Here you can read about all the latest goings-on at Chasewater Railway and forthcoming events and railway news. To keep up-to-date with all that's going on at the railway, why not join the Chasewater Railway Newsletter? To sign-up, click HERE.
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LATEST NEWS
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Asbestos Special 1st January 2012We are running an “Asbestos Day Special" on the 1st January 2012 from 10am to 5pm. This event is to mark the end of 1909 built Hawthorn Leslie No.2780 “Asbestos” 0-4-0st current time in traffic and it’s 10 year steam ticket. The one day event will see Chasewater's favourite steam engine, 102 year old Asbestos providing traction. Resident loco RSH 0-6-0 No.7684 Nechells No.4 will also be in steam to accompany Asbestos on her last day. It will be a time of celebration for the railway owned locomotive which is always very popular with our visitors. Asbestos has been the main stay of service at the colliery line having arrived over 40 years ago. Shortly after the event Asbestos is going to be retired to undergo a heavy general overhaul. Subject to the required funds being raised we expect that the work needed to return it to traffic should take approximately three years to complete. We estimate that around £30,000 is needed to complete the project and in support of this, any profits made on the day will go into the locomotive's fund which was recently boosted by the railway’s Junior Team who organised the "Halloween Special" giving a fantastic £500 donation to the fund. Any donations would be most welcome, and can be sent to the Chasewater Railway with the envelope marked “Asbestos Project” please. New for 2012- New Gift Shop & “The Sidings” Tea Room ExpandsWe are pleased to announce that we relocating our gift shop in 2012 at Brownhills West station. The improved gift shop (accessed from platform 3) will stock a range of Gifts, Toys & Clothes as well as our Railway branded gifts amongst it’s merchandise. This then also will allow for our popular tea room “The Sidings” to have additional seating capacity to cope with demand for our Sunday Carvery, Weekday Specials and Engineman’s Breakfasts alongside it’s traditional fayre. Santa SpecialsOur Santa Specials which start on the 4th December 2011 are booking fast with some trains now fully booked. Advanced booking is highly recommended. Tickets can be purchased at Chasewater Heaths station all week. Click HERE for further details. Service AnnouncementThere is no train service running on the 27th November 2011 but The Sidings tea room is open as usual. Our Santa specials start on the 4th December 2011 (advance booking recommended). Details of our 2012 running dates will appear on here soon. Our first 2012 event is on January 1st 2012, please come along to celebrate with our locomotive Hawthorn Leslie "Asbestos" which will be retiring from service for a well deserved heavy general overhaul. (insert read more here) (further reading) Also in support that day will be fellow RSH loco "Nechells No.4" to help give our 1909 built engine a fitting end to it’s 10 year steam ticket and current stint in service. Asbestos has been a very popular locomotive having been at the railway for over 40 years now. It is estimated that we need to raise around £30,000 to complete the overhaul and any donations to the project would be gratefully received, please state Asbestos Project if making a donation for this project. We anticipate that providing sufficient funds can be raised the overhaul will take around three years to complete. Halloween Special - Saturday October 29thOUR NEXT EVENT HALLOWEEN COMES TO CHASEWATER!! (organised by our junior team of volunteers) Come and join us for ghostly stories and activity's with a night time run along the old colliery line with scary goings on. Trains will run at 6.30 (recommended for younger children) and 7.45 for those who like a good scare! Prices are £4.95 per head and under 1's go for free and there will be refreshments available in our cafe. To book please contact Brownhills west station (on running days) or Chasewater Heaths (Running days: Mo,Tu,Th,Fr 10-1) and book early as there was a high demand for tickets last year. 
The Sidings Tea Room - Brownhills West StationThe Sidings Tea Room is a traditional cafe which is now open 6 days a week, Located at Brownhills West Station, the new home of our Hospitality Manager Craig Wilkinson, Chef. We are pleased to announce that a Hot Sunday Carvery is now available together with Full English Breakfast and fresh hot, home-made dishes available throughout week (see the main advert on our home page for further details). Santa Specials 2011Santa Specials 2011 bookings are now being taken and early booking is advised due to demand (especially for our evening special). Please click here for booking details. September Industrial Gala - 10th/11th SeptemberOur annual September Industrial Gala will be held over the weekend of the 10th/11th September running from 10.00am to 5.00pm both days and featuring intensive passenger services, brake van rides, Coal and/or Freight Trains (all loco’s & events subject to availability). Our Narrow Gauge will also be running and the Museum, refreshments and gift shops will be open as well as the Model Railway. In operation will be:
Gala Rover Tickets are Adults £5.95, Children £3.95 Narrow Gauge (per trip) tickets are Adults £1.00, Children 50p (due to the high cost of staging a gala, during the event our usual single fares, concession and family tickets are not available. Heritage Railway Association passes not accepted, non-working members £1.00 per member) 2010 Timetable Leaflet Receives HRA AwardChasewater Railway’s timetable leaflet has achieved the status of “Best Timetable” in the Heritage Railway Association (HRA) Publication Competition for 2010. Under the HRA’s banner of “promoting the very best in publicity and magazines”, the 2010 Competition was a great success, with the panel of judges needing considerable time to assess all the entries. The panel consisted of a member of the public (without any specific interest in preserved railways), an independent railway enthusiast, two professional railway editors (from Heritage Railways and Steam Railway), and the HRA Publications Officer. Edited by Chasewater Railway Museum volunteers, the timetable leaflet focussed on providing prospective visitors with simplicity and clarity in understanding the operating timetable, together with details of special events throughout the year. Needless to say, the volunteers concerned are extremely proud and delighted to have come “top of the class” and to have achieved such a resounding success. The award will be made to the Railway at the HRA meeting in Porthmadog in September. One in/ One outWe are pleased to announce a new arrival at Chasewater Railway which will see Hunslet 0-6-0st No.3783 of 1953 “Darfield No.1” coming for an extended stay on loan by kind agreement of it’s owner and will be delivered by road from it’s regular base at the Llangollen Railway very shortly. This locomotive is now planned to be included in the upcoming September Gala line up and will then see regular service alongside the home fleet. Unfortunately though it is goodbye to long term resident Andrew Barclay 0-4-0st Wks.No.1964 which has been sold by it’s owner. The big Barclay under the care of it’s new owner will be moving to a new home when it’s annual boiler exam has been undertaken at Chasewater. Chasewater Railway Charity Day - Sunday August 14thCome along and help us support a broad range local charities and groups at our annual charity event run alongside our steam train service. A broad range of Gifts, Crafts, Tombola, Sweets & cakes, bric-a-brac amongst others will be available. This is our way of thanking the local community for all the help and support we receive from them.  Model Railway Exhibition - Sunday 10th JulySunday 10th July sees Chasewater Railway host a model railway exhibition in the Heritage Centre featuring fine layouts set amongst the vintage carriages in the Heritage Centre, including suppliers’ stands. For the serious modeller, youngsters and the ‘boy inside’! 
