Good things come in... Good things come in...

FIRST LINES FIRST LINES

“In a vibrant but challenging

heritage railway environment the Volk’s has been doing

its thing for more than 140 years...”

Photo: It’s not big, nor spectacular, but the Volk’s Electric Railway is unique, a pioneering line and an important part of narrow gauge history, operated today by a small but enthusiastic team – its HRA Railway of the Year award was well deserved. Photo: Fraser Hay/VER

Welcome to NGW182 and what a couple of months it’s been for the narrow gauge! Traditionally at this time of year I worry how I am going to fit all the latest news in what is the last of the winter bi-monthly issues before we make our usual and welcome transition to monthly publication for the summer, and this year those thoughts are very pertinent...

This is the final page of the issue to be put together and these words are being written particularly late on press deadline day, as I’ve just returned to mid-Wales from the south coast and my first-ever attendance at the HRA – Heritage Railway Association – Awards, a very enjoyable evening.

Officially I was there in my role as a Welshpool & Llanfair Trustee, supporting our member Daisy Shennan who was shortlisted for the Young Volunteer of the Year Award. Daisy came away with a Highly Commended certificate from a category which the judges said was always hard to judge and this year exceptionally so. Lord Faulkner, in whose name the award is presented, urged everyone at the event to read the citations of the four shortlisted candidates in the official programme. “They are our future, and they are inspiring,” he said. Making their mark Of course being present I also had my NGW notepad out (well the Notes app on my phone!) to report first-hand on what was

another exceptional year for the narrow gauge. As we detail on page 10 projects and personalities were nominated and won Awards, beating some of the largest and most prominent standard-gauge projects.

While it was perhaps no surprise that the Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway’s new-build Double Fairlie ‘James Spooner’ win the engineering award, it was good to see another young personality, the FF&WHR’s Osian Hughes, take the Rising Star Award, marketing and environmental accolades for respectively the Ravenglass & Eskdale Reailway and Seaton Tramway, and particularly pleasing to see the Talyllyn’s highly innovative Tracksiders win Team of the Year – the TR initiative gets the youngest of enthusiasts involved in hands-on volunteering virtually before they even realise they are enthusiasts. Friends Electric The highlight was the much-prized award of Railway of the Year. From an all-narrow gauge shortlist (how often does that happen?) the Award went to Brighton’s own Volk’s Electric Railway.

Earlier in the day a party of Awards attendees, including me, had enjoyed a highly interesting behind-the-scenes tour of the Volk’s line. Brought up in Horley, close to Gatwick Airport, your Editor has very fond personal memories of the Volk’s – when I was a child my grandparents used to take me on days out which consisted of a main-

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line train to Brighton, walk down to the seafront and always a ride on the Volk’s. This was usually followed by a present and the best was one day when they bought me a live-steam Mamod model traction engine!

Talking to the Volk’s team this weekend I emphasised to them that to NGW their railway is just as important as the most well-known lines running through the delights of Snowdonia – it was great to see that the HRA had the same view.

The Volk’s is a tiny railway with only a dozen or so people looking after it. It is also a superb example of co-operation as Brighton Council owns and runs it while the volunteers of the Volk’s Electric Railway Association (VERA), maintain the track and on occasions get to operate the trains over a weekend, as they did on this one.

In a vibrant but challenging heritage railway environment the Volk’s has been doing its thing for more than 140 years, giving daytrippers a Victorian travel experience in a prime seaside location, and as such it is a very worthy winner of the HRA’s Railway of the Year.

As I write these words many railways are coming to life for the first time in 2024 to run trains over the Ferbruary half-term. As you’ll see from our news pages, we have a whole lot of good stuff to look forward to over the coming season. Enjoy your NGW, and see you back here next month!

Andrew Charman

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