Llangollen Railway Branch Line Weekend April 11-13

Tickets on sale now. A similar setup to last year which proved very popular.

Guest locos:
6880 Betton Grange
D9525

Home fleet:
Austin 1
7754
3802

https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/branch-line-gala-weekend/

 

6880 "Betton Grange" announced as guest

 

There's no mention of any visiting locomotives on Llangollen's website.

 

It was announced on Facebook on Saturday. It also mentions a visiting diesel to ɓe announced soon. I'm sure the website will receive an update in due course.

 

A 25 would be nice.

 

See website re visiting steam loco
https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/branchline-gala/

 

Our last 2 visiting diesels were 25s.

 

So is the TBC Diesel for this gala the visitor or a visitor and a regular?

 

Well I read it that there is going to be one of the home fleet diesels along with a guest diesel.....

 

Class 14 No. D9525 announced as the diesel visitor

 

The visiting diesel locomotive will be Class 14 D9525, which will be arriving later this month and staying with us for at least 12 months.

4 WR locos for our Branchline Gala (7754, 6880, 3802 & D9525) is going to be quite something!

 

And...

 

This one has 25 in its number …

 

Absolutely - 4 in steam! However, we intend to make a bigger fuss of "Austin 1" at our 50th Birthday Event on 12th-14th September, along with a planned visit from the very first loco to arrive at the railway post-closure, Fowler 0-4-0DM "Eliseg" on static display only (it's been a while since this poor old girl has turned a wheel).

 

https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/branchline-gala/

 

Afternoon Folks. An update for you.

Small prairie 5532 was moved out of Llangollen shed for the first time since 1997 at the weekend. The loco will be on static display over Branchline Weekend, making it a 5th Western loco taking part (albeit statically) alongside 7754, 3802, 6880 and D5925. 5532 can be seen on display outside the shed as part of a shed tour. Please note that there will not be continuous public access to see 5532, as the shed is an operational area, with constant loco and stock movements during the morning and evening over the weekend. Please join an organised tour and do not access the shed or our running lines outside of this.

The 5532 Group have also announced a funding appeal to raise the final £32k to get the loco back together with an overhauled boiler towards the end of 2026 and steam testing envisaged in early 2027. Details to support will be available over the weekend or are already on their website at https://www.5532.co.uk/.

Gala attractions are confirmed as:
• Visiting locos 6880 “Betton Grange” & Class 14 D9525.
• Pannier tank 7754, GWR 2-8-0 3802 and Kitson 0-6-0 "Austin 1"
• 5532 on static display outside the MPD at Llangollen for the first time since 1997
• Sunday 13th to have a South Wales theme - details to follow, I suspect from my good colleague Mr RA & FC, but you can expect some excellent photo opportunities.
• Brakevan rides (we are trying to get 5 vans together if we can)
• Shed tours (the chance to see 5532, Bickmarsh Hall, 80072's new rear bunker and overhauled tanks, 03172, 26010, 31271 and 47449).
• Footplate rides (details TBC, but likely to be Austin 1 in Llan station).
• Express runs between Llangollen and Corwen
• Real ale bar at Llangollen
• Food and craft stalls
• Tearoom at Berwyn
• Tearoom & Porters bar and viewing deck at Glyndyfrdwy along with a new porter’s trolleys and sack barrow museum display
• Book stalls, picnic area & tuck shop at Corwen
• 80072 society shop open at Carrog. This includes some excellent stocks of OO and N models, both new and second-hand.

Further details and advance tickets are available on our event webpage: https://llangollen-railway.co.uk/branchline-gala/

The timetable shouldn't be too far off now. I will put a link up here as soon as I know it's released (or when someone beats me to it!).

It should be a good one Folks!

 

Also, there are still some places left on both the 8th (limited) and 9th April Timeline Events photo charters with 6880. Detail here.

 

Timetable posted via the Facebook page. It seems however that you'll only get the loco allocations on the day

 

I hope that's not the case.

 

According to the comment under the timetable itself it seems like it. Seems a bit of a backward decision considering the loco allocations was live last year.