Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway Discussion

So C&PR has got themselves a new website, and it confirms that L92 and 4247 will be visiting the line next year. Will definitely be going to see L92 for sure.

http://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/

http://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/article.php/8/locomotives

 

Gordon news. A delightful little line.

 

Thank you for pointing this out. I haven't visited the C&PR since 1995 when 1466 was hired in for a while. It is a lovely line and the two 2016 visitors offer a good reason to renew my acquainance. L92 is in a most attractive livery and I also like the 42xx tanks - probably a good thing as there will be one steaming through Sussex less than 15 miles from my home in the not-too-distant future.

 

The C&PR gets its own thread - good stuff!

If people have never been then I'd really recommend going and having a look. As a member of both I'd say that there's a real atmosphere of the Talyllyn about the place (crossed with the Titfield Thunderbolt) - a line embedded in its local community. OK, it doesn't go to PR yet, but that's coming (and indeed has been done already occasionally), but as someone who grew up with the SVR (so has high standards ) this is just such a great little line.

 

What are the plans for getting to PR, or is a permanent connection still just a long term plan?

 

Very much sooner rather than later - going from memory of the last newsletter negotiations are underway with NR to finally bottom it out - there is some aspiration of next year I think (the track's there, this is literally boiling down to running rights and finding somewhere other than the Thame branch for stabling national stock).... The association's about to (if it already hasn't) I believe take over responsibility for Princes Risborough North box too. It's already good, but as soon as it's back to going somewhere to somewhere again it will rank amongst the best small railways in the country. Then it'll all be about "west, to Aston Rowant!"

Watch this space - or, even better, get down there and be part of it.

I just can't go there without smiling. For a variety of reasons I haven't been able to volunteer there to date, but I think the time's coming for me to dust off my old grease top....

 

Great news

 

further to my last, the journey guide on the new website does indeed state PR is where "the railway hopes to run its trains to in the next 12 months."

It has been a long time coming, but we'll get there!

 

A lovely little line I agree. I lived near there for a couple of years and visited on several occasions but have not been back for over a decade. The (reproduction) Station at Chinnor is a gem.

 

from facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ChinnorRailwayVolunteers/posts/1708815829340660

big, good news from darkest Oxfordshire!

 

Well, we're there (in a manner of speaking). After a members' special last weekend yesterday saw the first service workings into Princes Risborough - and the first day's scheduled timetable since the late 1950s.

There isn't a platform or a loop (that's in the pipeline for next year), but the C&PRR is back in the site of the bay - as long as for now you accept topping and tailing and not getting off!

Yesterday had the LT pannier on one end and the Class 17 on the other - superpower for 4 Mk1s. Plenty of people about repointing PR North box brickwork.

For now trains are crossing onto the formation of the Thame branch, alongside the Watlington line from Thame Junction to Chinnor (which is still there but not currently serviceable). This means running into PR on Network Rail metals and locking all the toilets as soon as the boundary is crossed. Longer term, reconditioning the Watlington branch metals is the aim but NR are playing ball on track access at the moment.

 

Hmm, does that mean your locos & stock need to be NR approved?

 

I'm just an association member, so I don't know what the exact position is on that and won't speculate.*

However, the C&PR website mentions a (far from conclusive) series of hoops that we have had to jump through - Operating Licence Exemption Extension, Connection Agreement, Track Access Agreement, Method of Working, Operating Arrangements, etc. Whatever the hoops and barriers were have been jumped through and overcome, with the full support of NR.

Yesterday (I was there), a class 17, pannier, and 4 Mark 1s were running service trains into Ris. This is a massive achievement.

*beyond the obvious note that the toilets get locked on NR metals so they don't void onto the track.

 

photos?

 

or it didn't happen?

unfortunately I went without my camera, and that on my phone is broken. There's not an awful lot to see at the PR end at the moment - apart from a massive wall of buddleia and general plantlife that needs to come out of the way before the platform can go back in! Running again next Sunday if anyone's in the area. There're also a whole load of new people whose houses once again back onto a working railway line. Thankfully, yesterday, most of them seemed quite happy with this new development - lots of waving from the gardens.

 

Oh, I wasn't suggesting anything untoward, just wondered what the deal was with the locos & stock. A main line Clayton railtour would be quite something... but I'm guessing everything is limited to just the PR bit, or we would have heard more about it surely?

 

Photographic proof.http://www.chinnorrailway.co.uk/product.php/84/05-risborough-preview-kids-1

 

I wasn't needing proof, just photos I visited in July, but nothing was happening. I liked what little I could see though

 

Will this be appearing on the rail map when the connection is in?

 

Breaking my self imposed exile from this forum because life's too short and no one else has noticed this - the new platform at PR opens on Wednesday 15th August. Chiltern Railways through ticketing available for sale from 1 July. Back on the network....