WATCH: Peterborough Hovertrain takes to the skies as part of restoration project

The futuristic Hovertrain at Railworld has been seen by scores of people every day as they travel by train through the city on the Eastcoast Mainline, ever since it first arrived in Peterborough 30 years ago.

It was initially designed as the future of highspeed travel, with hopes in the 1960s that the space aged design would be able to reach speeds of 300mph, hovering just above the ground.

But sadly the project was shelved in the 1970s, and the Hovertrain has barely moved an inch since it came to Railworld in 1994.

After decades of battling the British weather, the concrete plinth that was holding the incredible creation up has reached the end if its life – and to make sure that the train stays in Peterborough, it has had to be lifted onto a new, metal one.

Brian Pearce MBE, trustee at Railworld, was on hand to watch the precarious operation, and said: “The problem is, that when it is up there, we can’t maintain it properly. It was never meant to last this long.

"The original lifting eyes that were used to put it in place 30 years ago are not secure any more, so we had to cut it in two.

"The last time I saw it in the air like that was 6am in the morning in 1994 when we first rescues it – it was amazing.”

The 50-year-old Hovertrain is believed to be the only one in existence, and was moved to the city in 1994.

The story of how the hovertrain came to exist – and eventually end up in Peterborough – started in the late 1960s, when Tracked Hovercraft Ltd built and tested a full-scale prototype, and achieved speeds in excess of 100mph in the Fens between Sutton and Earith, Cambridgeshire.

The dream came to a shuddering halt in 1973 however, when the government withdrew its financial backing ahead of the second phase of testing which would have seen them push for speeds up to 300mph. The project was abandoned almost overnight and the test site broken down and removed in 1975.

The train ended up in Bedfordshire, basically in a dumping ground.

Then, about 30 years ago, Railworld volunteers were at a Christmas meal, and heard it was going to be cut up for scrap.

Tracked Hovercraft Ltd – who built the train – and the Railworld volunteers, raised £10,000 to save it.

Now Brian and the team at Railworld have plans to ensure it’s future.

He said: “We are going to create a little cinema to tell the story of the Cambridgeshire Hovertrain.

"We are going to put seats inside it – originally there never were seats inside it, it was never going to be a full sized vehicle, it was just to test the linear motor.

"We will cosmetically restore it. The former glory was when it did 107mph – we can’t cope with that!”