Llangollen Railway.html



Llangollen Railway Rheilffordd Llangollen
Llangollen Station from across the River Dee
Location
Place	Wales
Terminus	Carrog
Coordinates	52°58′12″N 3°11′31″E / 52.970, 3.192Coordinates: 52°58′12″N 3°11′31″E / 52.970, 3.192
Commercial Operations
Name	Llangollen Railway
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Preserved Operations
Operated by	Llangollen Railway Trust
Stations	4 and 1 halt
Length	7.50 miles (12.07 km)
Gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
Commercial History
1862	Opened
1877	Absorbed by Great Western Railway
1964	Closed
Preservation History
1975	Taken over by the preservation society
1996	Opening of extension to Carrog
2006	Work starts on extension to Corwen

Llangollen Railway
Legend Llangollen Llangollen Loco Shed Pentrefelin Yard Dee Bridge Berwyn Berwyn Viaduct Berwyn Tunnel Deeside Halt Glyndyfrdwy Carrog Bonwm Halt Corwen

The Llangollen Railway (Rheilffordd Llangollen) is a volunteer-run preserved railway in Denbighshire, Wales, which runs from Llangollen to Carrog.

Work is being carried out on an extension to Corwen, with the trackbed cleared to Bonwm Halt, a halfway point between Carrog and Corwen. The extension will not require any extensive civil engineering work, although a new station building will be required.¹

History

Commercial Service: 1865–1962

The railway was originally opened as the Ruabon to Llangollen line (see also Ruabon to Barmouth Line) in 1862, as a way for passengers to travel to Llangollen Road (then the nearest train station, later known as Whitehurst Halt) and then board a coach to Llangollen. ² The line was a success and plans were put forward for a line from Llangollen to Corwen, a market town ten miles past Llangollen. Work started shortly after the opening of the Ruabon to Llangollen line and the line accepted it's first traffic on the 18th May, 1865.²

Reopening: 1972–1975

After the Beeching Axe, the Flint and Deeside Railway Preservation Society was founded in 1972 with the aim of preserving one of the "axed" railways. Originally the society was interested in preserving the Dyserth to Prestatyn line; however, the line was deemed unsuitable because a small amount of freight traffic was still using it.³ The society refocused its attention on the Llangollen to Corwen section of the Ruabon to Barmouth line. The local council granted a lease of the Llangollen railway station building, as well as 3 miles of track to the society, with the hope that the railway would improve the local economy and bring more tourists to Llangollen. The station reopened on the 13th September 1975, with just 60 feet of track.¹

Rebuilding: 1975–1998

Early progress was slow due to a lack of funding, though in 1977 Shell Oil donated a mile of unused track. Volunteers started laying the track with the target of Pentrefelyn, 0.75 miles (1.21 km) from Llangollen. The work finished in July 1981 with the remaining quarter mile of track used to lay sidings at the old Llangollen Goods Junction to form a home for the growing rolling stock fleet of the railway. The working railway attracted the trust of many private companies, as well as the local council who renewed the lease of the land to the railway for a further 21 years. The Llangollen Railway Trust was gifted significant amounts of track allowing for the next extension of the line to Berwyn, which involved a £30,000 refurbishment of the Dee Bridge by the local council, which had fell into abandonment during the period following the commercial closure of the line. The first trains started running the now 1.75 mile (2.82 km) line to Berwyn in March 1986.¹

Locomotives and rolling stock

Foxcote Manor at the Crewe Works

See also: List of Llangollen Railway rolling stock

7822 Foxcote Manor

Main article: GWR 7800 Class 7822 Foxcote Manor

The Great Western Railway steam locomotive no. 7822 Foxcote Manor is a 4-6-0 Manor Class locomotive, built in 1950 at Swindon Works. It was part of a post-war batch of 10 locomotives, which followed on from 20 earlier locomotives built in 1938.

The locomotive was originally allocated to Oswestry depot, where is was used to haul both passenger and freight services over lines such as the Cambrian Line and the now-closed Ruabon Barmouth Line. It regular hauled the "Cambrian Coast Express" from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth. It was also allocated to Chester shed during its lifespan.

It was withdrawn in 1965 from Shrewsbury and was towed to Woodham Brothers scrapyard in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales. It languished there until 1974 when it was rescued for preservation. It was initially taken to Oswestry for restoration work, but was moved to Llangollen once the work was finished.

6880 Betton Grange

The Great Western Railway steam locomotive no. 6880 Betton Grange is a 4-6-0 Grange Class locomotive, known as "the 81st Grange", currently being built. When British Rail stopped using steam locomotives in 1968 none of the Grange Class locomotives were preserved so the 6880 society was formed in 1998 with the purpose of eventually creating a Grange Class steam locomotive.⁴ Work is still ongoing on the locomotive but progress has been made on some major parts such as the driver's cab, with some smaller parts being made to order. Other parts have been taken from other similar steam locomotives to be used with the project.

See also

• Bala Lake Railway
• Ruabon to Barmouth Line
• Heritage railway

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Llangollen Railway

• Official website
• Llangollen Diesel Group
• British Railways in 1960 - the Llangollen Railway
• 6880 project

v • d • e Railway museums and heritage railways in Wales Narrow gauge Great Little Trains of Wales • Bala Lake Railway • Brecon Mountain Railway • Corris Railway • Fairbourne Railway • Ffestiniog Railway • Llanberis Lake Railway • Rhyl Miniature Railway • Snowdon Mountain Railway • Talyllyn Railway • Teifi Valley Railway • Vale of Rheidol Railway • Welsh Highland Railway • Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway Standard gauge Barry Island Railway • Garw Valley Railway • Gwili Railway • Llangollen Railway • Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway • Swansea Vale Railway Centres and museums Conwy Valley Railway Museum • Narrow Gauge Railway Museum Heritage Railways: England · Scotland · Wales · Northern Ireland · Isle of Man · Channel Islands