The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway, known as the Middy, is appealing for donations to build a carriage shed at Dovebrook.

The Middy needs to raise £100,000 to build the structure, which it will use to protect carriages from exposure to extreme weather.

The Middy, which will hold a 1940s-themed event later this month, is the only standard-gauge heritage railway in the county of Suffolk.

It aims to preserve some of the character of the Edwardian light railway which operated in rural Mid-Suffolk for nearly fifty years in the first half of the 20th century. Over last month’s Easter weekend, it launched its 2025 season, running three trains in steam.

Unfortunately, no vehicles of the original railway survive. However, the Middy has obtained and restored carriages from the period and before, which it believes “maintain the look and feel of how the Middy would have operated.”

The Railway has three Victorian coaches, all of which are well over one hundred years old. All three are made mainly of wood, which makes them vulnerable to weather damage. The three carriages are:

• Great Eastern Railway no.140, a first-class smoking coach built in 1863 at Stratford Works in and reckoned to be the oldest Great Eastern vehicle still being used regularly.
• Carriage no.12, a brake/third coach built for the Great Eastern in 1875 for a price of £275. It is a sister of a coach that the original Middy bought from the Great Eastern in 1904.
• Coach no.13, a Great Eastern carriage which dates back to 1876. It had five third-class compartments, but the Middy has converted it into a first-class saloon with three third-class compartments. This makes it very similar to the vehicle that the line’s superintendent had built for himself in the early twentieth century.

To protect the carriages, the Middy plans to install a second siding at Dovebrook station near Stowmarket, with a carriage shed across both lines.

The shed will house the Victorian carriages and some other Middy wagons. These include the oldest known horse box, G.E. no.180, which dates back to 1869.

The Mid-Suffolk Light Railway (MSLR) has been, operated entirely by volunteers since 1990, and is attracting an increasing number of visitors. The MSLR was named Suffolk Museum of the Year in 2015. It has also won two first-class awards from the Heritage Railway Association.

To donate to the Carriage Shed appeal, click here.