Oswestry's Railway Heritage has been pushed to one side for years now, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!
A great deal of work has been done to clear the tracks, repair the rails, replace the sleepers. The platform is undoing significant repair and refurbishment to restore it to it's original condition.
With the newly landscaped Oswestry Town Green as the backdrop, Oswestry Heritage Railway has the perfect opportunity to make a massive difference to the economic prosperity of the town and it's surrounding areas over the next ten years and beyond.
But there is an IF.
It requires an act of imagination, vision and a willingness to overcome obstacles, keep on track - can't avoid puns when discussing railways :) - and to hold steadfast to the prize!
That prize is a rejuvenated Oswestry Railway Station & Heritage Tourism asset serving many thousands of new visitors annually. It will restore balance to the town by breathing new life into Oswald Road, it will make a superb place for families to visit with it's close affiliation with the Town Green, and the extended platform can become a new Community Events Venue for holding fetes, fayres and the like.
All this is doable. Yes, it needs more resources - money and volunteers; but most of all it needs a coalition of support to get behind the Railway for the good of the town as a whole.
"Oliver Ventom"
The steam train "Oliver Ventom" is being lovingly worked on at the moment and, with a fair wind, it won't be too long before it comes out into the daylight, in it's jacket of original lined Peckett green, to carry passengers to and fro.
What a sight that will be.