Tanat Valley Light Railway Opening on BBC TV

BBC "Midlands Today" this teatime had a good piece about the (re)opening of this line near Oswestry.
The BBC piece included someone "cutting the tape", and the Beyer Peacock industrial with Toad brake van in tow.

Sorry, a quick search didn't find an uptodate website. There must be one somewhere. Anyone got a link please?

46118

 

First up on Google ... http://www.tvlr.co.uk/pages/default.aspx ??

 

And the brief BBC link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/8348213.stm

Cheers, Neil

 

Potteries, Shrewsbury and North Wales Railway

And this link is a very interesting and potted history of the line, rescued for the 3rd time by the inimitable Colonel Stephens, more recently In October 2008, Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council pledged £113,000 to help build the railway heritage centre:-


http://www.bbc.co.uk/shropshire/content/articles/2008/10/08/potts_line_railway_feature.shtml

more importantly, the running days:-

1st passenger train ever 7th November, limited places, book early, 100.00 to include souvenir ticket, certificate, and complimentary glass of champagne.

Sat 7th November, all other rides 20.00pp per trip
Sun 8th November all rides 10.00pp per trip

Sat/Sun 14/15 Nov all rides 5.00pp per trip
Sat/Sun 21/22 Nov all rides 5.00pp per trip
Sat/Sun 28/29 Nov all rides 5.00pp per trip
Sat/Sun 5/6 Dec all rides 5.00pp per trip (except the 2 rides below)
Sunday 6th December only 2 Santa Specials, limited places so book early, adults 5.00 per trip, children 2.50 to include train ride and present from Santa and complimentary mince pies for Mum and Dad.

(all prices quoted in sterling)

these rides are proving very very popular so early booking is advised
tickets and/or more information available from 01691-610234

taken from the news page from the link provided by 'Sheff' above in post '2'

 

I went there yesterday, see http://railways.national-preservation.com/showthread.php?t=21242

The tickets are all £5, not the prices quoted on the website. The run is about half a mile each way and you do it a couple of times, although if you want further rides I'm sure they'd let you!.

 

I was on the Beyer Peacock on Saturday, acting as official driver for the day. I would like to say that the efforts of all the lads and lasses at Nantmawr are fantastic for their small numbers and the day was well organised with the Porth-y-waen brass band in attendance and a lone piper to welcome the first train back. It was a shame the weather let it all down by turning to persistant rain after lunch but everyone still had a smile on their faces at the end of the day. The line will be a little gem when it is fully operational and as it is all still connected there is every chance of trains operating right through to Gobowen one day.

If you are in the area over the next few weekends then do drop in to see them, it's a little difficult to find but Google Maps with the satellite view should help to follow the line to the quarry. Don't make the mistake of heading for Nantmawr Quarry as this will only take you to an activity centre and not where the railway is operating from.

 

Also some footage up on YouTube now including this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFeYa59eTDI

 

An old thread, and interesting to see how the line has struggled to keep it's head above water as an operation, despite growing as a visitor centre. Visiting on Saturday, we were limited in how far trains could go to the south by the track condition (including weeds), and had to use an inspection trolley rather than one of the DMUs present for the bottom 2/3 of the running line.

 

Interesting to know the DMUs are still there as they were up for sale a while back. They've gone from the listing on Carriage Exchange mind, so whether they are unsold, sold and staying or yet to move...

That said the ride on a track trolley is probably a plus to some.

 

It was. And 1st gen DMUs were visible, though the operational units were a pair of Pacers.

Piece de resistance, though, was the cafe - in the motor coach of a class 309 "Clacton" unit, parked under the lime kilns

 

I also participated in the Branch Line Society visit on Saturday. It was a requirement to take out annual membership of the TVLR as they do not have a TWAO to enable public running. The leaflet stated that they had raised over £10,500 towards the anticipated £40,000 cost of the Order. Another project was to sponsor a sleeper for £25 as part of the project to upgrade the line to Llanddu.
About 70 people attended and with the Yellow Peril inspection trolley limited to four including the driver it was nearly 17.00 before everyone achieved maximum possible track coverage beyond the A495 bridge. Nevertheless for most it was the highlight that they were prepared to queue over two hours for.

The self drive monorail is open for public running. Given the small number of active volunteers and a dearth of funding what has actually been achieved is quite impressive.