Oswestry Update

https://museum.wales/articles/1295/A-new-lease-of-life-for-Cambrian-Railways-Coach-No238/

An old article but a bit about its history and restoration.

 

It seems that only a limited amount of original material remains.

 

A few piccies of Cambrian coach 238 (taken between shunting moves today). Now in the workshop, pending move into the Museum itself, so a rare opportunity to view it out in the open. . .

 

More recent stock moves to/from Oswestry.

Pacer 143619 (consisting of 55660 + 55685) arrived from Tanat Valley.
https://cs.rhrp.org.uk/CarriageSurvey/displaycarriage.php?Ref=R46NBGYVSF9W3TOJIEM7
https://cs.rhrp.org.uk/CarriageSurvey/displaycarriage.php?Ref=80VG6E24RZWJLCFP93QA
Although it's yet another Pacer This one is in better condition than our other Pacers and will therefore hopefully be much more reliable.

Moving to Tanat Valley was Hibberd 3953 'Alpha'.
https://www.heritage-railways.com/locosdb/locosdb2.php?RefNo=976

 

Oswestry Station awarded Station of the Year at last night's HRA awards. Congratulations!

 

Much as we (CHR) would like to take the credit, the external restoration was down to the town council (who still own the building). We are of course grateful for the use of the building (albeit just the ground floor. . . but that is still a lot of space ).

 

Kudos for redirecting the credit towards the proper quarter!

Noel

 

The following was recently posted on the CHR facebook page.

 

Well deserved and due credit to the council, it’s a rarity for councils to invest in such things with budgets being the way they are, the ball is in CHR’s court now to restore some features, the other platform (what’s the state of play with this?), maybe some gantries, lots of features have been lost at what was an important junction station, the skys the limit! I’ve recently been noticing that the Montgomery canal is coming on leaps and bounds with their restorations and the canal/ various trackbeds in the Penygarreg/Crickheath/pant area are quite numerous and confusing looking on a map, I heard that some dropped railway bridges/trackbed obstruct the canal bed at some point, are removing any of these a problem for CHR in the future?

 

The council had a sizable grant towards the building restoration (and the leaky roof meant there was pressure to get it fixed to prevent further damage. The stonework around the eaves also needed repairs to make it safe. Personally I was just pleased to see the building without the scaffolding surrounding it (which was already in place when I moved to the area 3 1/2 years ago).

The immediate focus has been on extending the track in the middle road and down platform so we can reinstate a run-around of some sort. Much as it would be nice to see the down platform itself restored, it will need substantial rebuilding of the brick edging to make it safe (anyone know a friendly (i.e. cheap) bricklayer?), and then of course some means of safely getting people across 3 lines of track to it! We do have a dismantled footbridge but . . . BTW - Not many people realise that there was an equivalent sized building on the down platform. I doubt we'll see the likes of that again (even if a supporter wins the euro millions!)

There are a few sizable obstacles in the way of any potential extensions. The obvious ones being the A5 crossing (heading north towards Gobowen, and the A483 crossing (heading south towards Llynclys ). Then there is the original Llynclys station being in private hands. The southern end of the Llynclys section ends at Penygarreg Lane, where the trackbed is block by the road bridge being filled in (and road lowered I believe).

So, like many other railways, we have great potential but are sadly lacking in resources to make significant progress towards fulfilling that potential. Indeed, a few more volunteers to help operate and maintain what we already have would be very welcome.

 

More arrivals at Oswestry recently are Pacers 143619 (comprising 55660 and 55685) from Tanat Valley, and 142004 (comprising 55705 and 55751) from Telford.
That gives us a total of 4 Pacers sets at Oswestry now, but I believe the intention is to only keep the 2 most recent arrivals, as they are in much better mechanical and bodywork condition that the Pacers that have been here longer (indeed 143007 has been the bane of our CMEs life for much of 2025).

 

I quite like pacers having them as a big part of my youth growing up in the 80s and 90s, the seats got better later on and were quite decent before they were taken out of service.

I probably am in the minority with regards to pacers.

 

Not sure you'd like the 142004 set, it has 3 by 2 bench seats! Almost anything would be an improvement on those!

 

I know a chap who considered buying a Pacer body to keep poultry in, but when he saw the inside decided the hens would stop laying.

 

I never found them that bad. The leg room was better than refurbished sets.

 

I do hope that Oswestry is not going to become a dumping ground for redundant stock. I went last year and found it refreshingly clear of dead and dismantled stuff compared to previous visits.

 

What worries me is how the units are being burned through rather than conserved. That's both a concern about what "preservation" means for even these units, and also about the sustainability of the railways that use them

 

Me too!

 

Nostalgia is a funny thing lol