Thanks to your support and generosity we've achieved the target of raising the much-needed sum of £10,000 for Samaritans UK. 

During Pete Waterman's 2023 Christmas exhibition at Blakemere, we announced the limited edition model of 66415 'You Are Never Alone', with the aim of raising a large sum for Samaritans UK. As it is becoming very clear, you are very supportive of these charity projects, backing the model of 66415, which soon sold through and will support the mental health-focused charity. 

Wind the clock forward to August 12th 2024 and we paid a visit to the Freightliner Depot in Doncaster. Freightliner had kindly taken 66415 out of traffic for us to come together and celebrate this momentous occasion. 

We were joined by Tim Shoveller, Freightliner Chief Executive Officer of G&W UK/Europe. Tim Said "We couldn't do this without the support we've had from Accurascale, This has only been possible because of the partnership that's been formed. Accurascale has produced these incredibly detailed models and sold hundreds and hundreds of them to raise £10,000 for Samaritans, which is wonderful! We couldn't do this on our own, as always about the railway, it's about partnership and collaboration."

Watch our short video here: 

Richard Hall, a Listening volunteer from Samaritans joined us and explained what's involved in being able to be on the end of the phone for someone in need. Motivated to help Samaritans after the loss of friends and working for Network rail in the day job, Richard knows only too well the effect of mental illness. 

Richard said "We're a listening organisation, people call up, talk about what's going on in their lives, what problems they're facing. We can talk them through it, explore the issues, potentially signpost, provide emotional support and give them someone to vent to when that person might not have anyone to talk to. The donation of £10,000 will go along long way to keeping the lights on, keeping the water running, it's really really important!" 

Fran Burke, Director of Marketing, PR and Sales for Accurascale, added; "We have been absolutely blown away by the support of you, our Accurascale customers and supporters, who came together, dug deep, and helped us reach our goal of raising an amazing £10,000 for this critically important charity. It's been a pleasure to work alongside our friends at Freightliner UK, our factory partners, the Railnuts gang for facilitating our initial launch and of course, The Samaritans to make this happen. We cannot thank these parties enough.

We hope that modellers around the country who got their hands on this exclusive model can not only enjoy running the locomotive on their layouts or admiring it in their collection, but also enjoy the fact that money they spent in obtaining the model is supporting a very worthy cause. This money will help Samaritans UK to continue to provide the essential services they offer the British public including railway workers around the nation."

From the whole team at Accurascale, we pass on our thanks to Samaritans UK, Freightliner and of course your generosity and support! If you'd like to support other Accurascale charity projects, our latest model 66190 is raising £10,000 for Martin House Children Hospice, and can be seen here:

Pre-Order Your Charity Class 66 190 And Raise Vital Fund Here!