IT'S all change at Steamtown in Carnforth after bosses announced the closure of its 28-year-old railway museum. The tourist attraction has been wound up for safety reasons following an overhaul of the business and its conversion into a private railway depot. Train manager John Dooley told the Citizen: "On a site which has become much busier with shunting movements and where we are now laying down additional track it's become almost impossible to keep on top of public safety. Public safety is paramount we could not afford to have a accident here."

Bosses say Steamtown has evolved from a visitors centre into a major carriage and rolling stock maintenance and storage depot. The railway museum was closed a few weeks ago and the welcome signs were taken down.

Steam passenger operations on the Crag Bank shuttle were suspended last year in the face of dwindling visitors and the Steamtown Miniature Railway has stopped running.

During its heyday in the 1970s, the attraction drew more than 200,000 tourists. But since steam trains have been allowed to run along main coast lines there have been fewer trains available to stand in museums. Now many are chartered out for private trips to London and Edinburgh.

"It's sad for Carnforth that we have had to close the museum facilities but we weren't getting the same amount of visitor engines. The whole emphasis of Steamtown has changed."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.