respected first President of our Trust, Major ‘Tubby’ Robins.
“Our collection shows how narrow-gauge railways reached otherwise inaccessible places – battlefields, the Lincolnshire Fens and its potato fields, the early holiday camps of the Lincolnshire Coast and essential industry such as lime works, cement factories and brick-yards. They carried the troops, the ammunition, the food and the building materials – as well as the holiday makers – of our parents’, grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ day.
“Against all the odds, they have survived to be restored here in Skegness, so we hope as many people as possible will come and explore this unique part of England’s history in Skegness on the occasion of our Gala Day on Saturday 16th July ”.
We’re very proud to have provided the paint for this restoration. We wish them all the luck for this Saturday and hope everyone has a great day!
For more information about this event please visit www.lclr.co.uk