Description

The Colne Valley Railway is a heritage railway based at Castle Hedingham station, near Halstead in Essex, United Kingdom. The railway consists of a mile-long running line, with a fully reconstructed station, signal box and railway yard.

The railway occupies part of the former Halstead to Haverhill and Cambridge line, which opened in stages from 1860 as the Eastern Counties Railway. This was later taken over by the Great Eastern Railway, which was amalgamated into the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923. The line continued to remain open until 1961, when passenger traffic ended. In 1965 freight traffic ended, and the line was demolished a year later. The preservation society was formed in 1974, and the first steam locomotive, no. 190, operated trains in 1975. Since then the preservation society has evolved into a major tourist attraction.

Locomotives

• Steam Locomotives
  • LMS 4-6-0 Class '5F' nos. 45163 and 45293
  • LNER 0-6-0ST Class 'J94' no. 68072
  • SR 4-6-2 'Merchant Navy' Class no. 35010 'Blue Star'
  • WD 0-6-0ST Class 'J94' 'Austerity' no. 190
• Diesel Locomotives
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 03 nos. D2041 and D2184
  • BR 0-6-0 Class 10 no. D3476
  • BR A1A-A1A Class 31 no. 31255
  • BR Co-Co Class 47 no. 47771 'Heaton Traincare Depot'
  • Royal Admiralty 0-4-0 no. YD43
• Diesel Multiple Units
  • BR Class 121 nos. 55033 and 54287
  • BR Railbuses nos. 79976 and 79978
• Electrical Multiple Units
  • BR Class 419 no. 9009
  • BR Class 422 buffet coach 69318 (ex-unit 2259)

External Links

Colne Valley Railway website. (http://www.cvr.org.uk)