THE BARRY WATERFRONT FESTIVAL

Between the dates of Friday 13th & Sunday 15th September 2002 The Vale of Glamorgan Railway hosted a tall ships festival in honour of the visit from "Stavros S Niarchos" owned by the Sail Training Association. In addition to this visit we ran our regular locomotive Pamela to help visiting ex-Port Talbot GWR 813 between our original Barry Railway Island Station & GWR Hood Road Goods Shed terminus. This was 813's first visit "home" to Wales for 34 years & ran a Waterfront to Barry Island service for the festival as well as the first public working to Hood Road & new platform & passing loop. Along with the other loop at the Island end this finally put an end to push-pull operation.

Also at the Hood Road terminus we hosted the Vale of Glamorgan farmers market with marquees & live music where there were extensive parking facilities to enable a trip to the Island station for a short walk to the headland to watch Stavros S Niarchos carrying out training exercises in the Bristol Channel on Saturday & guided tours of the ship itself on Friday between 12 noon & 5pm.

Other attractions were on the Island station itself with various items of memorabilia relating to the Barry Railway system & the heritage shed where we currently carry out all loco & rolling stock work. The biggest attraction for those interested in the Barry 10 however I have left until last. The time finally came to shatter all those myths quoted to the various steam magazines about what is happening or what should happen to the Barry 10. If you want to find out more you will all know soon enough.

The Barry-10 have now been moved under cover in the former E.W.S. Depot at Barry.

As part of a Waterfront Festival The Vale of Glamorgan Council have agreed to provide access for public viewing of the last ten locomotives, & two tenders from the original stock of the famous “Woodhams Scrap Yard”. Viewing will only be possible for those holding a valid Steam Railway Passenger Ticket. These will be available at the Ticket Office, Barry Island Station & The Ticket Caravan at Hood Road. The ticket is obviously valid for the Steam Passenger Service between Barry Island & the Waterfront.

Entrance to the former E.W.S. compound & depot building will be subject to obligatory Health & Safety Regulations; accordingly entry for viewing will only be permitted as part of escorted groups. Escorted groups will assemble & depart from the VOGRC Ticket Caravan at Hood Road, at regular intervals & the conditions of viewing will not allow unescorted entry to the former E.W.S. compound or depot under any circumstances.

The VoGRC itself has no ownership in respect of the Barry-10 or the land or buildings in which they rest. The VoGRC Membership, who will steward the viewing, will seek co-operation in respect of all conditions applied to the visits.

For those who decide to come to Barry for this unique occasion - VoGRC will also be running a continuous passenger service between the Waterfront & the Headland viewing points for the Tall Ship Activities off Barry Island in the Bristol Channel. The Barry Island Waterfront Festival promises much for all visitors & numerous golden moments for Railway Enthusiasts.

It's particularly appropriate that the new home of these locos will be the original Barry Railway loco shed (now known as EWS), literally a stone's throw from the legendary Dai Woodham's yard where many of these locos spent most of their lives. This time their future is far more positive. It does in a way re-start the Woodham Yard story as the locos have returned to the home where they have all spent the majority of their lives.

One thing I know about the 10 is that of all the locos that left Barry not one of them "lives" in South Wales with charters as rare as hen's teeth with only a handful even in Barry condition. The Barry 10 are here to stay, they will never be split up or re-hashed into a mongrel. If someone wants to go dabbling with lost classes then go & hassle the present owners of the 100 or so locos still hanging around the country. The Barry 10 will live & work in Wales & last put South Wales back on the heritage railway map. The entire heritage railway movement owe their very existence to Woodham's yard so it's about time we all put something back into Barry. If someone feels like commenting on the Barry 10 please drop me a line & I'll look at posting a comments page with both sides of the argument included. It would be interesting to do a vote on the matter so if anyone feels like contributing please do so.

For now I'll leave you with one request, come & take a look at what we've done at Barry & join us. With little more than 250 members & excellent local council support we've created an infrastructure enviable to many companies with many times our membership. Our future is even brighter with plans soon to be unveiled concerning the Barry 10 & other local heritage projects as well as en extension South past our Island station through the tunnel to the original Barry Pier station. From here you will eventually be able to board from steam train to paddle steamer onto steam on the West Somerset Railway. To the East, extension of the upper line past the Barry loco shed to Barry Town Station onwards to Gladstone Bridge & finally to Barry Dock Station.

After our internal system is complete we hope to be looking at main line excursions between Cardiff & Bridgend along the scenic Vale of Glamorgan line & Porthkerry Viaduct. Other trips up the valley lines to re-enact the holiday trips of the past when the mining families would flock to Barry Island beach in their 1000s. Perhaps finally fill the void of steam in South Wales.

NOTE: Please note that although the text refers to "we" as in VoGR the majority of organisation, funding is due to the very kind & welcome support of the local authorities. This includes the EWS shed, Barry 10 locos themselves, Hood Road & Barry Island Station.

So come along & enjoy yourself, help us build the future of the steam in South Wales. For further details drop me a line on phil@vogr.org
WATCH THIS SPACE FOR UPDATES TO BARRY 10 VIEWING

See also the Barry 10 Restoration Appeal flyer for details of membership & support appeal (700Kb Microsoft Word 2000)