Ecclesbourne Valley Railway – Re-opening Gala

Ecclesbourne Valley Railway, Wirksworth.

But for a few dedicated volunteers this would still be an overgrown forest of weeds, shrubs and trees.

© Copyright Dave Hitchborne and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Press Release from the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway

Tickets Go On Sale for Grand Reopening Gala

Enthusiasts purchase tickets from website before official go-live in rush to get first tickets

Wirksworth, 1^st February 2011: With demand high for opening services, enthusiasts have succeeded in purchasing tickets before the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway’s ticketing website was officially open to the public!

Now open for business, tickets for the railway’s opening gala event on 8^th – 10^th April are now available from www.e-v-r.com/reopening.

Tickets cost £20 for standard class in either a former British Railways corridor coach or a quite delightful former London Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSR) Third Open carriage, freshly restored at Wirksworth by the LMS Carriage Association, and £50 for first class in our saloon with a steward in attendance.

Crowning the event will be the presence of BR Standard steam locomotive 78019 which will be sharing services with the railway’s fleet of diesel multiple units.  Built in 1954, the locomotive spent its early years working services over the northern fells and Lake District before operating in London and the Midlands before withdrawal in 1966.  After languishing in a scrapyard and then at various preservation sites, the locomotive was restored at the Great Central Railway in Loughborough in 1998.

The reopening event on 8^th to 10^th April represents the culmination of ten years effort to restore the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway from an overgrown and abandoned mineral line into a thriving community railway owned by 1,200 shareholders and restored by 150 volunteers, many of whom are part of the railway’s shareholder community.  Offering 76 days of operation this year, the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway has re-joined the nation’s railway network as a true community venture.