Students help build Railway Engineering Workshop

Buckinghamshire University Technical College’s (UTC) Construction students have been helping to build a new engineering workshop at the wholly volunteer run Chinnor & Princes Risborough Heritage Railway, as part of their ‘real life’ project experience programme.

The students, who are studying for their BTEC Level 3 Certificate, Diploma & Extended Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment, laid blockwork below the steel clad walls of the engineering workshop, to complete this phase of the project. The building, part of a new Restoration and Education Centre (REC), will enhance the working environment for the railway’s volunteer work force by providing covered accommodation for the restoration of its coaches, locomotives and other rolling stock.

Alan Jeffries, Chinnor Railway’s REC Co-ordinator, said: “Despite the scorching weather a dozen eager students put their construction skills to great use for us. This is our second project with Bucks UTC’s students, as they helped us restore our signal box earlier in the year. It’s great to have them ‘on board’ and with the railway’s expansion plans; we’ve lots of other opportunities for them!’