Avon Valley Railway is to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the modern railway by hosting a weekend of family entertainment and an intensive timetable of heritage diesel and steam trains on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 September.

The Gloucestershire railway – which is based at Bitton, located between Bristol and Bath – promises that families will be able to enjoy “a fun-filled programme of entertainment across both days”.

The entertainment is to include singing from choirs, Morris dancing, and an accurate model railway of Mangotsfield.

Visitors will also have the chance to ride a heritage bus between Keynsham and Bitton.

The standard-gauge heritage railway will also be running an intensive timetable with four steam and heritage diesel locomotives operating across the full weekend.

The railway operates along a three-mile (5 km) heritage line, which runs from Oldland Common to Avon Riverside. The line follows the Avon Valley in a southeast direction from Oldland Common to Bitton, and then continues alongside the River Avon from Bitton towards Saltford.

The Avon Valley Railway is made up of part of the Midland Railway Mangotsfield and Bath branch line, which was closed in 1966, one of many branch lines to fall victim to the extensive cuts and closures known as the ‘Beeching Axe’. The rest of the Mangotsfield and Bath branch line has been dismantled.

Tickets for the weekend celebration event are now available to buy. All proceeds from the event and its ticket sales will contribute towards keeping Avon Valley Railway sustainable for the future. The railway has been struggling financially following a shocking fraud scam perpetrated by a former employee that came to light in March this year.

“We are proud to be celebrating this important Railway 200 milestone with a weekend of entertainment for all the family. An intensive timetable of steam and heritage diesel trains will operate from our main station at Bitton, providing visitors with the opportunity to step aboard into the past and ride comfortably in our restored 1960s carriages. We hope that visitors will be inspired to become volunteers of the future.”

Roger Eynon, Chair of the Avon Valley Railway Trust