Colne Valley Railway News

The weekend of 20/21 April saw the annual vintage vehicle rally which was well attended by vehicles old and new and all shapes and sizes. The weather was good both days this year and on the Sunday the exhibition field was full. This roller sounded particularly good as it went along

Icicles on the water tower (12th March) The opening weekend of the 2013 season saw steam driver experience courses on Saturday 9th March which all went well. Our first steam day on the Sunday didn't.  The weather was very wet, cold and snowy so the decision was taken to run the DMU only.  The atrocious conditions meant visitor numbers were lower then expected but there was a good number who braved the weather and came along and enjoyed themselves. We had a school visit us on Tuesday and in spite of the bitter cold they still wanted their ride on the miniature railway - it certainly blew the cobwebs away!

All available diesels in our fleet should be in action at our Diesel Gala on Sunday 17th March. We hope to have running  class 121 Bubble car W55033, Class 141 Pacer 141108 - which has now had its engine problems fixed and hopefully will be seen in action more this year. 03s D2041 and D2184 will be topping and tailing on the passenger coaches whilst 31255 and 08683 will top and tail on the freight train where you can ride in the brake van or the tube wagon. Gates open at 10:30, first train 11:30 with a proposed 10 minute service.  

Pullman carriage Aquila went into the shed after Christmas to undergo replacement of carriage end.  The other end was done in 2010 with the help of a grant, this time round we have no funding help.  The work is expected to take around 8 months, but it all depends on what is uncovered. The end has been removed, it now waits to have measurements taken for all the new wood.

Over the closed season volunteers have been busy all over the site.  The Permanent Way team have been replacing sleepers and working on points.  The loco engineering boys have taken delivery of another lathe which has kindly been donated, they then had to get another container to house it!!  By the time they've got it all installed they will have a better workshop area with more space.  They have also been helping with work on a Ruston diesel and one of the team has undertaken the job of getting the diesel crane working. elsewhere the site is being tidied up ready for opening on 9th March and already bookings are coming in for Days out with Thomas, Peppa Pig and even the Victorian schools event in October, we have also got six school visits booked in a 10-day period in March - no time to sit and do nothing.

The miniature railway has taken delivery of a new petrol hydraulic loco.  No.7 'Badger' is a replacement for 'Tom' who has gone elsewhere. Over the closed period the volunteers have been working on extending the line so that it will have a second loop running through a larger tunnel (when they run out room for extending will they be going underground one wonders!)

Santa had a few days with us to finish off the season.  With only a few seats spare he was kept very busy. The season finished with with passenger numbers for the year up by over 15% Hired locomotives this year included Peckett 2000,  EARMs N7 and Little Barford, the latter is still with us, but the highlight of the year was WD190 coming back into service. The Vintage Vehicle and Bus & Commercial Rallies were again successful and the Victorian Schools Days were also fully booked. Several new events are planned for this year including visits from Peppa Pig, Emergency Services and Classic Motorbike Rallies and a 1960s day - further information on the website.