Return to Sharpness
– a historic success!
Blessed with sunshine over all three days, our Return to Sharpness event from Friday 31st to Sunday 2nd August made a huge impact – acclaimed by passengers, VIPs, the media and many people from our local communities.
Six trains a day over three days carried more than 1200 passengers on our Pacer 143 603, from Oldminster Sidings to just short of the Berkeley Road junction. Return to Sharpness attracted people from across the UK, with an average 75% passenger loading across the event. Many trains were fully booked and tickets for Driver for a Fiver on the Planet shunter were sold out almost immediately.
The first departure was flagged away by Susie Hewson, a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Gloucester, accompanied by two of her Deputy Lord Lieutenant colleagues. Celebrating 150 years since passenger services to Sharpness began on 1st August 1876 and 62 years since the last regular timetabled passenger service on the Sharpness branch, history was made once again, brought to life by onboard narration as the trains passed key points along the branch.
Our Pacer set ran reliably throughout, no doubt enjoying the exercise!
There was widespread praise for all aspects of Return to Sharpness, which sped from conception to reality in just four months. This was an ambitious first event for the VoBR, little more than a year since we completed our move from the small diesel engine shed to our more expansive Oldminster Sidings base.
It’s brought us invaluable publicity, generated lots of interest and goodwill locally and proved we have the combined skills and willpower to successfully stage events and keep moving the Vale of Berkeley Railway ever onward.
The Vale of Berkeley Railway gratefully thanks all its Return to Sharpness partners for their unstinting support and encouragement: train operating company Rail Adventure, the team at Network Rail, Applegates Coaches and especially the staff and patrons of the Sharpness Sports and Social Club. And of course, for the remarkable commitment shown by all the VoBR volunteers, members and donors who made this event possible.
The Planet and Ruston shunters
About us
The Vale of Berkeley Railway Charitable Trust is working to re-open part of the Sharpness Branch line to passengers.
We are repurposing the former freight exchange sidings at Sharpness as our headquarters, having moved out of the Old Engine Shed down by the Docks.
The result will be a new heritage railway attraction and educational facility, enhancing the local community.
Buy the VoBR a coffee
To help fund our new rolling stock shed and machine shop at Oldminster Sidings, we’re asking you to donate us £10 (or more) every month.
£10 a month is less than the price of a barista cup of coffee every week. It’s about £2.30 a week or 30p a day!
If all our members and supporters could donate £10 a month, we’d soon be building our new rolling stock shed and machine shop at Oldminster Sidings. Please click on the button below or for more details see our Donate page. Thank you!
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