Heritage railway bodies in running to scoop national award
Heritage railway groups are chuffed to bits after being shortlisted for the finals of a national competition.
Two railways in Shropshire are among the top ten in the final, along with another two in Mid Wales.
A long-awaited extension to the Cambrian Heritage Railway, in Oswestry, and the Severn Valley Railway volunteers returning a locomotive to steam are up for the award.
The Heritage Railway Association and the Steam Railway magazine join forces to host an award each year. Projects from within the heritage railways are put forward for readers to vote and select their favourite.
Rail enthusiasts can go online to give their support to their favourite project.
For the Cambrian Heritage Railways, 2022 turned out to be a landmark year with the reopening of the line from Oswestry to Weston Wharf. Volunteers worked tirelessly from 2009 to 2022 to re-instate the two-mile section of track.
The completion of the Weston Wharf extension, made the Cambrian a "somewhere-to-somewhere" railway for the first time and more than doubled its previous length.
General manager Andy Green said: “Cambrian Heritage Railways is delighted to be considered amongst the best new steam railways attractions and this has been recognised by the Steam Railway magazine. However, we need your help by going online and vote for us to win this prestigious award."
In September the Severn Valley Railway re-launched the GWR No.4930 ‘Hagley Hall’ back to the picturesque line.
The SVR’s flagship locomotive hauled its first passenger service for 36 years, after an overhaul that cost £1.4 million.
The loco went out of service in 1986 after several boiler stays failed and stayed as a static display until it entered the workshops in Bridgnorth in 2013 for work to begin in earnest.
Across the Welsh border Corris Railway is in the final for the completion of its new-build Hughes ‘Falcon’ 0-4-2ST No. 10, and the installation of its innovative "traverser", allowing locomotives to haul trains in both directions for the first time.
Meanwhile the Talyllyn Railway is up for the award for the recreation of its Ty Dwr watering point and reinstating part of its lost historic infrastructure.
The Tŷ Dŵr watering point, originally installed when the railway was built in 1865, transferred water from a nearby waterfall to the first locomotive shed by a series of troughs supported on slate columns.
After the railway was preserved in 1951, the watering point fell into disuse and was demolished in 1954 so that the slate could be used to help build a retaining wall following a landslip near Dolgoch.
Voting is online only via steamrailway.co.uk/read/hra-awards. The voting closes just before midnight on February 2.
