Volunteers from Nantwich Methodist Church Railway have coupled-up with students from Crewe Engineering & Design UTC to build new tracks for their railway ride.
The railway ride at Nantwich Methodist Church has operated on Saturday mornings for more than 10 years.
It provides fun rides for children and the young at heart, raising more than £15,000 for children’s charities.
Eddie George is director of The Friends of the Nantwich Signal Box Ltd, who are delivering the railway extension project for the church.
He said: “We’re thrilled to be working with these talented engineers at Crewe UTC college, who are kindly building new track lengths for us.
“We’ve decided to extend the track behind the church to give people an even longer ride.”
Engineering students Adam Jenkins and Daniel Warner, both at Crewe UTC Sixth Form College studying BTEC Diploma in Engineering, have built two lengths of track already.
Eddie and railway volunteer Richard Caulder recently visited the college’s workshop to see how they were getting on.
“The first two lengths have been built and look fantastic and we have since tested an electric engine on the track and it ran successfully,” added Eddie.
Dan and Adam are now completing the construction of the remaining lengths of track, under the instruction of the college’s Engineering Technician Chris Wood, and look forward to proudly handing them over to the church.
The railway runs most Saturday mornings from 10am – 12pm at Nantwich Methodist Church, Hospital Street.
There are plans to introduce wheelchair access to one of the coaches and anyone can call in for a cup of tea or coffee.
If you would like to volunteer your time, contact Eddie on [email protected]
The church supports four children’s charities: Action for Children, Hope House, Under the Mango Tree, and Railway Children:
-Action for Children (https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/) work to improve life for children in the UK, so every child and young person has a safe and happy childhood.
-Hope House and Ty Gobaith hospices (https://www.hopehouse.org.uk/) support seriously ill children in Shropshire, Cheshire, Powys and North Wales.
-Under the Mango Tree (https://www.underthemangotree.org.uk/) are a UK based charity that supports Timboni Primary School in rural Kenya, helping to educate some of the world’s poorest children and feeding around 350 children breakfast and lunch each school day. They are helping to break the cycle of poverty by enabling a future where hopes and dreams can be fulfilled through the basis of education.
-Railway Children (https://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/) is an international children’s charity working with street children in India, East Africa and the UK.
Kevin Wood. Are you feeling OK? This is a good news story about young people supporting a local church project. You do know the church can be interested in Trains and God. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
This Church seems to be more interested in trains than it is about God and Jesus.
Whats going on?