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The Llangollen Railway () is a volunteer-run
heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
in
Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...
,
North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
, which operates between
Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beau ...
and
Corwen Corwen is a town and community in the county of Denbighshire in Wales. Historically, Corwen is part of the county of Merionethshire. Corwen stands on the banks of the River Dee beneath the Berwyn mountains. The town is situated west of Llango ...
. The
standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...
line, which is long, runs on part of the former Ruabon – Barmouth GWR route that closed in 1965. It operates daily services in the summer as well as weekends throughout the winter months, using a variety of mainly ex-GWR steam locomotives as well as several diesel engines and
diesel multiple units A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
. A extension of the railway has been built to complete the line to Corwen. In March 2021 the railway company announced that, having made a loss in three consecutive years, they had invited their bank to appoint receivers.


History


Commercial Service: 1865–1962

Llangollen was already a popular place for tourists by the 1840s. Travel up to this time had been by horse-drawn carriage, but by the 1840s the
Shrewsbury to Chester line Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
had been completed, which allowed passengers to alight at (later known as Whitehurst Halt), and then take a
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...
towards
Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
. However, the commercial development of the local mining industry meant that the development of a railway became essential to the region's economic development. A number of schemes were proposed, including one by the
LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...
, but it was not until 1 August 1859 that a scheme engineered by Henry Robertson received
Royal Assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
. The
Vale of Llangollen Railway The Vale of Llangollen Railway was built as a spur from the Shrewsbury and Chester Railway south of Ruabon to the town of Llangollen. The line was built along the northern side of the Dee Valley and authorized by an Act of Parliament on 1 August ...
left the Shrewsbury to Chester main line south of , and proceeded as a single track line on a
double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
route via to the new station at Llangollen. The line opened to freight on 1 December 1861 and to passengers on 2 June 1862 at a temporary terminus on the town's eastern outskirts. The extension to was undertaken by the associated but separate
Llangollen and Corwen Railway The Llangollen and Corwen Railway was formed as a continuation of the Vale of Llangollen Railway to continue the line along the Dee Valley a further to Corwen. This was opened on 1 May 1865 and was worked by the Great Western Railway and subseq ...
company, and involved constructing a long tunnel under the
Berwyn Mountains The Berwyn range (Welsh: ''Y Berwyn'' or ''Mynydd y Berwyn'') is an isolated and sparsely populated area of moorland in the northeast of Wales, roughly bounded by Llangollen in the northeast, Corwen in the northwest, Bala in the southwest, and ...
. It, together with the new centrally positioned and larger station in Llangollen, opened for service on 1 May 1865.


Closure

Designated for closure under the
Beeching cuts The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised British Rail, railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Develop ...
, the railway closed to passenger services on Monday 18 January 1965. The section between Ruabon and Llangollen Goods Yard remained open for freight traffic until April 1968, but immediately after the cessation of operations the track was removed from the whole line between Ruabon and Barmouth.Butt (1995), page 146


Preservation


Reopening: 1972–1975

The Flint and Deeside Railway Preservation Society was founded in 1972 with the aim of re-opening a closed railway. At first the society was interested in the
Dyserth Dyserth ( cy, Diserth) is a village, community and electoral ward in Denbighshire, Wales. Its population at the 2011 United Kingdom census was 2,269 and was estimated by the Office for National Statistics as 2,271 in 2019. It lies within the ...
to
Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that the ...
line, but that line was deemed unsuitable because a small amount of freight traffic was still using it. The society moved its attention to the Llangollen to Corwen section of the Ruabon to Barmouth line. The local council granted a lease of the
Llangollen railway station Llangollen railway station in the town of Llangollen, Denbighshire, Wales, is a preserved railway station on the former Ruabon to Barmouth Line, and now the eastern terminus of the preserved Llangollen Railway. History Development Llangollen ...
building and 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 13 September 1975, with just of track.


