The Journey
Photo credit: Joachim Stuebben
On a standard running timetable (A) day your journey starts from our main station at Furnace Sidings. (The journey may vary on special event days)
The train first travels along the branch line to a service stop at Big Pit station where passengers can leave or board the train
The train then reverses back through Furnace Sidings to Garn-yr Erw Halt (The Whistle Inn) where passenger can leave or board the train.
The train then travels southwards non-stop through Furnace Sidings to the current end of our line at Coed Avon.
Reversing back along the track the train then stops at Blaenavon High Level where (for operational purposes) the locomotive 'runs around' the carriages. You can alight here if you wish to take photographs of the locomotive.
This takes approx 15mins.
The train then returns to Furnace Sidings where your journey ends.
The journey back to Furnace Sidings includes, for a short while, a gradient of 1:34, that is one of the steepest gradients on any heritage railway, you will hear the locomotive work hard at this point.
The total length of the the lins, including the Big Pit branch is 3.1 miles so your journey is approx 6.2 miles and lasts approx 55 minutes.
The maximum speed on our railway is 25 miles per hour which complies with the regulations governed by the Light Railway Regulations Act.
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