Grant Funding for Glenfinnan Snowplough Exhibition

The team at Glenfinnan Station Museum are jubilant over being awarded £15,000 by Museums Galleries Scotland’s under their Small Grants Fund. Thanks to this award, the museum’s 55-ton railway snowplough exhibit will be turned into a permanent open-air exhibition space to explain snow clearance methods of the past in the context of Scotland’s current and future climate change.

Glenfinnan Station Museum is a small, accredited museum located at Glenfinnan Railway Station on the Mallaig Extension to the West Highland Line. The museum’s permanent exhibition is housed in the main station building and signal box, where there is no space to display large artefacts such as hand tools that were traditionally used to keep the railway track safe for trains. The Snowplough Project will address these issues.

In order to emphasis the urgency of climate action, and to keep electricity costs down, the exhibition will be powered by solar panels mounted onto the roof of the plough.

Hege Hernæs, the museum’s curator, says: ‘We are over the moon that MGS has appreciated the opportunities that our snowplough represents. Snowploughing on the West Highland is now more or less a thing of the past, with heavy rain posing the greatest risk to rail operations. It is important for us to interpret and demonstrate the working practices of old, but as a small museum we need to be imaginative with the space we have available. Our hope is that this project will increase both our reach and our resilience.’

Lucy Neville, Climate Officer, Museums Galleries Scotland said:

“We’re delighted to support this creative approach to engaging visitors with the impacts of climate change, whilst also showcasing more of the museum’s collection in an accessible and sustainable format. The exhibition will both help to explain the local impact of the global climate crisis and preserve historic practices of the past.”