Development

After more years than we can remember, development has suddenly taken off at the PBR, to the extent that our volunteers are now working flat out.

Why is this:

We are a railway with a rapidly growing profile – nothing succeeds like success
A very large fraction of our membership are active volunteers, to an extent that would make very many larger railways green with envy
The statutory funders have woken up to the fact that we are making an increasing impact on the tourism product in Blaenavon, and that we are not going to go away
We have the most extraordinarily generous members who have added to the small amount we get from public donations with very substantial donations of their own

So why these pages? Quite apart from the fact that your webmaster has had his arm twisted, we are all very proud to be eveloping at the rate we are. We hope you will be able to share our enthusiasm and match our member’s generosity, either by joining us as a member, or by chipping in with a donation. Naturally we‘d like to hear from any passing philanthropic millionaires that might to be passing, but if you are not a millionaire, but would simply like to be labelled a philanthropist then a small donation would be very welcome.

If you’d like to make a donation, AND the opportunity to reduce the amount of tax that the tax man takes from you (and who wouldn’t), then click HERE. This will download our appeal form as a PDF document.

On the other hand, quite the best way of helping the railway is to set up a regular Standing Order, and for that purpose you will need a mandate form, which can be downloaded from HERE This will also download the mandate form as a PDF document.

Enough of the begging! Development on this railway is not haphazard or opportunist, but has arisen from years of careful planning. This is not as virtuous as it sounds, when you have had as much time to plan as we have! So this page will say something of our plans but will expand with news items as the various plans take off and progress towards completion.

Because development has become a BIG issue, and is likely to remain so for some years to come, we have divided this section into a number of pages. You can navigate to these pages from here. Before you do so, we invite you to read the page which outlines our overall plans. If, on the other hand, you know what we are doing, and just want to get an update on progress then one of the other ‘topic’ pages, will be the place to go. The number of topic pages is likely to increase, and when the work it describes is completed, it will remain as a record of what we have done and how we did it. Although this web site is primarily for public viewing, some of our members like to see the ins and outs of their work, and even their own faces! For this reason, some of the pages may be a little too detailed for easy viewing by the public – we apologise in advance for this!

The Overall Plan is HERE (uploaded 4 July 2008)

Pictures and stories from the following areas will be uploaded over the coming months. Several areas will be featured in the next few days, though some pages may be little more than a placeholder with, perhaps just one illustration.

Step and description or work	Select page	Status	First uploaded	Last updated
1.1 Water and sewerage	HERE	Complete	12 Nov 2008
1.2 Extension to Blaenavon (High Level)		Funded
1.2.1 Trackwork
1.2.1.1 Trackwork – Furnace Sidings to Forgeside	Page 1 - HERE Page 2 - HERE Page 3 - HERE Page 4 - HERE Page 5 - HERE Page 6 - HERE Page 7 - HERE	Complete	2 Nov 2008 2 Nov 2009 2 Feb 2009 21 Sep 2009 22 Nov 2009 18 May 2010 24 May 2010	22 Apr 2009 14 Oct 2009
1.2.1.2 Trackwork – Forgeside to Blaenavon (High Level)		Complete		22 Apr 2009 14 Oct 2009
1.2.2 Fencing	HERE	In progress	20 May 2010
1.2.3 Platform at Blaenavon (High Level)	Page 1 - HERE Page 2 - HERE	Complete	15 Nov 2008 26 Nov 2008	13 April 2009
1.2.4 Bridges
1.2.4.1 Old Pit Road Bridge (Bridge 13)	HERE	Complete	24 Oct 2008	10 Mar 2009
1.2.4.2 New Pit Road Bridge (Bridge 14)	HERE	Complete	28 Oct 2008	18 May 2010
1.2.4.3 Cycletrack Low Bridge (Bridge 16)	HERE	Complete	28 Oct 2008
1.2.4.4 Stream Bridge (Bridge 17)	HERE	Complete	14 Nov 2008	9 Jan 2009
1.2.4.5 Forgeside Road Bridge (Bridge 18)	HERE	Not scheduled	17 Nov 2008
1.2.4.6 Varteg Road Bridge (Bridge 19)	HERE	In progress	14 Nov 2008	25 Jan 2011
1.2.5 Ecological assessment along the route	HERE	Complete
1.2.6 Rail over rail Bridge (Bridge 12)
1.2.6.1 Repair of Bridge 12 to permit trains UNDER		Complete
1.2.6.2.Repair of Bridge 12 to permit trains OVER	HERE	Complete	26 April 2009	28 Nov 2010
1.3 Infrastructure improvements at Furnace Sidings
1.3.1 Construction of second platform at Furnace Sidings	Page 1 - HERE Page 2 - HERE	Complete	23 Oct 2008 23 Oct 2008
1.3.2 Erection of footbridge between platforms 1 and 2 at Furnace Sidings	Page 1 - HERE Page 2 - HERE	Complete	24 Oct 2008 22 Oct 2010	12 June 2010
1.3.3 Construction of a comprehensive station building on platform 1, Furnace Sidings .	Page1 - HERE Page2 - HERE	In progress	15 April 2009 22 Feb 2011
1.4 – Infrastructure improvements at Blaenavon (High Level)
1.4.1 - Construction of suitable buildings	Page 1 - HERE Page 2 - HERE Page 3 - HERE	In progress	17 June 2009 23 Nov 2009 6 Jan 2010	23 Sept 2009
1.4.2 - Construction of a run-round loop		No funds
1.4.3 – Construction of a second platform	HERE	Started, but not funded	13 Oct 09
1.4.4 - Erection of footbridge		No funds
1.5 - Big Pit branch	HERE		3 May 2009
1.5.1 Carriage shed and visitor centre	Forms part of a separate HLF application
1.5.2 Branch line to Big Pit - track laying and modifications to existing trackwork		In progress
1.5.3 Construction of simple station near Big Pit		In design
1.5.4 Acquisition and adaptation of suitable passenger carrying vehicles		Not yet funded
1.5.5 Provision of suitable motive power		Complete
1.5.6 Stock shed on Up Exchange Sidings		Deferred
1.6 - Extension to Top Shed	HERE	In progress	13 Oct 2009	26 Jan 2011
1.7 - Fencing around Down Exchange Sidings		Complete

Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway

Development