The Barry Tourist Railway
The South Wales town of Barry may be more famous in railways circles for its scrapyard, but where rusting hulks of locomotives once stood, steam runs again ore, as Gary Boyd-Hope explains. ·t
The South Wales town of Barry may be more famous in railways circles for its famous scrapyard, but today, where rusting hulks of locomotives once stood, steam runs once more, as Gary Boyd-Hope explains.
MENTION the name ofBarry in South Wales to any railway enthusiast and you can bet a pound to a penny their mind will jump to images ofWoodham Eros' famous scrapyard, with its lines ofredundant locomotives quietly awaiting their fate in the salty air emanating from the Bristol Channel.
The role Dai Woodham played in effectively making the preservation movement as we know it possible cannot be understated; suffice to say that through his offices no fewer than 213 steam locomotives have been saved for preservation, 150 ofwhich have since steamed.
What the heritage movement might have looked like without Barry Scrapyard's influence can only be guessed at, but one suspects the number ofpreserved lines would have been fewer, and those that did exist would be heavily reliant on former industrial steam locos.
Regeneration
Yet the scrapyard is no more, and in the years since it closed Barry has undergone many changes as part ofa strategic regeneration project. The sidings where rusting locos once stood are now home to an Asda supermarket. Many historic buildings in the town have been restored and smartened up (including the Hood Road pumping station that features in many scrapyard photos), and an air ofprosperity now exists where there was once neglect.
Perhaps most importantly, however, where steam locomotives once went to die they now live again, and just yards from where some locos were cut up, others are being restored back to working order thanks to the Barry Rail Centre and its operational Barry Tourist Railway (BTR). Yet the BTRis not the first heritage line to have its base in Barry. In 1979, when Woodham's yard was still very active, the Butetown Historic Railway Society accepted a lease offered by Vale of Glamorgan Council (VoGC) on Barry Island station building and platform 4, supported by financial aid from the Welsh Development Agency.
The operation eventually became known as the Vale of Glamorgan Railway, working a short
section ofthe former Barry Railway Company/ GWR!ine as the Barry Island Railway.
The heritage operation was supported by an annual £65,000 subsidy from VoGC which, in December 2007, made the decision to withdraw its funding ofthe railway. The council granted a licence for the railway to continue operating through 2008, although by now entirely selffinancing, but made it known it intended to find a new backer for the line under a long-term lease.
Ultimately, the Vale of Glamorgan stock was transferred to the fledgling Garw Valley Railway at Pontcymer, including the former NCB Maesteg Colliery Hunslet 'Austerity' 0-6-0ST Pamela (3840/1956).
Cambrian Transport
Three sealed bids were received in response to the invitation to tender, with the successful bidder being Cambrian Transport Ltd, which had long been VoGC's railway consultant and contractor.
Cambrian Transport was established in 1995 by former British Rail manager John Buxton who, as a BR Train Operating Company managing director in the 1990s, had had responsibility for the entire Valley Lines operation. Cambrian's speciality was, and remains, consultancy and contracting offering expertise in areas such as infrastructure design, construction and maintenance; operations support; traction and rolling stock; public and business planning; and fleet specification and operation. It has worked as
far afield as Canada and the Middle East, while in the UK the company has contracts across the nation from the Isle ofWight to Scotland. Even closer to home, the firm completed the renewal ofa rail-over-rail bridge at the Pontypool & Blaenavon Railway.
Cambrian Transport took over operation of the Barry heritage line in 2009, and on January 1, 2011, signed a 20-year lease with VoGC, which included the two-mile line, 14 sidings, Barry Island station, a 'new' shed in traditional style on Plymouth Road, the connected Waterfront Branch and Hood Road goods shed, and the historic former Barry Railway Co steam shed at Barry (SSC), in which it established the Barry
Rail Centre.
The shed had originally been built in 1888, and at the time ofthe Grouping, when the Barry Railway became part ofthe GWR, it was home to 148 locomotives. It closed to steam in September 1964, and later found use as an EWS (English, Welsh & Scottish Railways) wagon repair centre until being taken over by VoGC.
