Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has given Chestnut Tree House children’s hospice in West Sussex a cheque for over £12,500 raised at a special charity tour in April.

Money was raised through ticket sales, a raffle and an on-board auction, and totalled £25,335.76. GTR is dividing this between Chestnut Tree House and Railway Children.

• To see how Chestnut Tree House cares for local children and families, visit this web page.
• For more information on Railway Children’s work with alone and at risk on the streets in India, the UK and East Africa, visit the charity’s website.

The rail tour marked the retirement of the Southern fleet of Class 313 trains, and visited Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Brighton, Three Bridges, Ore and Newhaven. It was organised with the help of the Branch Line Society.

At 47 years old, the Class 313s were the oldest mainline electric trains operating in the UK. Southern has replaced them with Electrostar trains, which are three times more reliable and faster. The operator believes that they will “transform” passenger travel along the coast between Portsmouth, Brighton and Lewes.

The Class 377/387 Electrostars already operate on the Southern network, and feature air-conditioning and accessible toilets. The trains will run with an extra fourth carriage on the busiest route, to Portsmouth.

A five-year, £100m upgrade will see GTR’s 270-train Electrostar fleet fitted with power and charging points, information screens, LED lighting and performance monitoring systems.

Chris Fowler, Network Operations Director for GTR and Network Rail, presented the cheque to Ella Pilkington of Chestnut Tree House, and said: “In the five decades the 313s have been operating, they’ve formed special memories for train crew, passengers, and customers. It’s great that in honouring their service, rail enthusiasts have raised such a magnificent sum for children’s charities.

“Over the past six years GTR has arranged other farewell tours to mark the withdrawal of our older fleets and with this latest tour now complete, we have raised £75,000 for charity. Arranging these tours takes a lot of work and I want to say a huge thanks to Antony Yandell, our Duty Operations Manager, who led the organising team, and everyone who has played a part.”

Ella Pilkington at Chestnut Tree House said: “There are hundreds of children and young people with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions in our local community who require specialist care, and even more parents and family members who need help and support.

“It is thanks to the kindness and generosity of individuals and companies like Southern and its parent company GTR that Chestnut Tree House can be there for each family on their journey – now and in the future. This donation of £12,500 is enough to pay for a full day of all our care services, both at the hospice and out in the community, so really will make a huge difference. On behalf of everyone at Chestnut Tree House, I’d like to say a huge thank you for your support.”