Cambrian Railway Partnership has appointed a new Chair.

Neil Scott, a regular traveller on the Cambrian Line – which connects Shrewsbury with Aberystwyth and Pwllheli – will be heading up the organisation. Having used the line for 25 years, Neil is well aware of the importance of the line to the various communities it serves, especially as many of these are some distance away from urban centres. He is also well aware of the economic and social benefits the line brings to the area it serves.

The organisation also has a new Vice Chair. Graham Davies is a retired signalman and used to work for Network Rail. He is an active member of the community around Llanidloes, a town located in Powys south of the Cambrian Railway.  The town no longer has a station – although the station building is still standing and in use as business premises – after the line from Moat Lane, near Newtown, to Talyllyn Junction, near Brecon, was closed in the 1960s. Graham’s involvement with local groups and projects will make a valuable contribution to the Partnership’s activities as it seeks to connect local communities with their railway.

The railway also connects a number of heritage operations, including the Vale of Rheidol, Talyllyn, Fairbourne, Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland narrow gauge railways.

Neil Scott has already met the Partnership Development Officer, Claire Williams, at the Talyllyn Railway which, in 1951, became the first railway in the UK to be preserved.