2024 Winners

There were nearly 60 entries received for this year’s competition and fittingly, as we move into the period when we celebrate 200 years of railways, there is one that dates to 1823. 

Entries are from all four nations of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Entrants being a mix of community groups, private individuals and companies as well as public authorities and train operators. They range in size and scope and were judged for the competition for the 10 award category. with an additional award for the best overall entry. A couple of entries received have been deferred because they were not ready for judging and another that was felt to be outside of our awards criteria. 

Nearly two thirds of the entries related to work done at stations, both open and closed. These included extensive work done at Troon Station by Network Rail and AMCO to completely reconstruct a fire damaged Station building on platform 1, London Overground, Transport for London and Arriva Rail created a Heritage and Community Space at Bruce Grove Station, Colt Construction carried out the refurbishment of the downside Waiting Shelter at Market Rasen Station, and South Western Railway has carried out a refurbishment of Ryde Esplanade Station. Restoration work was done to canopies at Great Malvern Station by Network Rail and at Chapple & Wakes Colne Station by Greater Anglia, whilst the stained-glass restoration and associated canopy work was completed at Monkseaton Station, Tyne & Wear by Nexus. 

Other restoration and improvement schemes undertaken at operational stations were received from Network Rail, CPMS, Neary Rail and Covanburn for the restoration work done over several years at Lanark Station, Chiltern Railways for their historic refresh of the Ticket Hall at Dorridge Station, and general refurbishment by West Midland Trains at Worcester Shrub Hill Station. Dorset Council carried some external restoration work on Maiden Newton Station, Southeastern Trains did further work to the façade and interior Waiting and Buffet Rooms at Margate Station, East Midlands Railway carried out improvements to heritage doors at Nottingham Station, Northern Trains refurbished rooms on Platform 1 at Romiley Station near Manchester. 

Southeastern Trains also carried out a refurbishment on the derelict former Station Master’s house at Battle Station done in a heritage style to provide a community facility and, in a similar way, The Arch Company restored the Station Master’s House at Denmark Hill Station for a future use. Network Rail and AMCO entered the west to east walkway project at Edinburgh Waverley Station and at Paddington Station Network Rail and Spence Refit have continued with their significant restoration of Macmillan House, Block E. 

Important work has been done by Community Groups to provide new uses for redundant buildings and regenerate and enliven operational stations which resulted in several entries. These encompassed the refurbishment of the disused station building at Henley-in-Arden Station by the Friends of Henley Railway Station, a complete restoration of the Bricket Wood Station building by Bricket Wood Station Heritage Trust, the completion of a Community Cafe and Hub at Hollingbourne Station by Kent Community Rail Partnership and Southeastern, the Tea Rooms at Crediton Station by The Turning Tides Project, the Café Bar at Horton in Ribblesdale Station by Settle and Carlisle Railway Trust and also heritage seating at Bat & Ball Station by Sevenoaks Town Council. 

Entries in a heritage railway setting included the external restoration work done at Penrhyn Station by the Ffestiniog Railway Society, the North Yorkshire Moors Railway entered two projects completed at Goathland: the restored and fitted out Station Weighbridge Office as a visitor display and a nearby Rail Motor Hut. In a larger scale a new heritage station has been created at Corwen by the Llangollen Railway Trust to provide a western terminus for their extended railway. 

Several entries related to initiatives to find new uses for redundant railway properties included the work done by Wild Thinking to create the Railway Rooms at Kingussie Station, the external restoration by Summit Education Society and Hull City Council of the former Stepney Station building near Hull as part of a townscape heritage scheme. Also included were the restoration of the Goods Shed Offices at Llanelli by the Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust and the sensitively converted former Caledonian Railway Newtyle Goods Shed to form six terraced dwellings by Sidlaw Building & Joinery Services. Bromley Council and Friends of Crystal Palace Subway entered their latest conservation work done to the subway at Crystal Palace that linked the long-lost Great Exhibition hall with the now long-closed High-Level Station of the London Chatham & Dover Railway. 

Two schemes in Manchester, one being the conversion of the old Porters’ store at Manchester Victoria Station to a Public House, the ‘Victoria Tap’ by Bloomsbury Leisure Group and, The Landmark Trust’s restoration of the Station Agent’s House near the former Liverpool & Manchester Railway’s Liverpool Road Station. Elsewhere, entries included the careful conservation of a Victorian tiled floor by The Landmark Trust at the former Alton Station, Staffordshire (for Alton Towers), as well as the transformation by Derbyshire Historic Buildings Trust of the North Midland Railways’ former Wingfield Station from a derelict and seriously decayed condition to give this historic building a sustainable new future. 

Smaller but equally important are a host of restoration schemes which included the return of the restored statues to Brixton Station by Southeastern Trains, and Chiltern Railways and Steelway Fensecure entered some new GWR style ‘spear top’ fencing at Leamington Spa Station replacing like-for-like. Transport for London and Archirest entered the Passimeter Kiosk at Hounslow West Station as well as the project to restore and reinstate 44 external globe lights at 14 London Underground Stations. 

There was only one Signal Box entry this year, this being the one relocated from Billingshurst and now at Amberley Museum where further conservation work has been done to it. 

Other entries received were the Vale of Rheidol Railway’s new museum in the former GWR engine shed at Aberystwyth featuring the relocated entrance portico of the former South Eastern Railway’s London Bridge Tooley Street offices. In the Republic of Ireland, IRD Kiltimagh and Mayo Celtic Holidays entered their pioneering Velorail project based at Kiltimagh using an eight-mile stretch of the disused Claremorris to Collooney railway route in County Mayo. In Northern Ireland at Bangor County Down, Translink entered their refurbishment of the old Belfast, Holywood & Bangor Railway sand drying chimney and associated out-buildings. 

The second largest category of entries relates to structures which ranged in scale and age. The oldest entry this year is by the National Railway Museum for Gaunless Bridge of 1823, being an early iron bridge built to connect the Stockton & Darlington Railway with Witton Park Collery and now restored and relocated to their site at Locomotion, Shildon. 

Three footbridge entries where extensive restoration has been done: National Highways for the Boleside Road footbridge over the closed Selkirk District Railway line at Galashiels; Network Rail for the one at Duffield Station; and at Cullercoats Station by Nexus and Tyne & Wear Transport Authority 

At Tunbridge Wells Station, heritage work done to the road overbridge was entered by Network Rail and BAM Nuttall and the refurbishment of the prominent underbridge over Saltmarket in Glasgow was entered by Story Contracting and Network Rail. 

Several viaduct entries feature on closed railway lines: National Highways for work done to Pensford Viaduct near Bristol; Northern Viaduct Trust for repairs and waterproofing on Smardale Gill Viaduct near Kirkby Stephen; and, on the disused former Somerset & Dorset line near Shepton Mallet, Greenways and Cycleroutes with the Friends of Windsor Hill, entered the work done to Ham Wood and Bath Road Viaducts as well as Windsor Hill Tunnel, where work has been done to make them accessible as a wheelchair friendly walking and cycling route and a key incremental part of the Somerset Circle pathway. 

The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway entered their Stanway Viaduct at Toddington after innovative parapet stabilisation work to maintain the historic structure on that heritage railway. 

On the national network, Story Contracting, MHB Consultants and Network Rail entered Camps Viaduct near Hamilton Central, and Network Rail entered the magnificent Barmouth Viaduct on the Cambrian coast originally of 1867 with  118 timber and steel spans that have been rebuilt over several years.