Stock storage
Today, the shed is known as the Barry Main Depot and serves as the line's main engineering and stock storage area. It is home to the Barry Tourist Railway's operational steam loco Sentinel 4wVBT Susan (9537/1952)- as well as a fleet of rolling stock, including BR Class 101 DMU testing unit Iris 2, formed ofRDS No. 977963 and RDB No. 977964; Class 101 DTCL No. 6300; Class 488/2 unit No. 8206 (72505+72629); Class 489 unit No. 9110; and unrestored BR '9F' 2-10-0 No. 92245.
The '9F' is in a dismantled state, having donated its boiler to be used on classmate
No. 92212. However, the intention is to reassemble the loco and display it as part ofa wider exhibition about Barry and the importance ofits famous scrapyard.
As an aside, No. 92245 is one oftwo unrestored ex-Barry Scrapyard locos now owned by Cambrian Transport, the other being '56:XX' 0-6-2T No. 6686. When Vale of Glamorgan Council decided to dispose ofthe remaining 10 Woodhams locos - the so-called 'Barry 10' - it was John Buxton who acted on the council's behalf and led the negotiations that secured homes for all ofthem.
On running days the public usually join BTR trains at Barry Island station, which is located directly opposite the Barry Island Pleasure Park.
The station is served by Transport for Wales (TtW) services, but the station buildings are maintained by the BTR. Here a shop, cafe and the Barry at War military museum have been established, all ofwhich are manned by teams of enthusiastic volunteers. Part ofthe building has also been given over to exhibitions and meeting/ activity space.
Only the western end ofplatform 1 is available to TtW passengers; a fence prevents access to the main building and a modern waiting shelter is provided instead.
TtW trains cannot run through the station either because a buffer stop has been sited midway along the platform; a far cry from the station's heyday when services ran through to Barry Pier.
A footbridge connects the main station building with bay platform 4, which is used by BTR trains. The main 'tourist' trains consist of the Sentinel Susan and the Class 101 Iris 2, which has been re-engined and fitted with comfortable, high-class ex-Mk3 carriage seating ofthe sort unlikely to be found in any other preserved first-generation DMU.
A short distance to the east ofthe station is the BTR's current Plymouth Road terminus, with its large shed and canopied platform for BTR trains. In Barry Railway Co days the main line ran beyond here and through the 280-yard long Pier Tunnel to Barry Pier, where they connected with paddle steamers which linked South Wales with North Devon and Somerset.
Rail access to the tunnel ended in 1976, but the BTRhas long-term aspirations to one day reopen the tunnel and return trains to Barry Pier.
Museum
There was a plan to create a museum/visitor centre in the Plymouth Road shed, with exhibits including the '9F' and former BR track testing coach No. DW139, which itselfis worthy of a slight digression in this narrative.
The vehicle was originally built in 1911 as GWR 'Toplight' No. 2360, and in 1928 was selected by the chief civil engineer's department for conversion at Swindon into the famous 'Whitewash Coach', so called because whitewash would be flushed from the toilet cistern onto the permanent way to mark a track fault. Subsequently, a more sophisticated system deposited yellow and red dye: yellow dye indicated a fault that needed repairing within a week, whereas red signalled a fault that required
immediate action.
The coach was active well into the 1980s, having retained its original bogies into the 1970s. These were eventually replaced by 'B4' bogies to enable the coach to run at more than 100mph.
In 1989 it was designated as an historically significant artefact which should be permanently preserved, becoming part ofthe National Collection. Unfortunately, after more than 10 years' storage in the open air at Swindon and the National Railway Museum at York, it was in a sorry state. It was eventually de-accessioned by the museum and acquired by John Buxton for the BTR in 2012. It retains many period features from the 1928 rebuild, and John eventually hopes to restore the coach and equip it for pushpull operation.
The museum plans have since been amended as the Plymouth Road shed is now also to become the home ofthe railway's Heritage
Skills Centre. This is currently housed in the
'New Barry Works' building, next to Woodham Halt, but the railway's lease on the building is not up for renewal and the facility will move to Plymouth Road.
The current plan is to incorporate the Skills Centre as a working heritage display within the wider museum. Renamed as the Barry Heritage Centre, the BTR's museum will tell the history of Barry in terms ofthe railway, the docks and the two world wars.
