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Wednesday 26 Jul 2006

HELP POPPLETON RAILWAY NURSERY BLOOM AGAIN

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An open evening is being held on Tuesday 1 August (Yorkshire Day) to recruit volunteers to help set up a community interest company and save Britain’s last surviving railway nursery. Poppleton nursery was established during World War II to provide good quality vegetables for railway canteens. After the war it served railway hotels and the hundreds of station gardens across Yorkshire and the North East.  It had a railway with a narrow gauge of two feet, which brought the plants from the greenhouses to the distribution point. In latter years a petrol-engine locomotive would shunt wagons along a short stretch of track. The track survives but the locomotive has been sold. Jerry Swift, account director for community rail at Network Rail, said:  “Everyone is welcome to come along to the open evening.  We don’t just want gardeners, we need people with skills of all sorts – and, of course, a passion for the railways.  There is no obligation to get involved but we are hoping that a small team of interested individuals will emerge from the event. Without support the future of this historic site looks bleak.” Graham Warner has worked at the nursery since 1978.  He said: “It would be wonderful to see the nursery restored to its former glory.  It is overgrown at the moment but it would only take a little bit of effort to tidy it up.  I really hope that volunteers can be found to give it a new lease of life and to preserve it for future generations.” Network Rail has been working with the National Railway Museum, the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, Northern Rail and Jarvis to re-launch the nursery as a community project.  A number of ideas have been suggested, but each requires support from volunteers in order to be viable. The nursery is next to Poppleton station, with an hourly train service from York. There is car parking available on the site, by the railway level crossing.  The site will be open from 5.30pm to 8pm on the evening of 1 August.