Avon Valley Railway Updates and Videos

AVR on Facebook: "Trains are now running back to Avon Riverside. Our engineering work is now fully complete and trains are back to running the full length of the line."

 

Working timetable now published for this Saturday (30th July):
https://www.avonvalleyrailway.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Working-Timetable.pdf

08202 and 08888 both out working.

Just under 32 miles available in total with equal mileage for both locos.
Each loco has 7.6 miles solo, 5.8 miles leading double-headed, 5.8 miles inside double-headed, 2.4 miles leading top & tailed and 2.4 miles trailing top & tailed.

Two "express" runs through Bitton platform. Bottled beer and other refreshments available from The Buffet.

 

Oldland Common station project

A group of young volunteers at the Avon Valley Railway have a crowdfunder page trying to raise £2500 to make Oldland Common Station have a more heritage style details here www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/oldlandcommonproject

 

Wimblebury is on loan to the AVR for 2023
https://twitter.com/AVRBitton/status/1654864456650747905

 

Deleted

 

Does anyone know how Littleton No.5 is coming along?

 

Deleted.

 

Not much seems to be happening with Littleton no5 apart from a coat of paint on the boiler

 

A good start to the AVR appeal. <BJ>

avrht.org/bounceback
''We’d like to thank everyone who has donated, shared and engaged with our appeal - we’ve managed to raise £5,500 so far! Every donation is massively appreciated''.
For the full press release and to donate please visit avrht.org/bounceback

 

GWR 6695 is working services on Sunday 5th 12th and 19th October The Sentinel is doing Brakevan rides in the station area

 

The AVR is trialing a living history day this Sunday with an event marking 60 years since closure of the Bristol-Bath via Mangotsfield line. Normal service but with re-enactors and displays of period-correct vehicles. Featuring me as Dr Beeching! More details here : THE PEOPLE AND THEIR PROTEST - Avon Valley Railway

 

Not a bad job!

Noel

 

A few pics of the silliness to be expected on Sunday from a press call today

 

Network Rail allowed the AVR to takeover a carriage of the inspiration train during its stay at Bristol Temple Meads this weekend. It was extremely busy yesterday and we had great fun engaging with visitors, encouraging them to visit the AVR or take out membership.

 

I’m a trustee of the Avon Valley Railway Heritage Trust, and we’ve just launched our “Fit for the Future” Appeal, focused on safeguarding the long‑term future of the railway.

The aims are deliberately forward‑looking: investing in essentials such as the buffet at track, progressing the Avonside restoration, and ensuring the railway can continue to educate and inspire. And to be enjoyed!

With coal costs, locomotive hire, and utilities, it costs us well over £1,000 a day to operate before we've sold one ticket. Those costs are manageable, and can be reduced, if we overhaul the buffet to generate more casual spend, restore the Avonside to reduce reliance on hired engines, and keep the infrastructure in good condition so we’re not constantly firefighting problems.

Behind every successful heritage railway is careful planning, skilled conservation, and steady, long‑term support. We suffered a real blow two years when we were the victims of fraud but we rebuilt. Santa traffic is up 10%, half-term operations were up 25%. We’ve got new trustees and a new family-focused events programme that brings in the visitors without significant costs to us. We are going places again and would like to go further, but we can’t seriously plan an extension without the existing foundations being totally secure.

Even modest contributions genuinely help turn good intentions into lasting outcomes.

More details here: https://www.avrht.org/appeal

 

Is Gift Aid applicable to this?

 

Hi,
Great to hear there are plans afoot. I note you mention restoring an Avonside locomotive; I was under the impression that Manning Wardle 2018 Littleton No.5 was under restoration at the AVR - is that still the case?

 

Does the Avonside actually still exist? I can remember visiting Bitton (and for a while having a membership as a means of keeping up with progress or lack of) back before I got married. At that point in 1999 the RSH was just being launched and the talk was of finishing the Avonside. 27 years later and we're still talking about not finishing it but making meaningful progress. That's a big part of the problem - a big chunk of the income goes out in loco hire fees because nothing much is coming out of the shed. When you contrast that with somewhere like the East Somerset in the back of beyond turning out their Ivatt back into steam barely 2 years after it went out of ticket something seems off.

Harsh as it may sound, sitting between two cities amid a population of around 250,000 people, it surely shouldn't be that hard to gather interest, volunteers and money if you have a clear vision and a decent atmosphere to volunteer in. I'm heading towards retirement, and will probably be looking for something useful to do to fill time while I'm still fit and active so in theory a heritage line that I can cycle to from Bath ought to be high on the consideration list but I can't help feel this line has never really got past the old men playing with whatever trains they can get their hands on stage.

 

Gr

Great to hear of reduced reliance on hired engines and a focus on the Avonside. I'll sort a donation. Additionally if you operate any fundraiser events,.I'd happily do a talk free for you, say on the Imperial Smelting Corporation Railway where the Avonside loco spent its entire life, I've plenty of photos. Plus could cover when it's sister, Portbury, ran on the main line in 2001 which I helped organise.

Let me know. Best wishes Paul

 

46447 isn't owned by ESR, it's still owned by IOWSR but on a long term restore and run agreement. 4110 and 4555 are on similar deals. I'm not sure when ESR last owned and operated their own loco capable of working service trains.