Plym Valley Railway

The Plym Valley Railway is part of the closed South Devon and Tavistock Railway near Plymouth, a branch line of the Great Western Railway in Devon.

The Plym Valley Railway is currently rebuilding the 1¼ mile Marsh Mills to Plym Bridge section of the line. The line is being re-created in 1950s to early 1960s period, preserving steam and diesel locomotives, carriages, wagons and other rolling stock, buildings, machinery and equipment of historic railway interest.

The PVR is located just off the A38 Marsh Mills junction, Plymouth. Follow the brown tourist signs from Marsh Mills roundabout, or follow the signs for Coypool Park and Ride. Parking is available in the P&R carpark opposite the railway on Sundays.

The restoration

The Plym Valley Railway have constructed a new platform north of the site of the original Marsh Mills station. The trackbed through the original Marsh Mills station is still occupied by the line that serves the Marsh Mills china clay plant. The new Marsh Mills platform includes a shop, buffet and small museum.

Train rides are operated on numerous Sundays throughout the year. The railway successfully opened an extension to its line in May 2008. Trains now operate over convert|0.75|mi|km|1 of a mile of track to Lee Moor crossing, the site where the Railgauge|42 gauge Lee Moor Tramway (now occupied by a cycle path) crossed the standard gauge branch on the level. The extended line incorporates three stone bridges which have been rebuilt by the line's volunteers, two of which cross the Cann Quarry canal.

The 0-4-0ST steam locomotive "Albert" returned to service in December 2007 after receiving major repairs to its boiler. Albert has operated all passenger trains so far in 2008 and diesel No. 13002 has been used regularly on engineering trains.

Locomotive status

*Steam locomotives
**Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST "Albert" – operational
**W.G. Bagnall 0-6-0ST "Byfield" No. 2 – under overhaul
*Diesel Locomotives
**British Rail Class 03 0-6-0 D2046 Under mechanical overhaul
**British Rail Class 08 0-6-0 13002 – operational
**British Rail Class 37 Co-Co 37207 "William Cookworthy" – under overhaul
**British Rail Class 117 DMU DMS 51407 & DMBS 51365 - T304 – operational
**Plymstock Cement Works 0-4-0 Diesel Hydraulic "Vanguard" shunter – operational

External links

* [http://www.plymrail.co.uk/ Plym valley railway web site]
* [http://www.btinternet.com/~plymvalleyrailway/ The Railway website]