Cambrian Railways News

Some extremely good news, that's been a very long time coming...

Lease Agreement signed for Trackbed

Members of the Cambrian Railways Trust and the Cambrian Railways Society are celebrating the culmination of many years of complicated negotiations, with the completion of their lease agreements with Shropshire County Council. At long last the two bodies have possession of the eight miles of line between Gobowen and Blodwel. They can now make progress together on the project to create a major heritage railway, which is expected to bring up to 100,000 extra visitors per year to Oswestry. At a time when many local businesses are struggling, the heritage railway will bring many new opportunities and can play an important role in improving the town’s fortunes.

The Trust’s short line at Llynclys will again see steam trains starting this Easter, and work is already in hand to secure funding for extending these trains into Oswestry by 2012. At the same time Society volunteers plan to run their trains from Llynclys Junction towards Blodwel, and links will be improved to the Montgomery Canal, the Llanymynech Heritage Area, and other nearby attractions. The County Council also plans to construct a cycleway and footpath alongside parts of the railway track.

Trust Chairman Ken Ryder and Society Chairman Ken Owen both said they were delighted that the uncertainty over the future of the line is now over. They want to convey their thanks to those in the council who have worked so hard to achieve this lease, and especially to Owen Paterson MP for his energetic support

Good luck to them.

Chris

 

Good news indeed!

All the best to them

 

Oops, forgot the links.

http://www.cambrianrailwaystrust.com/

http://www.cambrian-railways-soc.co.uk/

If your interested there's also THIS very interesting fotopic site by someone who often helps with clearance work on the line.

Chris

 

My name is Alun Evans and I'm a volunteer with both the Cambrian Railways Society and Trust. I'm the person with the fotopic site on http://alunsphotos.fotopic.net/ . I'm currently out of work due to redundacy back in November 2008 so the Cambrian Railway project keeps me active. I clear the railway of vegitation and if you look carefully at my web site the Blodwell Quarry end of the railway looks very clear compared to what it was in the years of disuse. I've done most of the work by myself but I'm getting there slowly. My brother Gareth Evans is the webmaster of the official Cambrian Railways Society website http://www.cambrianrailwayssociety.co.uk/ . I supply most of the pictures for him. The railway itself is only about 9 miles from my home town of Llanfyllin. The Cambrian Railways Society Museum is open most afternoons from 13.00 - 17.00 . Contact the Cambrian Railways Museum on 01691 671749. Please note that the rest of the Cambrian Railway line is off limits to the general public.

I'll hopefully have some pics added to my site soon of the Cambrian Railways Trust clearance work at Gwern y Brenin overbridge which is taking place today. This section of the line is between the A483 crossing and Llynclys. The railway is being cleared towards Llynclys. I'll let you all know when I've added the pictures and captions to my site.

Regards,

Alun Evans (Volunteer with the Cambrian Heritage Railways of Oswestry and the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways Ret of the World track gang)

 

That looks like quite a project. With the track in situ for several miles but overgrown it looks like the two organisations have a ready made railway there for them, that just needs reactivating. Lots of work to be done (stations etc ? ) but certainly easier than some societies have taken on. Best of luck

 

I've now updated my fotopic site with some views of the newly arrived Industrial Hunslet diesel loco that arrived today at Blodwell Quarry. Take a look on http://alunsphotos.fotopic.net/ . My brother Gareth Evans (Cambrian Railways Society webmaster) will do an update to http://www.cambrianrailwayssociety.co.uk/news/news.html soon. The weather was heavy showers with some brief sunny spells. I call it liquid sunshine!!!

Regards,

Alun

 

I look forward to seing more and more of this as this railway develops
however i have little knowledge of the system, and which bits of the cambrian the trust and society currently occupy

does anyone have any information? or even better a map?

 

It was in Steam railway a while back (with map) so a looking through them my find it

 

Hi all,

I've updated my fotopic site with pictures of the latest clearance work undertaken by volunteers from Gwern y Brenin overbridge 54 towards the A483 Level Crossing and Oswestry on http://alunsphotos.fotopic.net/ I hope you all enjoy these pictures. Apolagies for the lack of updates on my site recently. This doesn't mean that no activity has occured on the Cambrian. Feel free to email me offlist to ask what work has been done.

Regards,

Alun

 

An interesting set of photos and thanks for sharing them Alun. Good progress being made but all power to your elbows as you continue. Good luck and I shall watch with interest.

Regards,

Paul

 

I love these kind of pictures, showing a disused line slowly coming back to life through gut hard work and determination!.

Just a shame I live so far away i'd love to get stuck in!

Good luck lads.

London Midland Guard.

 

Keep up the good work and the posts. =D> It all helps to raise the project profile and bring in more help and money.

 

What news from Cambrian folk on:
merger of the associations
the various restoration projects?

 

A useful update on the website is this illustrated map of the route

http://cambrianrailways.com/html/map_of_chr_lines.html

The track is in situ but needs to be returned to operating condition. Plenty of opportunities for people to get involved and help this line return to life.

 

I have just seen the pics of the start of the re-build of the platform at oswestry. Looking very good. will come down when its done if not before.

http://www.osrail.co.uk/gob-os-new.html?part_id=39626&post_id=3777&action=view_comments