THE last of the Severn ferries has been reunited with one of it key parts.

Turntables were installed on the three ferries to make vehicles more manoeuvrable on board the deck for the journey between Beachley and Aust.

The operation to reinstall the turntable on Severn Princess was filmed for an ITV programme called Vanished Wales.

The idea for the turntable is said to have come from Ida Williams - the wife of ferry owner Enoch Williams to the owner (Enoch Williams’) - Ida, one night in a dream.

The dream which took her back to 1897, when her late grandfather, had been an engine driver, had shown her "engines revolving on a turntable."

The turntable on Severn Princess has a diameter of 18ft 0’ (5.5 metres) and weighs exactly one ton.

All three ferries had a capacity of around 20 cars which would be pulled around on the turntable by one man with a rope.

The Princess served from 1959 until the day before the Severn Bridge was opened on September 8 1966.

During this time, the turntable manoeuvered more than half a million vehicles.

Chair of the Severn Princess Restoration Trust, Tim Ryan, said: "What a momentous day! None of this would have been possible without the efforts of the hard-working volunteers and without the collaboration and cooperation of Barratts, Hackwood Fabrication Solutions, Taylormade Energy Solutions, Chepstow Chamber of Commerce and Chambers Wales.

"We can’t thank them all enough.

’’It’s been an incredible effort, it really has - and all captured on film."

Both Severn King and Severn Queen were scrapped after they were taken out of service but Severn Princess was sold and kept in use.

Detective work by a small group of volunteers tracked it down to Ireland in the mid-1990s and an agreement was reached just days before the last of the ferries would also be scrapped.

The previous owners concreted the wheels of the turntable because they did not want it to work.

It is now docked on the side of the Wye and the wheels are turning.

THE last of the Severn ferries has been reunited with one of it key parts.

Turntables were installed on the three ferries to make vehicles more manoeuvrable on board the deck for the journey between Beachley and Aust.

The operation to reinstall the turntable on Severn Princess was filmed for an ITV programme called Vanished Wales.

The idea for the turntable is said to have come from Ida Williams - the wife of ferry owner Enoch Williams - night in a dream.

The dream which took her back to 1897, when her late grandfather, had been an engine driver, had shown her "engines revolving on a turntable."

The turntable on Severn Princess has a diameter of 18ft 0’ (5.5 metres) and weighs exactly one ton.

All three ferries had a capacity of around 20 cars which would be pulled around on the turntable by one man with a rope.

The Princess served from 1959 until the day before the Severn Bridge was opened on September 8 1966.

During this time, the turntable manoeuvered more than half a million vehicles.

Chair of the Severn Princess Restoration Trust, Tim Ryan, said: "What a momentous day! None of this would have been possible without the efforts of the hard-working volunteers and without the collaboration and cooperation of Barratts, Hackwood Fabrication Solutions, Taylormade Energy Solutions, Chepstow Chamber of Commerce and Chambers Wales.

"We can’t thank them all enough.

’’It’s been an incredible effort, it really has - and all captured on film."

Both Severn King and Severn Queen were scrapped after they were taken out of service but Severn Princess was sold and kept in use.

Detective work by a small group of volunteers tracked it down to Ireland in the mid-1990s and an agreement was reached just days before the last of the ferries would also be scrapped.

The previous owners concreted the wheels of the turntable because they did not want it to work.

It is now docked on the side of the Wye and the wheels are turning.