Alresford Hampshire - Hampshire's historic Watercress Line has been awarded £895,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to help a three-year project to restore the railway's flagship locomotive, Canadian Pacific.
 
Celebrating its 150th anniversary this year, the Mid Hants Railway, now one of the most popular visitor attractions in the south, bought the Southern Railway Merchant Navy Class No.35005 Canadian Pacific locomotive in 2006 and it ran on the railway until 2008, when its statutory overhaul was due.
 
All of these giants of British engineering require an overhaul every ten years to keep them safely in steam.
 
At 74-years-old, this 95 ton engine can now be completely stripped down and rebuilt by the railway's growing team of skilled engineers and apprentices.
 
The three-year restoration project has been awarded £895,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the total cost of £1.5 million.
 
The remainder of the project's costs will be met through fundraising and donations to the Mid Hants Railway Preservation Society, the charity behind the Watercress Line.
 
The project also involves the restoration of two wooden-framed coaches designed by the same Southern Railways engineer, Oliver Bulleid.
 
Once restored to their former glory, the locomotive and coaches will become the focal point of Watercress Line activities.
 
Managing director Colin Chambers said:  "We are extremely grateful to the Heritage Lottery Fund for supporting this project and the aims of the Mid Hants Railway. We look forward to sharing progress of the restoration process itself and it will be fantastic to have this beautiful southern locomotive back in steam and at the heart of the railway."
 
Stuart McLeod, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund South East, said:  "We're really pleased to be supporting this project that provides an excellent opportunity to secure the long-term future of Hampshire's railway heritage. The exciting plans to restore the Canadian Pacific and Bulleid coaches to their former glory will help conserve this important heritage for generations to come, and through the enhanced visitor experience and extensive volunteering and training opportunities, more people will be able to learn about the social, political, and economic significance of our historic railways."
 
Canadian Pacific was originally built just a few miles away from the Watercress Line in the railway town of Eastleigh in 1941 and, in a neat turn of events, this is where the locomotive's restoration will begin.
 
Eastleigh Works has rented out part of the building where the 30 Merchant Navy Class engines were originally built so that the project team has space to strip her down and rebuild her.
 
Component parts will be brought back to life at the railway's own extensive engineering facilities at its Ropley site, which are on view to visitors.
 
The project has a huge community focus for the railway and the town of Eastleigh, as the Watercress Line pulls together the story of the builders, drivers, and passengers of the 1940s and 1950s steam era.
 
Local memories of that time are actively being sought by the railway to bring the story to life.
 
People will be able to closely follow the restoration process through the Watercress Line's web site and social media, with regular blogs and updates as it progresses.
 
The Mid Hants Railway Ltd., famously nicknamed The Watercress Line in the early 20th century for its role in transporting the crop to London, is Hampshire's only standard gauge heritage railway.
 
It runs for ten miles through idyllic countryside along the border of the South Downs National Park, between the market towns of Alton and Alresford.
 
Opened on 2 Oct 1865, as the Alton Alresford & Winchester Railway, it became part of British Railways until its hotly contested closure in 1973.
 
The line and services were quickly reinstated by a dedicated preservation group and today the Watercress Line is one of the south's premier visitor attractions, pulling in 125,000 visitors annually with a turnover in excess of £2 million.
 
Keith Hamilton.