tarka valley railway

The Tarka Valley Railway charity was formed in July 2015, with the objects of: 1) reinstating the railway to Bideford ,2) Educating the public about the transport history in the local area. In August this year (6th-7^th) we will be celebrating 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE OPENING OF THE ORIGINAL LINE.

We shall be having a Gala that weekend with the town band children’s attractions site tours and we would very much like to do brake van rides.

Our brake van for conservation/ restoration is a British railways 20 ton brake van ,Built in Darlington in 1959.  Lot 3227, Diagram 1/507. To this end we have set about restoring and making safe our brake van however the condition of the wood and some of the steel structure was far worse that we had envisaged (including needing a new roof.

In order for us to finish the jobs required and bring the van up to a standard fit for purpose we need to raise £3000 which would enable us to provide brake van rides on these days.

This sum would provide, the timber, steel, paint and some specialist fabrication and pay for a skill set beyond that of our current volunteers.