Network Rail staff have volunteered in the North East to help a primary school move a Pacer train and convert it into a school library.

Kirk Merrington Primary School in Spennymoor appealed for help after outgrowing their existing facilities after a surge in pupil numbers.

The previous library has now been repurposed into another classroom, with books moving to shelves in the corridor.

Since then, the school has a fundraiser to buy the disused pacer train, which is now being transformed into a learning environment.

Before the carriages could be installed, volunteers from Network Rail worked to install track, sleepers and ballast for the Pacer to sit on.

The school fundraised to buy a disused pacer train, which is now being transformed into an imaginative learning environment.

The Pacer, 142045, was transported to the school and rolled from a low loader across the car park and was secured in place.

After the Pacer was parked into place, the next job was to remove the seats, improve the flooring, and to install lighting.

Mick Hodgson, Route Operations Manager for Network Rail’s North and East route, said: “When I heard about the school’s plans, I knew our teams could help. I’m so proud of them for getting involved and volunteering their skills.

“This project means Kirk Merrington Primary School will have a library again, and it will provide space for additional learning activities for many years to come.

“We really enjoyed being a part of this amazing project, and we’re looking forward to seeing the transformation.”

Nicola Murray, Headteacher at Kirk Merrington Primary School, said: “We are very excited about this project and the creation of an amazing and exciting learning environment for the children to ‘Dare to Dream’ and re-engage with their love of reading.

“We are looking to repurpose our school library furniture to have relaxed seating as well as keeping some of the original carriage seating and tables. We also think our teachers can be creative too in their lessons in history, geography and science as we are a region that is steeped in railway history.

“We would like to thank Mick Hodgson and Network Rail for their support with this project, as without them we would not be in a position to create something special for our children at Kirk Merrington.”

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