The Dales School, in Blyth, has been featured on George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces. The show followed the conversion of their class 144 Pacer Train installed in their grounds.
The train is fitted with a fully working driving simulator to help encourage early career aspirations and to help children with sensory needs to experience the sounds and sights of the railway. The software was donated by Dovetail Games and the simulator was built by the school STEM lead John Jennings.
The next step is to build a STEM hub inside another one of the carriages. This will be a place to support pupils with early career aspirations linked with local businesses and also to practically learn railway safety in a joint initiative with Network Rail. The school recently received funding from The Harrison Foundation and has made it possible to turn the second train carriage into a STEM hub. The Stem hub will be part of the Harrison Foundations Social mobility centres.
The train has also gained widespread media coverage through featuring on ITV News as well as Channel 4 programme, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces.
Dr Sue Fisher, Head Teacher at The Dales School, commented:
“The Dales School is extremely proud to be working with the Harrison Foundation, particularly as they have helped so many individuals to gain life experiences, this is something we are passionate about at The Dales School. Their community work aligns within our vision for the STEM carriage. With the Harrison Foundation as our partner, we will be able to achieve our vision and aspirations to benefit and inspire the next generation.”
The school received funding from the Laurel Trust and Hargreaves Foundation as well as contributions from Arnold Clark, Barbour, The Port of Blyth, RW Mann Trust and Northern Rail as well as Blyth Council contributing to the haulage cost to deliver the train to school. The project even caught the attention of Henkal, based in Hertfordshire, who donated weatherproofing products. Noel Forte and his team were regular visitors to The Dales School and carried out work on our pacer train, even a faulty compressor couldn’t stop them in their tracks.
The amazing conversion of the train even comes with its own track donated by Network Rail with a ticket office built by Blyth Man Shed and donated by Mercia as part of the Wickes Community Programme. The station was donated and constructed by a local company called Texo. It was officially opened by the Deputy Mayor John Potts and Alan Conway from Texo.
Pauline Aitchison, Deputy Director of Schools North East said:
“I visited the train recently and it is wonderful to see what a fantastic provision it is for the pupils at The Dales. The detail of the ticket box and waiting room through to the sheer size of the tracks and train really does give the students an amazing experience. I look forward to visiting the second carriage once complete. Well done to the whole Dales community for bringing this project to life.“
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