Thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Cumberland Council, pathways have been upgraded, making it easier for people with pushchairs and wheelchairs to use and enjoy the site, and new seating created for people to pause on their stroll.
Sculptural elements have been installed around the trail, highlighting the historical and social significance of the site as the former ‘Canal Shed’ locomotive (rail steam engine) yard and its position alongside the Hadrian’s Wall Path,
Lengths of railway track, kindly donated by Network Rail, have been bent and shaped to create way markers around the trail route in a ‘nod’ the ‘Canal Shed’, active at Engine Lonning for nearly a century, servicing steam and latterly diesel locomotives until the late 1960’s.
Harvey Hamilton-Thorpe, ERT CEO said,
“The railyard at Engine Lonning is an integral part of the local community’s history and heritage. Generations of family members will have been employed at the site and many memories shared.
“We are so pleased that with the donation from Network Rail and the metalworking skills of Chris Brammall, we have been able to acknowledge this in such an innovative way, and we hope that more of the community will now be able to access and enjoy this peaceful green space thanks to the newly-laid path.“
Chris Brammall is a Cumbrian artist based in Ulverston, who is regarded as one of the UK’s leading metalworkers, and has sculpted these way markers and other metalwork elements around the route. Drawing inspiration from the nearby Hadrian’s Wall Path, he has also repurposed sandstone that was once part of a Roman fort in Carlisle and forged a stunning Roman coin-shaped picnic table that wheelchairs can fit under.
