BRANCH LINE SOCIETY TRIP TAKES IN RUGELEY POWER STATION
Published at 15:00 on Sunday 7th August 2016
Tags: BLS, Branch Line Society, Charters, Railtour, Rugeley Power Station
Class 86/6s Nos. 86622 and 86604 pass Rugeley working from Felixstowe to Trafford Park on 19th July. In the background is the now disused Rugeley Power Station, which the Branch Line Society will be visiting on a special charter on 7th October Laurence Sly
The Branch Line Society has announced a new addition to its itinerary of main line excursions. 'The Cliffe Hopper', formed of hauled stock and 'topped and tailed' by West Coast Railways locomotives, is set to run on 7th October.
In common with the Society's previous tours, this train will travel over as much rare track as possible during the journey, including freight-only branches, loops, crossovers and sidings. Most notably, this is expected to be the last opportunity for passengers to travel along the one-and-a-half-mile branch to Rugeley Power Station, which closed on 8th June, although the sidings are temporarily being used to stable the electrification trains for the Chase Line between Rugeley and Walsall.
As its name suggests, the train will also take in the short Cliffe Vale branch from Stoke-on-Trent, being only the second railtour to have traversed this line.
Full details can be obtained in this week's edition of Railway Herald, published on Wednesday.