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Riding high


Step back to simpler times and enjoy a majestic ride on an historic steam railway

by Webmaster

Step back to simpler times and enjoy a majestic ride on an historic steam railway

Enjoy a magnificent journey through the beautiful Rheidol Valley, nestled along the edge of the Cambrian Mountains, on a steam hauled train for the 12 miles to Devil’s Bridge during which the train climbs nearly 700ft giving wonderful vistas of the valley and its wildlife below.

The Vale of Rheidol Railway (VoR) is unusual in that it was operated as a steam line by British Rail up until 1988, where all other steam operated by British Rail had finished in August 1968.  In 1989, the line re-opened under new management and in the years that have followed a total transformation has taken place.

Fast forward to today and the railway continues to go from strength to strength. Our workshop facility is providing world class overhauls of engines not just from our own line but for others too. In 2019, we welcomed our new fully accessible platform, which was constructed as part of our ‘Wales to the World’ project; this was followed by the building of our new Heritage Rolling Stock & Museum Collection Protection Shed, which allows us to store our rolling stock and collection of engines in a protected environment. The project is now in its final stage, which will see our former Great Western, standard gauge, engine shed restored to become a display space where the VoR’s historic collection of engines from around the world will be on public display for the first time, along with a brand new booking office.

As well as our ongoing station development project, we have welcomed to service two wheelchair accessible carriages on our line, the first part of our ‘Views for all’ project. The conversion of the first carriage involved rebuilding it from what was the failed BR ‘Vista Car’ experiment, returning it to service in its original form as an open carriage, we then completed the adaption of a second open carriage for wheelchair accessibility.  We have also just finished rebuilding one of our two first class carriages to provide additional wheelchair capacity and upgrade the facilities within it.  The upgraded First Class carriage provides an option of luxurious comfort from which to take in the breath taking views the Rheidol Valley offers.

The VoR continues to grow and develop, improving what we can offer our visitors and creating more reasons to keep coming back.  Watch this space as we continue to develop our facilities in the future.

For more information visit www.rheidolrailway.co.uk

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