Proud Salopian
Member
There's all sorts going on now with respect to the Cambrian Railways in the Oswestry area of Shropshire. Firstly, there are two groups, rivals in fact, who are seeking to restore the line through Oswestry and run heritage trains into the Welsh borders. Both have a fair amount of rolling stock and some engines too.
Cambrian Railway Society
(website)
Currently these guys own the railway museum and light railway in Oswestry town centre. They have recently restored the Oswestry South signal box. They are also restoring a mile long section of track between Blodwel and Nantmawr, which is in fact an old branch of the Potts Railways! The society also own a few other bits n bobs in the area, for instance at Weston Wharf.
Cambrian Railway Trust
(website)
Currently these guys own the Llynclys to Pant line and have restored this in the past two years. During the Spring and Summer there are fairly regular, though short, passenger trips down this line from their new Llynclys South station. At the moment the line is just over a km (less than a mile) long and any further expansion south will be tricky as the village of Pant has grown.
The main Gobowen-Blodwel, via Llynclys, railway line has recently been bought by the County Council (although Network Rail have kept the junction at Gobowen and a short section of the line there). It is still pretty much intact, as it was only mothballed and not totally closed. Shropshire County Council are now deciding the future of the line, which both the Trust and the Society want as part of their heritage railway plans. There is also interest from a commercial company who want to run passenger trains from Oswestry to Gobowen. However, there will probably be no regular trains between Oswestry and Gobowen as the line crosses the very busy A5 via a level crossing, north of Oswestry.
So it's quite a complex situation at the moment in the Oswestry area, but there is activity and there is a definetely a future for heritage railways here.
Some other photos and information, from 2004, not by myself
Could I ask that the Cambrian Railway Trust in Llynclys, who are running trains, be added to the stickied/locked list thread in this sub-forum? Thanks.
Cambrian Railway Society
(website)
Currently these guys own the railway museum and light railway in Oswestry town centre. They have recently restored the Oswestry South signal box. They are also restoring a mile long section of track between Blodwel and Nantmawr, which is in fact an old branch of the Potts Railways! The society also own a few other bits n bobs in the area, for instance at Weston Wharf.
Cambrian Railway Trust
(website)
Currently these guys own the Llynclys to Pant line and have restored this in the past two years. During the Spring and Summer there are fairly regular, though short, passenger trips down this line from their new Llynclys South station. At the moment the line is just over a km (less than a mile) long and any further expansion south will be tricky as the village of Pant has grown.
The main Gobowen-Blodwel, via Llynclys, railway line has recently been bought by the County Council (although Network Rail have kept the junction at Gobowen and a short section of the line there). It is still pretty much intact, as it was only mothballed and not totally closed. Shropshire County Council are now deciding the future of the line, which both the Trust and the Society want as part of their heritage railway plans. There is also interest from a commercial company who want to run passenger trains from Oswestry to Gobowen. However, there will probably be no regular trains between Oswestry and Gobowen as the line crosses the very busy A5 via a level crossing, north of Oswestry.
So it's quite a complex situation at the moment in the Oswestry area, but there is activity and there is a definetely a future for heritage railways here.
Some other photos and information, from 2004, not by myself
Could I ask that the Cambrian Railway Trust in Llynclys, who are running trains, be added to the stickied/locked list thread in this sub-forum? Thanks.
