The Plym Valley Railway is a
heritage railway based on part of the now-closed
South Devon and Tavistock Railway
The South Devon and Tavistock Railway linked Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon; it opened in 1859. It was extended by the Launceston and South Devon Railway to Launceston, in Cornwall in 1865. It was a broad gauge line but from 1876 also carried t ...
, a branch line of the
Great Western Railway in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
, England.
History
The line was originally part of the South Devon and Tavistock Railway, a
broad gauge railway linking Plymouth with Tavistock in Devon, England. This opened in 1859, was
converted to in 1892 and closed in 1962.
Local enthusiasts set up a group in 1982 to restore part of the line as the Plym Valley Railway. The first section re-opened in May 2008 when trains could operate over of track as far as Lee Moor crossing, the site where the gauge
Lee Moor Tramway (now the
West Devon Way cycle path
A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...
) used to cross the line on the level. A new station was constructed just north of the site of the original
Marsh Mills railway station as that site is occupied by a line that serves the Marsh Mills
china clay
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...
plant. The new station was provided with a shop, buffet and small museum.
The preserved line was extended to on 30 December 2012, bringing it to in length.
The
0-4-0ST steam locomotive "Albert" returned to service in December 2007 after receiving major repairs to its boiler. Albert has operated on all passenger trains and diesel No. 13002 has been used regularly on engineering trains. In 2009 preparation work commenced on returning 0-6-0ST "Byfield" to steam, seeing the locomotive stripped down to its main components for assessment.
Location
The Plym Valley Railway is based at which is close to the
A38 road near
Plymouth. It operates trains as far as .
Rolling stock
Steam locomotives
Diesel locomotives
Diesel multiple units
Former Plym Valley Railway locomotives
External links
*
References
{{Reflist
Heritage railways in Devon
Standard gauge railways in England