Following the announcement of the visit of the Knotty Heritage Train for the upcoming Anything Goes Event, the CVR is delighted to announce that an agreement has been reached with both the Vintage Carriage Trust and Foxfield Railway for former Haydock Foundry locomotive no. C "Bellerophon" to make her first ever visit to our line for our summer Gala as well.
Bellerophon has seen fame in recent years having made appearance in a selection of TV series, her most famous being that of the locomotive that operated the first trains into the village of Cranford in the BBC TV series "Return to Cranford" that was aired over Christmas 2009. This is not the first time the locomotive has appeared on-screen however, having also appeared in a selection of other period drames including the BBC 1997 TV series "The Woman in White.
The locomotive's visit is only brief, and so the only chance to ride behind this star will be during the Anything Goes weekend on June 27th and 28th June where she will operate four return trips each day along the CVR hauling the Knotty Heritage Train. These coaches themselves are on their own first public visit to a former North Staffordshire Railway Line and their first visit away from Foxfield since being launched last summer.
As a preview to the gala event, an evening Photography Charter is being arranged on Friday 26th June by 30742 Charters to enable the Victorian combination of Bellerophon and the Knotty Heritage Train be posed alongside Cheddleton's surviving Victorain station building. For more information on this please click here.
Additionally to provide something even more different, Bellerophon will be facing SOUTH for the duration of her visit (towards Froghall). She will be the first steam locomotive to have done so since 5199 in 2009, which will hopefully provide photographic opportunities not normally available to those of you with an interest in such,
Being built in 1874, Bellerophon will look more than at home hauling this Victorian train and we look forward to those of you planning to visit us for the opportunity to travel onboard a late 19th Century train along the Churnet Valley for the first time in preservation.