MORE RAILWAYS UP FOR ‘REVERSING BEECHING’ FUND

Twelve current and future preserved lines are included in the second round of the Government’s £500 million ‘Restoring Your Railway’ ideas fund, dubbed ‘Reversing Beeching’.

A proposal to return regular commuter trains to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway is on the list, as well as similar suggestions for the Mid-Norfolk Railway, and Goodrington and Churston stations on the Dartmouth Steam Railway.

Most of the bids would assist steam railways’ extension plans; the upper Wensleydale route through Hawes to Garsdale; the Stratford-upon-Avon to Honeybourne line, which has been a long-term aspiration of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway; completing the Swanage Railway’s ‘Project Wareham’; the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway to Aston Rowant; the South Devon Railway from Buckfastleigh to Ashburton; and the Bodmin & Wenford Railway’s extension to Wadebridge, as well as increased services over its existing route from Bodmin General to Parkway.

A project described as ‘Shepton Mallet (Mendip Vale) also appears, but East Somerset Railway chairman Dick Masters told Steam Railway: “Sorry,

I know nothing about this! Currently, we are not pursuing any extension towards Shepton.”

Also listed are two preserved lines that are yet to get off the ground – the North Somerset Railway from Frome to Radstock, and the Anglesey Central Railway from Gaerwen to Amlwch.

It will be announced later this summer which bids have secured funding to develop their plans.

As detailed last issue, the Isle of Wight and East Lancashire railways were the subject of successful bids in the first round, the latter for a plan to extend the Metrolink tram network.

BEN BUCKI Commuter trains have already appeared on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, though not in passenger traffic. The West Yorkshire line has provided storage space for Northern Rail Class 144 ‘Pacer’ DMUs that were surplus to requirements owing to the reduction of services in the lockdown. This is the scene at Keighley station on May 29.