The Skills Centre is managed by Mike Pearce, owner ofHunslet 0-6-0ST Jessie, who is currently overseeing the restoration of GWR Small Prairie No. 5539 on site for owner Hugh Shipton, as well as working on the BTR's other ex-Barry Scrapyard loco - Collett 0-6-2T No. 6686. Both locos will move to Plymouth Road, with John Buxton keen to expand this side ofthe Barry Rail Centre operation. In this regard he has recently taken on two more paid staffand is sponsoring an engineering undergraduate at university.
Rejoining the train at Plymouth Road, BTR services return to Barry Island station then almost immediately cross the 149-yard Barry Island double-track viaduct that is shared with the Network Rail line; the two lines run separate yet parallel.
The viaduct follows the northern edge of Barry Harbour, with the A4055 Harbour Road running alongside.
The line splits at the western end ofthe viaduct at Waterfront Junction: one line - the Waterfront Branch - dropping down to Hood Road and the Waterfront station.
This area is currently under development, and the BTR has rationalised its track work, having agreed to cede part ofthe track layout to the scheme. The Waterfront platform and terminus lie opposite the old Barry Railway's iconic hydraulic pumphouse.
Attractions
However, the nearby former Hood Road goods shed now has a new lessee. The new development offers a range ofvisitor attractions and the BTR is working with the developer to ensure the success ofthe scheme with the aim of attracting more visitors to the railway.
The BTRmain line swings sharply northeastwards at Waterfront Junction to run alongside the eastern wall ofthe former Barry steam shed (Barry Main Depot), in the shadow ofNetwork Rail's Barry station, immediately to the west.
As the line continues in that direction it passes the former shed yard - often used for commercial stock storage and maintenance - and proceeds to Woodham Halt, which was erected to serve the nearby Barry New Works/Heritage Skills Centre, housed in a building on the site of the former Barry Railway Works.
The building is rail-connected, and the presence oflocomotive wheelsets outside provides an indication ofits current use. However, as mentioned previously, the lease on the building is up and its activities are transferring to Plymouth Road.
Beyond Woodham Halt, BTR trains then pass beneath Gladstone Bridge, which also spans the parallel Network Rail lines, and roll into Gladstone Bridge station next to a Morrisons supermarket and a retail park. This is the present terminus ofthe BTR, but the railway is currently working on a half-mile extension to a new interchange at Network Rail's Barry Docks station.
Much ofthe old trackbed has recently been cleared, and when completed the current Gladstone Bridge platform will be re-sited at Barry Docks.
The railway operates on around 30 steam and heritage diesel days per year, and as well as the train rides a BTR ticket includes shed and ►
workshop tours and talks on Barry's history.
Promotion ofthe Barry area is actually a key part ofthe BTR's marketing strategy, with a goal ofattracting more people to visit the town and the island. Furthermore, the line hosts a number ofspecial events annually, including Easter and Christmas services, swap meets, Barry at War and 1940s fashion events, and historic aircraft displays. John's company organised, sponsored and funded four ofthe famous Red Arrows displays in conjunction with the BTR's Wartime and Vmtage Transport events.
The Sentinel Susan is the mainstay ofthe passenger operation, but in previous years the railway has played host to a number offormer main line locomotives. Hawksworth '94XX' 0-6-0PT No. 9466, when still under the ownership ofthe late Dennis Howells, visited on several occasions, while other guest locos have included Buckinghamshire Railway Centre's ex-Metropolitan Railway 0-4-4T No. 1, the
Great Western Society's steam railmotor No. 93, and former Turkish '8F' 2-8-0 No. 45160.
This effectively summarises the public face ofthe BTR, but there is more to the Barry Rail Centre operation, including a number ofplans and aspirations for future development.
For example, the BTR has made inroads into becoming Britain's first carbon-neutral railway. In May 2019, in the face offorthcoming regulations from DEFRA, limiting domestic household emissions, the railway trialled a new low-emission fuel source on the Sentinel Susan.
This followed discussions with the supplier to the operators ofthe National Trust's 1859built steam yacht Gondola, which currently plies its trade on Coniston Water in Cumbria, and which was converted in 2008 to burn logs made from compressed wood and sawdust. The logs are said to burn more efficiently than coal, giving offlittle smoke with a low sulphur content.
During the initial experiment the time it took to get from lighting up to full pressure was under two hours, which is a typical time for a Sentinel loco ofthis type.
