The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust

The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust (‘The Trust’) owns GWR 5600 class 6634, which arrived at the SVR for restoration in 2009, and left in an incomplete state in 2017 to move to Peak Rail. Work on this locomotive stalled in 2012 after the boiler tubeplate was stolen from Crewe Heritage Centre, where boiler work was being carried out.

The Trust is an unincorporated Registered Charity No. 1039409. Its aim is the “preservation of historic railway engines, carriages and ancillary items, education of the general public as to the historical significance of preserved railways through the promotion of actual rolling stock and scale models.”

Its Trustees include Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL. In 2016 Dr Waterman became a vice-president of the Transport Trust, a UK charity dedicated to the preservation of the nation's transport heritage. In 2018 he became President of Peak Rail plc. Dr Waterman auctioned around a tenth of his collection of railway models in April 2015 for more than £600,000, in order to “raise enough money to secure the future of the Waterman Railway Heritage Trust.”

Income to the Trust in its annual returns in the years ending March 2015-19 was £16,825 and spending £410,105.

In 2016 the Trust sold the unrestored 7027 Thornbury Castle.

The Trust’s other assets include GWR 4575 Class 2-6-2T No. 5553 and GWR 5205 Class 2-8-0T No. 5224 and substantial amounts of railway models. Peak Rail’s Press Release in May 2015 announced: “Dr Pete Waterman OBE DL is delighted to announce that he has reached an agreement with Peak Rail to base his Waterman Railway Heritage Trust assets at its Rowsley site”. Both of these locomotives moved in 2015 from Crewe Heritage Centre to be overhauled. From December 2016 it was reported on National Preservation that work is being undertaken on both locomotives.

See also

List of preservation groups

Links

Charity Commission entry for The Waterman Railway Heritage Trust.