Heritage railways across the country, including the Apedale Valley Light Railway, are joining forces again this summer to raise awareness of their importance as a tourism destination, educating and telling the
story of Britain’s railways whilst also providing volunteer community engagement.
Following the enormous success of the first two years, the third annual ‘Love Your Railway’
campaign, brings together organisations from as far afield as Scotland, Snowdonia, Leighton Buzzard
and the Lake District in the nationwide campaign which shines a spotlight on heritage railway
organisations, encouraging visitors to support them this summer.
The Apedale Valley Light Railway and its fellow heritage railways from across the UK carry over 13 million passengers each year, over 560 miles of railway line and contribute £400 million in economic impact. 22,000 volunteers and over 4,000 paid employees keep the UK’s heritage railways on track, highlighting the significant role railways played through the industrial revolution.
The Apedale Valley Light Railway is owned and operated by the volunteers of the Moseley Railway Trust. We have no paid staff; this means that everything done on site, and all the background stuff done to allow the Apedale site to operate, is done by volunteers. Why? Because they are invested in the charitable aims of the Trust, which are to preserve and restore narrow gauge railway equipment and related items in the form of a working railway and museum and to provide an educational and recreational facility for the general public, including the Trust’s own members, and in doing so to foster and promote traditional skills.
Furthermore, there is a well-established link between volunteering and wellbeing; for many of our members, volunteering is a useful social activity in addition to one which allows the development of skills. So, we must celebrate and give thanks to all the UK’s heritage railway volunteers. But on this page, we can be biased and say that the Apedale team are just that little bit more special.
