A major step forward has been made on the Chinnor Railway’s extension into Princes Risborough, with the acquisition of the track needed.
A final tranche of track for the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway’s independent line into Princes Risborough has been successfully obtained. About 400 yards of 'pre-loved' track donated by Network Rail was brought by train to the Thame Junction boundary with C&PRR near Princes Risborough on 09 July. There the contracted Freightliner Heavy Haul class 66 loco was relieved by C&PRR’s resident class 37 to position the train for unloading the next day. It must be one of the longest freight trains seen on the branch in recent years.
The 'Chinnor Independent Line' is a relaying of just over half a mile of the former Great Western Railway branch from Princes Risborough to Watlington via Chinnor. This branch line was closed to passengers and truncated at Chinnor in 1957, and closed to freight (coal for the cement works) in 1989. Much of the line was restored and re-opened by the C&PRR from 1993, but this final section into Princes Risborough was not acquired until March 2017 by which time it was derelict. It is that section which is now being relayed. The C&PRR’s platform 4 at Princes Risborough station, rebuilt and re-opened in 2018, has since only been reached by running C&PRR trains over an adjacent Network Rail siding (when not otherwise in use). This siding was once part of the long closed branch to Thame and Oxford, which ran parallel to the Chinnor line from Risborough for the first half mile or so.
The unloading of the train using a track relaying machine owned by the C&PRR proved much easier than previous deliveries which had been by road, their loads having then to be transferred to rail wagons to be taken to where they are needed. Delivery by train enabled 21 track panels (of rail and concrete sleepers) each 60ft long and weighing about 11 tonnes to be handled much more quickly this time – quite a challenge if done by road!
The result is that our Railway now has enough track to complete the line. Grateful thanks are due to Network Rail for the donation of the redundant materials and to all supporters for their donations. Though it’s often not sensible to redeploy such decades-old track components on a main line, on a lightly used heritage line like the Chinnor Railway they will give years or decades of service. The challenge now is to complete laying the track which will be done by volunteers within the C&PRR. As one of the smaller heritage lines, it has no paid staff. The work is expected to take several months. New members and volunteers are always welcome!
To complete the work we still need to buy other materials such as fishplates to join the rails together as well as an estimated 800 tonnes of ballast, so we continue to appeal for donations. If you are able to help please see the ‘donations’ tab on our website, or please use this link HERE