Colne Valley Railway News

We started our 2018 season with a Diesel Gala, the first for a while. Services during the day were provided by our two class 03s - D2041 and D2184, 121 Bubble Car and the 141 Pacer - the first time this has worked for some time.

 Chase and Marshall from children's programme Paw Patrol made their first visit to the Colne Valley Railway on 10th September. Lots of children came to see these larger than life heroes.

 Bank Holiday Sunday saw our Annual Bus Rally take place. An assortment of vehicles gathered in brilliant sunshine including this 1950 Bristol and a selection of LT buses.

Our 2017 season started with the Colne Valley at War event. The weather was lovely, warm and dry and visitors came out in force to see re-enactors on site transporting the station area back to the 1940s. Steam engine WD190 worked well on her first operational day We also welcomed Nadine and her team who have taken over Sidings Buffet.

Class 47 47771 owned by the Class 47 Restoration Project left the Colne Valley Railway today for Hampshire. Quite an impressive site with a total weight of around 200 tonnes. It took the scenic route through Halstead, I imagine a lot of motorists were surprised seeing this .

Following fears that the Colne Valley Railway would have to leave its site at Castle Hedingham, we can announce that we have been successful in purchasing the current site with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and our future is now secure.  This also enables us to construct better facilities such as a new entrance & reception buildings, interpretation centre and workshops We are preparing for our first Santa Specials this weekend and will be  releasing further information about these enhancements in the new year 

  Essex Fire Service held a training exercise one evening.  A fire was staged in the sleeping car, complete with bodies and there were live victims in another train. Appliances attended from Sible Hedingham, Wethersfield, Halstead and Thaxted

Peppa Pig made her annual visit to us on the 1st May, she was kept busy throughout the day meeting all the children who came to see her and ride the trains

We started our operating season at Easter.  Good Friday saw lovely weather and lots of people, Easter Sunday was cold and wet - but what a lovely rainbow!

The S&T team have been busy replacing steps on Nunnery signal box 

7 1/4" gauge steam engine Romulus has returned to the CVR after having some work done, including a new boiler.   The paintwork has also changed on the main engine - the tender still needs to be done but it does look very smart, be great to see it back in action.

The year has started with the British Transport Police Dogs training on site. This is a regular thing, and it's great to see how the dogs and handlers work.

This year saw the 30th Victorian Fantasy event for KS2 children.  Numbers have been affected by changes in the curriculum but we still had a good number attend, making it a worthwhile event. Children met Queen Victoria, Sir Rowland Hill and other characters, enjoyed a traditional Punch & Judy show and danced to the fairground organ.  They also enjoyed a Victorian lesson - surprisingly most of the children when asked what their favourite part of the day was will say the classroom, they like the strictness!!

Cambridge blues band Smoken Joe's had a photo shoot at the Railway this evening.  They were extremely lucky with the weather as after heavy rain all day the sun came out so they could get the shots they wanted. More information on the band can be found on www.smokenjoesband.com

BBC Essex visited us this morning as art of the Essex Quest quiz

11th July saw the diesel crane operate for the first time in several years.  This has gradually been got back to working condition by a couple of our volunteers. It successfully lifted the cab roof and tank off WD200. Work is continuing on this loco, and the wheels from Jupiter have gone away to be turned

Fireman Sam made his first visit to the Colne Valley Railway on 26th July.  This coincided with the Emergency services day so he felt quite at home with the fire engines from Blackwater Preservation. The weather was horrible, it rained nearly all day but that didn't stop lots of young fans coming along and enjoying the fun

We started the 2015 season with a private hire of the Pullman train at the end of March. This was to celebrate a retirement.  Everything worked well and the weather was good, We've had a change of layout in the bar coach and this was the first time of use - it proved to be a popular change. Easter was good.  We have a new caterer this year and are already getting positive feedback.

What a busy Summer, and how quickly it seemed to pass! Visitor numbers were up considerably for both July and August and September seems to be going the same way.  It's good to see so many people on site enjoying themselves. We were featured on BBC1 series A Taste Of Britain, this was filmed in July but we were asked not to name the programme until after it had aired on 9th September.  Brian Turner and Janet Street Porter spent a couple of hours on site. Work has started on WD200 with the boiler tubes being removed ready for inspection - roll on the day when we have two Austerity saddle tanks working together.

Today we had Mark Wesley Productions on site making a training film for London Overground Railway.  The film stars Shaun Williamson and Richard Tate both seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves.  The whole crew were a great bunch and it was great to see them in action - very entertaining.  They will certainly be welcome back anytime.