Cambrian Railway Society
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The Cambrian Steam Railway & Rly Society (not to be confused with the nearby Cambrian Railways Trust) in Oswestry, Shropshire, England, plans to restore the former Potteries, Shrewsbury & North Wales Railway branch line from Blodwel to Nantmawr as a heritage railway.
Formed in 1972, the society has established a registered museum dedicated to the history of railways in the Oswestry area. The museum is housed in the sole-surviving Oswestry & Newtown Railway goods shed.
A new attraction for 2006 will be the recently restored Oswestry South Signal Box, which has been restored thanks to a £22,000 grant from the Oswestry Visitor Facilities Infrastructure fund, using a mixture of contract and volunteer labour from the society. A former Oswestry Works apprentice carpenter, Bill Braddick, has worked on the ornate woodwork, including the facings and bargeboards.
The town centre site includes a workshop where maintenance and restoration of the society's exhibits, both operational and non-operational takes place.
Passenger trains run seasonally, Easter to October, along the short Oswestry Light Railway.
Following over nine years of negotiation, the society acquired the Nantmawr branch line in the summer of 2004. Work is well underway at Oswestry to prepare rolling stock for eventual use at Nantmawr, including Peckett 0-4-0 saddle tank 'Oliver Veltom' and ex British Railways Mark 1 coach no. 3950.
A group of society members has saved the former Cambrian Railways Company Institute building from the threat of demolition by developers and has re-opened it as the Oswestry Railway Social Club. Now returned to Cambrian Railways green & cream exterior decor, the interior contains a collection of memorabilia.
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