The Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) is joining many other heritage railways nationwide in the third annual ‘Love Your Railway‘ campaign.

The ‘Love Your Railway’ campaign is designed to raise awareness of heritage railways’ importance as a tourism destination.

The campaign aims to tell the story of Britain’s railways, while at the same time providing local jobs, volunteer opportunities, and community engagement.

Organisations from destinations as diverse as Scotland, Snowdonia, Leighton Buzzard and the Lake District hope that the campaign will help to focus the public on heritage railway organisations and encourage visitors to support them this summer.

This is the campaign’s third year, and runs for six weeks from Last Monday, 5th June to Sunday, 16th July, and is being led by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

Each week has a particular theme including Volunteers, Fundraising, Community, Education, History, and Restoration.

Visitors to the participating railways are encouraged to become involved and share photos and memories of their visits on social media using #LoveYourRailway

Each year, over 13 million passengers travel on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway and its fellow heritage railways. Between them, they have over 560 miles of railway line and contribute £400 million to the economy.

Keeping these railways running and highlighting the significant role railways played through the industrial revolution are 22,000 volunteers and over 4,000 paid employees.

Catherine Johnson, Marketing Manager at the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway, said: “Uniquely run by over 850 volunteers, and with just a handful of paid staff, we operate a round trip of 28 miles through the stunning Cotswolds Countryside.

“It is fantastic to be involved with the #loveyourrailway campaign again, to showcase 6 key areas of the railway, to our ever-growing social media following. We really hope they continue enjoying visiting our railway over the Summer months.”

Stephen Oates, Chief Executive at The Heritage Railway Association, said: “In 2021 ‘Love Your Railway’ secured collaborations from as far afield as Cornwall, Suffolk, North Wales, North East Scotland and Northern Ireland, with over 55 heritage railway organisations taking part and last year the campaign was even more successful with over 85 participating heritage railways organisations.

“We’ve really proud to back this campaign and look forward to seeing many more rail organisations get involved.”