Saturday, April 19, 2008

Blow to Snailbeach railway reopening scheme


Sad news from the Shropshire Star: two of the men behind plans to reopen the Snailbeach District Railway have been killed in a road traffic accident in Switzerland.

The newspaper reports:

Dieter Bühler, 57, and Kurt Brugger, 41, both Swiss, were to start work next week on reopening the Snailbeach District Railway, once used by the county’s lead mining industry.

Their car was in a head-on smash with a lorry, as they started their journey to Shropshire. The lorry is said to have been on the wrong side of the road.
Bühler was the general manager of the railway and a director of the Snailbeach District Railways Company Ltd, and Brugger was the project civil engineer.

There is a website devoted to the reopening project and you can read the history of the line on the Colonel Stephens Railway Museum, from which I have borrowed this photograph.

Later. But now read this.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Yes a very sad to us at the SDR - but we are trying not to allow it to delay us too much.

Snailbeach - Director of Snailbeach District Railway

Anonymous said...

This whole project is highly dubious; revelations on well respected preservation fora strongly imply much of what has been claimed (possibly including a sereis of accidents, fatalities, and illnesses affaceting leading personalities in this scheme) are partly or completely fictitious.

Anonymous said...

The whole thing is a farce.

Anonymous said...

There is more chance of Colonel Stephens buying a loco for this line than those who claim to be setting it up. Shambeach Railway.

Anonymous said...

Funny all these people are afraid to let themselves be known - we took legal action to protect our good name. So anonymous what do you know that the directors of the SDR don't. Would you like to see our bank statements to show the capital we have available.

Sorry but the biggest sham is those that cannot give their real name but hide behind the anonymous button.

Building a railway involves a little more than a trip to the local shop and buy track and laying tomorrow. We have done more in a year than these armchair people have done in a lifetime.

Question what respected fora I have yet to come across it.

W C Johns - Director
Snailbeach District Railways Company Limited

Anonymous said...

The SDR website is back to normal and we have reported the places where the detractors post their intimidation of a legal company to the authorities and hopeful of a legal resolve.

All directors of the Snailbeach District Railways (Trust) Company