The intergenerational, multimedia project ‘Shaping our Past, Building our Future’, undertaken by the Friends of Blair Atholl Station, set out to help the community reconnect with its neglected station, reinforcing its important place in the future of the village and the Highland Line.

Aided by National Lottery Heritage Funding, the project began recording oral histories of those who remembered the station in its heyday – older villagers, rail employees and longstanding visitors. The interviews were posted as podcasts online via the Friends group’s website and YouTube channel, as well as later published as a book. One of the personal histories was transformed into an animated short film and a children’s storybook, entitled ‘Mike’s Station’. Two workshops on station history and animation were delivered at the local primary school, and the volunteers hosted a trip for every single pupil to come and visit the station.

As the culmination of the project, the threads of past, present and potential future of Blair Atholl Station were brought together in a weekend-long, well-attended exhibition in the village hall. The volunteers are now working on the next stage of their plan, seeking funding for a feasibility study to renovate the empty stationhouse into a thriving community hub.

‘A Town Explores a Book’ is a community arts festival in which each year, the Explore the Arch theatre company supports local young people (particularly young diverse readers) to gain familiarity with their literary heritage via accessible art projects and educational readings. In 2024, the book at the heart of the festival was Edith Nesbit’s The Railway Children.

Southeast Communities Rail Partnership worked with a group of 17–25-year-olds to research and create a heritage artwork exhibition, focusing on The Station, The Tunnels and Who Build the Railways, which was displayed on the platform at St Leonards Warrior Square Station. The CRP also empowered the group to deliver a railway-themed street party, where the artwork was officially unveiled and the local community came together to enjoy live music, train art workshops and street performers.

The young people involved were not only supported to engage with their local railway and stations, but acted as the driving force behind the project, gaining confidence and skills in research, artwork and event management.

Inspired by Looe Station and the number of wild birds that can be seen from the platform, ‘Birds on the Branchline’ was a project that used wildlife conservation to engage communities with their local railway line.

Led by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and with advice from RSPB, artist Sally Crabtree devised a series of bird-themed activities for 10 different community groups with a range of abilities, including adults with physical disabilities, refugees and young people with anxiety disorders. Participants created songs and poems about nature and journeys, wrote articles for a Bird Zine about the plight of wild birds and their habitats, and even made bird feeders and boxes. After each workshop, participants were taken on a train trip, enabling them to share what they had produced and develop their confidence to travel.

To celebrate the finished project, a pop-up exhibition took place at Liskeard Station, a podcast was created and featured on the local radio, and in total over 265 people were educated about wild birds and their habitats, as well as being inspired and supported to travel by train.