Admission £1.00 plus the cost of a train ride if taken. Walsall Symphony Orchestra - Saturday 2nd JulyA concert at Chasewater Railway by the Walsall Symphony Orchestra takes place on Saturday 2nd July featuring the pieces:
The Orchestra is conducted by Clive Allsopp and lead by Carol Edwards. Concert admission includes interval train ride and prices are: Adult - £7.00, Children - £3.00 and Family - £15.00. Please note: the service on Saturday July 2nd will be diesel hauled until the Walsall Symphony Orchestra concert evening event which will be steam hauled. Railway Museum Receives Full Accreditation - June 14thChasewater Railway is delighted to announce that its Museum has been awarded full Accreditation by the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (the MLA). This award is in recognition of the Museum volunteers’ efforts to achieve the high standards of care and of good practice expected of museums throughout the UK, and to provide a quality experience for those visitors, of all ages and interests, who come to see what the Museum has to offer. The Museum’s Chairman, David Bathurst, said:
Faggots & Peas - June 11thEnjoy a beautiful journey on the Chasewater Railway and experience the age of steam on the colliery line, whilst taking in the evening sun (hopefully) as it sets in the West. Upon your return, settle down to a piping hot plate of Faggots and Peas or Bangers and Mash in our well appointed 1930’s style station café (children’s menu also available). Tickets - Adults £6.95 Children (up to 16 yrs) £5.50 available from us on: E-mail hospitality@chasewaterrailway.co.uk or call 07563 754498 or ask at the Cafe at Brownhills West Station (for this event please use these contacts rather than the ticket office or station phone number). Coal Train Day - June 12thWe will be holding a Coal Train Day with demonstration Coal trains running in between our passenger services. We are also pleased to welcome The South Staffs MG Owners Club who are also holding their annual "MG’s in the trees" event in the Park on this date, which is in support of the Midlands Air Ambulance. See the poster below or visit www.ssmgoc.co.uk for more information regarding their event. Tickets prices for Coal Train Day are £3.95 Adults and £2.95 Child. Family £8.95 (2+2) - (Narrow Gauge rides are £1.00 Adult, 50p Child). 
Norton Motorcycle Owners Club - 22nd MayLook for the classic motorcycles on the 22nd May as the Norton Motorcycle Owners Club are holding their annual Norton Day in the park. Snibston Transport Festival - 15th MayChasewater Railway are pleased to be once again supporting Leicester city's Festival of Transport event at Snibston Discovery Centre on Sunday May 15th 2011. We are sending resident loco Andrew Barclay No.1964 to haul steam trains on their line during the event. For further details, download the leaflet below:  » Download « Please Note: An error has been found in the 2011 leaflet above. On Tuesday 19th April 2011 we will be operating a Diesel service on that date and not the Steam service that is listed in the leaflet, Apologies for any inconvenience caused by this error and we look forward to seeing you at Chasewater Railway soon. Causeway Improvement WorksDue to the works on the Causeway culverts as part of the Chasewater Dam improvements taking longer than initially planned the line is still truncated and we are only able to run trains up to start of the causeway until further notice, we apologise for this situation which is out of our control and the track will be reinstated as soon as it is safe to do so. Updates will be posted when available. Engineering WorksThe planned temporary truncation of the line at the site of the Causeway to allow improvements to the reservoir to be carried out has now taken place. Work is expected to take 4 weeks, During this time we will be operating a push-pull service as far as works safely allow. We apologise for any inconvenience caused whilst the essential works take place. For further details of the dam improvements please visit the Chasewater Dam website Thank you from Chasewater RailwayThe Volunteers at Chasewater Railway wish to thank so many of you for visiting our Spring Gala and we hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did. We had a kind donation of a pressure gauge by a member of the public. All the Loco’s were on their best behaviour and put in sterling performances under the control of their crews and the Gala even saw a rare appearance for the North British 0-4-0dh loco! Linda on the move!Resident Locomotive W G Bagnall 0-4-0st Linda 2648 is going to make a guest appearance at the Ribble Steam Railway Gala over the weekend 12th/13th February. Full details can be found by visiting www.ribblesteam.org.uk |
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