Plym Valley Railway Association

The Plym Valley Railway Association, provides the work-force to operate and re-build the line from Marsh Mills to Plym Bridge. The Plym Valley Railway Co. Ltd. is the legal arm of the Railway, and the Association is the major shareholder in the Company.

The railway was formed in 1980, and many years of hard work have gone into getting the railway as far as it has. On Sunday 14th October 2001 the Railway operated its first passenger services over the section of track from Marsh Mills up to World's End, a distance of about 652 metres or 712 yards.

The Summer of 2003 saw us dig out two small bridges over the Cann Canal, and start relaying track on the next section of the line up to Lee Moor Crossing. In 2004 the line-side fencing was completed from the present end of passenger operations at World's End, to just beyond the second bridge on the line, Shearwood Plantation Bridge,  which is the first of the two bridges over the canal.  Before track could be laid over the bridge it needed a substantial amount of re-building and this was the main project for 2005.  The arch was rebuilt and then a layer of reinforced concrete poured over the arch.  During 2006 the parapets were rebuilt and track was laid over the bridge and through the cutting and ended just south of the third and final bridge on the line.  This has been named Langford Bridge as a tribute to our late P.W. Engineer.

The track from World's End up through the cutting to Langford Bridge has been upgraded to passenger standards.  In 2007 we  laid track from Langford Bridge nearly up to Lee Moor Crossing using flat bottom rail and concrete sleepers.  This section needed to be lifted quite a bit in places in order to get an even gradient.  In the spring of 2008 Inspectors from the Office of Rail Regulation visited the Railway and gave us permission to operate passenger services over the new section of line.  The first passenger train ran to Lee Moor Crossing on 24th May 2008, a distance of nearly three-quarters of a mile from Marsh Mills.

If you would like to become a member of the Plym Valley Railway Association, and help us re-create the line, then please click on the link to get the membership form to print out, and send it back to us. You will need to include a cheque or postal order made out to: P.V.R.A., in Pound Sterling please.

Some of the P.V.R. members constructing Lee Moor Crossing. January 2009.