Brake van to provide rides at Invergarry
THE Invergarry & Fort Augustus Railway Museum has purchased a British Railways 20T brake van to run brake vans rides on operating days at Invergarry station.
Dating from the 1950s, the van has been sourced from a private collector in the West Midlands. It requires work to free the wheels and chassis as well as repairs to woodwork on one side of the van which has been subject to weather damage.
Museum chairman Christopher Ellice said: “The acquisition of the van will allow us to further develop brake van rides at our site as well as providing our volunteers with a rolling stock restoration project which will give us a fully-operational vehicle.”
Progress at Invergarry includes the erection of a visitor centre to house photographs, plans and historical artefacts from Invergarry station and the Fort Augustus Railway. The centre is scheduled to be up and running by May when the museum welcomes volunteers from the Severn Valley Railway (SVR), who are coming to lend their expertise and muscle to a variety of works at the station.
“We’re delighted to have the SVR volunteers coming to us for a five-day, working week in May, and there will be plenty for them to do working alongside our own enthusiastic volunteers,” said Christopher. “There’s work to be done on our signal cabin whose roof is now up and felted and whose side panels are being constructed off-site for fitting, as well as track and platform work.”
The platform-mounted Invergarry signal cabin has already had its locking room space excavated and made ready to receive the restored Saxby & Farmer frame from Tyndrum Upper station on the West Highland Line. The frame was donated to the museum by Network Rail. When completed, the cabin will operate all signals and points at the restored station.
Volunteer working days are held on most Tuesdays, with operating days on the first Sunday of the month from May to August.
Full details of all events are at www.invergarrystation.org.uk