A heritage railway has become an unexpected beneficiary of building works for the High Speed 2 railway line.
Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway (C&PRR), which straddles the Oxfordshire-Buckinghamshire border, is likely to obtain un-needed track materials from the Network Rail works on a nearby line.
The volunteer-run heritage line is a local charity and will be relaying concrete sleepers which cannot be used on the national network as they do not fit modern rail which is both heavier and of a different profile and is more suited to present day speeds and loads.
Since the heritage railway is limited to a maximum speed of 25mph, the old sleepers can be used to relay part of the track outside Princes Risborough which was closed by British Rail in 1989.
After falling derelict, its wooden sleepers rotted away and trees began to grow through them. The old steel rail which is being lifted cannot be re-used as it is well-worn and is to be cut into short lengths to speed the removal process.
The railway between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury is currently closed to allow partial realignment where the new HS2 line will run underneath. New track is being laid on the diversion with some old track materials being passed to the C&PRR. Trains between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury are operated by Chiltern Railways, which runs services from London Marylebone to Aylesbury, Kidderminster via Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon and Oxford.
A fund-raising campaign is under way as C&PRR looks to source replacement rail, hundreds of tonnes of ballast and other materials. They have operated steam and heritage diesel trains since 1993 between Chinnor and a location half a mile from Princes Risborough and the line was extended in August 2018 to serve a fourth platform at Princes Risborough station, something which has long been a development ambition for the charity. Additional track and signalling systems have been installed, and the listed signal box is also being restored.
An agreement with Network Rail allowed access into Princes Risborough station, enabling C&PRR trains to share one of their sidings by diverting around the derelict track mentioned above. Completion of the relaying of this track will give the C&PRR its own independent line into the station.
