Glyn Valley Tramway - steam returns to Chirk!

I am pleased to announce that we will be sending our La Meuse loco to Chirk to be the star attraction at the 'Chirk Fun day' on Saturday 27th June.

The loco will be running on a short length of temporary track at the show-ground and visitors will be able to visit the cab (when stationary!)
The GVT trust will have a marquee with information and exhibits including a large range of GVT models from 7.25"gauge down to 7mm scale.

If you want to be one of the lucky few to see the fisrt narrow gauge steam loco runing at Chirk for over 70 years, then make your way there and join in the Fun!

For more information go to: http://www.tir-ltd.co.uk/news/ or go to the Trust's website: http://www.glynvalleytramway.co.uk

I hope to see you there!

 

What's the current state of play between the Trust and the other supporters (can't recall their title). Any rapprochement?

 

What gauge is the Trust's line to be? One would assume 2' 6" with La Meuse being there, so not the original 2' 4 1/2"?

Are they linked with/working with/aiming to meet up with the Group at all?

 

Thanks for the comments

The Trust is open to working with any organisations local or national that are interested in developing the heritage of the Tramway and the local economy. The preliminary outputs of the study has identified a 1 mile long operational railway at Chirk as being the most viable and in line with the wishes of the local community. The Trust is receiving strong local support for what is seen as being a vital contribution to enhancing the strength of the community. Combined with the Castle, (proposed) Canal World heritage Site, other industrial history and local developments the Tramway would significantly increrase the appeal of Chirk and surrounding area to tourists. The initial proposals have suggested creating a 'virtual Tramway' by installing interpretaion boards and producing literature that would link all the features of the Tramway from an operational line at Chirk, through the waiting rooms and other faetures to the Engine Shed and Station at Glyn ceiriog and on to the quarry site at Hendre (incorpoarting the existing Tramway walk betwen Pandy and Hendre) ( which stilkl has sections of rail and impressive buildings in situ!)

It is envisaged that any operational line would have to be a 'common gauge' and 2'6" is the nearest to the original. It is clear that trying to rebuild from scratch to the original gauge is just not practical in economic terms - fpotential unding partners are unwilling to come up with the huge ammounts of extra cash to build locos and stock from scratch for a start-up project. From a personal point of view I feel that the gauge is a red-herring - to most people oustide the 'narrow gauge railway community' (and that means 99% of the population!)the difference is irrelevant. there were many aspects of the GVT that made it unique - the locos, the type of stock, the chain brakes.... but it is clear that many of these cannot be replicated down to the last detail, so why is the gauge so special?

I have done a little reserach into this and even the published records demonstrate that the exact gauge was a kind of accident as it changed when the Tramway was re-built (probably as a result of error). Looking in detail at the drawings for the stone wagons and carriages, the clearance between the face of the wheels and the back of the axle-box is much greater than you would esxpect normally, however the position of the frames is exactly what you would expect if the vehicle was 2'6" gauge. This is particularly so with regard to the stone wagons, which as we know were shown in the bagnall catalogue without GVT branding. I surmise that they were in fact standard vehicles adapted to suit.

The Trust would always welcome constructive comment and we look forward to seeing some of you at Chirk next Saturday!

 

Hi

just thought you might like to see a sneak preview of what is coming to Chirk next week.....

http://tir-ltd.co.uk/galleries/our-work/DSC01062bampw.JPG.php

 

For those of you who are interested in more information about the Trust's plans, you can go to http://www.tir-ltd.co.uk/current-projects and download the PDF.

This is the information which was publically displayed at events at Chirk in February. If anyone has any questions, please use the contact links at http://www.glynvalleytramway.co.uk/2.html and your will be put in touch with the Trust directly

Regards

 

The GVT trust is pleased to report that an exceelnt day was had by all at Chirk. All went to plan and a full report can be found here http://www.tir-ltd.co.uk/news/

Some photos of the event can be found here http://tir-ltd.co.uk/galleries/our-work/

Much support was received from the local community and the Trust will press on with plans to develop a working Tramway at Chirk.

On the same day it was announced that the section of the Llangolen Canal from Chirk Bank (just over the border in Shropshire) to Trevor Wharf has been given World Heritage Site status. This will be a big boost to the local community and the Trust will look to integrate the re-instament of the Tramway where appropriate - after all the Tramway was built originally to connect the communities in teh Ceiriog Valley with the Canal

 

Annoyingly, most links to the GVT site seem not to be working, and several parts of the site have gone MIA.