The Bala Lake Railway’s plans to expand have been boosted by a £23,000 grant from the Magnox Socio Economic fund.

Project Red Dragon, the Bala Lake Railway Trust’s flagship project, will see the railway’s running line extended by a further half mile into a new station on Bala High Street.

Describing the award, Bala Lake Railway trust chairman Julian Birley BEM, said: “This is fantastic news that gives further impetus to a project that continues to build momentum. There are now so many people on board with this project and it has got the town buzzing. With the necessary land purchases well in hand, we are getting ever nearer to the magic moment when we start laying track, although we still have a lot do before then.”

Financed by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the Magnox Socio-economic Fund was set up to mitigate the impact that decommissioning its nuclear power stations would have on local communities. Support is available to improve education and skills provision or support local employment, economic diversification or social infrastructure.

Edward Selden, Trawsfynydd closure director, said: “The Magnox socio-economic scheme is providing invaluable support in the early stages of this transformational project, boosting the economy through tourism to the area and bringing much needed employment opportunities. This helps to build a sustainable future.”

Explaining how the BLRT qualified, Julian added: “The extension means so much more than an extended running line; it will completely transform the fortunes of the town. The overwhelming support this project has from the local community shows how important it is to them and why it so important that we keep up the pace.”

“It’s not just about the railway; we are talking increased visitors to the town, more economic activity in the town to service those visitors, more BLR staff to run a growing railway, and more skilled engineering to maintain a growing fleet.”

The grant will go towards the engineering consultancy necessary for the extension designs, in particular working with Natural Resources Wales to include the formation for the railway during their forthcoming scheme to upgrade the flood defences along Bala Lake. With NRW doing the work for the railway at the same time as their own it is saving the railway several hundreds of thousand pounds.