It is easy to get gloomy and grumpy-old-man-ish about how the GWR heritage is being slowly lost as the network is modernised so it is nice to be able to comment on 2 stories that show that same heritage being recreated.

Firstly, Hagley station footbridge in the West Midlands has been refurbished at a cost of £50,000 in the traditional colours known as GWR ‘light and dark stone’, together with the station buildings and platform canopy.  The bridge is now famous as the one chosen by Hornby models for their popular model kit, which perhaps influenced the decision.  To see the BBC News article, click here.

Welsh GWR station to reopen after 60 years

Not a restoration project but welcome nonetheless is the reopening to traffic of Fishguard and Goodwick station.  Closed in April 1964, seven trains a day will start to call at the new station from the start of the summer timetable on 14 May 2012.  The scheme has cost £450,000 and is one of the better examples of joint agency working, bringing together as it did Pembrokeshire C.C., the Welsh Government, Arriva Trains Wales, Network Rail Wales and the South West Wales Integrated Transport Consortium.  That is a lot of groups, a lot of meetings and tonnes of paper but it does show that when the will is there, it is possible to drive through these sorts of developments to the benefit of all – eventually.

It had been hoped to save the old wooden station building but a combination of age and vandalism has made this impossible.  For some debate about this, go to this interesting forum.