Donations made by the Colonel Stephens Society
Each year the Colonel Stephens Society makes a donation to a Colonel related prodject.
Treasurer, Nigel Bird, has compiled this list of donations the Society has made so far to projects associated with the Colonel’s railways. It will be updated as further donations are made.:
2000:
£50 East Kent Light Railway: towards the restoration of 0-4-0ST Spitfire. Because the EKLR ran into financial difficulties, the
loco was sold and the donation, which the railway offered to return, was transferred to assist the work on extending the platform at Eythorne.
£50 KESR Terrier Trust: towards the restoration of No.3 Bodiam, now back in service.
£50 Ffestiniog Railway: to the Kerr Stuart 4415 loco fund;
£50 to the Rother Valley Railway Supporters’ Association towards refurbishing the buffet at Robertsbridge.
2001:
£200 to the Welsh Highland Railway(C) towards the rebuilding of Waunfawr station;
£100 to the EKLR towards the work on the platform at Eythorne station; a further £100 towards the restoration of KESR No. 3 Bodiam,
£100 to the Greensands Railway Museum Trust towards the restoration of former WD Baldwin 4-6-0T, based at the Leighton Buzzard Railway, now back in traffic;
£50 to the Colonel Stephens Museum at Tenterden.
2002:
£400 to the Welsh Highland Railway (P) towards the restoration of the famous WHR loco Russell,
£120 for copy negatives to be made of 30 S&MR photos in the collection of the Kidderminster Railway Museum;
£50 to the WHR(P) general fund.
2003:
£250 to Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust towards the restoration of the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire’s Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate station;
£250 to the Ffestiniog Railway towards the restoration of the former Ashover Light Railway Planet class diesel shunter Ashover.
2004:
£200 to the Rother Valley Railway towards the refurbishment of bridges;
£200 to the WHR(C) towards the restoration of the Baldwin 4-6-0T;
£100 to the Narrow Gauge Museum at Tywyn;
£250 towards the relocation of the goods yard crane from the SMR Shrewsbury Abbey Foregate terminus to Coleham pumping station;
£250 to the Colonel Stephens Museum towards the purchase of the original Bodiam station clock.
2005:
£250 to the ColonelStephensMuseum towards the creation of a waxworks effigy of Colonel Stephens.
2006:
£200 to the Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust towards an oral history project; £500 to the WHR(P) towards the Russell restoration project;
£200 to the Colonel Stephens Museum for the purchase of a map of the Burry Port & Gwendraeth Valley Railway.
2007:
A further sum of £500 towards the WHR(P) Russell project;
£500 towards the purchase of stock for the BurryPort & GwendraethValley revival project.
2008:
£500 towards the conservation of the archives of the Festiniog and Welsh Highland Railways.
2009:
£500 to the Colonel Stephens Museum towards the cost of acquisition of an EKR hand lamp
£500 a further donation towards the conservation of the Festiniog and Welsh Highland Railway arcives (including the JIC Boyd papers)
£27.75 for the purchase of photographs and negatives of the EKR
2010:
£500 to Colin Shutt towards the reconstruction of a Ford Railmotor
£250 towards the painting to museum standard of a replica Festiniog Railway 4-wheel 'bug box' carriage in Stephens era livery.
2011:
£200 to the Weston Clevedon & Portishead Group towards the cost of erecting interpretation boards at key points along the route of the former railway.
£500 to the Rother Valley Railway towards the project to restore the missing link between Robertsbridge and Bodiam.
2012:
£1000 to the colonel Stephens Railway Museum, Tenterden for the purchase of a works plate for the K&ESR locomotive No.2 'Northiam'.
2013:
£500 to the Tamar Belle, Bere Ferrers, towards conversion of a cattle wagon to a signal box and interpretation of the work of Colonel Stephens.
2015:
£250 The Isle of Wight Steam Railway: towards the restoration of the Drewry Ryde Pier tramcar, similar to, but not identical with, the small Drewry railcar that ran on the Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Railway.
£500 Colin Shut towards the restoration of a Ford rail lorry, similar to one that ran on the Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway.
£500 Lynton & Barnstaple Railway. Chelfham Station project. Presented to Nigel Thompson by Chairman Les Darbyshire during the CSS visit May 2015
2016:
£520 Kerr Stuart Diesel KS4415 fund based at the Welsh Highland Railway
£500 Lynton & Barnstaple Chelfam Station
2017:
£500 C S Museum re Colin Shutt's Rail Motor
£250 Weston, Clevedon & Portishead Society
2018:
£500 Isle of Wight Railway
£500 Kerr Stuart Loco
£500 East Kent Railway Loco. Shed
£500 KESR re GWR Railcar
£600 Transport Costs for Colin Shutt's Railmotor to Tenterden
£219.75 Eastleigh Model Railway Exhibition (Supporting their CS layouts theme)
2019:
£500 Tamar Belle at Bere Ferrers. General donation to help support and maintain the site,
£500 Isle of Wight Railway towards the Drewry Railmotor restoration.
£500 Ffestiniog Railway. Towards the restoration of Kerr Stuart/diesel 4415
£500 East Kent Railway donation towards the building of a Loco Shed
£650 Kent & East Sussex Railway to;-Terrier Trust (KESR) to overhaul their two “Terriers”,
£500 University of Glasgow (Pickering Archives) (who have a Pickering carriage & wagon works collection)
2020:
Please find that this year we have decided to offer as much as we can, to help former Colonel Stephens Railways that are now Heritage Railways. So we are pleased to confirm that we have donated the following amounts to help with the current loss of income due to Covid-19 lockdown.
£1,000 Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway.
£1,000 Kent & East Sussex Railway.
£500 Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
£500 East Kent Railway
£500 Colonel Stephens Museum
2021:
£500 CS Museum re WC&P Sign
2022:
£1000 East Kent Railway Trust rerenewing the platform at Eythorne
£250 WHR Ltd. re restoration of Baldwin Loco.
£500 Isle of Wight Railway re Drewry Railcar
£500 Ashover Light Railway reButts Pastures scene at Rowsley, to purchase some more track.
2023:
£660 Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust re Display Board
£250 Ashover Light Railway re Emergency Locomotive Repairs
£225 Sustrans re Sheppey Light Railway Display Board
£500 Tanfield Railway Trust re General Donation
£500 Colonel Stephens Museum, purchase of Cranbrook Station nameboard
2024:
£1000 Colonel Stephens Museum (Snailbeach Loco. Plate)
£1000 KESR (Tenterden Station Refurbishment)
£250 Sustrans (Re Sheppey L R Display Boards)
£250 Shrewsbury Railway Heritage Trust (General Funds
£100 Shropshire Mines Trust (General Funds)