Talks hope in fight to revamp famous station

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to raise £l.5m to save an historic railway station say they may be forced to phase in the massive facelift with the cash they have available now.
Since April this year Carnforth Station and Railway Trust has secured an estimated £750,000 towards revamping the station made famous in the film Brief Encounter. The film connection brings tourists to the station from all over the world and more are expected next year when the great British romance is re-released on St Valentine's Day.
But recently the station was voted the worst in Britain and members of the trust are now more determined than ever to find the cash needed to revamp Carnforth before the Railtrack regeneration programme reaches the area next year when the buildings could be flattened is hoped that talks with Railtrack will secure extra funding if bosses are willing to put the £100,000 to £300,000 they would spend on the station's demolition into the revamp instead.
David Taylor, a member of the trust, said he was determined the station would get the improvements. He said: "At the moment we are waiting to hear from Railtrack to have a meeting with them to see if we can move forward on this. Part of the aim of the meeting is to see how far they are advanced with their plans and to see if there is a route forward so maybe we could do something with the money we have so far.
"We are getting a lot of high profile support but we just need to get that bit more to raise the extra money." He added: "The trust has already started the process where we are beginning to look at the options open to us in the event of part but not all of the money being available ... that money could be phased over a couple of years." Peter Yates, chairman of the trust, said he was not prepared to back down with the plans. He said: "I can't walk away from it because we have done so much work to get this."

Talks hope in fight to revamp famous station Lancashire Evening Post, 9 ^th November 1999

<< back

[ Media ] [ Home ]