The Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway (C&PRR) recently hosted a special event that was different to the normal steam and diesel galas associated with heritage railways.

This event was a two-day infrastructure plant exhibition of equipment used throughout the wider rail industry for the maintenance of the railway network. For two days, visitors from within the railway industry gathered around platform 4 at Chinnor station and in nearby sidings, to examine some of the latest plant and track-work support innovations for the railway industry.

The exhibition, organised by the Central Rail Systems Alliance (CRSA), which is the infrastructure renewals contractor for Network Rail in the area, enabled the alliance and its suppliers to showcase their capabilities.

Road-rail plant, with both flanged wheels for use on railway lines, and road wheels or tracks, was delivered to the exhibition by road to a rural level crossing about a mile from Princes Risborough on the line between Chinnor and Princes Risborough, and then ran on the railway to Chinnor station.

As well as new innovative equipment, some of the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway’s own, much older, rail plant was also on display. This included a Class 08 diesel shunting locomotive, “dogfish” ballast hopper wagons that have doors in the base of the wagons to deliver ballast directly onto the track, a Great Western Railway (GWR) guard’s/brake van, and a British Rail era track relaying machine, fitted with a twin-jib rail-mounted crane.

Exhibition visitors were also invited to look around the 1904 signal box which is under restoration, and the fourth platform at Princes Risborough station, which Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway volunteers rebuilt in 2018.

“Staff” of the C&PRR, which is 100% operated and maintained by volunteers and is a registered charity, made use of the event to exchange ideas with railway professionals/

By the following weekend, the railway’s usual heritage steam and diesel services operated as normal, as all traces of the exhibition had, by then, been cleared away.

On track plant was used by Network Rail earlier this month during major upgrades to the overhead power systems on the West Coast Main Line, and in the southwest between Yeovil Junction and Honiton.