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Wednesday 23 Jun 2010

BLACKFRIARS’ HISTORY LIVES ON IN SOUTH WALES

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Wales & Borders

| Wales & Western

Ten Victorian cast iron columns from the original Blackfriars railway station in London are being given a new lease of life in south Wales.

Donated by Network Rail, the 124 years old columns will be used by the Pontypool and Blaenavon heritage railway to construct a new station at Big Pit Museum. The columns will be returned to their former glory and repainted to their original colours of gold and black. 

They will become an architectural feature for the new station on the new Big Pit branch line to be built by the heritage railway.

Jerry Swift, head of corporate responsibility, Network Rail, said: “We are pleased to have found a good home for the columns, where they can get a new lease of life and continue to serve for this century and probably beyond.  As we continue to build and maintain a modern railway, we are also proud of the marvellous Victorian legacy.  This initiative will help a piece of our rich railway history to live on.”

Robin Cornelius, chairman of Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway said: “We are delighted to give these historic columns a home in south Wales and will make good use of them at our new station at Big Pit mining museum, where we plan to build a canopy to protect passengers from the weather.  It is good to know that Network Rail respect the heritage of our railway system.  We, for our part, will take good care of these treasured artefacts.”

This initiative comes off the back of the congestion-busting Thameslink programme that includes the redevelopment of Blackfriars.

The columns were removed from the original and existing station building, which has been in operation since 1886.

The Big Pit branch line will run from Furnace Sidings round to a small station to Big Pit, where the station will be built.  Pontypool and Blaenavon railway plans to operate a ‘collier’s train’ consisting of a couple of wagons or vans, pushed by a suitably small engine after the line is built.