Railway due to be at full steam for holiday boom

2:06pm Thursday 26th June 2008

WEST Somerset Railway will be back to full steam in time for the busy summer trade despite fears that damage on the tracks could derail the popular tourist attraction.

Fears surfaced at the weekend after damage to the rails forced the heritage railway to take all but one steam locomotive off the tracks and replace them with diesel trains.

Damaged included lipping on some of the tracks, causing damage to the train's wheel flanges and tyres - which could have resulted in trains derailing if left to worsen.

West Somerset Railway manager Paul Conibeare said: "We are through the worst now.

"If we are going to run engines that are around 100 years old, we have to expect some extent of ware and tear.

"We haven't experienced something like this before but remodelling is now underway."

Maintenance teams are working to grind down the rails by hand in a bid to get the service up and running before the holiday boom, and Mr Conibeare told the County Gazette this week that services would be back to normal by July 22.

Mr Conibeare also reassured visitors the family fun day next Saturday and Sunday, July 5 and 6, will be running as scheduled, and the service and holiday trade would not be affected by the maintenance work.

* For the full story pick up this week's West Somerset County Gazette - out today!!