Perrygrove Railway has won the Heritage Railway Association, (HRA) Award for Outstanding Visitor Attraction 2017.

Perrygrove staff swapped their overalls for their finest attire and headed to Birmingham for the awards ceremony. There were four other railways from across the country nominated for Outstanding Visitor Attraction.

As the awards were being announced the audience were told that the panel had decided that there should be awards for both large and small attractions. Beamish Museum in County Durham won the award in the large visitor attraction category. Winning the award for the small attraction for providing an outstanding visitor experience was Perrygrove Railway.

David Nelson-Brown, Managing Director told the Ross Gazette: “Perrygrove is a small family run business so I’m really proud of winning this award. It’s a new award in the railway industry and we’re the first railway to win it. Everyone at Perrygrove works extremely hard all year round to ensure a first class visitor experience and this is recognition of this.

“The award has already been taken into our son’s school for show and tell, so now I am allowed to display it in the ticket office for all our visitors to see.”

Maureen McAllister, Executive Director of Wye Valley and Forest of Dean Tourism said: “We’re very proud that yet another attraction in the Forest of Dean has deservedly won a national award.”

Perrygrove Railway, near Coleford, is looking to expand its out of season offering on a permanent basis with the building of a brand new engine. The new Diesel will enable more trains to be operated out of the main season and provide much needed back up and resilience to the steam engines all year round.

David added: “We are excited to be developing the detailed design of our brand new locomotive at present. We hope to have it gracing the rails next year, but we need your help to do it. We are always looking for more volunteers to help with lots of tasks, but building the new diesel is a great way to get started in the team.”

Perrygrove have a crowdfunding campaign at present to help fund the purchase of the donor chassis needed to kick start the build. You can donate at www.crowdfunder.co.uk/perrygrove-railway-new-locomotive or at the railway.