[Oct 14, 2018] Along Cambrian Lines 2 (Llangollen, Denbighshire)

Join us for our three day feast of steam-hauled nostalgia during our annual Autumn Steam Gala. This has become a important event on many enthusiasts calendars for holding a varied range of trains running along our picturesque ten mile line.

Today’s preserved Llangollen Railway is a surviving part of a major cross-country railway route linking Ruabon and the busy industrial environs of Cheshire, Manchester and Liverpool with the holiday resort of Barmouth. For nearly 100 years, the railway carried many thousands of holidaymakers over its tracks to seaside resorts right along the Cambrian Coast.

Our ‘Along Cambrian Lines 2‘ gala will be a celebration of these much loved trains heading for the seaside during the 1950s and early 1960s. A great line-up of visiting locomotives will be supported by members of the Llangollen Railway’s home fleet, recreating many of the authentic sights and sounds of the period!

Visiting Locomotives:

Our first confirmed guest is BR Ivatt 2MT No. 46521, courtesy of the Great Central Railway. This former Royal Train engine spent almost its entire working life in Wales and was allocated to Oswestry, Brecon and Machynlleth steam sheds during its career. No. 46521 was also regular sight around Barmouth during the 1950s and 1960s, working trains along the Cambrian Coast route and the regular shuttle service up the Mawddach estuary to Dolgellau.

Our second confirmed guest is GWR Pannier Tank No. 7714, courtesy of the Severn Valley Railway. No.7714 is an old friend in many ways, having been based at Birkenhead from 1937 until 1958, before moving briefly to Wrexham's Rhosddu shed prior to withdrawal.

The home fleet is likely to include: 80072, 5199, 6430 and 3802. (All locos are subject to availability)

Attractions include:

• Interactive activities for all the family, including ‘Make your own Luggage Labels‘.
• Display of entries of our 2018 ‘Steam Trains to the Seaside‘ children’s poster competition.
• Intensive timetable over all three days.
• Full line and local services to-ing and fro-ing.
• Demonstration goods and parcel loading at Berwyn station
• Plus lots more…

Along our line, we have lots of interesting structures built with local stone which was quarried along the River Dee. A special exhibition telling the story of some of the viaducts, road bridges and station buildings will be running in the Henry Robertson suite in Llangollen Station throughout the Gala.

Passenger Timetables

The passenger timetables will follow in the weeks leading up to the event. The full Working Timetable will be available free of charge to holders of travel tickets for the event from all our Booking Offices at the event while stocks last.

Fares

Take advantage of our special discounted rates by booking in advance today! Return tickets and day rover tickets will be available to purchase from all our Booking Offices throughout the event. Single tickets will not be available.

For all the latest news, details and advanced discount tickets, visit: http://llangollen-railway.co.uk/event/autumn-steam-gala-12th-14th-october/

Fancy a sneak peak at what is being planned? A preview version of the programme is available to download from: http://llangollen-railway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ACL2-Gala-Programme-Preview-2018-v1.pdf

 

How long do you think it will be until the timetable is released for this event? Also, will 3802 make it? I know there were some issues last weekend....

 

The crews haven’t had the wtt yet. Hopefully that will come sooner rather than later. 3802 is not in use now for some reason. Possibly holding the ‘non cambrian’ loco back as spare engine.

 

3802 was out with a broken spring on the tender, now replaced.

Bob.

 

Tempted to come up to this, been 4 and a half years since my last visit now so might need to put that right, look forward to a bit more info on the timetable front.

 

Timetable now online (http://llangollen-railway.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Cambrian-Lines-II-Public-Time-table.pdf). I don't think it's the most imaginative timetable that could have been produced.
The mixed train looks interesting, but no double heading and no auto trains (you can't beat the combination of Berwyn and the autos for a real feeling of going back in time).

Also it looks like it is all going to be propelled movements from Corwen, and assuming set S is the suburban set (as in previous galas), I'll be interested to see how these will be propelled given that there hasn't been a conversion of one of these coaches to include the necessary equipment. Unless they're going to stick one of the converted MK1s on the back this could be an issue.

 

I do agree that the lack of any double heading is disappointing. I wonder if 3802 isn't included due to there originally being some concerns about the rear coupled axle still running warm after re-white metalling. I believe that has now stopped and it has run well in the last couple of weeks (including running today). Perhaps it was decided best to assume that 3802 wouldn't be available when the timetable needed to be sorted.

The suburbans definitely can't be propelled back without a MK1 (with the relevant stuff on the back), so it will be interesting to see what the plan is there, as there is definitely no layover at Carrog in the timetable (possibly due to the water capacity of the panniers not being sufficient to do a full round trip, an extra Carrog-Corwen-Carrog and the associated wait that comes with it). This should be the last gala running to the temporary platform, as it is due to be dismantled in November, so the propelling shouldn't happen at all next year.

Looking back at the timetable for Along Cambrian Lines (the first), the timetable doesn't have any more locos or rolling stock, there were a few more trains run, but I think more use was made of what was available than is being done here. The longest section of the line is the Goods Junction to Deeside, so this is the limiting factor for the number of trains that can be run. The long stops at Berwyn for the mixed passenger trains therefore are possibly one of the main reasons the timetable isn't quite what may be expected from a gala, as a compromise has been made by putting in these extremely long section times. This in turn means some very long layovers at Llangollen which has probably made an impact on double heading.

 

Well I am pleased to see to see that there aren't any double headers, on four and five coach trains it would look silly. A good selection of locos, lets hope for some good running.

 

Please be aware when visiting Llangollen this weekend that the Dee bridge adjacent to Llangollen station is down to one lane with 3-way traffic lights.
There is also a food festival on at the Eisteddfod ground this weekend just to add to the traffic.
Parking is available at Carrog & Corwen & also across the bridge at Berwyn.

Bob.

 

A few clips from a wet Saturday at Llangollen.

 

very atmospheric lovely footage there in my opinion better than if it was sunny thanks for getting wet and sharing this

 

... and a few more pictures from me can be found here... http://preservedrailway.weebly.com/llangollen-railway/along-cambrian-lines-ii-autumn-steam-gala-2018
Excellent choice of visitors, Quite liked the timetable, although thought it was a shame with such an early finish (4pm last from Llangollen)