Will the Heart of Wales railway line become the country's finest secret?

On one spring day in 1963, Dr. Richard Beasing published a document on behalf of the British Transport Commission, entitled “Reshaping the British Railways.” The squirrels were attached to the back of Appendix II: Passenger Services, Lines and Stations. If you visit any of these railways in its appendix today, you will always find the same thing. The Victorian station was reused like a holiday. A quiet place where I didn't know what toes of trains passing through for decades.

The so-called “beech axe” is notorious for making certain types of railway lines almost engineers – as it is depicted with love on slow, very scoring, country branches, tea towels and 1,000 pieces of jigsawpa Something. However, in the Beeching appendix there were notable casualties where x did not land. The railway between Craven Arms and Laneri was given a reprieve by the Department of Transportation.

It survives as the heart of Wales. On board this remote area, the view from the window seats is just as before, the view of the Cascade River and castles of pagan mountains, darkly glowing over the rails.

Class 153, which arrives in Craven's arms one morning while I'm standing on the platform, is a barely longer car service than a country bus. On board, its engines rattle agriculture, and air conditioning involves a tug of war on hard windows. It's not a heritage line preserved in Aspic, but a part of the UK railway network that people use to go to work. Still, we have enthusiasts in the middle of us. The passenger across from me reaches for a corkscrew and a bottle of supermarket red and settles for a performance.

The train starts by cantering Shropshire farmland and beats a vibrant jig. In the end we arrive at Knighton. The station is in the UK, but parking is in Wales. The landscape changes across borders. Norman Church gives way to the Methodist Chapel. Rugby Club from Cricket Greens. Gradually, the Bronze Age mooring of Erenido rises, with the lower slopes scattered with clusters of white. It is said that there are 10 million sheep in Wales, and in the heart of Wales you will become familiar with most of them. Sometimes they wander into trucks and are chased by drivers.

“The Heart of Wales Line stands in itself in many ways,” says Owen Grifkin of the Heart of Wales Line Community Partnership, who I talk about on the phone. “Some people who use the line want to actively and slowly travel, and they take nine hours a day.

Losing the way of time

It's lunchtime when our train, guarded by clean-covered towers, as if crossing the Grand Victorian span of the Naccras and Singordy viaducts. Over the Sugarloaf Station, emerge from the tunnel and soar onto the conifer of the buzzard company.

Another part of the appeal of the line is that it occasionally disembarks. Explore small towns with lace curtains, antique shops, old drawbar inns and of course castle markets. I'm going to stop spending the night at the new White Lion, Llandovery. This is a handsome little hotel with rooms that are themed around local folk heroes. This is a five-minute walk to the former castle of the former Llywelyn AP Gruffydd Fychan. This is a medieval nobleman who chased Owain Glyndwr in the pursuit of a wild geese and was dismantled for his profession. He is memorialized by a silver statue overlooking the town's rooftop.

The next day I head back to the eastbound train to the border. At dusk of the rally, we roll through the archipelago of spa towns and villages, the archipelago of Ranwartid Wells, Rangamma Wells and Randlindod Wells. These historic spas have now disappeared, and treatment waters are unexplored. But in a way, riding this quirky train offers a unique source of happiness. Massaged by the swells of rustic rails and settled by their cranking rhythms. The timetable for this line is thin and delays are common. However, when you board, you will generally lose track of time altogether. Seats starting from 18 pounds.