European Railroad Discussion > The Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway's vintage weekend

One weekend a month during the summer months the 2'6" gauge Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway gets out its vintage set of three replica passenger cars to augment the normal service. It's a very nice little railway, only eight and a half miles long with a small stud of 30" gauge motive power, including the original two locomotives 822 The Earl and 823 Countess, both of which miraculously survived closure in 1956. Paired with GWR liveried no.823 Countess and a few freight wagons, the replica passenger cars present a perfect recreation of the W&LLR in the late 1920s, before the GWR withdrew passenger service and scrapped the cars.

In truth this was never a very successful railway. Promoted under the 1896 Light Railways Act to open up the rural hinterland to the market town of Welshpool (Y Trallwng in Welsh) it was operated by the Cambrian Railways, opening for service in 1903. The GWR inherited it at the grouping, when they absorbed the Cambrian. It pottered on as a freight only branch after the GWR removed the passenger service and replaced it with a bus in 1931, survived nationalisation only to close eight years later. The two original locomotives were then spirited away and stored out of view of any senior management at Oswestry Works. Almost immediately on closure a group was formed to preserve and run the railway as a tourist attraction. Consequently, apart from the connection through the back streets of Welshpool, which was lifted, the track remained in place. The preservation society took over in 1963, opening the west end of the line, restoring service to Raven Square on the outskirts of Welshpool in 1981. There is discussion about reconnecting the line to the national network at Welshpool station on the Cambrian Line, but it would have to be over a different route. Whether that ever comes to pass is hugely problematic, but given the achievements of other heritage railway groups in the UK who would bet against it?

On Saturday and Sunday there were five trains each way, three operated by 822 The Earl with Hungarian and Austrian passenger cars and two by 823 Countess and the vintage set. It's well worth seeking out if you are in mid-Wales, it's on the way to Porthmadog from London & Birmingham, by both road and rail.

1: 822 The Earl on the 10:00 Llanfair to Welshpool at Heniarth, a mile or so out of Llanfair

2: 823 Countess preparing the 11:10 departure from Llanfair. The three replica passenger cars were built by the Ffestiniog Railway at Boston Lodge

3: 822 leaving Cyfronydd on the 13:00 from Llanfair



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/17 16:10 by 86235.

---

---

---

4: Trains cross at Castle Caereinion, approximately halfway. No signals, the line operates, as it always has done by the staff and ticket system. The pointsman is handing the driver of 822 The Earl the staff for the section to Llanfair, whilst 823 Countess and the vintage train wait to receive the token to Welshpool

5: Here's 822 at Heniarth, the waiting shelter is new, it's a replica of the original waiting shelters erected when the line was built.

6: And here's Countess on the vintage set between Castle Caereinion and Cyfronydd

---

---

---

OMG!!!! Fantastic photos Nick. Wish I could live next to the line. Just incredible....

Posted from iPhone

CPRR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OMG!!!! Fantastic photos Nick. Wish I could live
> next to the line. Just incredible....

Thanks, it is a very special little railway, rather different to the mountain railways elsewhere in Wales. First weekend of September is their gala weekend, in 2015 they had a visiting 0-4-4-0 mallet, originally from Indonesia, from the Statfold Barn Railway