Sun shines on rail riders who add almost £1,500 to Festival total

Almost £1,500 has been added to the Lincs 2025 Festival total thanks to Robert Holland throwing open the doors of his Ropsley Heath Light Railway for a day of steam train riding by Lincolnshire Freemasons, friends, and family members.

And PGM Dave Wheeler gave a demonstration of ‘leading from the front’ when he took the controls of steam engine Nimrod, hauling the ‘Freemason Special’ under Robert’s watchful eye.

Thanks to fair weather a number of visitors were able to attend, and added £1,483 to the Festival total.

Ropsley Heath Light Railway is privately owned by Robert, a member of several Lincolnshire Lodges. Since childhood he has been a railway enthusiast. Moving to Glebe Farm, in three acres of Lincolnshire countryside, it dawned upon him that there was enough space for a small railway.

He commissioned his first engine – Nimrod – and then started to draw up plans for the track layout, with construction starting in 2018. His railway enthusiast friends jumped at the chance to help with the project, and a band of up to 20 volunteers was soon meeting weekly to help with the variety of construction tasks. In late 2020, despite the rude interruption by the Covid virus the construction phase was almost complete and the first of the passenger carriages were delivered.

Robert is keen to share his passion of all things railways by having visitors to RHLR, these can be charity groups, scouts/guides, church groups, school groups and steam enthusiast groups. If you would like to book a group visit, details are on the railway’s Facebook page.

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