THE 'LA'AL Ratty' has been given the green light to expand its museum and work is now underway.

Network Rail has granted permission for the Railway Museum to build on land at the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway's station site.

The £488,700 Heritage Lottery funded project will display historic trains and provide schoolchildren with the chance to learn about the railway.

"'La'al Ratty' has such a remarkable history and has been a vital part of the community for so long that we're delighted to be able to bring the railway's story to life like never before," said project manager David Rounce.

A new train-shed extension will allow a collection of historic rolling stock to be displayed under cover for the first time. And new interactive features will teach visitors about the history of the nearly 150-year-old railway.

Objects on display will include an 1875 3ft gauge saloon coach, one of the oldest surviving English narrow-gauge coaches, and ICL no. 1 'Bunny', the railway's first petrol locomotive and holder of the line speed record.

A temporary exhibition space is to be created to enable schools and groups to stage their own displays.

There will also be several wagons from the railway's granite quarrying past and the Railway Museum plans to catalogue and digitise its archive, making material available for display for the first time.

This will tell the story of the railway, its connections to iron ore mining and granite quarrying and its impact on life in Eskdale.

Match-funding for the project came from Cumbria Community Foundation, Fisheries Local Action Group, Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway Preservation Society and Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.

Mr Rounce said: "This wouldn't be possible without the assistance of our generous funders, with whose help we can now realise our vision of making our heritage available to the general public while contributing significantly to local education and civic pride."

The museum will close to allow work to start and re-open in June 2017, in time for the tourism season.

"We're particularly excited to have the museum ready for the 2017 season, which we are confident will be a real asset for tourism in Cumbria and the Western Lake District in particular," said Mr Rounce.