Colne Valley Railway News

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.

Our 2017 Season starts on Sunday 2nd April with the Colne Valley at War event.  As it is the Easter We are then open Sunday 9th when our dining train is running - there are still places available, please see website or call for more details.  Easter Holidays we are open Wednesday 5th when Colin the Bear is visiting, then 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th with steam and diesel rides.

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 .

The toilet block on Platform 1 has been demolished to make way for the new Brewster Interpretation building.  Looking from the bridge today it can clearly be seen where the sidings have been removed and the remains of the flattened toilets.

With all the work planned some major shunting has had to take place.   The Newmans siding area has had to be cleared.  This meant re-siting the Travelling Post Office over near the entrance to keep it accessible,  and putting the goods van, Rusty, a works carriage and the old Gresley carriage in other sidings.   Once the tracks were clear a gang of volunteers dismantled the track and stored it. Lots more work will be done in this area over the coming months.

A crew spent two days on site this week filming a documentary  (unfortunately can't say what) Interesting seeing the carriages go under cover, and the attention to detail was superb. WD190 in the evening - this was a static shoot, staged mainly for the steam and very effective it was too.

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