Rebuilding and Resurrection: 1975–1996

Early progress was slow due to a lack of funding, though in 1977
Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...
donated a mile of unused track. Volunteers started laying the track with the aim of reaching Pentrefelin, from Llangollen. Work finished in July 1981 with the remaining quarter mile of track used to lay sidings at the old Llangollen Goods Junction to house the railway's growing fleet of
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...
. The working railway attracted the interest of many private companies. The local council renewed the lease of the land to the railway for a further 21 years. The Llangollen Railway Trust was donated significant amounts of track, allowing the next extension of the line to . This involved a £30,000 refurbishment by the local council of the Dee Bridge, which had fallen into disrepair since the commercial closure of the line. The first trains operated over the newly extended 1.75 mile (2.8 km) line to Berwyn in March 1986. As rebuilding work progressed train services were extended (via the 689 yard long Berwyn Tunnel) to Deeside Halt (in 1990), Glyndyfrdwy (in 1993) and finally into Carrog on 2 May 1996.


Extension to Corwen

In 2011, work (including reconstruction work) finally started on the section of track past the site of the closed to Corwen. Because the former
Corwen railway station Corwen railway station was a railway station on the Ruabon to Barmouth Line, located in the town of Corwen in Denbighshire, Wales. Original station The first station to open was a temporary station to the east of the town, when the line from ...
site has been in private use as an
Ifor Williams Trailers Ifor Williams Trailers is the United Kingdom's largest manufacturer of trailers under , based in Corwen, Denbighshire, North Wales. History Started in 1958 by local farmer Ifor Williams, an on-site galvanizing plant gives the company total c ...
showroom since 1990, and the track bed in between is sub-divided, a temporary station was built on the eastern side of the town. The first stage of the project was completed in late 2014, with special trains running on 22 October 2014 to the new station at for those who had contributed to the project. Regular passenger services to Corwen East started on 27 October 2014. The official opening, on 1 March 2015, was marked by a special train. The section presently marks the full operational length of the preserved line. The final stage at Corwen is to complete the new station, Corwen Central, with permanent facilities and a run round loop. It is uncertain if the trust can extend eastwards towards Ruabon or westwards to Cynwyd as the trackbed was not fully safeguarded against modern development.


Financial issues and receivership

In March 2020 the railway announced that a financial crisis had been averted due to £125k in donations from supporters, enabling them to avoid a
Company Voluntary Arrangement Under UK insolvency law an insolvent company can enter into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). The CVA is a form of composition, similar to the personal IVA ( individual voluntary arrangement), where an insolvency procedure allows a company ...
after making pre-tax losses of £330,601 in 2018, £329,175 in 2019 and £258,804 in 2020. In April 2020 the company announced that they were at risk of closure due to the effects of the
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic (epidemiology), endemic disease wi ...
, which forced the cancellation of services. In May 2020, Prime Minister
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
stated that the line would have a "glorious future" after raising £75,000 in share purchases and donations. The line was awarded £161,000 from the
National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
in August 2020 to help deal with financial pressures caused by the closure of the line, but then had to launch an emergency appeal for funds in November 2020, when urgent repairs were found to be required on the Dee Bridge. In December 2020 the line reported that the extension to Corwen was still progressing, despite the pandemic making funding an issue. On 1 March 2021 the Llangollen Railway PLC announced that it was going into receivership, with debts of about £350,000 and "no prospect" of meeting their liabilities. Operation of the railway was handed over to the Llangollen Railway Trust, and the line reopened July 2021.


Locomotives and rolling stock

As of August 2021 many services are operated by 1950s built diesel multiple units, offering a splendid view of the local scenery. At that time there was only one operational steam locomotive based on the line, former GWR 2-8-0 No.3802.


See also

*
Bala Lake Railway The Bala Lake Railway ( Welsh: ''Rheilffordd Llyn Tegid'') is a narrow-gauge railway along the southern shore of Bala Lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. The line, which is long, is built on a section of the former standard-gauge Ruabon–Barmouth ...
*
Ruabon to Barmouth Line Ruabon ( cy, Rhiwabon ) is a village and Community (Wales), community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. The name comes from ''Rhiw Fabon'', ''rhiw'' being the Welsh word for "slope" or "hillside" and ''Fabon'' being a mutation from Mabyn, St M ...
*
Heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...


References


External links


Official website
(English only)
Llangollen Diesel Group6880 project New website for Corwen Town and the extensionLMS Patriot Project – The Unknown Warrior
* {{Heritage railways in Wales Railway lines opened in 1865 Standard gauge railways in Wales 1865 establishments in Wales