Firing was also undertaken at the same frequency as would normally be done with coal, with a bag ofthe biomass logs going into the firebox, rather than five or six shovelfuls ofcoal.
Electro-diesels
During shunting manoeuvres the loco proved to be just as effective as when fired by coal; pressure was maintained throughout as the loco worked with train weights ofup to 210-tonnes in high gear.
Costs ofthe biomass fuel are higher than coal, but the overall fuel consumption was lower, making a 'cost per day' ofusing biomass on a par with a day on coal.
As already mentioned, stock storage is something that the railway already undertakes, aided by its Class 73 electro-diesel No. 73118, which was one ofthe class that worked on the Channel Tunnel Rail link and was modified to be able to haul Eurostar stock. Restoration of Class 08 No. 08503 is nearing completion and the railway can also call upon its second Class 73 - Eastleigh-based No. 73133 - ifneeded.
However, John Buxton would like to expand that relationship with the 'big railway' operators and malce the BTR available as a test track.
Once the Barry Docks extension has been completed, it is hoped to upgrade the permanent way and increase the maximum speed limit to 40mph to facilitate traction and rolling stock testing.
The railway is very fortunate in this regard in having Major John Poyntz, the former principal inspector ofrailways at Her Majesty's Railway Inspectorate, on board as one ofthe advisory team.
In tandem with this, Barry shed (Barry
Main Depot) is being developed to become a fully operational depot, capable ofcarrying out inspection maintenance, testing and commissioning work.
One ofthe prime drivers for this is to make Barry a destination for the steam railtour market, with the BTR having full facilities for both locomotive and train servicing. It has been used for loco servicing on previous occasions, but the aim to make this a much more regular feature
ofthe whole operation.
To this end, the the former Bricklayers Arms depot turntable has been acquired from the Mid-Rants Railway, which is now under restoration for installation in the Barry Main Depot yard. Track next to the former coaling stage area is also being reinstated to permit the railway's Ruston-Bucyrus 22-RB grab to perform loco coaling duties.
By having a facility capable of serving both the modern railway and heritage sector, it is hoped the railway will be able to expand its range oftraining and employment opportunities.
This would include the Heritage Skills Centre, and training initiative with main line operating companies. Already the railway has provided realistic training opportunities for rail engineering firms Colas and Amey, while the South Wales Fire & Rescue Service has performed practice scenarios using the
BT R facilities.
Vivarail recently announced it will test and commission the Class 484 trainsets at the BTR. These converted ex-LU D78 trains are replacing the ageing Class 483 trains currently operating services on the Isle ofWight.
One ofthe more surprising sidelines that the BTR has nurtured is the provision offilming locations. With both BBC and ITV having a strong presence in Cardiff, the railway has provided locations for many episodes of Doctor Who and Casualty, together with other locally made series, including Being Human and Stella. Barry itselfis also the location for the popular comedy series Gavin & Stacey.
Covid-19
Although the BTRis currently closed to passengers because ofthe Covid-19 pandemic, the operation at Barry remains financially secure thanks to John Buxton's foresight in recognising from the start that the railway needed to have a number ofstrands to its bow ifit was to thrive as a business. While all heritage work has currently stopped, the important main line railway services together with the regular consultancy and contracting work continues.
The railway has always been self-reliant and remains on a firm financial footing. It has never received any outside funding and the only standard-gauge heritage line not to appeal to the public for financial assistance during the current crisis. Furthermore, as a statement ofits commitment to the future, the railway procured four Mk3 carriages direct from main line service in April. Three will improve the railway's fleet of carriages and the other will become a retail unit at the Waterfront development.
In addition, ecological site surveys are presently underway as part ofthe Transport and Works Application (1WA) that Cambrian Transport preparing for the proposed extension ofthe line to Barry Dock station.
John Buxton is rightly proud ofwhat he and his team have achieved to date, but says it has only scratched the surface ofits full potential. He knows the line itself will never be a big league player in the wider heritage movement, but with the multpile facets ofthe whole Barry Rail Centre operation, he believes Barry has the ability to leave its mark on the industry for a second time.
Certainly the addition ofa genuine South Wales loco, in the form ofNo. 6686, will only serve to enhance the railway's offering, and ifthe various strands ofthe Barry Rail Centre business grow as John intends, it will have a very good future ahead ofit. ■