New community room and heritage colours repaint for Sleaford station

A £204,000 project to repaint Sleaford station and convert a unused space into a community room has been completed. 

The new community room will be an asset to the area providing a space for local schools and groups to learn about the railway, as well as a place where other local groups can meet and hold events. 

The building also includes a water harvesting system so that station adopters - who are volunteers that help out at their local station - can keep the site's garden beds looking their best for customers.  

As part of the project, the rest of the station also received a new coat of paint. The painting was carried out in close collaboration with Rail Heritage to ensure the correct heritage colours of buckingham green and cream were chosen.

The image below shows the level of disrepair the building was in before the project. 

The work at Sleaford was jointly funded by a number of organisations, including East Midlands Railway, the Rail Heritage Trust, CrossCountry and the Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership. 

Lisa Angus, Transition and Projects Director at East Midlands Railway, said: "We are pleased that the project has been finished and that the local community can now make use of the new facilities at the station. 

"The community room will provide a useful space for local organisations, schools and volunteers. The repainting of the station in heritage colours also looks great and provides a good first impression of the town when customers use our services."

Tim Hedley-Jones, Executive Director at the Railway Heritage Trust, said: “We are very pleased to have supported this project with a grant to help restore this station. We are especially pleased with the quality of the repainting which has been undertaken to show off the station in its LNER heritage colours, and that rooms at the station have been brought back into community use.”

Peter Roberts, Chair of the Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership, said: "The opening of the new room is great news and it will really benefit local voluntary orgnisations around the town who need a convenient place to meet.

"It is also lovely to see the station in its new heritage colours."

David Jones, Stakeholder Liaison Manager at CrossCountry said: “CrossCountry links with the Poacher Line at Nottingham providing connectivity to the West Midlands, Wales and the South for people travelling from and to Sleaford station.

"We are delighted to support our Community Rail Partnerships with funding for great restoration projects like this that breathe new life into disused station buildings which can then be used by local community groups.”