Llangollen and Bala Lake Railways Visit - 27th July 2008
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| 51907+54490 at Glyndyfrdwy. Geoff Morris |
On Sunday July 27th, 11 members assembled at Carrog station on the Llangollen Railway at the start of a day out on preserved railways in the Dee Valley. We first travelled on the 11:15 to Llangollen, which was formed of a class 108 DMU (51907/54490). For many members this was their first experience of a DMU trip, with its improved views of the scenery, on this line.
At Glyndyfrdwy route we crossed Stanier Black 5 44806 Kenneth Aldcroft on a 5-coach train. A driver experience train was also running and we had to wait for it in the loop at Deeside Halt. This provided the unusual sight of GWR 2-8-0 3802 (in GWR green livery) hauling a rake of 3 BR suburban coaches! At Llangollen station we were routed into platform 2 as platform 1 was occupied by GWR 0-6-2T 5643 which departed with a 5-coach train soon after we arrived.
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| 3802 arrives at Carrog. Geoff Morris |
All too soon we had to return to the station to catch the 13:00 to Carrog, hauled by 44806. This crossed 3802 on the driver experience train at Llangollen Goods Junction and 5643 on the other service train at Deeside Halt. Most of the party then made use of the excellent refreshment room at Carrog station and so were able to photograph 3802 returning on another driver experience train, which was unusually routed into the down platform.
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| Alice at Llanuwchllyn. Geoff Morris |
We then headed west to Llanuwchllyn station, the headquarters of the Bala Lake Railway. This 2’gauge railway runs alongside the southern shore of Bala Lake on the trackbed of the former GWR standard gauge line between Ruabon and Dolgellau. Its limits are Llanuwchllyn in the west and the site of the former Bala Junction station in the east. The Bala site has very rudimentary facilities (a run-round loop and limited passenger shelter) and all of the railway’s main facilities located at Llanuwchllyn. These include the old signalbox where the lever frame the token instruments have been retained.
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| Llanuwchllyn Shed. Geoff Morris |
The main steam loco fleet comprises 3 Quarry Hunslet 0-4-0ST locos, each in a different livery. As it was a hot sunny day, black-liveried Alice (HE 780/ 1902), which is cabless, had been chosen to operate the service. The alternative would have been Maid Marian (HE 882/1903) which is fitted with a cab. We were able to inspect this in the workshop along with Alice’s sister loco Holy War (HE 779/1902) which had recently been withdrawn from service for an overhaul. Also dotted around the site were parts of 0-6-0ST Triassic (P 1270/1911). An 0-6-0 diesel named Bob Davies (Baguley 780) was the only diesel loco that could be immediately identified - the other diesel locos did not bear distinguishing names or numbers although a Severn Lamb diesel (similar in outline to a “Western“) stood out from the rest.
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| Maid Marian on shed. Geoff Morris |
After a visit to the signalbox and loco & carriage sheds we made the round trip to Bala on the final trains of the day. Both of these trains were very well patronised. There is a loop just to the east of the intermediate station at Llangower although it is not used in normal passenger traffic, when a single train suffices for the 4 round trips. Llangower is a popular bathing & picnic spot and passengers joined or left the train here on both legs of our journey.
On our return to Llanuwchllyn we observed Alice going on shed while diesel Bob Davies shunted the coaching stock. Here some of us learned from the footplate crew that one round trip was the perfect duration to cook a baked potato in the smokebox - provided it was wrapped in 5 layers of foil!
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After a final visit to the refreshment facilities we made our separate ways back to Chester or the Wirral.
Many thanks to all staff on both railways for an excellent day out. Particular thanks go to Dessie from the Standard 4 group at Llangollen and to Roger at Llanuwchllyn for accompanying us on the shed visits. Donations, collected on the day, were made to both of railways.
This report is provided in good faith from my own observations plus additional input from the two railways’ websites.
Prospective visitors to Llangollen may wish to note that a very regular bus service operates between Wrexham/Ruabon/Llamgollen during the week, details are on the Llangollen Railway web site
Geoff Morris
27/07/08