The G.W.R 163 Auto Trailer Coach Trust is based at the Cambrian Railways Society in the Shropshire market town of Oswestry and is run entirely by volunteers.
The Cambrian Railways Society's yard is next door to a recently restored station building which was the headquarters of the Cambrian Railway. It now has a railway style buffet, a gift shop and audio visual displays. It's well worth a visit.
While you are there have a look at the railway museum which is close to the restored station building. Car parking is available in the station yard next to the museum on Oswald Road.
The Trust is made up of a group of lifelong railway enthusiasts, who had an opportunity too good to resist in the year 2000 - a chance to purchase a GWR Auto-Coach from the Cambrian Railways Society, who had been it's proud custodians at the Oswestry yard since the mid 1970s.
The coach was in a dire condition and needed immediate and extensive restoration. A huge project was planned to restore the coach back to its former glory. It was soon realised that a project of this magnitude would require the help of a team of experts and we were lucky enough to secure the services of the Appleby Training & Heritage Centre in Westmorland, which is situated alongside the famous Settle and Carlisle railway line.
You can see how we got the coach to Appleby, and a detailed description of the restoration on the Restoration page.
We also realised that we were going to need a very big pot of cash, and a large boost towards this was received with the help of a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
So what are the plans from here? The full restoration will be completed in the spring of 2007, after which the coach will be spending a full season at the Llangollen railway in North Wales.
The plan for the coach whilst there, and in the future, is for it to be used in service and as a learning centre for students, teaching social history based on working railways around the period when the coach was in use.
Please look through the other pages on the site, where you can see greater detail about all of the above, along with an extensive photo gallery showing the coach in its original state when purchased, the work being carried out at Appleby, and eventually the completed coach.